Here's what it looks like inside a nuclear power plant

Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario is one of the largest nuclear power stations in the world. CBC's Mike Crawley got a rare tour of the plant, which is off-limits to the general public.
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[@vn8162]

Engineering is absolutely beautiful

[@viaxxl]

Engineering is awesome!!!

[@Alex_Plante]

I visited Pickering back in the 90s. Even though it's much smaller than Bruce, it's still very impressive.

[@CarciaBlueSky]

That is a cool,story!

[@christopherleubner6633]

That body scanner uses a mix of argon and methane to detect radiation, sorta like a very large geiger counter tube but the gas slowly flows through it. They are very sensitive especially for beta and alpha contamination ❤

[@Zxarr]

When I was a kid, my father worked a a Draftsman at Ontario Hydro. I never saw Pickering, but Darlington was of similar design. Before Darlington was completed, all the families got a picnic and a tour. I remember seeing the 'core' and so wanted it to look space-age and cool... instead it was just a bunch of tube caps. I also remember the coolant pool well before it was filled with water. I remember seeing a soccer ball at the bottom of the pool, but memories are a funny thing, so it may not be true, just one of those weird little child-like fantasies. I mean, you'd never lose the ball!

[@SpikeyTech]

Nuclear (fission) energy isn't perfect, but it's what we need in the meantime while we continue to research fusion energy. "Don't let perfection be the enemy of good", and nuclear is leagues better and safer than coal (don't forget, coal is radioactive too and pollutes a LOT).

[@johnjones5354]

Cheap fusion energy is only 10 years away, just like it has been for the last 50 years.

[@thomasmcnicholas8656]

Why skip over natural gas…… not many coal fires left to be honest …… Nuclear is expensive, it’s not 100% safe nor clean nor is it that economical as many think

[@renj6531]

3:00 looks like the control room of the starship enterprise except its not a prop

[@Jeff-lf4hy]

Excellent work

[@Kyleigh-Hughes]

Okay but where is the safety technician working in sector 7-G? I wanted some input from that particular individual.

[@MaverickBlue42]

I don't understand why people are so against building modern nuclear plants that are 3 times safer than these ancient 1960's plants, with their refurbished 1980's computer systems....

[@missano3856]

CANDU's have been tremendous reactors, maybe the best. There is no problem building more reactors of this basic design.

[@MaverickBlue42]

@@missano3856 Or, we could be building thorium reactors which produce far less nuclear waste, and have even less risk of nuclear meltdown...

[@duckking404]

So true, these are a piece of art. People probably dislike it because it has “nuclear” in it, with things such as nuclear waste which are much more better contained than before

[@paulanderson7796]

@@MaverickBlue42 Whist I agree, there are other issues associated with the thorium fuel cycle. Historically has that been adopted first we'd have stuck with it. Both cycles have their own merits and demerits.

[@paulanderson7796]

@@duckking404 They don't create that much waste at all. There is a fortune being made from the "management" of reactor "waste". Governments are wrapped up in the same thing. Money money money

[@crabbyhayes1076]

I worked for one of the equipment and service vendors at the Pickering station back in the 90s for several years, prior to returning to the US. It wasn't unusual to attend back-to-back meetings at Units at opposite ends of the station. That effort would require about a half-mile walk and several scans along the way. Boy, did I lose weight. It was great working with the Ontario Hydro people - although I can't say I miss the winters.

[@SEParksProjects]

I've been there to the Pickering nuclear powerplant, not inside, but I still got a good view of it. even though there was a incident on December 10, 1994 and there was a loss of coolant, it's save to say that it's super dooper safe today and it has been safe for decades now.

[@vandavis000]

Wow. Thanks for showing us how yall make our lives easier with power. You rock❤

[@ronblack7870]

i was in there in 1982 when i had a summer job in the engineering dept at ontario hydro. i worked for 2 engineers and we did an inspection there to see how the new units were progressing. i think unit 6 or 7 is where i was. it was under construction . i remember having to put on tyvek booties and then walking out on top of the reactor where the control rods were . i couldn't tell you what the purpose of the tour was. also remember a pipefitter was covering some pipes with lead pipe split in half about 1 inch thick. he would cover it then solder the 2 halves together.

[@setituptoblowitup]

🐂💩 a solder isn't A Weld complete ant total lack of fusion⚛️💯

[@R7Romeo]

Thats wild. But that was a fantastic walk thru of your facility.

[@littlesquirtthefireengine5478]

I was always wondering what the turbine looked like. I had no idea! Great video.

[@runswithscissors1570]

You know what’s wild to think about, a lot of these technologies were discovered in the last

[@Dasycottus]

Nuclear power is amazing. I wish people weren't so scared of it. It's absolutely fabulous

[@haroldfarthington7492]

the fossil fuel industry has to keep it from growing too powerful

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

Yeah, all those people who moved out of Pripyat? What were they thinking? And Fukushima, I mean seriously, it's just ionizing radiation, right?

[@stuckinmud00]

Good and bad to everything. Aside from the obvious, the only big issue still pressing is long term storage of depleted fuel. Once they have fusion figured out, it’ll be way better

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

@@stuckinmud00 There are plenty of other big issues with fission. Mining, refining, and manufacturing nuclear fuel has had disastrous effects of people, and ecosystems, for example.

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

@@stuckinmud00 I wish we could stop wasting trillions trying to prop up fission, it is a failed technology. We need to be funding fusion, it has been grossly underfunded for decades.

[@ShooterMcNut]

Really refreshing to see such care taken, I realize why, but it seems like maintenance and taking care of equipment and staff have taken a backseat to profits across industries.

[@techcafe0]

i was hoping for a more extensive tour of the power plant, it was just starting to get interesting.

[@BerlietGBC]

There is a full movie of a Indian CANDU it’s very interesting

[@nagasako7]

I'm American, but read about Canadian CANDU reactors and how stable they are. Canada should make it national priority to use NPPs over fossil fuels. And bonus, export electricity to lower 48 U States.

[@JonathanFisherS]

This is truly the only clean unlimited energy source! Imagine greenhouses that could heat and cool themselves in any place on the earth or unlimited water desalination!

[@xXYannuschXx]

"This is truly the only clean unlimited energy source!" 1. We have a VERY finite amount of fissile material that can be used for nuclear fission reactors on this planet. 2. Its still the most expensive source of energy we have, especially with modern safety standards. We either find a way to have cheap fusion reactors (where we have thousands of years of fuel on our planet) or we need to continue to expand renewables.

[@kneckebrod5721]

⁠@@xXYannuschXxusing nuclear reprocessing and breeder reactors we have a very long-term fuel source, possibly thousands of years. historically nuclear power has been as cheap or cheaper than coal, but only now that construction is getting more expensive due to the global economic downturn is the price climbing higher. this is still only an initial cost

[@cannack]

@@xXYannuschXx fusion is the future yes, and the recent advances with tokomaks has cemented my belief in that. Thing is, its still EASILY 20, likely 30-50 years until it is a significant, widespread reality. these machines require much greater auxiliary infrastructure. And fuel is not running low, Canada sits on a radioisotope goldmine. CANDU runs straight natural uranium (99.3% u 233), a max load they`ll swap out 5500 fuel bundles per year, 1100 pellets each about 20 grams, like 120 tonnes of oxide per year. estimates of U208 reserves alone exceed 700,000 metric tonnes CANDU and other reactors also produce the tritium fusion reactors NEED to function. Fusion is coming for sure, but safe nuclear is viable now, and arguably necessary less we discover a biblical deposit of tritium.

[@ThatJay283]

exactly. gen 4+ reactor designs producing their own fissile materials will be huge. all of that valuable energy still locked up in dry cask storage will be repurposed and actually useful again for so much longer.

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

Ask the people of Fukushima and Chernobyl how clean it is, or perhaps the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the environmental disasters of uranium mining, or Plutonium reprocessing?

[@ericm1430]

a CBC video without comments disabled, thats different.

[@CarciaBlueSky]

That is what I would imagine!

[@robertedwards7695]

Amazing! What was that switch for? No not that one. Yes that one.😮 .

[@yooper8778]

Bravo!

[@rollingthunderinho]

Canada has world class nuclear tech and safety. As a result Ontario has an 90% emission free grid! We must continue to support nuclear to prevent climate change.

[@patjohnston4047]

I wonder how often the plant has to do a full blown sq meter survey.

[@wolfcatsden]

I wish someone would find footage of inside Douglas Point as its going to be gone soon as they are decommissioning it. being the first and start of it all for the bruce site it would be nice for history a record of it

[@ghostmasterson5446]

Nice video! Passed my 2nd class power engineer's exam in October. 🎉😂 👍

[@ShivakumarNagaraja-sy9xw]

Hatsoff

[@afzaalahmad547]

Fascinating

People come from all over the world to study the Canadian nuclear program as it's efficiency and safety record is second to none.....

[@user-io4cq2ks5r]

Surprised they let you into the Control Room of an active reactor and not a Simulator Control room.

[@robsyoutube]

Especially showing off how much windows is in place of dumb terminals. You could see a number of icons on the screen as well for anyone scouting out for end of life software if they are planning a cyber attack. Really risky.

[@jamespowell7302]

@@robsyoutube Hard to beat an air gap for security...

[@robsyoutube]

Stuxnet sure did, so did flame. All because their adversary knew what hardware and software to expect from a very foolishly proud Iranian government. @@jamespowell7302

[@therandomytchannel4318]

I visited a natural gas power station and the turbine hall was so loud, we wore ear protection in there, but it sure was interesting, at the time 🙂

[@legitbeans9078]

cool

[@CawfeeGasBlast]

Is that guy in the yellow suit named Darth Vader...from the planet Vulcan ?

[@tonyjabrony7025]

The real unsung heros are those who pick up materials for the lab

[@stonedeprado8101]

What job title would that be

[@christopherleubner6633]

Yup getting samples of the gas emissions, primary and secondary loop boiler water in order to detect problems very early on. ❤

[@patjohnston4047]

​@@christopherleubner6633Ever changed out the filters from the reactor core while all your body alarms are going off and your supervisor tells you to keep going? 😂

[@christopherleubner6633]

@patjohnston4047 yup when they start beeping is a bit scary, but they do tell the rate and have a timer to let you know how long you have to medium rare.🤪

[@placeholdername0000]

Recomission unit 2 and 3!

[@frostystoneman3273]

So cool

[@dylanc9174]

Yes, now build more.

[@BioPhys92]

Cool vid, but where was Homer?

[@steelcityspeedshopj.r6942]

What a job ❤

[@rafaelnerymendonca]

how about make nuclear fucion with sounds wave like direnet frequency

[@rickyandersson5203]

Very disturbing background music though.

[@thomasmcnicholas8656]

A huge issue in this country is the age of our reactor fleet……. Vogtle in Georgia is the newest an 1114 megawatt reactor…..and youngest of the nations fleet I believe

[@RobbertsTravelGuides]

Nuclear Energy is so damn facinating. Sure it leaves a negative taste on the mouth when you think of accidents. but it can be so damn amazing and beautiful and for its time its absolutely still high tech!

[@kenholt3859]

If Chernobyl's any guide, it leaves a metallic taste in your mouth ;)

[@420sakura1]

@@kenholt3859that was a special case. And we iearnrd from it and put safety to not let it happen again.

[@antonis476]

​@@kenholt3859good joke, not great not terrible

[@Lee2k4]

So was it figured out that this energy could be harnessed to make electricity first or to make a bomb?

[@elgoog7830]

Why they store those turbine shafts like that? A crankshaft from a diesel or gasoline engine, needs to be stored standing straight up and down. Gravity will make it bend in the middle. Or am I missing something?

[@stuckinmud00]

They’re usually on stands that keep them continuously rotating at a very low speed to prevent sagging. These ones don’t appear to be, and I’m not sure why. Possibly just very short term storage before they’re moved out for refurbishment

[@cotyreed047360]

That duty shift managers hair!!!😂

[@just_some_internet_guy]

A great friend to me, Lorne Haacke, once worked there. Anyone know him?

[@davidfalconer8913]

Atomic energy establishments are quite awesome to work in ! ( AEA , near Didcot , UK ) ...... DAVE™🛑

[@timpies6592]

Interesting fact; the Union Flag at 3:26 is upside down.

[@CawfeeGasBlast]

No large sign stating 'DONT BE A HOMER !' ???

[@setituptoblowitup]

Yes that's cool I want to see the molaculs come apart⚛️👾

[@stickynorth]

CANDU reactors are truly the best designed and most durable type of nuclear power program that exists and if this country truly wants to get itself off fossil fuels it would reinvest heavily in this program... Refurbish all the existing reactors and open new ones using the CANDU Monark 1000 design... Each reactor can produce 1 GW of baseload power which is awesome in its size and scope... I urge the federal and provincial governments to not only work together on this but also to sell these reactors to places like the USA which need new clean power sources and ways to get ride of their nuclear waste stockpile... Something CANDU reactors can do quite well!

[@gus91340]

Engineering Marvel!👏🏻

[@Dirtydollars020]

I’m a boiler operator trying to figure out how to get involved in this

[@stuckinmud00]

Just wait for a posting. They occasionally look for nuclear operators. Thats where you start. Few years of training and you can work your way up to an ANO (authorized nuclear operator) who is in the control room directly looking after a unit.

[@wythetrumpet6419]

This is the intelligent future of electric power generation. While there will still be some hydroelectric power. As coal and natural gas go off line they simply cannot be replaced by solar and wind. Nuclear is where its at!!!

[@yugc7395]

Back room?

[@shankarbalakrishnan2360]

Stainless steel and uranium work well together❤❤🎉🎉

[@seanrrichards]

Show MORE!!!!

[@HamidA-to8vy]

The control room still analog and does not have any cams

[@xiv3r]

Interesting

[@user-dx6dt4vm6w]

Never forget about safety. Use Softgle Comfort

[@josetteandres]

Terrifying to think what would happen if something bad happened there considering how big the place is

[@StockMalthiel]

So here is where Hulk, Dr Manhattan and Captain américa were created

[@Greysquirrel98]

Imagine discovering how to split the ATOM, the very thing that holds the universe together, and using it to boil water.

[@adamk203]

Coincidentally, water just so happens to be one of the best possible working fluids out there, and it's available to us in abundance.

[@haroldfarthington7492]

Nearly every power source in history

[@NoTraceOfSense]

best way to generate electricity is with a generator best way to turn a generator is with a steam turbine best way to make steam is nuclear energy

[@Pfromm007]

Water is known as the universal solvent for good reason. The fact that it can act as effective shielding while at the same time facilitating a controlled and sustained fission reaction makes it the best possible moderator.

[@jonnyirvine8716]

Jezz I’d find it pretty boring in the control room just sitting looking at buttons & leds for hours

[@jamesdelcol3701]

I think we can do a lot with miniature nuclear technology. This is going to be great. We can do great things with the smaller reactors. There are prototypes being developed. And they aren't as dangerous. Not to stop the big ones from being built better, safer by fixing existing reactors and advancing the technology. They can make this very economical. Electric cars, high speed rails and nuclear energy maybe what we do reducing the need for so much fossil fuels from use. We can drop the usage down or change how we refine it. They are working with all the data. I think we are close to a revolution with nuclear technology that may add to our power grid in a big way. And I believe they are one discovery away from this being something that fills our power grids nationwide. All kinds of other technology will advance. I hope I live long enough to see what is going to happen. Fascinating! Hydro tech, wind tech, solar tech, nuclear tech. Computer AI tech can be designed to warn people and offer information in real-time to fix all problems with a nuclear reactor. AI will not take jobs here, it will solve complex problems and assist technicians so that it is never dangerous. It can be built so that it is never dangerous with AI integral to the system to monitor every mechanical process. It is going to be the safest and cleanest energy source in the future. We need it.

[@cher4500]

What if they are exposed and they were sent to there doctor's etc. Could raidation be on anything they carry home also? If they never would tell them what there radiation levels was. Why would they not?

[@stuckinmud00]

You get exposed daily, but extremely low levels and you wear dosimetry gear to keep a close count on your intake both total and rate. It’s damn near impossible to take anything radioactive home. You stand in so many monitors both on the way in and the way out of the building that are so sensitive that radon will set them off. I’ve been stuck waiting for radiation protection to come check me out from setting off the monitors just from being rained on outside a bit. The rain will alarm for radon. They’re wildly sensitive and accurate.

[@codyshadzik1179]

What happens if the power goes out there

[@FridayNightFilmsCA]

There's a video form the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on KZbin that discribes a station blackout situation. Basically the reactor will shut down, and because of the passive designs of CANDU it will basically just chill out. Worse case they have to use fire trucks to keep the massive pool of water the reactor sits in full but do to the volume of water it will take a long time and natural circulation of the pool will it cool for a reasonably long time. The downside of this design is it's pretty expensive but it's pretty genius thinking. "CNSC total station backout"

[@derpymcderpello5381]

Diesel generators keep the pumps running for any

[@romer-cd4il]

The sites I’ve seen have had multiple redundant off site power sources, then twice as many permanently installed emergency diesel generators as needed with fuel to run for days at full load, then several portable diesel generators stored in separate buildings on site just in case the permanent ones get damaged. Then there are also large battery banks for the most critical components necessary to cool the reactor. Finally, there are multiple facilities in the country that keep emergency generators and other equipment on hand constantly ready to be airlifted to any nuclear site suffering a major disaster.

[@PraveenSen-nt2ez]

0:14 0:17 ❤ 0:27 0:27

[@Henrik.S8]

Now I know who Ronny Pickering is

[@muhammadawisabdshahadan1117]

Boleh cuba nuclear di Indonesia/sabah/sarawak kesannya👍🎉🥳

[@andubyanduby2604]

Why are reactor 6 and 8 such similar colors? Seems like that could lead to a mistake

[@ependergrass]

I noticed that too, and right after mentioning unit 5 was pink to avoid errors 😂

[@mikestiglic1880]

Best job I ever had, I miss working there

[@belabedmyr]

average salary?

[@zeke5491]

I thought there would be more donuts😅

[@randomrazr]

thumbnail looked like backrooms video

[@phalanx9005]

Nuclear power is genuinely the way forward. The phasing out of fossil fuels and replacement of it with nuclear and renewables should be the world's priority.

[@caseyblair2341]

3.6 roentgen: not great, not terrible

[@rastyrebwar784]

The control room looks like 80s

[@andyfeimsternfei8408]

1980s (mostly 50s) control technology still used because the antinuke people won't let the industry modernize. They are responsible for almost all nuclear accidents.

[@augurseer]

how a proper reactor runs

[@azmrblack]

Nuclear power is going to be one of the necessary things in the future - we can't generate enough electricity using natural methods like wind, water and solar Your only option left without carbon pollution is Nuclear, and with more and more electrical demand, well...

[@haroldfarthington7492]

Common sense yeah

[@mijarulhak2040]

Good

[@antf334]

Bro who hired the Gta prison guard as voice fr 0:29

[@user-tc3fd7nc2k]

Does uranium come from Uranus!

[@firedogman2280]

Btw, not every plant is like this, some plants allow you to see the reactor, while others don't. It's a design thing

[@seanb658]

lmao, an off the shelf schlage lock for their control room. wow.

[@jorgeraymason]

These guys work for the Lethal Company

[@rationalmkr1467]

There should be college or university providing this type of knowledge informing nuclear program, build a university

[@mikedevo363]

i would start pushing buttons and pretend on was on the star ship enterprise. warp speed.

[@ronatola]

So each reactor has a colour scheme to help identify it and it's workers. And someone decided to give 2 of them the colours 'Yellow' and Yellow-ish'? 🤦‍♂🤷

[@dtrain-uwu]

Seeing all this fancy tech and equipment make me realize how dumb I am

[@WassermeloneCat]

Isn't so complicated. Just boiling water using uranium. Or thorium

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

And the whole world like my country Argentina 🇦🇷

[@aleksanderkuncwicz7277]

I think its for going to space to nuclear energy.

[@GenericUsername00172]

The moment you upgrade to digital problems will likely arise

[@streetDAOC]

An RBMK reactor can’t explode

[@alexmaccity]

that "digital control system" is called S.C.A.D.A.

[@jakenielsen88]

I didn't see graphite

[@Porag98-sb7em]

Please give me chemical work in power plant

[@serialseatsniffer5610]

What are we talking aboot today😊