Brief History of: The NRX reactor Accident

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I hope you all enjoy the video! Any future video suggestions let me know!

[@Adam-ff4ij]

How about nuclear reactor fire in Jaslovské Bohunice, Slovakia during Cold War.

[@floydfanTN]

Something Different: Can you do a video on the Penn Central Merger? In the late 60s the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads merged. It was full of inpetitude and is one of the worst corporate mergers of all time Up there with AOL Time Warner! It was so bad that the railroad lost an entire shipment of Potatoes from Maine nearly bankrupting a unrelated railroad in the process. I know how much you love train videos.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion will have a read up!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you for the suggestion!

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

Well it occurs to me that they should stop testing and trying out and putting to the test all of the safety features that are there because every time any human whether it's Russian which we used to not like and or American which three Mile island it looks to me like basically all of the systems are broken and BULLSHIT and we should stop fucking with them!!

[@JohnVance]

“Fission products vented to atmosphere” is pretty high up on the list of stuff I hope I never hear on the news.

[@kevin_1230]

What about radioactive material spills into local river?

[@kevin_1230]

@sw4gr1d that to.

[@noodled6145]

Meh, who cares about the atmosphere? Global cooling ftw since summer sucks.

[@Richard-do1hb]

It’s a safe place for it

[@ilovecops6255]

FISSIONE PRODUCTS IS WHEN YOU PUT IN ICE INTO CLEAR GLASS OF 7 UP AND THE BUBBLES BEE FIZXZIN A.AK. FIZZION PRODUCTS. I DOSE IT AL THE TIMES.

[@rudyborkovic114]

I was deployed to chalk river as a young Canadian soldier for what was ostensibly a security operation during the late stages of the Cold War. We patrolled the area while wearing dosimeters. At ENDEX we were subjected to contamination screening and were instructed to brush off our boots and launder our clothes thoroughly, the event left me suspicious that we were just lab rats. I'm fairly certain that we weren't in any real danger but I've always wondered. Thanks for the vid!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you for the comment!

[@Idahoguy10157]

Governments used servicemen as guinea pigs? That never happens.. LOL

[@rudyborkovic114]

Squirt Reynolds that is interesting, I couldn't think of a better acronym than CRUD for that material

[@ArchersGearheadGarage]

@Squirt Reynolds this is true! I work there now!- Nru operator

[@Pdro-gw7lu]

Flynnster6767 another one is in the book “Keen as Mustard” where the UK used Aussie soldiers as test targets for Mustard gas and others. It’s a pretty shitty thing

[@allawa]

Woah! As a Canadian who took physics and Chem we learned all about 3 mile Island and Chernoble but we've never heard of this. Great video!

[@walterbrunswick]

And you didn't learn how to spell Chernobyl properly!? Ч-Е-Р-Н-О-Б-Ы-Л-Ь !!

[@timothyterrell1658]

Check out Fermi 1 and 2. They can be in lightning. They keep doing this, and it keeps blowing up in our faces. Once they start one of those things it never ends. That thing in Japan is by no means over. It will not be for a long time to come. It is killing the Pacific ocean . It may kill the whole planet.

[@AdamantLightLP]

@@timothyterrell1658 cheap fuel that could easily replace coal, if we safely use it it's the best way to not have to rely on fossil fuels. It's not going to destroy the planet.

[@mfree80286]

@@timothyterrell1658 You need to think carefully about your information sources.

[@dhardy6654]

@@timothyterrell1658 bullshit.

[@kellyflynnmcmanus8222]

The supervisor "ASSUMED the rods had made their way back to the core". OUTSTANDING!

[@mikeysgametime8914]

Brilliant!

[@EM.1]

Assuming something is the mother of all the fk’ups.

[@Lin-rh6qs]

To be fair, all signs pointed to the rods being back in place. The readings on the valve showed that, the indicators showed that, the only thing he didn't do was make visual confirmation. Not to absolve him of anything, because you should always makes doubly and thriply sure of everything, but it sounded like he was trying to make sure everything was under control first before he could check everything over personally.

[@Attaxalotl]

Assuming that a system actually did what it said it did is sort of the bedrock of civilization.

[@thebonesaw..4634]

I had never heard of this accident before (and I consider myself well versed in them because I used to work in the industry). First off, well done. This was very well researched and presented. Secondly... no... no that's all. Good job and thank you for presenting this.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@kingjames4886]

that's so canadian... we had a nuclear meltdown, no one was hurt, things were handled well... sorry eh. the only way it could be more canadian is if the reactor was cooled with maple syrup.

[@neuralmute]

I'm sure the reactor apologised, and brought in Timbits for all the workers who were inconvenienced.

[@timandshannon03]

Timbits...........lol

[@SusFerrum]

....HE KNOWS THE SECRET! GET HIM

[@madezra64]

@@neuralmute I heard the reactor bought everyone some poutine before it was finally buried. During the burial the core gave a solid thumbs up to the burial team, letting them know "It's okay!"... Manly Canadian tears were shed that day. God speed Canadian Core, God speed...

[@neuralmute]

@@madezra64 I'll bet they play a memorial game of hockey for that core every year on the anniversary of the meltdown, with after-game beer on the winning team, in memory of that decent core. Moosehead on tap, of course.

[@matthewlee8667]

As a Canadian I can testify to the fact that we're still living with the fallout (no pun intended) of this accident. - This incident is the reason why the sasquatch hasn't made contact with us yet.

[@yeah9817]

Matthew Lee orrrrrr this is how the Sasquatch was made

[@matthewlee8667]

@@yeah9817 *sighs* no, I wish. That's the Hulk.

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

Matthew Lee I thought you guys talked with america all the time, donald trump is cheif sasquatch there isnt he???

[@stimproid]

Meanwhile in the US, an orangutan has taken over the White House 😀

[@BoostNovice]

@@stimproid meanwhile your still crying over the election.

[@XZenon]

Hmmm A reactor accident.. during a test.. miscommunication/human error.. the control rods get stuck..... Seems familiar

[@28ebdh3udnav]

*1986*

[@olenilsen4660]

The difference I think is that this one had several redundant and/or sequiential security barriers. Most importantly, if you loose coolant, you also stop the fission process. It wasn´t perfect, but still a lot safer than the RBMK. Also, this was 34 years prior to Chernobyl, and worse still; the russians are still operating 9 of these things.

[@jasonhaynes2952]

​@@olenilsen4660 Russia: Largest Country in the world by total area. Also Russia: Largest Total uninhabitable Area due to nuclear disasters Also Russia: Let's keep these RBMK's going for another 50 years!

[@olenilsen4660]

@@jasonhaynes2952 Spot on!

[@notyouagain7220]

Nuclear is safe asf now

[@taragwendolyn]

For what it's worth, the protocols that came about as a result of this one are the reasons the CANDU reactor exists (one of the safest in the world), and also why they worked on the thorium reactor design. ;) (also, the museum at Chalk River is absolutely worth the visit, if you're ever in the area)

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion, I hope to go Canada one day and this will be on my to do list thank you!

[@bigtinasoup2927]

Mr Meseeks build that reactor?

[@ksisu1324]

The visitor centre was decommissioned in 2002 and converted into a main security centre. I don't think they ever created a new one.

[@joryclouthier]

there is a small house in deep river that was turned Into a museum but not sure it's open to public as it is ran from retired scientists. If you do message me and I can help arrange something

[@ilovecops6255]

CADAU and sold for 1 million canada di dolalrs becaus eit is garbage and NOBODY IN THWIOR ROGHJ TMINDS WANTS CANDU FROME canadas!

[@jimbaerg1100]

My father was working in another building at Chalk River Labs that day. I do remember a few things he told about his experience. He mentioned going home in Deep River & shedding his contaminated clothing at the entrance to the house. The next morning the radiation from the clothing was minimal because it was almost all very short half life stuff. He also mentioned being in the cleanup later. He, and everyone else involved, went in for a *very* short time scrubbed some assigned section of wall & went out. The got a lot of individuals to do this so each one involved got no more than the acceptable dose. Every (western) country that had a nuclear program got involved in the cleanup because they wanted to learn what to do when they had a reactor accident. My father died at age 89 in 2012.

[@Magicpete1]

You have to take my word for this, but my father was the front line supervisor during the rebuild. He was mostly a tool and die maker and generally worked in the machine shop aet Chalk River. His name was Frank Abrams. His brother, Ron Abrams is the operator in the control room who was told by the supervisor to push the control rods in. He had to put down the phone intercom to do so and therefore never heard the supervisor's correction of which valve to close. As dad told me years ago, the USS Nautilus crew, including Jimmy Carter, future President of the USA, were sent to Chalk River, NOT because they had any special expertise (no one at that time did) but precisely because they DID NOT have any experience with such things and Admiral Richoven sent them precisely for that reason.....to gain experience. See article by Peter Jedicke "The NRX INCIDENT.

[@spvillano]

@@Magicpete1 and what experiences that they had! ;) Every new technology has its growing pains, but few had audible growing pains if things went wildly wrong. I'd suggesting asking one of the workers in the reactor building at Chernobyl, but they've been gone for quite some time. Steam explosions are loud. Still, at least in the west, we want our operators to understand reactor theory and what does precisely what. So, if one's reactor got stuck in an xenon pit situation, they recognize it and don't just keep pulling control rods out until the power increases again. We can't say that of Chernobyl, where precisely that happened and once the xenon decayed, the reaction rate spiked and a steam hammer dismantled the reactor. When the xenon pit problem wasn't recognized, they kept pulling control rods until power increased to where they wanted it, but at that level, the xenon was transmutated by the neutron flux, the reactor resumed behaving normally - but with the rods insanely far withdrawn. Amazing what a lot of knowledge can prevent!

[@410cultivar]

Short half life? Lol the shortest half life of all then natural radioactive elements is 22mins. Who knew. They always make it seem like all radioactive elements have super long half lives. Some lab created elements half half life's shorter than a fraction of a second

[@spvillano]

@@410cultivar personally, I prefer to only hang around with radioisotopes with exceptional longevity. I don't like hanging around with short timers that only last for days. ;)

[@davemackinnon6487]

I just found your channel last week and have been randomly working through your amazingly detailed videos. As a former employee of AECL, it was interesting to see some of the histories of the Canadian Nuclear program. I was deployed to Chalk River on two occasions to assist with computer support. Seeing the little village of buildings they had created to mask their efforts from spies during the Manhattan project was, and remains intriguing. I love the comments about the politeness of Canadians. We all thank you!

[@exiamcland8428]

me zoning out until half way through when the maths stops and he starts to make sense in my tiny brain

[@deegythegolden5968]

Good vid. Im an operator at a current nuclear facility, and they constantly drill these accidents into our head for good reason. These men risked their lives to give us something that is much safer now, but most people take for granted.

[@JazzyJoeJohnson]

I swear 50% of your channel is nuclear reactor accidents

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It seems like that at the moment. They seem to be the most popular of my videos, but don't worry I'm doing a video next on an obscure air accident that I reckon you couldn't guess. ;)

[@dracomight]

@@PlainlyDifficult don't tell me that you found out about the time I farted very loudly at a family reunion? Now that was a major accident.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

:D

[@thebonesaw..4634]

@@EEF.GeneralMarkusJKeetz -- To sniff or not to sniff... that is the question.

[@thebonesaw..4634]

@@PlainlyDifficult -- YESSSS!!!! Another of my favorite subjects to watch on KZbin. Air Florida Flight 90 is one of my favorites. The heroism and sacrifice that resulted from that crash still brings me to tears. It was a horrific day, and we watched it on live TV because half the country was sitting at home, watching TV due to the weather. That one's not obscure though... hmmm... if you're sticking with a Canada theme, I'd guess "Air Canada Flight 143 (The Gimli Glider)". It was a bit obscure due to having no fatalities or injuries (awesome story though). Which ever one it is I'm sure it will be great... I can't wait.

[@WarEagle451]

I actually live in Petawawa (about 15 minutes form Chalk), we joke to much about mutations...

[@mafiousbj]

Humour ia sometimes the best way to deal with those things really. One friend from Chile jokes too much about earthquakes every time he sees a girl twerking ^^

[@Grameon]

Noah LeBlanc Same. Whenever there’s a large bang, I’d always joke about wether it was an earthquake, Chalk River, or some military thing.

[@breezy2555]

@@Grameon or all at the same time

[@cyborgrat]

Saw the giant water filter system they have for supplying clean water, those joke might be true.

[@nevaehsmiracleconnieelliot2297]

I wouldn't be here if I didn't have a great sense of humor sometimes it's the only way to cope with @ plainly difficult situations 🙂

[@aceheller11]

As I was watching the start I kept saying "He can't be talking about Chalk, please tell me he isn't talking about Chalk." I grew up in the town next to Chalk River. No one knows about that area unless you know about the plant or you were military. Fun fact, someone accidentally dropped a pencil in one of the canals while on a tour (this was decades ago) and to this day it has never been removed. That pencil is legendary in the area.

[@annehaight9963]

The fact that control rods were pulled out of the reactor as a result of a system failure is the literal opposite of the concept of "failsafe".

[@aditya3127]

Failfail?

[@markae0]

The water that cools it is also removed, is counter intuitive to me.

[@JimmyJamesJ]

Human factors engineering is now a primary consideration in design of man-machine interfaces on reactor systems.

[@notmenotme614]

My employer is into Human Factors... until it costs them money, then they pick and choose when it applies. One example, is them asking why an incident happened on a night shift? And we reply it’s because of inadequate or no lighting. Surprise surprise nothing changes.

[@kodysullivan4581]

Believe it or not, I actually live in Deep River, which is the town 10 minutes west of Chalk River. My father has in fact worked at this nuclear facility for the last 15 years. I have never seen a single KZbin video on someplace so close to home, and I have to say, this is quite an interesting video. Thanks for informing me on a few things even I didn't know about the reactor next door 😂

[@ulpana]

Gotta keep property values high for global investors....

[@chaoticyank5772]

My dad worked as a Nuclear Engineer for 20 years. He began his career with being a Nuc on a submarine in the Navy. It is super interesting hearing his insights when it comes to nuclear disasters, such as Chernobyl. I actually found your channel because he has brought up the SL-1 project and failure. I was amazed, I had never heard of it.

[@jazybomber]

You are so good at explaining these stuff. I have already watched 2 hours worth of content in one sit.

[@mamaboocee]

Wow, I never heard about this one. Reactor accidents frighten me, yet I am oddly fascinated with the subject.

[@deusexaethera]

Nuclear reactor accidents are scary, but it's so much easier to ignore the slow-and-constant environmental damage caused by other power sources -- including solar, which requires mining heavy metals to manufacture the solar panels. In fact, nuclear power has fewer deaths-per-megawatt-hour than any other power source except wind -- even solar power kills more people, mostly from mining accidents and construction accidents. Coal power, of course, is genocidal compared to nuclear power.

[@mamaboocee]

@@deusexaethera which is the worse of all the evils? - the truth is - none of it is all good. The world is grossly overpopulated, and look - now mother nature (I hope its mother nature) has come up with a solution - covid-19. At least that's my opinion. People need to stop and think much more about earth conservation - what they "want" verses what they need (and knowing the difference) - what they buy, how long they keep it and how they recycle/repurpose and how they dispose of everything. There is no one answer. I do think man has no business messing with radioactive anything. But its here, and here to stay. It is doing much good. I hope it is always good, and that we learn how to keep it safe for always. So far, learning how to keep it safe was a "learn as we go" situation. We are still learning the ramifications of what we should not have done. Like I said, I am fascinated by all of it. It used to frighten me. They say to make friends with whatever frightens you, learn about it and its not so frightening. I found this to be true. That - and also, there are just some things you cannot change - like death, taxes, human nature and the past to name a few. Acceptance of some of these things helps. Worrying all the time helps nothing if ALL that happens is worry. 😊

[@deusexaethera]

@@mamaboocee: COVID-19 was introduced into the human population by Chinese scientists studying coronaviruses in bats and not following proper safety protocols to avoid contact with the bats' bodily fluids. Also, COVID-19 is no more dangerous than other coronaviruses; the death toll is actually caused by our own immune systems severely overreacting to a new virus -- the same thing that causes allergic anaphylaxis, actually. No method of power generation is completely safe, but that is an unrealistic expectation anyway. Nothing in the world is completely safe. Nuclear reactors are overbuilt like few other things in the world. There is a nuclear reactor in central Virginia near where I live; there was an earthquake directly under the reactor site in 2012 which damaged buildings hundreds of miles away, but the reactor was completely unaffected.

[@mamaboocee]

@@mcgherkinstudios thanks for your comment. I watched the recent series on Chernobyl which shook me so much, I researched that particular reactor in comparison to what is used today. I know it was one of the worst possible designs ever and what a shame that it happened at all. I know nuclear reactor power plants are relatively safe now, but then you have the earthquake/tsunami that wrecked havoc on the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan - and really, the quick thinking of the engineers really mitigated that disaster from being far worse. The flaws are never found until an unthought of real life situation happens and becomes that one freak accident. I also researched as much as I could about radiation, the effects, the protections, the waste. Although it fascinates me in a horror-struck kind of way, I have come to realize it is what it is. I am not a fan of nuclear power, but the fossil fuels that pollute the earth are not a great alternative, either.

[@towedarray7217]

The book Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey is a good companion piece to this channel. Does a good job explaining how most of these happened, in a bit more detail. I like how this channel handles these and he did a good job with the topic. I’m strangely able to explain to people how some of these happened (in some cases) and it make some of them think I’m some kind of expert. Nope!

[@rwdplz1]

0:43 "Who's that President?" *It's Taft!* "It's Kennedy!" *FFFFUUUUUUUUUU*

[@anne-droid7739]

Hahahaha--Taft! You made my day! =D

[@simonfettig1945]

I love this channel! im so intrigued by these nuclear disasters, not sure why but I've watched numerous documentaries on Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and now thanks to your channel i get more to research! thank you!!

[@jairomendoza238]

Me too . Since I saw the Chernobyl show on hbo I been going down a rabbit hole of nuclear ☢️info and disasters

[@bulgingbattery2050]

There was a fairly serious accident involving an experimental liquid sodium-cooled reactor at Simi valley California in 1959.

[@Baudelier42]

One of the most egregious examples of gross incompetence I've ever seen. They let the reactor slowly meltdown while trying to diagnose the problem. It was two weeks before someone thought to look at the core and realized that a quarter of the fuel rods had melted. But what do you expect from people whose accepted method for disposing of irradiated sodium coolant was to dump it into 50 gallon drums, drop them into a pond and then shoot the drums with a rifle.

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

Santa Susana?

[@sarahamira5732]

Yup

[@rherman9085]

You have great content. I must say, hats off to you for asking to Subscribe after the video instead of before. I Subscribed after watching your first video mainly because of that but also of the content & presentation. Thank you!

[@sarjim4381]

Thanks. I was vaguely aware of this one but it's nice to get some details.

[@mikekelly7862]

I've lived in Ottawa my entire life and though I was very aware of the nuclear reactors in the region including Chalk River, I've never heard this story. Crazy! We have a lot of cool cold war relics; the Diefenbunker, the Gouzenko house... this is a cool bit of history to add to that list. Thanks!

[@1TakoyakiStore]

This doesn't seem like it was a design oversight as this had fail-safes up the wazzu. Just a communication error due to the complexity of the design and a fluke electrical issue that happened at the same time. Glad to hear this was a very mild disaster.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

Yes, and the lessons learned live-on today in our nuclear reactor designs. Ours simply do not trust humans to make correct and timely decisions, so they have a lot of automated safety systems that will trip without any human intervention. It's the kind of thinking that prevents something like Chernobyl.

[@deusexaethera]

A lot like Three Mile Island in that respect.

[@renakunisaki]

@@liesdamnlies3372 which is funny, since this was decades before Chernobyl.

[@holysirsalad]

I wouldn't say design oversight as much as design ignorance or innocence. This is so early in the history of nuclear development - or really any modern industrial systems - that they did not have the benefit of the wealth of experience we all do today. Compared to basically every other work of engineering our species did in that era, this seems pretty good, but you can tell where people stopped asking "what if?" and made assumptions that certain things would behave in certain ways all the time. it was an experiment, after all! Lessons learned were more than reactor design itself! One of CANDU's distinct features is airtight construction and a massive vacuum building intended to suck up any gaseous releases, preventing atmospheric contamination.

[@andrerenault]

I live downriver from the reactor and a lot of people I know work at the plant. It's surprising how little known this bit of history is around here.

[@johnwhitley9209]

When you find yourself needing to put cool water on your annulus-- you're already in trouble

[@ksisu1324]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Good one

[@cats.m.2853]

I know this was due to operator error, but i feel like this is one of few instances where those in charge responded correctly and swiftly to the situation

[@PrayedForYou]

The incompetence of those working there who were responsible is mind boggling lol

[@stripiervirus2863]

You know it’s a good day when plainly uploads a vid

[@PlainlyDifficult]

:D Thank you I hope you enjoyed it!

[@AcornElectron]

Basic but seems factual and relatively informative. Thanks. I’ll be checking out the rest of your videos.

[@DamoBloggs]

Heh, the boy delivers more risky radiation! Keep it up chap!

[@michael3263]

As always a superior channel. Great video. Love the nuclear accident stuff!! 😁😁😁

[@TylerDavis1998]

You should do a video on the tokaimura nuclear accident! Not specifically a reactor but very interesting to say the least!

[@giantfrigginnerd]

oh god i hate myself for almost saying it but FIRSt to say hey man thanks for making this good content :)

[@PlainlyDifficult]

:D Thank you glad you enjoy the channel!

[@Geckobane]

That's a LOT of heavy water. Thanks for this video and especially for your helpful conversions to Imperial units.

[@danm936]

Amazing how many nuclear accident happen. Please keep up the great work.

[@Irobert1115HD]

did you ever see a human that is capable of reasonable thoughts? i havent seen one either.

[@danm936]

@ yes you are correct they even have "walk away" reactors now that will shut themselves down.

[@KayserEin]

Always glad to see there's a new vid from Plainly Diff!

[@joncopley7158]

Your content is so well structured and delivered. I hope you get more recognition for your hard work!

[@ArchersGearheadGarage]

Great job. Very factual. I work there now decommisioning the NRU

[@mafiousbj]

You have no idea how much i appreciate you use the metric system in your narration (and your British accent)! Most english channels use feet and inches which i can barely translate properly. ^^

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you! In Britain we have a strange relationship with distance, I still think in inches we drive in miles, but weigh in stone AND kilos!! Long story short we are confused over here 😁

[@realblakrawb]

There's always conversion calculators to lend a hand. Eventually some things commit to memory...

[@renakunisaki]

Even though I use metric as well, I appreciate that you usually give both units.

[@guyvanarsdall7686]

"Mistakes are made on the weight of affection." - The closing line of the video as interpreted by the closed caption.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

My best quote ever 😬

[@michaelnuss372]

Damned KZbin didn’t push out the notification of this vid. Yes I’m subbed and belled as well

[@oatlord]

I mean....the quality of this amazes me. It's free yet so good. How long did you work on just the script?

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Hey thanks for the comment! It can take sometimes up to 10-12 hours to write a script, however I’m a slow writer and I get distracted very easily 😂😂

[@aghadmtl]

Plainly Difficult good thing you don’t work in a nuclear power plant.

[@syahmikadira6832]

Ah crud,was quite late on this videos so I can't make any "Plainly Nuclear" jokes & Canada jokes.Still,great vid as always PD!

[@chrisladouceur4093]

My grandfather worked at the site in Chalk River, along with many family friends. I’ve heard some ‘interesting’ stories from those days. My grandmother still lives there too. Not many people have ever heard of Chalk River but they’ve definitely done a lot of Nuclear research there for North America back in the days

[@solonsaturngaming3727]

Fun fact one of my friends grandpa used to work there before the meltdown he helped build the reactor, pre-construction and when he heard about the reactor meltdown he was on the road going there and he was told turn around and head back to your position till the Meltdown is delt with

[@dougyates7218]

Everyday, I'm surprised that we are still alive and haven't killed ourselves and most life on Earth.

[@kellyflynnmcmanus8222]

We've still got hundreds of future opportunities to do so.

[@jamesmanson2152]

Daniel Scutt that joke is as dead as he is

[@dougyates7218]

@@jamesmanson2152 Yeah, but it's still funny, and true:).

[@dougyates7218]

@@veritius340 I'm not so sure about that. Who really knows? If an all-out, balls to the wall nuclear War happened where almost all nukes were exploded, it might just be enough to kill all life as the radiation would last for decades if not longer. Perhaps it would seep into deep underground caves that held some life but who knows. Let's hope it doesn't happen soon. Peace.

[@TheTubeLovers]

Everything we make, was from our earth. And it will return to it. Animals and plants will survive long after we disappear from this planet.

[@anne9071]

I’m always amazed at how scientists even come up with this stuff! I really sucked at chemistry in college.

[@alexoftheway8169]

Your vidios about the reactors are fascinating! It would be good to hear your thoughts on other nuclear technologies like liquid metal salt reactors etc.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion I will have to have a look at them

[@thejudgmentalcat]

Another cool, informative video. Thanks!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@shelby3822]

Did the rods apologize for not dropping? 🇨🇦

[@lasennui]

It's this kind of error that I typically avoid by annoying the hell out of my bosses by repeating their orders back to them in different words just to make sure we're clear. I may be annoying, but I've helped clear up a lot of first and second hand misunderstandings caused by misheard orders. Sry not sry, boss.

[@claudiojopiavilches5169]

A new Simply Difficult video = a good day. Keep it up mate

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@pauldavis2108]

My grandfather worked at chalk river from around 1954 2 years after the NRX accident and I beleive he left shortly before the NRU accident. He was a nuclear engineer. He was involved with reactor fueling. I'd love to be able to ask him more details of his time there as well as other reactors in the UK and South Africa he worked on but unfortunately he died in 2000 when I was still a teenager.

[@JanicekTrnecka]

This accident was one of the luckiest, imagine such long and massive power excursion in different reactor design... Usually few orders of magnitude bigger disaster. CANDU reactor design inherent safety is pretty awesome, partly thanks to this accident.

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

Stunning details! I feel I know more than my neighbors now! Great video!

[@chamowmeuh]

love your animation so much :D, make a bit every thing funny but i love it

[@cheesesyrkyer5290]

Thanks for doing this one. I hope this does not discourage nuclear development in Canada.

[@453tye65e65e65e65]

@@DanielScutt yes your right it was meant to stand for Canada do or can do.

[@adamfoster2121]

I lived chalk river for most of my childhood now in pembroke which isnt much better but i remeber learning about this and so much more interesting this still pops up now and then about the nrx

[@antisobriety4201]

Even Canadas nuclear meltdown was polite!!!😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣that's great!!

[@davidp.5598]

Thanks for all you do, PD! Many of your videos are now showing as un-watched by me. I guess I will have to watch them all again! :)

[@Hey_MikeZeroEcho22P]

Thank You for mentioning Former-President Jimmy Carter, who at the time was a 28-y.o. Lieutenant in the Newly-formed USN (nuclear). With a team of 22 other men who were told would never have children and told to work for only 90 seconds in the core to remove it. The team would practice at a tennis court to break-down the reactor core. NOT Only did President Carter help out Canada, with NRX, but also....While Being a US President, helped out in the management of the TMI (Three Mile Island) reactor meltdown............. "That's Two (2), Mr. President." Being a US citizen (sorry), I didn't know about the Canadian partial meltdown, until I was researching President Carter history of helping out in nuclear accidents, strangely I remember TMI but Not about NRX.......JFC!!! Well done 'Plainly Difficult'!!!👍👍👍 Unfort, Former President Jimmy Carter is at home hospice as of 2/23P.

[@ovfree3939]

Currently work at Chalk River. Now know as Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Great video

[@jonnyreverb]

Yay! A new Plainly Difficult video!

[@sillyone52062]

As a lad, I watched "The Heroes of Telemark." I long wondered how heavy water figured in nuclear research. Now I know!

[@GriefRedefined]

5:42 If this accident happens due to one light bulb going out I am going to laugh immensely

[@anywaystohighway]

Always when you hear about nuclear accidents its something like well the valves were hidden in a dark room which was completely soundproofed from the outside and the buttons were not correctly numbered, or some shit like that. Like how shit is everything planned out?

[@dystoryer2222]

dear Plainly Difficult i live in florida about 30 miniutes away from Tampa bay and the city of tampa. recently i have seen a news article of a bridge collapsing from a tanker being caught in a storm hitting a support beam making 100 or so feet of the bridge collapse. luckily for one person out of the many that died his pickup truck fell off the bridge only to bounce off the bow of the boat. he was the only survivor. there was also a bus on the bridge that had plummeted into the water killing everyone onboard. i would like to see a brief history video about this event as its local history to me and i feel as if not many people know or remember. it caused florida to build and widen an entire new bridge aswell as redesign the support system. loving your videos so far its not a nuclear accident but was a tragedy in many peoples eyes including the captain of the tanker who suffered survivors guilt over causing the deaths of dozens of people

[@alexbenavidez4500]

Your ms paint art are stunningly beautiful, I must say. Very lifelike.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you realism is only achieved via this art form

[@ljenk5]

I had never heard of this one, thanks John! 😊

[@johnsmithster9031]

Awesome! Can't believe I've never heard this story before.

[@karstendoerr5378]

Thanks for these explanatory videos. I am very interested in this topic because I myself received radiation protection training from the fire brigade.

[@JUK3MASTER]

you have an amazing channel, keep up the great job

[@Grameon]

Damn, didn’t know that happened there. And yet it’s a less then an hour drive from where I live... I was lucky enough to get a tour of the site a few months ago. Thanks for making a video on this.

[@CJRvideos]

I’ve drove by chalk river a decent amount of times. From memory there’s a nuclear symbol as an advertisement for the town. Crazy stuff

[@DoubleHipoDouble]

So crazy I’d never heard of this before! I’m from the Ottawa area and have been to chalk River on many occasions and a kind of dream job is to work at their nuclear labs that are still there. Had no idea something that close to being catastrophic happened so close to home!

[@johnmorin9304]

I am from there. It wasn't Chalk River that was selected, but an area along the Ottawa River near there. They built their own settlement called Deep River to house workers and the laboratory was part of the town of Deep River. I don't know why they ever called it Chalk River laboratories, other than the access road begins at highway 17 in Chalk River. My family lost their second farm, which was appropriated for the site.

[@beer1for2break3fast4]

My grandparents lost their farm to this site as well. My father was one of the 20 civilians on that clean up crew. I grew up in Chalk.

[@johnyang799]

8:18 this surprised me as a good design at least relatively much better than many other catastrophes.

[@DeusEversor]

Plainly Difficult seems to love Carter :D

[@patamaran]

The NRU, the successor to the nrx, is still operational today, it produces about 1/3 of the worlds medical isotopes for cancer treatment, and still operates as a research reactor. Chalk river is still a pretty cool place.

[@Vranabg]

NRU was shut down in 2018

[@patamaran]

@@Vranabg oh, i wasnt aware it had been shutdown permanently, i thought it was for repairs. good to know, i havent been there in a few years.

[@spencerleava2502]

I have to say, your map at the start really made me lol. I didn't remember the time we lost southern Ontario the the Americans and then annexed most of New England XD

[@anthonyjackson280]

I realize this is an old post but all the comments about "reactor meltdowns" in no manner apply in this case. It did not melt down, nor even close to melting down. The ultimate safety feature of being able to dump the primary coolant and stopping reactions dead prevented it. A feature of commercial CANDU reactors thereafter. The main reason heavy water moderation is not more common is the cost of refining the water. In this regard Canada has an advantage as the cold northern lakes we have provide natural heavy water distillation.

[@gorillaau]

No wonder Jimmy Carter felt reasonably comfortable walking into Three Mile Island meltdown. This was very similar.

[@dmf41]

Wonderful description of the accident upriver from where I live.

[@kimhohlmayer7018]

What piece of music was used at the beginning? I want to add that to my play list. Seriously. Thank you.

[@tpxchallenger]

Well done! Like many Canadians Ive never heard of this event before. All I heard was that Chalk river produced medical isotopes for decades, as well as being the basic design of the CANDU reactors. As India demonstrated simply put in natural Uranium and get out plutonium and tritium. Smiling Buddha.

[@CHEVYK10]

It's surprising how fast the reactor can get out of control.

[@tpxchallenger]

Yes, if I'm got the times right it went from 1 megawatt to 80 megawatts in a minute.

[@davidgray7893]

Sir, you may have already covered this incident but it is worth pointing out. During a tour of the old Clarksville Air Force Base we were told about a radiation accident either in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. Apparently a driver hauling a radioactive test stopped at a local hamburger stand. During the time the driver was away the “test” started to produce a gas due to the air temperature. The lid on the test barrel blew off. This was due to the gas pressure. Radioactive material was strewn about the parking lot. I would enjoy hearing about what really happened in Clarksville, TN. Thank you!

[@FFEMTB08]

Very cool. I had no idea of this, nor did I know Jimmy Carter was involved in the clean up with the US Navy.

[@abbeyjane1306]

Jimmy Carter worked for Hyman Rickover

[@DavidL-ii7yn]

Great public tours used to be conducted there in the 1980s. I've personally walked on top either the NRU or NRX reactor face.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Why wouldn’t a reactor in Canada be a good idea? Everyone knows Canada has great fission! Sorry...

[@fpcooper95]

I’m gonna tell my dad this joke

[@lukeakarobertlaux536]

WHY WASN‘T THIS IN MY SUB BOX IM 22HOURS LATE :C (i have the bell on and it didnt show up i checked now it aint there)

[@PlainlyDifficult]

That’s annoying glad you found it tho!

[@Thes4LT]

NRX meltdown? Is that what happens when Mencius Moldbug gets mad?

[@ElegantJames]

I only recently learned of this, I found out Chalk River had a radiation leak in 2007 and again in 2007 but I never heard of it

[@SlothfulSins]

I was born and raised in Chalk River. It's still a major place of employment and one of the only locations in the world producing medical isotopes for cancer research. I believe the NRU is slated to be decommissioned in the coming years, if it hasn't already started.