Chernobyl Episode 5 "Vichnaya Pamyat" Season Finale REACTION!

This entire series was INCREDIBLE! This was by far our favorite episode. Thank you all so much for watching this with us, it has been a wonderful journey!
This video is for commentary and criticism only and is not a replacement for watching Chernobyl, the full episode is available on HBO
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"Everything is about people. Everything in this life that’s worth a damn." -Eastman (The Walking Dead)
"I have spent my whole life scared, frightened of things that could happen, might happen, might not happen, 50-years I spent like that. Finding myself awake at three in the morning. But you know what? Ever since my diagnosis, I sleep just fine. What I came to realize is that fear, that’s the worst of it. That’s the real enemy. So, get up, get out in the real world and you kick that bastard as hard you can right in the teeth." -Walter White (Breaking Bad)
#doscavazos

[@DosCavazos]

*Sorry about the audio at the end, we had to re-upload due to copyright issues. We think there was a glitch and the new upload somehow got that part muted as well considering the audio is fine in our edited version, we have deleted the previous video so hopefully this will correct itself soon. If the audio is still out on that part, then will include it in the separate video of the reaction to the short documentary at the end of the episode. That video should be posted in a day or two. Thank you!*

[@cromwellthesynth]

If you edit the video so the music part is muted and reupload it should work fine KZbin's copyright protection for music is just broken like that, not smart enough to depict music and voices

[@adelardj7026]

Please do more Rick and Morty, your reaction to the first episode was great and it's only gets better

[@user-nq7rd8lg3k]

In Ukraine, the mortality rate among these brave people increased from 3.5 to 17.5 deaths per 1000 people from 1988 to 2012. Disability among liquidators has also increased. In 1988, 68% of them were considered healthy, and after 26 years, only 5.5% were still healthy. It was reported that the majority - 63% - suffered from cardiovascular diseases, 13% had problems with the nervous system. In Belarus, 40,049 liquidators with cancer were registered by 2008, another 2,833 from Russia.

[@Cassxowary]

*No worries(: and btw she had her son with a friend of her and her husband because she wanted and needed it and he could give her that but they remained friends and she moved out to the countryside because she got tired of all the attention from this, she just wants to be left in peace*

[@Cassxowary]

And I lived in a country nearby until 1990 and grew up taking iodine pills... my friend’s brother was born blind but healthy otherwise thank God...

[@robinhood5627]

fun fact all the "music" in the show is composed of sounds recorded from Ignalina RBMK reactor which adds to the eerie feel to the show.

[@azazello1784]

that's not fun.. that's depressing

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

Brilliant though

[@valkkyrr]

Thats crazy

[@JoshSweetvale]

"The pipes will be jumping..."

[@tawogtrailers]

Not all the music, but sounds and effects were recorded from the decommissioned plant. The alarms were activated in test mode and recorded to use as the alarm sound effects.

[@samporter7018]

"In memory of those who suffered and sacrificed" that right there hit me to my very core it's so sad what happened to everyone involved this is one of the most important shows I've ever watched

[@shinHis3]

@hammertapping Which part is lies? Can't show = you're the one doing the propaganda mate... I tend to err against the USSR because there was no free press in USSR. It makes sense. If this happened in the US you would've heard about it real quick. I mean they even report on nothingburgers and claim news now. Free press has its drawbacks, but it's still better than state-controlled press for this reason - real news competing with fake news is better than news only on things the state allows. Conflicting information > no information.

[@shinHis3]

@hammertapping I just skimmed through customer reviews of Midnight in Chernobyl and they contradict what you say. I'd rather trust multiple public reviews from people who have no reason to be lying over you. Here's one quote. "Secrecy and falsehoods by the USSR are evident throughout the account." There are many more like that throughout the reviews. It really looks like you're honoring the USSR's tradition of secrecy and falsehood.

[@shinHis3]

@hammertapping I deleted my previous reply because I only saw the first paragraph when I responded to you in that reply. (I didn't click read more). I'm reading your full comment now.

[@shinHis3]

Why else do you think I go to the reviews for? I've got no time to read a book just to answer a question that's why. Geez. Wtf you mean I sink so low? I don't have time to read a book I'm gonna look at the synopsis or reviews of it. What's the false overarching narrative if it wasn't that the USSR was a state full of secrets and falsehoods then? Wasn't that what you're complaining about? You keep throwing around "false overarching narrative" and keep defending "the state", yet you're not saying they're not full of secrets and falsehoods? Just answer this simple question to get started: what's the propagandist lie?

[@shinHis3]

@hammertapping "False overarching narrative" is *not* the same as "false details". You can have different details and still have the same overarching narrative. The narrative of the show is "the cover-up/lies of the state allowed/indirectly caused the tragedy of Chernobyl". Tell me how that is wrong. Is it only corrupt/incompetent individuals and not the state that is to blame? Because these reviews I keep reading tell me otherwise. Tell me they're lying. 1. "The story also tells us something about how politicians and officials [of the USSR] struggled to manage - even deny - the truth, but the scale of the disaster escaped them." 2. "...he [the author] described the inhumane nature of the soviet regime," 3. It's also a crushing condemnation of the Soviet State, and Russian culture as a whole. 4. A case study in institutional rot, human heroism, and the failure of the Soviet system. The narrative is similar to the series. If you don't understand the difference between *big picture (narrative)* vs *small picture (details),* I don't know what else to say. If that many reviews say similar things, you'd think they're correct no? But of course not. Those people don't know how to read. Only Mr. hammertapping knows what the book's narrative is really about. Tell me you didn't understand what narrative means.

[@HateMachinist]

Episode 1: "How does an RBMK reactor explode?" Episode 5: "This is how an RBMK reactor explode; Lies."

[@countingtls]

In Legasov's own word he thought it was more about the system failure (staffs and designs) and structure issue of the (Soviet) nuclear industry at the time, its ambitions and finally the economic cost. Below are the original words transcribed and translated near the end of his memoir recordings. "And here the fateful mistake was made, from which, specifically, Chernobyl began. What was this fateful mistake? The world accepts the normal standard of safety for any dangerous industry including nuclear power stations. This standard consists of three elements. One, make the reactor maximally reliable. Two, make the operation maximally reliable; trained staff, good discipline, easy-to-operate equipment, etc. And strive for maximum reliability everywhere. But, since the world understands that “maximally” does not mean 100 percent and that there is always a chance of a technical component failing, even the most reliable one, or of a person doing something, by malice or ignorance or by accident, the third element is introduced. Three, all this dangerous industry with a maximally safe reactor, maximally safe operation, must compulsorily be encapsulated; enclosed in a containment as it is called in the West, placed under a cupola as we call it. So, if something, having a low probability but still, suddenly happens, it will remain limited to the area of the reactor itself. All the troubles will be restricted to the area. And the main criminals... Of course. those who have already been convicted at Chernobyl are criminals because they committed unthinkable actions and they were convicted absolutely legally. Now the investigation, additional investigation is underway and, I think, will probably judge the designers of the RBMK reactor-at least they should be judged in my opinion-who made at least three grave mistakes in the design of this reactor. Grave mistakes. And perhaps they should bear criminal responsibility for it. This is my point of view but I don’t know how this will turn out. But the main criminals are those leaders of energy in the 60s who despite the opinion of experts, and Soviet experts … Say, at our institute, there is corresponding member Sidorenko Viktor Alekseyevich; he is now the Deputy Chairman of Gosatomenergonadzor. He wrote a doctoral dissertation and later published a book at approximately that time, in which he proved the impossibility of having nuclear stations without containments, no matter the type, VVER or RBMK; that it was dangerous and criminal. But, as they say, they spat on him from the big bell tower [a Russian proverb that means to not care] because this made each station approximately 25-30 percent more expensive. And since Gosplan strictly specified the funding for nuclear energy, this would mean 20-30 percent fewer nuclear power plants would be built in a given time. "

[@MDelorean]

@@countingtls Very interesting! Thanks for posting.

[@shinHis3]

@@countingtls Thanks. Can I steal this?

[@countingtls]

@@shinHis3 You can find the online translated version here, it is now translated to tape 5-a legasovtapetranslation.blogspot.com/ The transcribed version with the original Russian can be found here if you can read Russian or want to help with the translation pseudology.org/razbory/Legasov/00.htm You can find pieced together recording, someone made one on youtube, from various documentaries and sources, I haven't found the complete sources with all the contents yet, from the Russian transcriptions it looks like some parts are already missing at the time of the transcriptions. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6iyoYh9nK2jr8U

[@lazyidiotofthemonth]

They actually showed a catastrophic steam rupture, the reactor did not explode due to fission, so no. Not a Nuclear bomb. Just a massively overpressured Reactor Vessel and an ensuing fire.

[@baynenothos]

The writer has a podcast for each episode that dives deeper into what's happening in that episode and it's very much worth a listen.

[@MDelorean]

Couldn't agree more!

[@laurenwoods4199]

Where can I listen to this podcast?

[@baynenothos]

@@laurenwoods4199 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIbIeYN5jtmKj7M

[@laurenwoods4199]

@@baynenothos Thank you!

[@neddyladdy]

It would be nice to know where!

[@palmarisetplantaris]

When this happend i was 10 years old ( West Germany) and remember it very well. It was all over the News in Germany and we kids were not allowed to play in our garden or go into the woods, especially when it was raining. We were not allowed to eat the fruits and vegetables from our garden or eat mushrooms. I was confused because you could not see, smell anything. All the adults were very srict with it. The accident happend in April and a few weeks later I found many mutated dandelions and other mutated flowers. It was very scary as a kid. To this day there are still areas and wild animals with higher radiation in Germany. Sorry for my english.....

[@mariosvos7323]

Exactly the same down here in Greece. These restrictions lasted one year. I was in primary school back then

[@PrinsPrygel]

Still to this day hunters in Sweden, in areas affected the most by fall-out, have to carry Geiger counters to check the radiation levels of the animals they fell to make sure it is safe. A lot of animals they fell, especially wild boars, have radiation levels 10-20 times the "safe" limit and the bodies have to be destroyed. As a teen when this happened I lived in the northern part of Sweden. I used to make a fair bit of money foraging for wild blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, chanterells, porcini, etc and selling to producers. After the fact we were forbidden to do so. I guess a little late for me, I've fought off cancer twice in my life, so far :/

[@TheSmittenman]

The same applies to areas in the UK still

[@CarrionCrow993]

@@TheSmittenman seriously?! Where?

[@timdottillis0420]

Your English is very good; much better than my German.

[@Dinkdownn]

Chernobyl is one of the best tv series I’ve ever seen. It was nice to “watch” it again through your reactions. Ep5 is my favorite, for obvious reasons. The way it’s filmed, the answers we get, the explanations and lies that get uncovered. It’s pretty masterful. 💜

[@deanhibler3117]

Dyatlov was actually a very smart man. He was admitted at the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute where he graduated in 1959 with honors. Chernobyl was not Dyatlov's first nuclear disaster, he had actually been in another one years earlier, when he was a nuclear engineer at a naval base that fitted reactors into Subs. . He received a pretty steep dose of radiation, a dose that theoretically could have killed him there but it didn't, the guy was tough, but his son died about a year later of leukemia, and there was an implication that whatever contamination Dyatlov experienced, he may have brought home with him and it may have impacted his son's health. Many have said that he fought his own internal struggle against the atom and wanted to master it for what it had done to his family.

[@deanhibler3117]

@@jazzycat8917 Well that may well be, however I suggest anyone interested in the subject read the excellent Midnight in Chernobyl: the untold story of the worlds greatest nuclear disaster. There is an entire chapter devoted to him. Interviews with former staff from Chernobyl as well as others that knew him. No one will know for certain as the man is dead. I certainly am not making excuses for his actions just trying to add some perceptive. Few people are one dimensional villains per say.

[@AdamBorseti]

@@deanhibler3117 fantastic book. I think it's an important companion piece to the show, and have been recommending it to anyone who enjoyed the show.

[@jackforpresident22]

@ThatAudssieGirl relax, just because it wasn't mentioned on the show doesn't mean that it wasn't true. It's a very plausible theory given what the atom did to his family

[@maksphoto78]

Based on all that I've read and watched, Dean is correct - Dyatlov wasn't a psychopath like portrayed in the series (and all mainstream accounts). He was a strict supervisor, but he was professional and knew what he was doing. The disaster came as a complete surprise for him and everybody else present there. Right from that moment he and others got to work to minimise any further fires and explosions. The blame lies with the reactor design, not the operators or Dyatlov.

[@marcgyver677]

"Dyatlov was actually a very smart man." "Chernobyl was not Dyatlov's first nuclear disaster, he had actually been in another one years earlier" *So he fucked up twice - what a very smart man indeed! LMFAO*

[@hristovvv7773]

No zombies, no mutants, no aliens. Only truth. :)

[@KiranAlokkan]

@@DubBossman1 Means, this isn't some horror series of zombies or mutants to spook anyone, but, the true horrors of what actually happened and the frightening situation of revealing the truth of the Boron rods with graphite tips.

[@DubBossman1]

@@KiranAlokkan I get that, but it seems like he's trying to say that films with mutants etc are bad

[@nathanofthefranks2955]

it is a great dramatization, but if you know a good deal about nuclear physics, you'd know that the events of Chernobyl could in no way lead to a nuclear explosion. That part is over hyped for the purposes of drama, and making it seem that this event could have wiped out half of Europe if it was not dealt with quickly and that's simply not true.

[@VORASTRA]

@@nathanofthefranks2955 well, yes, it was thermal explosion.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Managers. The worst monsters in this world.

[@tonyngo8336]

Well... Ep. 5 brought the series back to a full circle. I enjoyed your reactions and your take on this series. Thanks. I look forward to all your future reviews.

[@DosCavazos]

Thank you so much for watching this series with us!

[@SweetLou0523]

I have to give huge props to the woman who did the score for the series, she did an absolutely brilliant job. What really impressed me was her use of the Russian Orthodox hymn during the epilogue. It is titled Vichnaya Pamyat, just like the episode, and it means Memory Eternal (or Eternal Memory) and is generally reserved for funerals. It was the perfect choice for the epilogue as it served as a memorial for the show and also for all those that paid the ultimate price at Chernobyl.

[@The_OEK]

It was sung by the Ukrainian choir "Homin".

[@N19htcat]

Russian? You could feel at least drop of interest and try to find it. I'm just so anoyed, that people don't even know about existance of my country. That gives Russia such great opportunity to steal everything from us, because of the stupidness of the people. Forget about Russia, there's Ukraine

[@samporter7018]

Shes also oscar nominated for the incredible film score for joker

[@emwungarand]

"He gave up what precious little time he had left too" One thing the show doesn't cover, is the reason he had for initially avoiding a full testimony. He had a wife and kids, and any perceived treason on his part would have the punishment visited on all surviving members of his family as well. I'm not sure why they chose to omit his family from the show but they were the biggest factor in him wavering on the truth. He knew he was going to die regardless, but by exposing the design flaw, he could potentially send his own family to a Siberian gulag for the rest of their lives.

[@dwnkaomwn3953]

"Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?" Me: He probably thought the Soviet Union would never collapse and yet it did a few years later after the Chernobyl incident.

[@mrgoob76]

*DWN KAOMWN* Mikhail Gorbachev said some time in the mid 90s after it fell that he believed that Chernobyl was the start of the fall of the soviet union

[@user-jv3kq5fz7x]

I know for sure that in 86-87, at the outskirts of the USSR, they already said that "everything will end soon." At the same time, the local KGB knew it). I think he meant that Legasov simply would not live to see when he could speak.

[@robinhood5627]

@@mrgoob76 In fact in one interview he also said the cost of cleaning up and building the sarcophagus pretty much bankrupted the USSR. They didn't worry about money during the event, they just wrote IOUs to everyone they "borrowed" materials and machinery from. Then when the price tag came in it was almost more than the nation was worth. After that the fall of the USSR was a sealed fate.

[@JoshSweetvale]

​@@mrgoob76 Gorbachev demanded that Chernobyl was fixed as a pragmatic and *moral* imperative. Combine that with Perestroika, he tried to make a Good Soviet Union. Problem is, a Good Soviet Union is morally obligated to disband itself for what Stalin and his succesors did.

[@princeoftonga]

Such a great show! I congratulate you guys for managing to get through such an emotionally draining thing. At least I was drained afterward. The last line is so appropriate in today’s times “what is the cost of lies?”

[@DosCavazos]

Thanks! It was tough at times but overall we are so glad we watched it! So amazing.

[@princeoftonga]

So what propaganda are you talking about? What is the truth? What really happened at Chernobyl?

[@DL2133]

Bryukhanov was up for a promotion once the test was successfully completed. He was going to promote Fomin to his position, and Fomin was going to promote Dyatlov. All those deaths just from the greed of three men, and the secrets of the Soviet government. Smh

[@matth1589]

The reason they were running the tests was because the Soviet Union was extremely worried about the vulnerability of the reactors if their power plants were attacked in a way that stopped the water pumps. Incidents at other nuclear power plants around the world, terrorist attacks and a pervading paranoia that the USA was intent on attacking them drove them to try and find a solution that would allow the turbine to generate enough electricity to temporarily drive the water pumps if an attack on Chernobyl itself or the conventional plant supplying them, resulted in an instant power cut. That's why in the initial stages they show someone sitting in his office believing that the Americans had bombed them. I've seen the actual man being interviewed. He had seen the corridor with wall bowed in that is depicted in the show. What the show doesn't mention is that the wall was 1m thick concrete. He assumed that the only thing that could blow that wall inwards was an American bombing raid. That was his first thought, not that there had been an accident but that they had been attacked. There were incentives being offered to complete the tests, but it was the Soviet Union, the men would have known that protracted failure would have landed them in serious trouble. Dyatlov was already facing disciplinary issues about his behaviour, and had been heavily investigated in a previous incident working on military nuclear powerplants. Add together the death of his son, the damage previous irradiation had done to his health, the strain of being the target of military investigation and being tasked with making the turbine solution work by an authoritarian regime that saw failure as potential sign of dissension and it's perhaps not a surprise that they guy was known for losing his temper. Like most things in the Soviet Union, the most powerful driving force was probably fear rather than greed.

[@XiyuYang]

That's what the show wants you to believe. The reason why they are running these tests, was the government wants to make sure the plant can stand bombing in an air assault (Israel bombed a plant in Iran just a few years before Chernobyl). The show, while having terrific production value and overall well executed, is far from a documentary and shouldn't be treated as such.

[@TheCabrakan]

@@XiyuYang The npp that bombed by Israel was not in Iran. It was in Iraq. Osiraq reactor. Go check it out "Operation Opera".

[@chrisk.7418]

To be honest, if I was an expert and me and every other expert I know would conclude that the emergency stop would always cause a safe stop then I would probably take more risks, too.

[@davidstephens8543]

The conversation between Shcherbina and Legasov hit me hard... two men who have been in WAR! There is no greater bond that one man can have with another ...

[@jessm5506]

In 1996 Boris Yeltsin gave Valery Legasov posthumously the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. It was the recognition he deserved for the work he did and the sacrifice he made.

[@RomanyGypsy92]

The title of the episode translates to "Eternal Memory" which is roughly equivalent to, but even more heartwrenching than, "rest in peace."

[@sagitswag1785]

This is one of the best edited reactions of the show ive seen! All the important moments were left in, and all my favorite moments bar a few were also kept in! Thanks for the reaction!

[@Zorlag]

I grew up in Moldavian SSR, part of USSR. I remember seeing the Chernobyl disaster announcement on our TV. It lasted 15 seconds. Nobody knew the true extent of what happened, for a long time. My dad as an army reservist was sent to clean up Chernobyl, but he was sent back from the staging site by his commander, who realized that my dad had a family.

[@LisaLynn71]

So glad you both enjoyed this show, it was devastating but so freakin good, looking forward to the next show..

[@DavidBusa]

I was born 19.6.1986 in Czechoslovakia (that time) so I'm little bit Chernobyl child. And even nowadays we can find residues of radiation in our country (Czech Republic), especially inside of mushrooms and some animal bodies (like wild boars and other). It's fascinating watching reactions of people living far from our country and learning of this disaster. I know, some things in series were dramatized, but the truth is there and simply reflects the soviet regime. Thank you for your reactions.

[@mix6809]

i had watched this series before, but loved watching it again with u guys. tnx...

[@talyn5304]

Fantastic series, fantastic reactions!! Just really, really well done. Great job, guys!! :)

[@carriesmith742]

I was 9 years old when this happened. It was a little over 4 months after the Challenger Space shuttle exploded, so the US and the USSR both took big scientific hits in 1986.

[@geepersnc]

God I love you guys so much and I'm so glad I found your channel! Can't wait to binge-watch your other reactions! 💖

[@DosCavazos]

Thank you so much!

[@AverageGamer2024]

The 2 dislikes are from the KGB 👀

[@zahrans]

@hammertapping Same. I liked the show also but best to remember it's a show made for entertainment purposes and it's not something to be taken as a 100% accurate documentary (although many will). For example Dyatlov wasn't a know it all psychopath as portrayed in the show.

[@zaiminnosi2905]

Nah, I believe it was Dyatlov and another his duplicate account

[@AverageGamer2024]

It was meant as a joke lol, but sure I appreciate your views and opinions on the subject. I accept the show is made for entertainment purposes - I do think it raises awareness to the event.

[@fodsaks]

No they are not. We are not monitoring these comments at all. Go about your business.

[@joshuawebb5891]

The name of the episode in English, and the song at the end is "Memory Eternal". It's a prayer sung at a funeral in Eastern Christian churches . The idea being that the prayer is asking God to remember those who have died , and welcome them into Heaven .

[@Di_ROSSO]

A curious fact is that, a few years before, Diatlov used to work in a nuclear submarine, and he had a similar incident with the submarine core, which left him severe health damage related with radiation.

[@DosCavazos]

Interesting!

[@derred723]

It's my understanding they toned down the shooting of pets. One thing i've heard is the shooting of puppies is a real story but in reality, they ran out of bullets and had to kill them by hand. Could you imagine the emotional toll that would take on people conscripted to do the work. It's my understanding that they decided not to have that aspect in the show because it was just too much.

[@maujo2009]

I also understand that many actually kept some of the pets and renamed some of them "atom" or "roentgen".

[@azazello1784]

how do you run out of bullets? it wasn't 17th century... it's easy to make more

[@CarrionCrow993]

They decided right.

[@CarrionCrow993]

@@maujo2009 i would, but id be arrested once they noticed my suspiciously bulging bag, coat, trousers, hat, and socks.

[@michaelccozens]

@@azazello1784 In time for their immediate use in the Chernobyl sector? I don't think you understand the difficulties immense short-term demands create for logistical systems. 1 bullet is easy to make quickly; enough for an army of 750 000? Not so much.

[@Luemm3l]

ironically, the water probably has done most to protect the divers, since it is not only a moderator, but also neutron capture and shields radiation (least alpha and beta) pretty good. for that reason also old fuel rods are stored in water, even if you fell in one of these pools, it would be hot, but you wouldnt receive more radiation dose than anywhere else on earth. also, wildlife thrived pretty much in chernobyl after being a bandoned for so long. tthere are a lot of documentaries out.

[@rockerctereo2851]

That last episode was amazing how they laid it all out.

[@gunslinger11bravo]

Seriously you should watch The Expanse you'll get to see Jared Harris' amazing range as an actor.

[@Blizzard0fHope]

or fringe. . he's amazing in fringe too

[@krashd]

The Terror is where he shines though, he only has small parts in The Expanse and Fringe but he's the protagonist in the first series of The Terror.

[@generalsaufenberg4931]

yep, and mad men to. its funny, that his character died the same way twice^^

[@scottwhitley3392]

Paul Ritter the guy who plays dyatlov is actually known as a comedy actor in the U.K. would you believe 😂

[@botwitaprice]

The event that took place then I only heard partial things that didn't make sense before; this show explained it so clear. Mistake 1: The cheapest way 2. Don't worry about safety, nothing will happen 3. It did happen.

[@botwitaprice]

Glad to hear of your BCS plans, think I'll join you. The timing is great.

[@michaelccozens]

The reason they were rushing the safety tests is that they had already lied and said they'd been completed as part of the initial construction. They did this in order to claim bonuses. If it was discovered that the tests had not been completed as claimed, they likely would have faced criminal prosecution. The problem wasn't the youth of the senior tech; it was the fact that the night shift had not even been warned about the test taking place, let alone trained to carry it out properly.

[@josephbabbs645]

The very last part of the last episode where it goes through really footage and the figures that were hidden from the world I was in complete silence and lost for words literally couldn't make a sound to save my life

[@red_sky_]

Chernobyl 1986 Deaths Aleksandr Akimov - Unit 4 Shift Leader Yuri Y. Badaev - SKALA Operator Anatoly I. Baranov - Electrical Engineer Nikolai S. Bondarenko - Oxygen,Nitrogen Supplier Vitaly I. Borets - Block Shift Leader Vyacheslav S. Brazhnik - Senior Turbine Operator Viktor Bryukhanov - Plant Director Vladimir A. Chugunov - Deputy Director Razim I. Davletbayev - Deputy Head Of Reactor 4 Viktor M. Degtyarenko - Operator G. A. Dik - Operator M. A. Elshin - Thermo Operator Nikolai M. Fomin - Chief Engineer Sergei N. Gazin - Turbo Generator Engineer Mihail Golovnenko - Firefighter Vasily I. Ignatenko - Firefighter Yakaterina A. Ivanenko - Police Guard Aleksander A. Kavunets - Turbine Repair Chief Grigori M. Khmel - Firefighter Valery I. Khodemchuk - Main Pumps Viktor M. Kibenok - Firefighter Igor Kirschenbaum - Turbine Operator Yuri I. Konoval - Electrician A. P. Kovalenko - Reactor 4 Supervisor Aleksandr H. Kudryavtsev - SIUR Trainee A. A. Kukhar - Chief of Electrical Lab Anatoly K. Kurguz - Operator Nikolai G. Kuryavchenko - SKALA Computer Operator Aleksandr G. Lelechenko - Deputy Chief of Electrical Shop Viktor I. Lopatyuk - Electrician Klavdia I. Luzganova - Police Guard G. V. Lysyuk - Electrician Engineer Gennady P. Metlenko - Senior Electrical Engineer Aleksandr A. Nekhaev - Diver to open valves Oleksandr V. Novyk - Turbine Inspector Ivan L. Orlov - Physicist Kostyantyn H. Perchuk - Turbine Operator Valery I. Perevozchenko - Foreman Aleksandr Petrovsky - Firefighter Georgi I. Popov - Vibration Specialist Vladimir Pravik - Firefighter V. A. Prishchepa - Firefighter Viktor V. Proskuryakov - SUIR Trainee Boris V. Rogozhkin - Block Shift Leader Aleksei V. Rysin - Turbine Operator Volodomyr I. Savenkov - Vibration Specialist Anatoly I. Shapovalov - Electrician Vladimir N. Shashenok - Auto Systems Adjuster Anatoly V. Shlelyayn - SKALA Computer Operator Anatoly A. Sitnikov - Deputy Chief Engineer Viktor G. Smagin - Shift Foreman Boris Stolyarchuk - Senior Control Engineer Leonid Telyatnikov - Firefighter Volodymyr I. Tishchura - Firefighter Nikolai I. Titenok - Firefighter Petr Tolstiakov - Firefighter Leonid F. Toptunov - SIUR Senior Engineer Yuri Tregub - Shift Leader Arkady G. Uskov - Reactor Operator Mykola V. Vashchuk - Firefighter V. F. Verkhovod - SKALA Computer Operator Yuri A. Vershynin - Turbine Inspector Aleksandr Yuvchenko - Senior Mechanic

[@steeltrap3800]

My late partner grew up in what was Leningrad, now once more St Petersburg, and she and her parents left Russia and came to Australia in 1991 when she was 17. I've had fascinating conversations with them about life in the Soviet Union, the good and the bad (despite the many awful truths, there were some interestingly good things about it, too). Would love to have watched this with them. Fantastic series with generally excellent attention to the major 'truths' and largely acceptable compromises for dramatic reasons. The one thing I thought was unnecessary was the ridiculous exaggeration as to the likely effects of the potential explosion had the meltdown reached the water in the tanks; even the most powerful hydrogen bombs would not have had such effects. Minor quibble aside, brilliantly done. Over the top characters, violence, sex and an excessive reliance on special effects can't get close to good storytelling, scripts and acting when it comes to compelling and weirdly 'entertaining' drama.

[@KyoKiaNexus]

i love the drinking horn, impala pinata and yoda behind u guys lol

[@brianrecinos3914]

At the time I saw this ending, I was being reminded of what I read about our own nuclear accidents, (not counting what happened at 3 Mile Island in Pennsylvania). I was reminded of what I read about the Nevada test site where civilians in Arizona and Utah were affected with nuclear fallout from said test site and Bikini Atoll where the local fishermen were also hit from fallout.

[@ct5625]

It's a hard show to watch, but I think it's one of the most important shows produced in the last thirty years. Not only is it right that the heroes of this story be named and presented, but the villains should be remembered for their arrogance, greed and ignorance. I think it's also very important in these times to see what happens when you have a cult of ignorance in control of a nation. There are a lot of parallels between the Soviet Union then and America today, and it only seems to be getting worse.

[@davidrajtr8332]

There is one more reason why the Soviet Union built RBMK reactors. Because the reaction produces plutonium which can be extracted from spent fuel and used in nuclear bombs. In 1965, the Soviet Union had a little over 5,000 bombs and two RBMK reactors as opposed to some 30,000 bombs that the Americans had. But in 1986, at a time when all RBMK reactors were finished (the majority were completed in 1980), the Soviet Union had 40,000 bombs. RBMK reactors also served as a plutonium factory.

[@bizibetiko9778]

This was one of my favorite series. It was dark, and at times hard to watch, but it was good on so many levels.

[@davedahl4461]

Scherbina was a hero again later, when the major earthquake struck Armenia, Scherbina organized, the relief effort.

[@cfinley81]

Yep and they had a statue of him put up in his honor.

[@johannesschilling2611]

Was a 8 year old boy in western Germany when the reactor blew up. Grew up to get a NBC Sergeant later. Still gives me the goosy bum bumps.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

I live in the Netherlands, and those two humble men on that bench saved perhaps even my life. Hero is an understatement.... This series respected the intelligence of the viewers as well, not dumbing it down, or do action music. Just that insanely eerie music composed from nuclear reactor sounds. That composer is a genius

[@user-dw6fk5jr1r]

My neighbor was there during the accident, he was among those soldiers that were sent to put it out.he died last week

[@maksphoto78]

The truly unexpected (for you) fact was that the AZ-5 button was meant to be pushed, as part of the experiment. This button was used to shut the reactor down for maintenance. It was meant to be pushed right at the start of the experiment. but Akimov was a bit late with ordering the pressing of it.

[@TheFeltbegone]

Great series of reactions. Looking forward to another series I know.

[@dangi79]

I watched an interview to the director of this incredible show. When he saw the script asked: "Cool! What is true about this?" And the scriptwriter answered: "Everything".

[@derred723]

I'm in my 40s. I remember the incident. It was on the news. But five channels of 24/7 news wasn't really a thing yet. But it was still a MASSIVE story. I had started college when you guys were born. Man i'm old lol. Regardless yeah, many people might not realize what an impact it had. It's the sort of thing that scared America away from fully embracing Nuclear power along with Three Mile Island. But consider people born in the 2007 might think 9/11 was ancient history but if you're old enough you really understand how big an impact it had on US foreign policy, on the middle east, on the views of some Americans about Muslims, etc, etc. etc.

[@revylokesh1783]

I'm 39. I was in Kindergarten when it happened. I live in Europe, and I remember not being allowed to play outside, especially not when it rained.

[@falsenostalgia-shannon]

Der Red - All of this! I’m your age, and agree that while we didn’t have a variety of 24/7 news for instant information, this was HUGE. The first few times I saw KZbin reactions to this series, I was stunned because the people immediately said they’ve heard the word Chernobyl and knew it had something to do with radiation - but that’s all. They were always quite young, so I assume they don’t teach about it in school, at least in the US? Wow. (I was grateful when this couple began the series and she said she had previously studied the events on her own!) I’m a history geek, so my 12 year old knows about it. I’m glad I made sure she learns about important events. By the way, she was born the exact year you mentioned and I can confirm that 9/11 is ancient to them. When she was in 5th grade, they had an assignment to interview someone who was alive when 9/11 happened (and old enough to fully remember the events and aftermath). I made sure she interviewed me, especially after hearing the way it’s taught (or should I say the version they’re taught; we’re in the south, after all...).

[@falsenostalgia-shannon]

Der Red - Forgot to mention that I grew up in Pennsylvania, near Three Mile Island. My mother had our bags packed and in the car, waiting for the word to leave from my dad (who was a policeman). Also wanted to say (this part is regarding 9/11) that shockingly, a close friend of mine who is 30 was completely unaware of many details. Her reason was that she was a young teen at the time 😳.

[@safespacebear]

I'm so glad you two enjoyed it. I was blown away and will forever remember these heroes, not just of the Soviet Union but of humanity. KGB Man: "it will be exceedingly impossible to know that you ever lived" 2019: Fuck that noise!!! Valery Legaosov and Boris are international heroes.

[@safespacebear]

@hammertapping okay Putin

[@MegaMerdeux]

Ironically they spent more money and people managing the chernobyl disaster than if they actually decided to properly build a nuclear reactor.Like my mom always say "Lo barato sale caro" roughly "meaning cheap things eventually turn expensive"

[@hi14993]

The reason that I heard they used graphite tips was based on the theory that if you are pulling it out, you want more reactivity. Therefore graphite tips is helpful to increase reactivity. Not because it was cheaper. Remember you are removing the "brakes" because you want to step on the "gas".

[@Spartanz1170]

Before he died, Dyatlov gave one final interview, its on youtube.

[@Rafa-pr5fe]

In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, there was one more element that was not fully shown. In the nuclear power plants in the USSR, there was a possibility that the staff could turn off automatic security systems and reactor shutdowns. This was impossible in Western power plants. And this is what the crew of reactor number 4 in Chernobyl did. Interestingly, it made by shift, which was to carry out the test, although it did not require it at all. Therefore, the computer could only display messages and not work. Why was this done? That the alarm system would not annoy employees for example by activating alarms. This disaster was also the result of a general work culture in the Soviet Union. This does not change the fact that the last episode of this great series, shows well how the disaster happened. Especially people not familiar with atomic physics, i.e. most viewers. For example, I know about the opinion of the employees of the Polish Institute of Atomic Energy that the series, with minor exceptions, is very scientifically accurate. I also recommend listening to the podcast with the writer of the series about individual episodes. The one about the last episode is particularly interesting.

[@patrickholt2270]

I was in secondary school at the time. I remember the reports about birds dropping out of the sky, and the TV news footage from outside the plant when the helicopter crashed. From what I recall, we knew it was bad, but we didn't know how bad it was or could have been. The idea that if a reactor explodes and it isn't quickly brought under control and buried under boron and concrete that it can keep on irradiating the world for hundreds of miles around itself is terrifying. It makes me think that we have to shut them all down forever, because in the event that civilisation collapses for any reason, like climate change or a disease pandemic or an EMP attack or whatever - there are so many things which could cause a collapse - they could start to run out of control, with a nationwide power outage for instance, so the computers and engines for moving the control rods etc stop working, and like Legasov is portrayed as saying "until the entire continent is dead." And the one at Fukushima is now regularly pumping vast amounts of radioactive water into the Pacific because there's only so much volume in the overflow reservoirs and they can't fix the plant (they have "no plan" for how to shut it down and render it safe, the last I heard). So, you know, another thing requiring drastic change and immediate effort which isn't getting it because politics and money and reasons and stuff.

[@tsogobauggi8721]

These were very nice reactions to the episodes. :) It is a really well made series. And the end part 23:50 is so beautiful and sad.

[@cluster_f1575]

Enjoyed your reactions to Chernobyl! Will also be looking forward to Better Call Saul!!

[@Georgestella100]

Believe it or not the Russian government hates this series and have called it 'an insult to the Russian people'. They say they intend to make their own series, the Director of which has said will show that an American CIA agent infiltrated the plant and caused the explosion! Great reactions. Get hold of the book 'Voices from Chernobyl' nd listen to the podcasts on YT.

[@dannyrodriguez8841]

The ending always gets me 😔😔 Than u guys!!!

[@michaelccozens]

"When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why?" Death is inevitable. Death with honour is not.

[@silverspike1]

A superb series. I can honestly say the best I've seen in decades and a suspect we will not see It's like again.

[@Ethrax2]

I remember this vividly, though I didn't understand it at the time, But the winds drifted that shit over Scandinavia, and I was only 7 at the time, but I remember the play grounds being closed with red tape, and big machines scooping out all the sand since the dust was contaminated by radioactive rain. We had to shower each time after playing there, even in the school playgrounds. Farmers had to bury their crops, and we read the paper everyday to read the Becquerel-counts(Basically Sieverts) to see if we could fish in some stream, or pick mushrooms somewhere. My dad was a real fishing guy, so he probably enjoyed being lonely in all the streams since he didn't bother too much with the becquerel counts, much like some people today still don't believe Corona actually exists.

[@hareecionelson5875]

Woah.

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

I would love to see you two react to THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE as well as GENTLEMEN JACK and maybe the t.v. series WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

[@IndyMotoRider]

Oh hell yeah. Haunting of Hill House. I hope they haven't watched it already. One of the best series I've seen in my 46 years.

[@falsenostalgia-shannon]

David MacDowell Blue - Another vote for The Haunting of Hill House if they haven’t seen it. I can’t express how much I love it. For anyone who hasn’t watched it because they don’t like horror, let me say that it’s quite different; more like an emotional, intense drama about family that happens to involve a ghost story. Hard to describe. Much more emotional than scary imo.

[@demyanrudenko]

14:05 he reiterated the same question, but he stopped Legasov because there's protocol for how court hearings are conducted. Witnesses present information, they don't ask questions.

[@covlinuxguy]

The one thing that really hits home, is that Reactor 4 was brought online in December 1983, the year and month i was born. Three years later, as I'm getting past my third birthday, This could have caused a disaster that would have caused my family to have to move away from my home in England, if it wasn't for the three guys who emptied the bubbler tanks, most, if not all of Europe would be a wasteland by now. Some scientists predicted the bast would have created a nuclear winter of sorts in Europe, with poisoned rain and nuclear dust storms roaming most of the area. so.....three guys saved Europe......I can live where i live, and breathe the air i do, and enjoy the world i have, thanks to those men.....I think they should be given medals and told...."you dont pay taxes, ore for anything anymore, EVER."....

[@BoogieWoogie761]

The exclusion zone is a little more then half the size of the state of rhode island to put it into perspective.

[@Enqelar]

The staff was not aware of the "design features" of the reactor. They knew and were confident that doing the right thing. Dyatlov conducted tests, thinking that the reactor is serviceable, and AZ-5 will work. The staff also messed up a bit, but if the reactor was serviceable, these mastakes would not lead to an explosion. They did not commit any violations of the regulatory documents in force at that time. Subsequently made changes, making many of those erroneous actions direct prohibitions. These actions were really wrong, to call them correct, having now an idea of the mechanisms and processes that led to the accident - silly. But to say that the staff broke the rules, which at that time did not exist. Well, it's probably wrong.

[@Werrf1]

My understanding is that Dyatlov changed the parameters of the test, instructing the operators to lower power to 500 MW instead of the 700 minimum mandated, and that restarting the reactor after the stall should have been done very, very slowly, over several days. If this is correct, then Dyatlov certainly did break the rules. Of course he had no idea that it could result in an explosion, but still.

[@komandorbentus2731]

The most interesting thing is, that a series was created in Ignalina, Lithuana. A sister reactor. The same RBMK type.

[@derwildewesten6700]

The interesting thing is that 9 RBMK- reactors are still alive. The last one will be shut down in the year 2050.

[@swokatsamsiyu3590]

The Ignalina RBMKs were even more powerful than the Chernobyl RBMKs. They could produce 1500 MW of electricity, those in Chernobyl 1000 MW. The Ignalina reactors were closed under pressure from the EU because Lithuania wanted to join the EU. They were as safe as an RBMK can be, with lots of improvements made. They had a lot of life left in them when they were closed so callously. Lithuania went from completely energy Independend to having to import expensive energy from elsewhere.

[@superflylee003]

Epic guys!! Thanks for sharing :)

[@DosCavazos]

Thank you so much!

[@dankefurnichts]

i was 6 years old when chernobyl exploded. i can still remember very good to this time. we are not allowed to play outside oder eat fruits and stuff. strange times the 80s...

[@CaptainOfGames]

Great reaction!

[@InDebt8]

Having watched these two for all five episodes, I can safely say that it is painful. Painful to watch people too young to understand the then Soviet Union and its people. To young to know the KGB. "Are those spies?" from episode 4's reaction. Too young to probably remember the treat of the USSR. Too young to know the fear of hearing an air raid siren going off.

[@matthewfortuna4464]

InDebt8 haven’t found a reaction to this show yet that immediately understood the kgb or how someone who obtains total control who originated from that environment? Yeeesus christ.

[@st0ox]

I recommend watching "dark" after this because it is similar hopeless, sad and brilliant ^^

[@alanfoster6589]

Was there in 2011, before the new sarcophagus was installed. It's a green, lush place, yet eerie as all heck.

[@DosCavazos]

That would be wild to see it in person!

[@alanfoster6589]

@@DosCavazos It's very interesting. If you go, the food in the cafeteria is terrible.

[@derianjones1730]

I live in Wales UK, and we still today have radioactive sheep in the hillsides because of this.

[@PrinsPrygel]

A comment on a few of the numbers mentioned. Regarding the power output, 30 000 MW was the last reading, some estimates puts the final output at 300 000 MW, others speculate that the explosion was basically a fizzled nuclear explosion putting the final output even higher. Regarding the death toll, the 4 000 to 93 000 deaths are the rather conservative estimates, some calculated that the death toll could be closer to 1 million. And Chernobyl will continue to kill through cancer for a very long time. Through rain and fallout some parts of Sweden were more contaminated, grazing and wild animals from those parts are radioactive 10-40 times beyond recommended safe levels. This is more than 30 years after Chernobyl, and nowhere near Chernobyl. I can't imagine the situation in the area surrounding Chernobyl.

[@demopem]

Great reactions! I was 25 when this took place, and I live an hour's drive from the nuclear plant in Sweden where the fallout was first detected outside the Soviet Union. Their safety screening alarms went off at a shift change so they first thought they had a problem in the plant, but soon realized that the workers brought it in with them from the outside. (It had rained that night.) Nothing nearly as serious as in the near vicinity of Chernobyl, but in some areas things still have to be tested to be deemed safe for consumption, like mushrooms, reindeer meat, and some wild game.

[@InkanSpider]

Jag bor i Gävleborg där det slog ner som mest. Många spekulanter anser att antalet cancerfall här kan kopplas till Tjernobyl, vilket jag tror är väldigt troligt. Roligt att se fler svenskar här!

[@lottis81]

We still to this day have radioactive wild boars here in Sweden caused from the radioactive clouds from Chernobyl so its still lingering.

[@patrioticjustice9040]

"Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask, what is the cost of lies?"

[@RebeccaODonnell-1941]

I just now noticed the time of the explosion was 12345. It’s like the famous Hiroshima clock stopping at exactly what time the bomb hit...two days before the bomb was dropped.

[@arze1226]

Fun fact. Graphite, uranium e.t.c are still in chernobyl in such amounts that, for example, with One succesfull terrorist attack where napalm or something similar that causes extreme temperature would be dropped together with big amount of water in reactor 4 effects would be devastating. Close to whole Europe could be uninhabitable and deathly amount of radiation would spread trough whole world.

[@k.a.p.x3642]

Look at this place, fifty-thousand people used to live in this city, now it's a ghost town. I've never seen anything like it. - Captain Macmillan

[@ilyafilru]

I came across your channel and watched all 5 of the episodes. You seem to be interested in the actual events that took place. If you are, I highly encourage you to go on a tour of the Exclusion Zone once COVID is over. There are many companies that offer tours. You can even stay in a hotel inside the Zone for a few nights. Do a multi-day trip if you can; it's impossible to see all the locations in one day. I was there last year; it was an experience I'll never forget. Also check out Chernobyl museum in Kiev, it will send chills down your spine.

[@tommcewan7936]

"It is easy to imagine the enemy is the nuclear reactor, but the enemy isn’t technology. I have come to the paradoxical conclusion that technology must be protected from man. In the past, the time that included the old reactors, the time that ended with Gagarin’s flight into space, the technology was created by those who stood on the shoulders of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky; they were educated in the spirit of the great humanitarian ideas; in the spirit of a beautiful and correct moral sense. They had a clear political idea of the society they were trying to create; one that would be the most advanced in the world. But already in the generations that succeeded them, there were engineers who stood on their shoulders and saw only the technical side of things. But if someone is educated only in technical ideas, they cannot create anything new, anything for which they are responsible. The operators of the reactor that night considered they were doing everything well and correctly; and they were breaking the rules for the sake of doing it even better, but they had lost sight of the purpose…what they were doing it for." Valery Legasov, tape recorded in an interview with Yurii Scherbak, Autumn 1986

[@rikardottosson1272]

I love how everybody that watches this is reacting shocked at the actions at the plant as of we know how to run a nuclear power plant. That’s the power of the storytelling

[@chrisk.7418]

It's especially interesting that many reactors gasp when the power output is going down, which wasn't the problem at all.

[@johnnyd1790]

If they needed to make that damn test, they should've tuened the reactor to nominal output of 3200 MW for those 10 hours delay, not let it at a nonstandard 1600 half power. And the 4th test would've runned at worst like the 1st 3 failed ones, no catastopher, no lives taken. But for incompetence...

[@lawrencegough]

For further info, there’s a good video from last year with survivors, including some of the people in the show kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqiWhHmFm8eFbpY Also, there are a few videos that cover the new safe containment building project which are worth checking out. Again, the HBO podcast is essential, especially for this episode as it is the one which takes the most liberties with events.

[@SuperKnuckels]

at the end the firefighters clothing was in the 500-600s not 60 lol

[@mscheese000]

Still meaningless without units.

[@igotanM16]

@@mscheese000 microsieverts. Those docimeters measure microsieverts. Each msv is 1 Rad /hr or .001 Rongeten per hour. So in other words: the firefighters boots equal 600 Xray's per hour on average. A dangerous dose is in the 40's. A lethal dose is in the 300's for an hour of exposure. Those boots should never be seen by another human eye for the rest of eternity.

[@2tone753]

I (West German) was 24 years old in 1986. My wife and I had two small children at the time. This accident completely changed our view of generating energy using nuclear power. We have opened Pandora's box and, no matter what the experts say, it doesn't take much to cause a catastrophe. Just look at the catastrophic behavior of the Russian troops in Chernobyl in the course of the Ukrainian war that is still going on today. What really horrifies me is the almost absolute ignorance in a technology-savvy country like the USA about what happened in 1986. This in a country that also uses nuclear power plants.

[@red_sky_]

These are the names of the men that died so we could live in peace NEVER forget them Aleksandr Akimov - Unit 4 Shift Leader Yuri Y. Badaev - SKALA Operator Anatoly I. Baranov - Electrical Engineer Nikolai S. Bondarenko - Oxygen,Nitrogen Supplier Vitaly I. Borets - Block Shift Leader Vyacheslav S. Brazhnik - Senior Turbine Operator Viktor Bryukhanov - Plant Director Vladimir A. Chugunov - Deputy Director Razim I. Davletbayev - Deputy Head Of Reactor 4 Viktor M. Degtyarenko - Operator G. A. Dik - Operator M. A. Elshin - Thermo Operator Nikolai M. Fomin - Chief Engineer Sergei N. Gazin - Turbo Generator Engineer Mihail Golovnenko - Firefighter Vasily I. Ignatenko - Firefighter Yakaterina A. Ivanenko - Police Guard Aleksander A. Kavunets - Turbine Repair Chief Grigori M. Khmel - Firefighter Valery I. Khodemchuk - Main Pumps Viktor M. Kibenok - Firefighter Igor Kirschenbaum - Turbine Operator Yuri I. Konoval - Electrician A. P. Kovalenko - Reactor 4 Supervisor Aleksandr H. Kudryavtsev - SIUR Trainee A. A. Kukhar - Chief of Electrical Lab Anatoly K. Kurguz - Operator Nikolai G. Kuryavchenko - SKALA Computer Operator Aleksandr G. Lelechenko - Deputy Chief of Electrical Shop Viktor I. Lopatyuk - Electrician Klavdia I. Luzganova - Police Guard G. V. Lysyuk - Electrician Engineer Gennady P. Metlenko - Senior Electrical Engineer Aleksandr A. Nekhaev - Diver to open valves Oleksandr V. Novyk - Turbine Inspector Ivan L. Orlov - Physicist Kostyantyn H. Perchuk - Turbine Operator Valery I. Perevozchenko - Foreman Aleksandr Petrovsky - Firefighter Georgi I. Popov - Vibration Specialist Vladimir Pravik - Firefighter V. A. Prishchepa - Firefighter Viktor V. Proskuryakov - SUIR Trainee Boris V. Rogozhkin - Block Shift Leader Aleksei V. Rysin - Turbine Operator Volodomyr I. Savenkov - Vibration Specialist Anatoly I. Shapovalov - Electrician Vladimir N. Shashenok - Auto Systems Adjuster Anatoly V. Shlelyayn - SKALA Computer Operator Anatoly A. Sitnikov - Deputy Chief Engineer Viktor G. Smagin - Shift Foreman Boris Stolyarchuk - Senior Control Engineer Leonid Telyatnikov - Firefighter Volodymyr I. Tishchura - Firefighter Nikolai I. Titenok - Firefighter Petr Tolstiakov - Firefighter Leonid F. Toptunov - SIUR Senior Engineer Yuri Tregub - Shift Leader Arkady G. Uskov - Reactor Operator Mykola V. Vashchuk - Firefighter V. F. Verkhovod - SKALA Computer Operator Yuri A. Vershynin - Turbine Inspector Aleksandr Yuvchenko - Senior Mechanic

[@JoshSweetvale]

And millions robbed of their retirement years. And a _billion_ people struck with cancer across Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

[@ashwilliams6844]

Jared Harris is da best. Loved him in Mad Men and all of the other stuff I'm pleasantly surprised to find that he's in.

[@Guthwulf11]

great reaction to a great show. There is a fascinating interview with Anatoly Dyatlov where he tells his side of the story. It was taken 1994 (1 year before his death). It is worth a watch if you're interested in the subject. The show paints him as a clear villian, the reality might be more nuanced than that. Of course we will never know for sure. In my mind, Dyatlov is no "villain", he is a human, who (from all what we know) made bad descisions before and after the explosion, but also couldn't know that the failsafe would cause an explosion. So he has an obvious "way out". We all know how our brain tries to rationalize all of our past actions and retroactively brings memories into a coherent story (even if it has to change or surpress some). That happens every day even for little things, but especially if you live through such a traumatic experience. This interview is "his" side of the story with only one goal: clear his own name from any wrong doing before his death. Of course he thinks of himself as a good person, who never could harm anyone or cause such a horrible accident. Was he used as the scapegoat for the accident? yes... Was he the ignorant, quick-tempered careerist as portraited in the series who made inexcusable bad descisions before and after the explosion? Maybe, but maybe not to that degree... Even without knowing the show, in the interview you see lots if subtle signs on how he tries to rationalize the events in his mind. That is what makes the interview so fascinating to watch. Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGnCkKlvetiqhJY

[@Theakker3B]

Take a shot every time you say "Oh my gosh"

[@nikpik216]

If you want to read an excellent novel I highly recommend "Midnight In Chernobyl" by Adam Higginbottom. It fills in the holes from the show, and you get a more well rounded view of all of these characters. Legasov had a wife and daughter...and this was why he was tepid about telling truths. Diatlov while still incredibly a jerk to work for was someone who claimed it was the reactor and not his operators that caused the problem. It's easy to read and incredibly entertaining and informative. I seriously have read it cover to cover at least five times.

[@ReaverLordTonus]

Everyone is so shocked that the three divers survived, but how they survived is pretty obvious, they were given proper protection, everyone you see that dies weren't wearing radiation suits made to handle levels that high, as horrible as radiation is, we have the means to shield people from it, the problem with the Soviet Union was it took short of divine intervention to requisition a paperclip so good luck distributing them to those who really needed them. People as far out as the countryside clearing the vegetation and animals should have been wearing the same suits the Divers in the core got, if they had there would have been few casualties among those who worked in the exclusion zone. As for the civilian population, they should have been evacuated as soon as the plant was reported compromised.

[@Carl_Isaksson]

Radiation suits don’t actually shield you from radiation, that only happens in movies and video games. Its shielding properties against radiation are almost the same as regular clothes. What it does is that it prevents radioactive dust from getting in your lungs due to it having a respirator/mask. It also makes it easier to prevent radioactive particles from sticking to your skin and regular clothes which would later contaminate other surfaces. The reason why the divers didn’t get exposed to high doses of radiation is because the thick concreate walls around them were intact and stopped most of the radiation from getting to them.

[@ianrand9737]

I was alive then. It was only 3 months after the Challenger disaster in the USA which put an end to the USA's space shuttle program. There was a whisper in the USA at the time wondering "what if the Challnger disaster was not American incompetence, but a Societ covert opeeration of sabotage?" When Chernobyl happened, I wondered "What if this was the CIA's response to Challenger?" The more I read about how impossible it was for this incident to ahppen, and about all the inconsistencies mentioned int he accounts of different witnesses, and when i watched the points that had been emphasized as undeniable truth in all the American movies and shows and documentaries made on the topic, reiterating the American point of view, I can;t help wondering again and again about the same dreadful question.

[@aligaines8476]

God bless those men. He works in mysterious ways.

[@maujo2009]

Check Veritasium's video of his visit to Prypiat. You can see him going down to the hospital's basement and taking measurements of radiation.