Windscale: The Story of "Britain's Chernobyl" | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

[@CossackGene]

"The alarm goes off constantly unless something goes wrong" would be great sound design for a survival horror video game.

[@bw000m]

ABSOLUTELY i imagine after a good few minutes of playing itd become background noise like the HUD or your own footsteps but BAM suddenly Dead Silence

[@anoninunen]

Planner: "The alert for abnormal situations must function in all abnormal situations. The removal of the alert system is an abnormal situation" Engineer: "...I have a very annoying idea which is guaranteed to work."

[@crlmson_]

I really want this game now, lol.

[@PabloPerroPerro]

Yeah, kind of like the overwatch voice in City17

[@regan3873]

I feel like that would be a bad idea just because you probably wouldn’t notice the alarm going off immediately because you had grown so used to it you would tune it out, so when it actually went off- by stopping- you may not notice.

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

Sir John Cockcroft reminds me of that Japanese major who insisted on building a Tsunami protection wall. Which ended up costing millions and was considered "ugly" and "useless". Up to his death many people blamed him for building it. In 2011, when one of the worst Tsunamis in Japans History would hit the cost. Nobody who lived behind that Wall lost their life. Now he is considered a Hero and they made a memorial for him.

[@yoyo98b]

I know this comment is very old, but i HAVE to ask. Which tsunami protection wall are you talking about? Are you talking about the one in Kamaishi? That is the only major wall I can think of before 2011, but it failed to hold. In fact, I have never heard of a single wall that managed to stop the tsunami in such a way that nobody in that town died. People are instead talking about how many people probably decided not to evacuate due to a false sense of security. Please provide SOME detail as to what you are referring to.

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

@@yoyo98b The huge sea wall and floodgates took 12 years to build and had been widely regarded as a £20million folly. But today one former Japanese mayor is being hailed as a saviour after the grandiose construction allowed his small town escaped the devastation wrought by the March 11 tsunami. In the rubble of Japan's northeast coast, Fudai stands as tall as ever after. No homes were swept away. In fact, they barely got wet. The 3,000 residents owe their lives to the late Kotaku Wamura, who lived through an earlier tsunami and made it a priority of his four-decade tenure as mayor to defend his people from the next one.

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

@@yoyo98b Here is a video on the Fudai Town that defied the Tsunami. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpnbnXV9r7OssM0

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

@@yoyo98b The sad reality, he died being mocked for this 20Mil "waste" of Money. Now he is a hero.

[@yoyo98b]

@@sam-psonsmith9951 thank you for replying! Now that a name has been provided, it's actually possible to look up information about it! 😊

[@joestarrunner3897]

Props to Cockroft for insisting on installing the filters. It's nice to see an incident where someone actually paid to implement safety features instead of ignoring them to cut costs as so many other stories have gone.

[@bemusedbandersnatch2069]

And look at how different the result was!

[@AudieHolland]

I can imagine the reaction by many officials at the time: "Filters? Filters!? My good man, this installation represents the best of Britain's 20th Century nuclear technology. Whatever could go wrong? Silly man!"

[@echelonrank3927]

@@AudieHolland its nice to see nuclear technology catch up to cigarette technology

[@marlondaniels7912]

@@echelonrank3927 🤣

[@videogamerNattie98]

In engineering contingency plans while may seem needlessly expensive or over the top those arguments quash fast when a contingency plan ends up engaging and mitigating the damage. The problem with people is they look at it like it will never happen as they take the good conditions for granted weather it be out of ignorance or because they think its a decision that higher ups make just to make more work for less profit. While yes not every contingency plan is a good one and should be critically criticized do keep in mind not every single one is done to waste time as you have to imagine the thinking process on why it implemented and what danger it is readying to combat. A filter on a exhaust in this case is a good one when dealing with devastative resources that a mistake with the system that would expel said things that could cause centuries of consequences that can encompass generations of people in which case such cautions should be thoroughly taken and thought out.

[@bigupz6818]

The narrator of this channel has a natural story telling ability. I listen to every word with keen anticipation.

[@daffers2345]

I also like that he is very factual and steady. He doesn't add things like conjecture or opinion.

[@annehedonia156]

I know! I feel so sorry for the Brits who can't hear his lovely accent. Lol

[@NitroIndigo]

I would listen to audiobooks narrated by him.

[@jeremymatthies726]

I agree with you, he is really natural with this.

[@zokushatech]

That reactor manager definitely had someone up above looking out for him after those heroic actions, dude literally personally attended a radioactive fire multiple times trying to put it out exposing himself to lethal amounts of radiation then went on to live a full life to 90. How awesome is that!

[@willwallacetree]

There's an excellent older documentary called "Our Reactor Is On Fire" that's on KZbin with interviews with him and others involved in monitoring and fire fighting.

[@steelwheel-i3s]

Man is immune to lethal radiation exposure OR it never happened. Which seems more likely to you?

[@some-replies]

Sky wizard be praised!

[@steelwheel-i3s]

@@some-replies He said he was the alpha and the omega, looks like we can add beta, gamma and x-rays. The lord truly works in mysterious ways.

[@Progamer1013]

It’s terrifying that no matter the country or the severity of the incident, any government will attempt to cover up a nuclear disaster at the risk of its people and nation.

[@daffers2345]

Wait until he does Kyshtym. Never heard of it? That's because the USSR majorly covered it up. It's only one step down from Chernobyl. He plans to do a vid on it in the future.

[@Progamer1013]

@@daffers2345 Is that the incident that Kento Bento did a video on? About the radioactive lake?

[@alexanderson281]

Not just nuclear disasters, but as we have just learned pandemics, too. The people in power don’t seem to mind a few thousand deaths of their citizens as long as we stay complacent and productive so they can remain in power.

[@happyfacefries]

Instead of saving lives or helping people in case stuff down the road, they're like, NO NO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

[@FelineBlue]

@@alexanderson281 absolutely this. it doesn't benefit them to help us, so they never will.

[@alanemarson]

"This state of affairs was... not ideal" - classic understatement!

[@portlyoldman]

Of course being British English it translates to “pan Galactic cluster fuck” in other dialects 🤓

[@lesflynn4455]

Absolutely. Only an Englishman would use such terms when describing a potential catastrophe. I love it. I'm Australian.

[@azariahkyras7736]

Not great, not terrible.

[@PajamaManor]

@@lesflynn4455 I love it too. Aussies also say the coolest things.

[@jamesgarrett7606]

Yeah. When I heard that about the fuel rods, my eyes popped wide. Then he said that...and I was like “that must’ve been what the engineers were saying as they shoveled them back.

[@molybdomancer195]

I worked as a student in the drawing office of a company which made equipment for the nuclear industry. In those days, designs were pencil drawn on plastic sheets. I spent a week manually changing Windscale to Sellafield on all the related drawings.

[@Flo-mj6oi]

May I know why use plastic sheet?

[@starlinguk]

I don't know why they bothered, everyone knows it's Windscale, really.

[@fallenwolf3368]

@@Flo-mj6oi he might be referring to plastic sheets as carving paper. When drawing up documents for a building you use a clear sheet to go over the drawing and you draw on the clear sheet to see if that would improve the building. If it does then you simply add it to the final drawing.

[@gerchwurzelsepp8243]

@@starlinguk Maybe in the UK. Hadn't heard of Windscale at all before this video, and my only knowledge that something had gone wrong there once was from the song "Radioaktivität" by Kraftwerk. In it, Sellafield is listed in a row with Hiroshima, Chernobyl and Harrisburg, so it was easy to assume it had to do with radiation. Sellafield was listed though, not Windscale.

[@martinc7873]

@@Flo-mj6oi id assume its for ease of making copies. based on molybdomancer's use of 'in those days', itd be before digital printers. they'd be taking negatives to make a plate for a litho press. might be easier w plastic sheets instead of paper, especially if youre avoiding smudges from erased pencils

[@tziirkq]

"Harmlessly into the sea." Right into the Isle of Mann, and then into Ireland.

[@OrcinusLaryngologist]

Get away from my potato’s! 😤

[@Docv400]

That would at least explain the Watermelon size B**ls on the guys that race on the IOM . . .

[@mancunianace8428]

I worked at sellafield as a subcontractor about 10 years ago. Tbh it scared the hell out of me, we were fitting fire alarms into various out buildings. The on site staff were great and we were regularly checked on, to make sure we weren't exposed to anything dangerous. By the end of the contract my nerves were shot lol!!!!

[@millomweb]

For what manufacturer ? - ahh, it's come to me - Mather & Platt - although I think they went out of business ;)

[@StrazdasLT]

Nothing to worry about. Inside a nuclear facility is about the safest place you can be in. You know why they cost so much? The regulation demands they could continue working even after being literally bombed by an enemy raid. Not just survive, continue working uninterrupted.

[@23davidian96]

​@@millomweb I believe they have, as they were bought by Wormald, who were bought by Tyco, who were bought by Johnson Controls, who I now work for making Grinnell sprinklers 😊

[@steelwheel-i3s]

My grandfather was a telecommunications engineer for the GPO. He was tasked with installing the telecoms system when the Dounreay reactor was being commissioned. An accident occurred where he cut off the tip of a finger in a dirty area. A few years later he died from a rare form of Leukemia.

[@PeteTheWargamer]

We in the U.K owe an awful lot to Sir John Cockcroft and his "Follies". Excellent video as always, Nuclear Disasters hold a morbid fascination for me so this was a particularly great watch.

[@StelfoxAlice]

Us from Cumbria especially!

[@ryanboscoe9670]

Definitely check out plainly difficult if you don't know about the channel already!

[@nickyblue4866]

@@ryanboscoe9670 his channel is amazing. His documentaries on little known nuclear incidents are very informative.

[@noecarrier5035]

Hot take: the linear no-threshold model of radiation exposure risks is bad science and has done more harm than any of the historical releases and accidents ever would have done had the LNT model been disregarded.

[@The_Mimewar]

Same. It’s humanity wielding a deadly weapon, in our infancy. It’s the stage in sci-fi we hear about as the beginning. Cluuuuuumsy steps forward

[@MikinessAnalog]

You know it's bad when an alarm has to continue to remind you how dangerous a site is.

[@nicolebennett5585]

It makes me wonder how the workers deal with the noise all day? That has to drive you insane.

[@MikinessAnalog]

@@nicolebennett5585 I would think it would be something you would tone out, BUT you would still notice if it suddenly stop because it would be something your brain would have to cease processing.

[@qwave1322]

It’s a very odd way of doing things. Makes me wonder if they are covering up something using the constant noise. 🤔

[@MikinessAnalog]

@@qwave1322 Unknown, but frequency and intensity would be interesting to know because humans speak within a narrow range of what we are able to perceive. Maybe it is trying to tone something they should be knowing "out".

[@samiday6486]

@@nicolebennett5585 I was thinking this too. Wouldn't they eventually just drain it out so the effect of "reminding them of the constant danger" is kind of null? It'd also be interesting to know the effects it has on their hearing

[@gingercube688]

"the radioactive material was blown harmlessly out to sea" ..... *suuuuuure* that's definitely how these things work

[@noecarrier5035]

Small quantities of radioactive products can be pretty effectively diluted in the ocean. It's not ideal but it is acceptable. That's what they're going to do with the tritium contaminated cooling water built up at Fukushima, for instance.

[@Croz89]

It does seem an odd claim to make considering the wind usually blows in the other direction.

[@MidnightGazebo]

It's been blown outside the environment!

[@nicolebennett5585]

'the radioactive material was blown harmlessly over to Ireland, who we don't give a fuck about so it's grand.'

[@noecarrier5035]

@@nicolebennett5585 About whom we do not give a fuck, you mean. We might have beef with the Irish but at least we get the grammar right.

[@addicted2mako]

If there’s one takeaway from any of these videos, it’s this: Don’t. Cut. Corners!

[@goliathprojects7354]

It's as good as always the problem. The technology never failed and when it did, it's because someone thought they could save a few pennies.

[@jwalster9412]

Except if you live in Canada, where literally every road has atleast one pothole.

[@MrNota500]

Or don't trust what the government tells you. Also, The government doesn't have the peoples best interest in mind.

[@StrazdasLT]

@@MrNota500 As it turns out - the government did have peoples best interest in mind as UK went on to haves sucesful nuclear power infrastructure which would have never gotten off the ground if the news were made available and people panicked.

[@davis4555]

Tom Tuohy was home taking care of his sick family when he was called. I believe he also had the flu when he got to the station. He was the one who realized the fans were literally fanning the flames. There's a great book about this and other nuclear accidents in a book aptly named "Atomic Accidents" by a nuclear physicist named James Mahaffey. His books are excellent.

[@CoastalSphinx]

"Atomic Accidents" is an awful book. In it, Mahaffey shows a serious lack of general knowledge. He's unaware that oil floats on top of water, or that "oxides" are different from "elements". He's also careless with his illustrations. He identifies as "aerial" a photograph which is not only obviously taken from the ground, but also has the photographer's shadow prominently visible! In another instance, he confidently asserts that sodium-free fast reactors are impossible, on the same page as a schematic diagram of such a reactor. His inability to form logical connections is on clearest display when he blames nearby residents for choosing to live near an unsafe nuclear facility. The facility's owners falsely claimed it was safe, so if we accept Mahaffey's argument, then we must conclude that all nuclear facilities are unsafe and any claims of safety are lies. Presumably Mahaffey does not intend this, since he specifically states in the introduction that he wants to allay fear of nuclear facilities. But that's the source of the problem - the entire book is an exercise in motivated reasoning. For every one of the accidents discussed, Mahaffey finds a way to dismiss it as irrelevant to contemporary nuclear safety. But he does not consider the consequences of his arguments. They are thought of one moment and discarded the next. Mahaffey's carelessness and bad-faith arguments taint "Atomic Accidents". Even the parts that appear correct are of little value when the author is unreliable.

[@nataliep501]

Bravo to those men mentioned toward the end of the video. Their actions saved many lives!

[@solsun75]

John Weedon I have not. What’s significance?

[@dorian4534]

This is one of those disasters where 'it could have been worse' is a feeling of almost eldritch dread.

[@matthewyeldig4608]

To be fair, the "it could have been worse" was the U.K becoming a real life Fallout game...

[@Sky_Guy]

@@matthewyeldig4608 So just plain ol' Glasgow then?

[@matthewyeldig4608]

@@Sky_Guy Hey man... You said it, not me!

[@trashcatlinol]

@@matthewyeldig4608 I didn't realize the UK was so populated with robots...

[@ctgckkotr792]

@@trashcatlinol Yeah I know right, the mutants get all the attention just because they're big and green and currently eating Aunt Mildred. Little known fact, the Queen actually is a type of Ghoul, which is why she's lived so long. And don't get me started on the Deathscotts.

[@thomasdoubting]

"Please, sir, may I have a longer shovel, to push the uranium?"

[@lorenzbroll101]

I know what a joke. Best quality products made at the minimum of cost.

[@daffers2345]

"Blimey! You want MORE SHOVEL?"

[@Nickelodeon81]

No but here's a paper glove.

[@CD-Gaming]

"What are you: a coward!? If you're not willing to shovel that stuff, perhaps I should find someone who will!! And fot less too!!" At least that kind of attitude only stayed in F1, eh?

[@bittersweetrain1740]

“Bu- but sir! I have a family with two youngins to feed!”

[@shelby8101]

That gave me chills when he explained the alarm system at the new facility. I can’t imagine how eerie it would be for everything to go silent all of the sudden!

[@millomweb]

But not totally accurate ! The sound - more like a loud ticking clock that echoes around the building. The alarm is not silence - that's a fault with the alarm ! I never actually heard the alarm - maybe that's a good thing :)

[@millomweb]

You can hear the 'alarm' (that's not an alarm) in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aoY2tqa9-aeaM

[@RDRF_SB13]

I love hearing stories of these heroes, workers going above and beyond to prevent a worse disaster. Very motivating, it makes me reflect on what's important.

[@luvondarox]

Holy wow. This would have been an absolutely different outcome if he hadn't pushed so hard for his "Follies" to be taken seriously and implemented anyway.

[@ORLY911]

For real, imagine a big exclusion zone being there to this day if they hadn't.

[@feastguy101]

That’s why you build things to code. Especially if that thing is a nuclear facility.

[@StrazdasLT]

@@ORLY911 Not really. Exclusion zones are actual follies. Neither Chernobyl Nor Fukushima zones are actually dangerous. I can understnad Chernobyl being turned into basically a national reserve (the wildlife is thriving, at least before the war) but Japan governments actions are outright insane.

[@nickoliver3523]

I work overnights in a warehouse. This evening, my safety inspector cornered me three separate times to check on very small safety concerns. It’s beyond me how any of this stuff could happen in present day.

[@d.y.h.w.]

Be safe, my friend. Used to work nights in warehouses until I had kids.

[@GeoRyukaiser]

It doesn't. I mean with nuclear reactors the last disaster was Fukushima and the one before that was Chernobyl. And the newer one was because of a natural disaster, and that place had about three layers of backups that failed. And even then Fukushima could have been averted if there was a company policy that let them cool the reactor with salt water in an emergency. The number of safety provisions in nuclear power these days is mind boggling. On a side note, did you know they can recycle nuclear fuel rods now?

[@SockyNoob]

@@GeoRyukaiser ikr. Compare that to literally most other power sources and you realize just how safe nuclear energy really is.

[@SockyNoob]

Oh how I wish OSHA had more staff to regularly visit companies.

[@SImrobert2001]

Well, for one, Not every safety inspector does that. Nor does every site has a safety inspector worth a damn.

[@saraho92]

I remember quite clearly receiving a packet of Iodine tablets in the post in the early 2000s. They were to be taken if there was an incident at Sellafield. Every house in Ireland was sent them... it was quite terrifying!

[@nickyblue4866]

I have iodine tablets in my emergency kit at home. Hopefully I'll never have to use them *crossed fingers*

[@moviemad56]

Lovely how thoughtful the Brits are, isn't it?

[@centurion262]

Yup my family got them to and I think they were at the back of a draw somewhere knocking around for years! Sort thing in a emergency you could never find!

[@Peannlui]

My household got then too, jic Sellafield would become a site for terrorist attacks, as this was months after the 9/11 attacks.

[@hkr667]

@@moviemad56 It's standard procedure in many many countries. They are cheap and help, so why not.

[@lynnbowers4722]

It boggles my mind that humankind has made something so dangerous that we have to spend over a hundred years containing it in concrete and stand constant vigilance over it. No fictional horror story could be more terrifying than this truth.

[@daffers2345]

This is one of the reasons horror movies and stuff never scare me. Truth is always scarier, in my opinion.

[@kennypeshlakai2416]

Imagine being assigned to that police or fire department ! Your only job is....hope you never need it .

[@kellysaunooke740]

Isn't that the truth.So scary and it will probably destroy earth. ALL it takes is the nuclear weapons in the wrong hands.

[@gregbeckham3346]

Billion,s to construct and operate nuclear power plants,trillions to store and monitor spent nuclear fuel over hundreds of years or more,what's to go wrong.

[@richardwheeler6115]

May be almost as bad as the effects of the co2 you and I produce daily, concrete and hundreds of years won't be nearly enough to rectify that situation

[@namelessuser8595]

Hey just wanted to say thanks for having captions that are properly timed and not auto generated. Im hard of hearing so having correct captions means a lot. It helps me process what’s being said and take in the information. It’s small, but it’s nice. Thanks!

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

To me, that's a sign of a REALLY good YT channel, regardless of size - shows a true commitment to making content accessible, which I respect enormously. (And as a transcriptionist & CC operator, I know that creating and syncing such accurate captions isn't an easy-peasy task, so the effort put in is much appreciated!)

[@Kanbei11]

To be honest it's something that should be mandated for channels of a certain size - just like regular TV

[@michaelganci9258]

So that’s where Homer got the idea for his “everything is okay” alarm invention!

[@totallylooney8292]

I actually think that'd be the case - the Simpsons writers are true nerds, often integrating little shout-outs like that...

[@nlwilson4892]

Having worked there, knowing people that work there, the similarities with the nuclear power station portrayed on the Simpsons is too worrying to be funny.

[@BOG0690]

Precisely what i was thinking

[@phattjohnson]

Haha! Exactly! "THIS WILL SOUND EVERY THREE SECONDS UNLESS SOMETHING ISN'T OKAY!"

[@shazzer1976]

Radioactive material had blown safely out to sea, conveniently stopping short of the island of Ireland... I have an aunt I never met because she died of bone cancer when she was just a teenager. We believe it was connected to the fallout from this accident. There were quite a few like her. So sad. I dread to think what health issues there are in the area around Sellafield now.

[@GeoRyukaiser]

Doubtful. The levels released where bad, yes, but given that dispersal over distance and the half-life of some radioactive materials is measured in hours the chances of the events being connected are very small. I'm sorry for your loss, though. May your aunt rest in peace.

[@kallehalvarsson5808]

@@GeoRyukaiserIodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days, and Polonium-210 (which was also released) has a half-life of 138 days. It is entirely possible that people in Ireland could have been affected - if nothing else, fish in the Irish sea was probably contaminated.

[@v-town1980]

English; always looking out for the Irish.

[@GeoRyukaiser]

@@kallehalvarsson5808 Possible. But you need to factor in distance, dispersal and average cancer rates without radiation before calling it probable. Unless it can be proven that cancer rates increased after, and that increase was because of, Windscale then its just hating Briton for the sake of hating Briton.

[@kallehalvarsson5808]

@@GeoRyukaiser Sure, i'm just arguing that half life is not a valid counterargument. I don't see where "hating Britons" should have anything to do with this, i'm a Swede so i'm a completely disinterested party in whatever beef they have with Ireland.

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

Managers be like: "Where's your radiation-detecting badge?" "Where's yours?" "Shut up, that's where."

[@emilyadams3228]

Badges? We doan need no steenking badges!

[@boriskarloff598]

Klaus Hergeshieser.. from G section

[@kingofthepod5169]

Funny story from Ohio. Fernald had those badges, they changed color. One day someone left their badge on a cart and it somehow changed color. Apparently no one has been keeping track of their carts and they were extremely irradiated. It was terrible.

[@ivechang6720]

I come from a steel mill town we take fewer liberties, in proportion, with molten metal than we do with radioactive ☢️ materials. It is insane. Absolutely insane. Thank you for bringing the heroes and hard work of this site into our minds. "Lest we forget."

[@jarcuadanantus28]

Person 1: "Man I wish that fucking alarm would stop." Person 2: "Oh no you don't."

[@millomweb]

Wrong on both counts.

[@millomweb]

You can hear it in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aoY2tqa9-aeaM

[@vladivosdog]

@@millomweb what

[@Isobibbel]

Well done Cockcroft. We need more people to insist on these things even though it makes them unpopular

[@MightyMezzo]

G*d bless a careful engineer.

[@millomweb]

An autopilot that takes control of aieroplanes would be a good idea.

[@emiwoo9355]

It always comes to "safety is more expenses" for those controlling super dangerous buildings.

[@SockyNoob]

The thing is, nuclear power on its own isn't super dangerous. It's because of imbeciles who refuse basic safety measures that it becomes dangerous. This kind of shit would never happen in modern nuclear plants in first world countries.

[@happyfacefries]

It confuses me that they don't think about the astronomical money it could cost if those aren't put in place.

[@emiwoo9355]

@@SockyNoob Watch some United States CSB disaster videos, it'll change your mind on first world countries getting it right.

[@SockyNoob]

@@emiwoo9355 I guarantee it's all pre-1980's stuff. Ever since Chernobyl nuclear plants have been under heavy scrutiny. If you want dangerous power, go look at how many accidents related to coal, natural gas, and oil happen daily.

[@adder3597]

@@SockyNoob Not even that with Windscale. We only learned that air-cooled reactors like Windscale were a bad idea, _because of Windscale_. It's easy to criticise it in hindsight and I agree that it wasn't a great design, but I can guarantee that at the time, nobody would've really known this could happen.

[@coastermom7027]

Happy fascinating Horror Tuesday everybody

[@shaunyjimenez9637]

Happy FHT!

[@Claymann71]

One of my favorite channels (BrenDaniel) used to have a series called Terrifying Tuesdays. It's a snappy kind-of name. FH is easily one of the best Narrators I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure it's: David Attenborough, Morgan Freeman, FH. 3rd in the World isn't bad!

[@karenashton1457]

Love the way you narrate these without dramatising things. Would love if you could do a video of the MV Sewol sinking. The captain told students to stay on board whilst he evacuated, 299 passengers died and government hushed everything up. Would make a very interesting video

[@coltburks5450]

I believe brick immortar did the sewol ferry

[@indiafox5786]

​@@coltburks5450he's also amazing. That video got me emotional when I first watched it,especially the part where the dad is just begging the conference room for the truth.

[@averysunniemagpie8958]

Every time I watch one of these videos I think about my father's insistence on safety no matter the job he's working on. Whether it's low voltage dangers or extremely high up working conditions, my dad has always explained his second nature loyalty to the rules that keep him safe. Though this is obviously an extreme example, it does a lot to remind me of how there's more to safety training than we give credit to in everyday life.

[@manyyoumas]

i see you've started breaking up sections of your videos which is cool, and the editing has been improving too even though it was always great, your videos are a pleasure and i hope you continue getting views for your work :)

[@MikinessAnalog]

You get those "breaks" when the uploader places timestamps in the description.

[@bigbouncer4196]

This channel is so underated when it comes to details and storyline that I haven't heard, of the incidents I have heard of this channel has always given more insight, and knowledge about the situation

[@mormerill]

My friend just moved here to run a hotel and when I mentioned it to my dad, he said "why does that place sound familiar..." 💀 I haven't told my friend about this yet and idk if she knows.

[@Jimmie2429]

Just when I think this channel can’t outdo itself, a video like this is produced. Exceptional work.

[@tskmaster3837]

Another tale well told. I love how there's usually an extra fact that pushes these things into the arcane, in this one it's the ever sounding alarm whose silence would be the loudest danger sound ever. It's a nice touch.

[@millomweb]

But complete fiction ! Silence would only be caused by a fault in the alarm system.

[@millomweb]

See if you can hear the 'alarm' in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aoY2tqa9-aeaM

[@thomasoates3003]

Thanks for covering this. It's been largely forgotten in the UK.

[@FowlorTheRooster1990]

no it hasnt been forgotten, we just moved on

[@mariaevans7811]

Correct!!!! 🐩🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@ashleighclark6866]

So...I used to live 5 miles away from Sellafield. Which is the nuclear plant involved with the windscreen fire/disaster. Living so close to it you here all sorts of stories about what happened. Including that all fire equipment used in the fire was buried on site. This is true but due to the radiation level the location is kept secret. I'll be surprised in a few years if we don't here anything about the Thorpe waste plant on site, I have horror stories from that place.

[@shaunyjimenez9637]

Do you mind telling us?

[@ashleighclark6866]

@@shaunyjimenez9637 of course not. It's a long story though. Thorpe processing plant deals in the waste products from radioactive materials. Through this process a liquid called radioactive liquor is created. This stuff is very similar in nature to the elephants foot in cernobyl. If you are near enough to see it you won't last long so it's stored I designated sites. All this is fine & legal. The part that isn't is that somehow this radioactive liquor has leaked out of Thorpe plant (guessing through a cracked in the concrere foundations of thorpe from excessive heat created by nuclear waste) and has began leaching into the ground. So aside for the radioactive waste, Sellafield motto is basically 'once it goes past our site boarders it's no longer our problem'...not that they'd actually say that about the now radioactive farm land surrounding the site.

[@experiment35]

@@ashleighclark6866 someone... should do... something??? like, that's really bad considering how often it floods etc in cumbria, who's your MP please alert them

[@ashleighclark6866]

@@experiment35 I no longer live there. Let's put it this way also if the local mp cares they would let people swim in the water off St.bees beach as that is where the nuclear waste water is pushed back to shore from the outlet pit...they don't care. The nuclear industry brings in far too much money for the area.

[@ashleighclark6866]

@@hayleighdodge298 I know. It was even worse training in the engineering sector because Sellafield poach level 3 Btec students. They approached me twice and I turned them down, they're a very toxic company & have been voted one of the worst places to work in the UK.

[@charliep123]

“Nuclear accident” might be the scariest word pairing in existence

[@ShortArmOfGod]

Usually the safest kind, actually.

[@pseudotasuki]

Dam failure.

[@biblemaniswatchingyoumastu1920]

‘Mom’ ‘piss drawer’

[@h.f6364]

chelidon (that part thats on the other side of a elbow) , paper-cut

[@VideoDotGoogleDotCom]

how about "nuclear war"?

[@ivyblack2209]

An alarm that sounds constantly unless something is wrong reminds me of the danger alarm Homer created in The Simpsons episode where he becomes an inventor.

[@dbensdrawinvids8390]

A toast to Tuohy! Climbing in to have a gander at a radioactive fire and then living to 90. What an utter legend.

[@SymbolSoul]

Barely started, but liking anyways because all your works have been amazingly put together.

[@SparrowTeaDragon]

“Safety, in this climate, took a backseat for rapid progress”...here we go. I’ve seen enough of these to know where this is going 😒😒....

[@CassassinCatto]

I've learned more about this incident in lockdown than I've ever done in the past 40 years.

[@d.y.h.w.]

Same!

[@fayecox9401]

Me to it’s definatly been educational

[@GrahamGroovyUK]

My grandparents had a hill farm about 40 miles from here. All milk was poured away. Various forms of Leukaemia appeared in a wide spectrum of locals. Quite a few were youngsters and passed away before hitting their twenties. My grandmother was very concerned by the risk of water supplies (Mainly private and untreated) being contaminated from the hill and mountain streams that the smoke clouds went over as the reactor burned. Thankfully my mum and her sister were kept indoors for a few days and have survived without illness. Sadly a handful of friends did not.

[@bethzolin6046]

Thank you for this excellent programme. My father was involved in the nuclear programme just after WW2, though not by choice. They needed to build high pressure pipes safely - and engineers building steam locomotives were the expert in this, so he was sent from his normal work as engineer/ designer/draughtsman in a steam engine works, to Harwell, to support the scientists there. This also included visits to Windscale/Sellafield. He never mentioned this work at all until just before he died, where he commented that the scientist involved seemed not to have any care whatsoever about the dangers involved, being completely casual around radioactive substances. He commented that they terrified him by their lack of care! He was there for about 2 years and was really glad to get back to his normal place of employment, even though by then the writing was clearly in the wall for steam engines.

[@m.b.7359]

Sultana steamboat explosion, and Andes Flight 571 crash are good stories that should be given their own episode.

[@happyfacefries]

I believe the Andes flight has been done, but the Sultana is a good one. It makes me sad it's been forgotten.

[@davidcox3076]

The Sultana would be a really good one.

[@erikawanner7355]

@@happyfacefries I live in Marion, AR where the sultana sunk. We have a small museum dedicated to it and a yearly “festival” on the anniversary.

[@elliottprice6084]

Probably the most thought provoking video I've seen in Fascinating Horror. Sir Jonathan Cockroft and Thomas Touhy are two if the most underrated heroes in British History. Love this channel. Please keep the videos coming as I learn so much from them

[@avalonvalley2722]

Lol @ the "Everything's OK Alarm™️"

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

Whet the alarm's not alarming you then you should be alarmed?

[@galacticbob1]

"Do you hear anything?" "No, why?" "No alarms going off, right?" 🤔 "No.... Oh S#1+!" 😱

[@avalonvalley2722]

@@WouldntULikeToKnow. I'm alarmed at this alarming ..... uhm ...alarm

[@vr6swp]

Seems like after a while you'd tune it out and not notice if it shut off. Like smoke detectors chirping to alert you they need batteries

[@annehedonia156]

@@vr6swp Who the hell can tune out a chirping smoke detector? Most annoying thing ever.

[@markcaldwell2831]

Another painful chapter in Britain's creepy past. Gives one the chills.

[@tony.bickert]

Well written script, Well spoken narration, great channel.

[@piperjaycie]

Not sure if that alarm thing is a good idea. My brain filters out so many sounds, including alarms, that I probably wouldn’t notice until someone told me it had stopped.

[@d.y.h.w.]

Right! Someone else in the comments mentioned the same. How many brains get used to a repeat sound and automatically tune it out, good or bad.

[@elliejane72]

The “sound” of automatic silence is louder than any actual alarm. I believe this is the thinking.

[@adder3597]

Strictly speaking, that part of the video is incorrect. These are the alarms employed on the site, the constant tone is present for a partially related reason: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqWxmIKbpqd-h7c

[@andysvideoarchives1773]

Well that's because no matter how many safety systems you put in place there's always going to be someone who is too dumb to save from them self!

[@meganparker8703]

Your work is so consistently astounding that I hit like immediately upon opening.

[@cindymitchell7060]

Me too!

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Windscale was selected as it was in a relatively low population density area but had sufficient skilled workers unlike Arisaig, which had been selected for the plant.

[@hotelmario510]

I've been fascinated by disasters for many years but I have never seen a channel that explains them so carefully in a way that anyone can understand.

[@jaelzion]

So often in these stories, the person who raised safety concerns was ignored and disaster followed. It's nice to see a case where someone stuck to his principles, even in the face of mockery, and probably saved lives because of it. Well done, Sir John Cockcroft.

[@meganorbread8834]

how did I never know about this?!?! this really is terrifying

[@crystals7882]

The alarm always going but only turning off when something goes wrong is Genius!

[@emilyadams3228]

Rather like air brakes on trains. Releasing the air sets the brake, so that if there's a leak, or the line gets broken, the air escapes, & stops the train.

[@happyfacefries]

It would take me a second to notice. I don't like it.

[@millomweb]

@@happyfacefries Silence indicates a fault, not an alarm. The alarm would be alarming !

[@Tailstraw_xD]

I would have liked to see the news reports. "Everything's fine guys, this nuclear radiation only affects milk."

[@sct913]

Remember that news coverage in that era was entirely different than it is now. So it was much easier to downplay things than it would be today. As for the milk disposal, it was touted as a "precautionary measure." About the only folks who raised any fuss about it were the farmers whose milk was being destroyed.

[@leerose1056]

oh my god this is funny

[@WindTurbineSyndrome]

People were very naive back then about nuclear technology

[@sct913]

@@WindTurbineSyndrome Correct. Much like asbestos was in its day, nuclear energy was thought to be a 'miracle' technology that would transform us. There were even plans to develop 'mini' nuclear reactors, no larger than a regular furnace, that would heat and power homes.

[@yowtfputthemaskbackon9202]

@@sct913 it still is, sort of. that is why goverments all over the world whenever something went wrong tried to cover it up because its just that good of an energy source. the only downsides are that it puts out a ton of steam and that the waste material is realy hard to dispose of. and that if something goes wrong shit hits the fan on a national level. but other then that the power output is amazing, there are basically no contaminants aside from the steam created by the reactor, you can build a reactor pretty much anywhere and its a fairely reliable source of fuel that wont run out in the foreseeable future. all other sources of power fall flat in at least one of these categories. wind, hydro electric and solar are locational, coal and oil are horrible for the atmosphere, coal, oil and solar are very resource dependent (solar mainly because of the materials needed to build the panels which arent that easy to get), wind and water impact their surronding biosphere, wind, coal and oil cant be build in population centers, solar and wind have a terrible energy output compared to the resources put into creating a powerplant, and nuclear doesnt have any of these issues.

[@AiraRia]

I know this was a long time ago but I'm a big fan of the fact that at one point in time humans felt confident enough to use nuclear energy, a literal invisible death force with so little of an emergency plan that at one point "eh i guess we'll just poke it with the scaffolding poles" was the best option

[@lars7935]

Oh this couldn't even produce electricity. The only purpose of the reactor was to produce plutonium. Plutonium that was only to be used to produce the most devastating weapons ever known to mankind.

[@elizabethhair723]

This will always make me think of the film The Medusa Touch starring Richard Burton, about a man with Psychic Abilities who tried to cause the Windscale Disaster.

[@tellu5493]

"Rather than relying on an alarm system that sounds when something goes wrong, Sellafield employs an alarm system that sounds constantly when there *hasn't been a containment failure." Didn't Homer Simpson invent this?

[@SangerZonvolt]

It´s a stupid system, so probably. People go deaf to sound they hear constantly, so it wouldnt suprise me if it took minutes for anyone to notice a missing sound. It´s like when your home is near a busy street. After a while you stop hearing the street until you focus on it. You wouldnt notice the sound go away without focus on it though.

[@Croz89]

It's so sensitive that there are regular "false alarms" from radon leaking out of the bedrock.

[@HYPNOTOAD291]

he called it the "everything's ok alarm"

[@annegrey3780]

best. reference. ever.

[@veryberry39]

@@SangerZonvolt This was my first thought, too. There's no sense in keeping an alarm on all the time!

[@heyoekt3391]

If you haven’t already, you should do a video about the Hillsborough disaster that happened at a football match where people got crushed in 1989.

[@daffers2345]

I think he has an email in the description. You can email him a suggestion. I did, and he said he'd do it in a future vid.

[@heyoekt3391]

@@daffers2345 ohh okay thank you!

[@gillymac9363]

There are already good YT vids about it

[@heyoekt3391]

@@gillymac9363 I know but I wanna see his take on it and how he’d cover it :)

[@slothpatronus2704]

Looks like he got a more recent event to cover - Astroworld 2021

[@johnboulton1109]

Superb! I was really hoping you’d do this one, probably one of the nuclear incidents to receive limited coverage and is now almost forgotten! Really well done and truly fascinating!

[@choppedmungdol5466]

I hope you're making a living making these amazing informative videos. I never see much ads on your work.

[@praxillascucumbers7680]

I hope so too but, given that other horror/true disaster/etc. creators have all said that YT often demonetises them across the board for subject matter, alone, it may not be that simple.

[@Bryce-z9v]

This is such a great channel! I am now finding all the old posts and am reading all the 2,184 comments. Excellent effort!

[@Robbie06261995]

Oh hey I love the addition of the timestamps.

[@hollymorris785]

This was a really good one that I had never heard of before. I especially enjoyed the bit about the follies saving the day! Thanks, man!

[@millomweb]

More info: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpDTiJqIrZyfpNE

[@gcfournier3386]

The alarm that continually sounds if everything is ok, is what got me

[@millomweb]

It's not an alarm ! More like a loud grandfather clock ticking.

[@Money4Nothing]

Small correction: "nuclear materials" are not necessarily "far more dangerous" than explosives. Radiation leaks are far easier to avoid and mitigate than an uncontrolled explosion, and the amount of stored energy in explosives is typically far higher than that available in nuclear material. There is also statistically a far greater likelihood of an accident with explosive material than with radioactive material.

[@danielpeppapigpowers]

Can you please cover the story of the burning of Notre Dame? I know it didn't happen too long ago, but it would be interesting hearing the story from you❤️🤍💙

[@daffers2345]

I was thinking of suggesting that. Maybe you can email him (I think he has his email in the link) and mention it. They are still rebuilding, thankfully, and it looks like they'll be able to restore it.

[@FailingArtist]

I don’t think it ever STOPPED burning since it was built 😂 (jk)

[@noseyparker4773]

@@FailingArtist what's so funny?

[@cryptaveli]

Love your educational and very well told videos! You are very underrated.

[@tristantristancraped]

I used to watch horror stories, but when I found your KZbin channel I was instantly hooked. Keep us this content please! It peaks my interests

[@alexyoungberg5232]

*This channel has the best intro music out there..*

[@goodgirl4978]

Love your narration speed and how precisely you speak. Makes it easy to catch every word!. Many thanks for uploading your reports and tales.x

[@foxylovelace2679]

The workers of Windscale lived in a town together similar to Pripyat. It was considered very hip and full of young families. I heard something about the kids there receiving the overall highest grades in physics and chemistry in the country.

[@trashcanhands19]

You've quickly become one of my top 3 fave yt channels...wishing continued success!!

[@reese8397]

Hearing you explain the nuclear process with the rods made me realize just how much humans are capable of understanding the world around us, but people like me who aren't in the field know next to nothing about it. And they were doing this 60 years ago.

[@daffers2345]

I got scared when he mentioned the graphite blocks. Chernobyl had graphite blocks too, which was part of their problem. When they went to re-insert the rods to cool things down, it was too late because the blocks had shattered. TMI had water, and the reason they had trouble was a faulty valve that indicated a full tank ... still, I always thought water was better than blocks of anything.

[@StrazdasLT]

@@daffers2345 pretty much all gen-2 design plants have graphite rods. The water cooling system cools the rods, not the fuel directly.

[@daffers2345]

@@StrazdasLT Thanks for the info. Needless to say, I know next to nothing about nuclear reactors!

[@Hissmannen]

There is another documentary on Windscale featuring an older lady who goes on and on about Tom Touey and the other heroes. On their personalites and how they were. Not one bit of info on what they did during the disaster. Weird and funny as hell. Great work on this Sir. That ”all is ok” alarm is just ridiculous..

[@mklaebel]

But consider how eerie it would be if the alarm fell silent. 😱

[@adder3597]

The "all is ok" alarm isn't quite correct, that one is for another purpose. These are the actual alarms. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqWxmIKbpqd-h7c

[@Bella-fz9fy]

It’s not the main alarm,they had that too,it was a tone that sounded in the most dangerous areas to let the staff know all the systems,including the main alarm,were all working okay,it was started in the 1980’s and although staff got used to it,they said it was very noticeable if it didn’t go off!

[@arnepianocanada]

A sobering reminder not to trust single-minded authorities too implicitly with potentially dangerous project developments. Well presented, and the *gravitas* in your voice enhances the serious focus of this and many other Fascinating Horror posts.

[@thedamnedvirus]

I've had a tour round Sellafield, I got to see the pond etc. I can confirm that the alarm sounds constantly, its a loud pip every few seconds. Also it is kept at a lower pressure than outside, so air comes in through doors etc, but can't leave. Because of that though, you do get a headache when you go into the site if you aren't used to it. I also got to see the site (basically the wall which it happened behind) of the other incident at sellafield, where the nitric acid they use to dissolve the old fuel rods leaked out. It contained a lot of radioactive materials and wasn't noticed for a long time as the area it leaked into was (for obvious reasons) unable to be accessed by humans. It wasn't discovered until people realized that they were missing a lot of plutonium (like 160KG)

[@aeixo2533]

What's the benefit of having an alarm that goes off constantly until there's a problem and then shuts off? As opposed to an alarm when there's a problem.. Sounds like an unneccesary annoyance....

[@stephaniesews6603]

People are hella irritated when the noise they are accustomed to suddenly stops.

[@aeixo2533]

@@stephaniesews6603 I don't think anyone gets irritated when an alarm stops... It's a relief in any normal circumstances.

[@krashd]

@@aeixo2533 She said a noise people were accustomed too.

[@aeixo2533]

​@@krashd Thanks for the clarification, I was unable to read that when she wrote it, but now that you've written it again, I can see....

[@jenlat3887]

I would guess that it is a psychological effect. So many people ignore actual alarms as "false" when they first go up or just a "test". If you have a constant sound that only stops in the case of an emergency, there is no doubt that there is an emergency versus "oh is that a false alarm". I would also think that it can't be easily overwritten to just start the alarm back up, versus an alarm turning on where they can override like the Smiler incident. I am not an alarm expert, just watched too many documentaries where they were like hey let's override this and carry on as usual.

[@gammon1183]

My dad visited there just before during his training for becoming a post office engineer (BT) . He and his friends had the full tour no holds barred . Dad died of cancer a few years back as did his friends , coincidence maybe.

[@kokobwild2413]

Nice to know that Homer Simpsons "everything is okay!" alarm is in use at a nuclear plant.

[@DanzigFan-vq3zf]

SIMPSOOOOOOOOOON! *Mr. Burns tries to fire Homer Simpson but status quo is god*

[@BarbaraAnnB-yi5ew]

I just want to say I appreciate how you cover these stories. With respect. And as a side note, your voice is incredibly soothing.

[@millomweb]

Bigger story on the fire: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpDTiJqIrZyfpNE

[@MikeOrkid]

Just stoked at how large this channel is becoming. Great information and detail on sometimes little known yet tremendous stories.

[@Tharosthegreat]

I love this series! I love your voice! Fits perfectly.

[@sharonsmith583]

Wow as an American I had never heard of this truly fascinating

[@tommcevoy4872]

Don't worry, I'm British and very interested in this sort of thing and I've never heard of it either

[@Laurenimaoo]

As someone who lives in the same county, I have never heard of this

[@fizzao1342]

Listening to F.H about decommissioning the site makes me hope to goodness that no urban explorers ever try to examine Windscale/Sellafield structures.

[@adder3597]

They won't be able to. The site is heavily secured and fortified and patrolled by CNC (an armed police unit specifically set up to protect nuclear facilities and materiel in transit). There is no chance in hell someone could get into that site unauthorised.

[@fizzao1342]

@@adder3597 Thank goodness for that! I do hope it will be a permanent arrangement and not removed as a cost cutting exercise.

[@petergambier]

Thanks for this FH. It's great the way events are hushed up and we don't hear about them until 30 or 40 years later, some can never be heard and are still censored. I watched your film to reinvigorate my memory of this events and had forgotten about the efforts of Chief Engineer Cockcroft and Mr Tuohy. It seems daft to have an alarm on all the time, people stop hearing it after a while, a bit like road traffic, crying babies or airplanes, we have an ability to block it out. One Russian KZbinr who lived in Kiev near Chernobyl said that every residential building had state run radio which broadcast news and propaganda. When the reactor went up, all radio news stopped and they just played non-stop classical music. The residents then realised something was wrong somewhere and that it was big whatever it was. I live in Somerset overlooking Europe's biggest building site, Hinkley Point. If that goes up I hope it's a quick death. Why do we have to process so much uranium? Haven't we got enough spent uranium shells and nuclear bombs to kill humanity many times over, just look at the awesome power of just one Tsar Bomba. If we must have nuclear reactors why don't they build a Molten Salt ones instead? All existing reactors could be changed to burn thorium instead of uranium. Thorium is pretty plentiful and will never run out. It uses lower energy, is walk-away-safe and can also be recycled just once, the nuclear waste can then be fired at the sun. Hinkley Point and HS2 are both massive white elephants and will be out of date and pointless by the time they are both completed. The tragedy of HS2 is that it took out so much nature, ancient tree's and woodland. Irreplaceable treasures that can change and invigorate us when we walk or play in them. The train line just means that the commuters get to London 20 minute's quicker, can't they just Zoom call instead just like many businesses do every day Maglev was a British invention, now successfully used in Japan, why don't we use that instead of HS2? Another British invention was the Jet engine, I wonder why we gave those idea's away? I highly recommend the Chernobyl series to anybody interested in the 1986 disaster where the nearby residents of Kiev went ahead with their Mayday celebrations amid the falling flakes of radioactive ash making the occasion even more festive as well as deadly. If you play the PC game Stalker, Shadow of Chernobyl there is a faithfully produced digital version of Pripyat, the nearest town to Chernobyl.

[@overworkedcna412]

Damn. The nuclear arms race is honestly just a really fucked up version of when little kids will be like, "mom can I have an ice cream cone? Julie's mom let _her_ have one so _I_ want one too!"

[@bittersweetrain1740]

“Okay dear, I’ll get you a nice ice cream cone with the radiation you like so much!”

[@TheRetroWoman80]

Excellent comparison.

[@crazyleyland5106]

"Oppenheimer 's deadly toy" - Sting in his song "Russians."

[@ML-nb3ct]

Can you do a video on the Mount Tambora volcano eruption which was known as “The Year Without A Summer”?

[@UnicornCentaur]

I always imagine the little crow icon in the bottom corner is the one narrating the video

[@FailingArtist]

😂

[@Aging_Casually_Late_Gamer]

"Get it done fast" always equals tragedy.

[@EDDIELANE]

I really love the quality of these video’s and the sound of the narrators voice. Very respectful and professional.

[@ivechang6720]

To this channel's creators and supporters! I salute you. These are the stories that remind us that what we do affects others. I could name a famous channel or two that never ever delve into the truly important incidents. I am trying to wean myself from watching them they do not make me feel better about this world or like I am able do anything to better our collective future. This channel does, if only because I remember and remind others of similar decisions that ended with bad results. Thank you.