I am NOT ok after watching *CHERNOBYL* (part 2/2)

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Original Series: Chernobyl
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. All rights belong to their respective owners.

[@inspectahdex]

"Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth, and sooner or later that debt is paid." Strongest words to live by from this entire series

[@commiebastard3633]

Somebody better tell Boris Johnston

[@sitting_nut]

main narrative of the show is problematic because it is false and propagandist. this false narrative depicts scientists seeking truth at any cost, conducting an investigation against wishes of the state, and revealing the results at great risk to themselves (even of life and imprisonment). in fact, what happened at chernobyl and aftermath (now known and even accessible in west through books like midnight at chernobyl) on those main narrative points, was quite different (in fact almost 180 degrees different). investigation was done by state itself, and its findings were not hidden (in fact were used by defense rather than persecution at trial). nobody was at risk of back room execution, or imprisonment, because of investigation and a unnecessary and fictional dramatic revelation of findings. legasov (who was heroically responsible for some important aftermath decisions) was ostracized not by state, but by fellow scientists, who thought he was proposing reforms (not mentioned in show, some of them heroic in their own way) detrimental to status of scientists, and finding faults with other individual scientists (some of whom suffered and were fired because of this) who had earlier helped his career. his "tapes" were sent to editor of state propaganda newspaper pravda (and a fellow member of ruling faction like legasov himself), and not secretly dropped of to a possible clandestine dissidents. and yes rulers of that state were very fractured, far from monolithic, with lots of non fatal infighting, well before 1980s, and quite unlike how they are depicted in western propaganda ( as well as in this show), which almost always depict that state's political culture as if it was same as in 1930s. in anther telling lie, show deliberately changed the anger of general ( an incident that is on camera) against the scientists for giving false radiation number after the german robot failed , because that means his men have to go on roof, to anger of boris ( who was not there at that point ) against the state for allegedly giving false number to cover up. tendency of change obvious. no wonder show does not mention or give credit to actual footage of liquidation, that contain this incident, even though they make use of it to recreate. alleged "cover up" that involved recording everything, obviously does not fit the false narrative of show. as i said there are whole lot of this kind in show. show chose to deliberately lie on those points. those lies are especially problematic in a show with theme of "cost of lies" .

[@MrTrevisco]

And we are still lied to, even by our own government and the nuclear industries.

[@richlisola1]

@@commiebastard3633 In regards to what?

[@garthrogers2269]

@@commiebastard3633 I think he's finding that out atm. Not that he thinks there'll be any real consequences for him, because there probably won't.

[@ThisIsMyFullName]

The series wasn't lying, Boris really was the most important person in all of this. He could have taken the corrupt way out to protect himself, but he sacrificed his reputation and his life for the sake his country.

[@Arthera0]

not just his country but whole europe

[@servantofmelian9966]

Belated reply, but I only learned this fairly recently: Apparently, shortly after this series premiered, the graves of Boris (and Valeri) were suddenly covered in flowers. I believe it.

[@mohammedashian8094]

@@servantofmelian9966 rightfully so

[@magicbrownie1357]

In order to UNDERSTAND the human cost, the film makers makes us FEEL the human cost. Hence, the torture of watching the animals and babies die. The story cannot be told honestly without it.

[@keithgoddard4192]

Correct.

[@Hikayuhuy]

"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - Josef Stalin

[@Tom_McMurtry]

@@Hikayuhuy The gulags were not a positive highlight of human history

[@2b0n02b]

Some women were forced to abort their babies. That's why you saw Lyudmila Ignatenko hide her pregnancy, this was a subtext to those who know.

[@StayFractalesque]

the "debt to the truth" finally being repaid..

[@rooneyrythm]

The actor who played Dyatlov, Paul Ritter, tragically died last year of a brain tumour aged 54. Rest in peace.

[@garthrogers2269]

His performance was brilliant. No idea on how accurate it was, but it definitely portrayed a 'my-way-or-the-highway' management type present in so many fields.

[@jonasquinn7977]

I’m always surprised when I see him in this because he’s most famous as a comedy actor but eh did a really good job

[@fullmetalandtheflame438]

I had no idea. That’s really tragic

[@Fordo007]

Dang, well he went out with a bang with such a memorable performance. Not to mention the memes he created keep living on still.

[@movienaut]

While his characters were terrible, his performances were great!

[@acetrainer44]

“Valery Khodemchuk’s body was never recovered. He is permanently entombed under Reactor 4” will never not be haunting

[@Ashar121]

Very Solomon's Mines esque. Getting trapped anywhere forever always gets me

[@Kreuston]

He has a memorial inside the plant, next to a concrete wall that separates blocks 3 and 4.

[@ckotherletters]

I like to think that someday, decades or even longer from now, it will be safe enough for people to recover what remains of his body and give him a proper burial. Just imagine the story of the last burial of a Chernobyl victim many, many years from now.

[@TheTaintedWisdom]

Reminds me of all the bodies and remnants of WWI that were never identified or even recovered. To the point where "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was made in remembrance of all of them. Countless souls who were forced to march into battle in a foreign land and never return... not even in a coffin. Forever entombed in the barbed wire, wood, mud, and filth of the trenches opposite equally lost former enemies.

[@charliebaker1427]

@ckotherletters im not even sure what would remain of his body enriched with that kind of radiation for centuries, chances are his body will be radioactive aswell

[@L3SSTH4NL33T]

Fun fact: they originally planned to show further deterioration of the plant worker's/firefighter's radiation sickness but decided that it was too much and too morbid to show. Hard to imagine that their condition could get worse than what we saw but it did.

[@Neil6393]

well it was exaggerated in the show already btw...kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2KqdoOpiLujkLs&ab_channel=VanityFair. She is a radiation expert in ukraine.

[@DrRhyhm]

@@Neil6393 wrong. Probably she mostly eccountered mild radation burns but that doesnt change the documented fact thatt Akimov face was gone to the bone, Ignatenko coughed up pieces of his organs according to his wife and Hisashi Ouchi literally rotted away alive because they kept him live for 3 months.

[@ThisIsMyFullName]

Actually, the series exaggerated the radiation conditions. While strong radiation can burn your skin so it turns red as seen multiple times in the series, it doesn't melt your skin off in the way the series displays it on the patience at the hospital. Radiation sickness is a silent killer that causes severe cancer which can kill you in a matter of weeks, or worse cause failure of internal organs which can kill you in a matter of days. You can compare radiation with a virus in the way it transmits to others, which is exactly why it's so dangerous. That's also why the pregnant women we see in the series didn't know that she put herself in danger, as in real life her husband would have seemed fine aside from having nausea and vomiting. However there's a good reason why the series chooses to be so graphic, because even though it falsely shows a condition of radiation that isn't true, it very clearly illustrates the very real negative impact that radiation can have on your body. These people were being killed from the inside, and there was nothing they could do about it.

[@oldgreggsmadmemes4431]

@@DrRhyhm yeah friend grandpa was a doctor who saw him he said everything was gone and leaking it was crazy

[@TrashskillsRS]

@@ThisIsMyFullName Akimov's cells died, which is how his muscles behind the flesh slowly degenerated and in the end there was only a thin layer of skin over his facial bones. So he basically looked like a skull with a mouth. Most of the firefighters had muscles dieing on their hands and head, which is also when they would suddenly start bleeding and it had a hard time to stop again. You start looking weird when the muscles behind your skin starts disappearing and the skin becomes very loose. Lyudmila recollected that one of the wife of another firefighter tried to help nurses move her husband from the bed and she peeled his skin off because his combi of oils, blood underneath the skin and very elastic skin had stuck to the bed. All the dead firefighters died from multiple organ failure. It is true that you do not become like a blue alien, you look a lot more like a long term chemo patient. Hisashi Ouchi is an extreme example and he literally lost his skin because he could not regenerate any cells. Very much resembling a dead body rotting in a sterile environment.

[@corynydam2361]

Ironically, the contaminated water that the divers had to pump out of the tanks is likely what saved their lives. They were immersed up to the neck for most of their time down there. Water is an excellent insulator against radiation, and so their vulnerable internal organs received only the mild dose from the water rather than the lethal dose from the exposed core. The brain is extremely resilient to radiation compared to other organs, largely because its cells divide so slowly, if at all.

[@prometheus705]

i didnt know this, very interesting fact

[@bonaparte6431]

@@2012Ragnvald Shoutout Ragnvald for preserving the truth in the midst of lies hehe

[@Garryck-1]

The reality is that the suits they were issued were actually better at blocking radiation than was realised at the time. It was the suits that saved them.

[@TrashskillsRS]

The elastic plastic that were used for diving equipment, lab aprons and were new to the chemical & nuclear unit of the army proved to be excellent protection against radiation and did not get contiminated really. The 3 men and all the ones of the roof in their makeshift protective gear set a new standard and the material has been a part of hazmat suits since then.

[@jboy55]

Well let’s not get too ahead in thinking the danger to the workers wasn’t that bad. In Fukushima, when you watch documentaries and they stick a robot in to measure the radiation, and the operators all gasp at the crazy levels of radiation. First these levels are typically within the containment building second and the levels are typically at or below the radiation on the roof. A report titled ~ ‘levels worse than feared’ had the levels inside at 10 sv per bower, the roof was 8-16 sv per hour.

[@judson9223]

This part made me laugh. Natalie: "Yeah, I'd be shocked if they survived." Caption: "They survived." Natalie: [Shocked gasp]

[@zombiehaiku7527]

"This is the worst job." That made me smile knowing the roof scene was coming.

[@TaintedPrinceps]

maybe best job? i mean you work for a few minutes then you clock out lol

[@fernandobarrera6440]

The second somebody tells me NOT to look over the ledge… i subconsciously made it a mission to look over the ledge.

[@Lucasaurios]

i still think killing dogs is worse than the roof cleanup job

[@werdle92]

Killing a dog is worse than getting cancer. so no, the roof job is not worse

[@glamazon6172]

Oof, honestly...I'd rather shovel graphite.

[@crittertracker]

As someone who works in nuclear power plants the soundtrack and background music were especially freaky to listen to. I didn’t know they had recorded actual nuke plant sounds, but one day at work I was walking down a hallway and recognized the noises from the show. It raised goosebumps.

[@crittertracker]

For anyone freaked out about this, nuclear power is incredibly safe, and as it’s pointed out here in the show this should never have happened. So many safety protocols had to be overridden. At modern plants even the smallest errors are met with safety meetings and discussions on how to improve things. For big problems to occur, many smaller things have to go wrong first, which is why there’s little tolerance for errors.

[@ChildOfTheWilderness]

@@crittertracker it'll be even safer once Fusion comes along, which will make these incidents impossible. My fear is the war in Ukraine could lead to reactors being damaged

[@KrimsonStorm]

Thanks for working in a place that will provide both cheap and actually clean energy. Fission is the future.

[@AL-fl4jk]

@@ChildOfTheWilderness build the moon base now! Even a simple one will give easy access to H3 and will accelerate and decrease cost of fusion research

[@Scicianman]

No no no no no no no no no. Hell no.

[@W0NK042]

Why they couldn't look over the rail, when clearing the roof: Imagine the radiation as a giant spotlight, pointing straight up. You would be in the ambient light from the beam, while on the roof, but looking over the rail would (literally in this case) melt your face off.

[@duanevp]

You didn't want to look over for the same reason you didn't want a helicopter to FLY over it, even for a few moments, and not even at hundreds of feet higher altitude. It was indeed a big spotlight of concentrated radiation death pointed straight up.

[@dzhellek]

Kind of like staring at the sun.......from a few feet away.

[@brucechmiel7964]

@@dzhellek Or giving Godzilla a tooth exam.

[@W0NK042]

@@brucechmiel7964 😂

[@enigma19833]

Yeah, if you can see the open core with your naked eye then you're already dead.

[@cliveklg7739]

"To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it."

[@garthrogers2269]

We can see this in action with antivaxers to day

[@sitting_nut]

main narrative of the show is problematic because it is false and propagandist. this false narrative depicts scientists seeking truth at any cost, conducting an investigation against wishes of the state, and revealing the results at great risk to themselves (even of life and imprisonment). in fact, what happened at chernobyl and aftermath (now known and even accessible in west through books like midnight at chernobyl) on those main narrative points, was quite different (in fact almost 180 degrees different). investigation was done by state itself, and its findings were not hidden (in fact were used by defense rather than persecution at trial). nobody was at risk of back room execution, or imprisonment, because of investigation and a unnecessary and fictional dramatic revelation of findings. legasov (who was heroically responsible for some important aftermath decisions) was ostracized not by state, but by fellow scientists, who thought he was proposing reforms (not mentioned in show, some of them heroic in their own way) detrimental to status of scientists, and finding faults with other individual scientists (some of whom suffered and were fired because of this) who had earlier helped his career. his "tapes" were sent to editor of state propaganda newspaper pravda (and a fellow member of ruling faction like legasov himself), and not secretly dropped of to a possible clandestine dissidents. and yes rulers of that state were very fractured, far from monolithic, with lots of non fatal infighting, well before 1980s, and quite unlike how they are depicted in western propaganda ( as well as in this show), which almost always depict that state's political culture as if it was same as in 1930s. in anther telling lie, show deliberately changed the anger of general ( an incident that is on camera) against the scientists for giving false radiation number after the german robot failed , because that means his men have to go on roof, to anger of boris ( who was not there at that point ) against the state for allegedly giving false number to cover up. tendency of change obvious. no wonder show does not mention or give credit to actual footage of liquidation, that contain this incident, even though they make use of it to recreate. alleged "cover up" that involved recording everything, obviously does not fit the false narrative of show. as i said there are whole lot of this kind in show. show chose to deliberately lie on those points. those lies are especially problematic in a show with theme of "cost of lies" .

[@chikitronrx0]

@@sitting_nut i agree many of those shows or movies depicting true events, have the same problem of picking a partialized depiction of events. Most of the time because the run time is limited, but some times is the producers of the shows who involved and mess with the planned script. Changes here and there make the true events not to be so true. And also many of the times you have the risk to be labeled as propaganda if you give favor to one or the other. This is a problem of the industry because they have "values" that are often an agenda that you can't be againts. They mess up with everything and thats how you get Matrix Ressurrection or movies like that. This show is so good, because not so many changes were made, but the red scare and the cold war propaganda is still in it. This narrative that the red scare is still up to today, even when the soviet union is gone, and their relations with russia is still awful. I wouln't change it as what it is, because have it the way it is, is better than don't, but there are some things that were left, dimiss or added just for drama. The aftermath of the dissaster is still an open wound in the nuclear energy and many of the myths. It is still one of the safest and cleanest way of generate energy.

[@sitting_nut]

@@chikitronrx0 my problem is not with excusable dramatic license involved in adapting show to tv. its the main narrative of the show that is false. false on purpose . and demonstrably false. ( to take one example ) as with general's anger at scientists for giving wrong radiation number, transferred to boris's anger against state which is now made responsible for wrong number. btw real incident is captured on video, by a documentary crew, who are erased in show( inspite of show using documentary to recreate things not changed like roof top footage) since their recording everything does no fit show's narrative about state covering up everything. and there are lot of such changes with same tendency .

[@EmilioMetralleta]

@@sitting_nut TBH it all sounds like Soviet propaganda, those records could have been falsified.

[@thedoctor4327]

Scarier than most horror movies/shows. Absolutely love Stellan Skarsgard’s story arc though and Jared Harris

[@thomaschristopherwhite9043]

It's the scariest. The threat is real, giant, deadly, and invisible. Not to mention the damn thing can't be killed, has no weakness, and is essentially immortal.

[@Pupalah]

That dosimiter clicking at the end of the episode. Was bone chilling.

[@tbirdguy1]

Because the horror is real, and not fake. The danger still is there in Ukraine, waiting underground like a real monster sealed for the good of mankind.

[@michaelwong8083]

Americans in 2019: "Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. That's a great line from 'Chernobyl'." Americans in 2020: "Imma just gonna make stuff up about Covid. The only truth is what we choose to believe."

[@michaelfiori6700]

Still to his day people say covid was just to get us to wear masks and the vaccine was ment to divide people. Masks are gone and you can go anywhere with out a vax....

[@Zac_Frost]

Same with the gender studies nonsense.

[@GeneralxGrievousx]

"These are the most important 90 seconds of your lives." The rooftop clearing scene is one of the, if not the most, nerve racking scenes I have ever seen in media. Especially when the Geiger counter clicks go absolutely haywire.

[@veronikamajerova4564]

What´s interesting is that if you chceck the time, the scene is EXACTLY 90 seconds from the moment they go on the roof until he rings the bell for the to return. So indeed you have watched one whole "shift" in "real time". Which makes it even more crazy, when you realize how little room for mistakes they had - every second had to count.

[@AlessaParker]

was I the only one who tried to hold my breath during those 90 seconds?

[@FlatMarssSociety]

Also, the older soldiers removed their radiation measures and ordered the younger soldiers to give them theirs so they could go up again without their superiors knowing. They did this to save the younger soldiers from worse lives in the future.

[@swokatsamsiyu3590]

Not only that, if you look at real footage shot during the cleanup efforts you will see that the makers of this series managed to recreate it so meticulously, that it is a spitting image to the real thing. And they did shoot this scene on purpose in exact 90 seconds to convey to the viewer just how harrowing this must have been for the real Liquidators as they were called.

[@sethheasley9538]

The whole "This cannot have happened, therefore it hasn't happened" logic with the Party is brutal.

[@HarryCaneNo1]

Child 44 is a movie working with a similar paradigm. Stalin (movie plays in WWII) declares: "there is no murder in paradise", therefore someone telling you he witnessed a murder is considered an enemy of the state. Or in modern times: Biden stole the election, because Trump must have won it.

[@zevo9314]

its worse than that. its not that this cannot have happened, its this cannot have happened in OUR country because we are superior. its one thing to believe its not possible to have happened, its a whole nother level of ego to think you're just too good for it to happen to you

[@georgepoitras3502]

I was serving in the Army in 1986 in Germany and remember the accident and the radiation warnings. To this day if you hunt wild boars in Germany they have to be turned in for radiation checks. In 2014 I spent 2 weeks in Kiev and took the tour of Chernobyl and the town of Pripyat. Very sobering trip.

[@Gummikasper1]

I grew up in east Germany. As I spoke to my family about this show, my uncle and aunt said they wanted to build a house at that time, and all of a sudden there was no concrete to get anywhere. In east Germany, they didn't knew what happend until way later...

[@hoagsmash4188]

Start writing, man... Experiences like yours are the BEST supplements to such historic events!

[@redplanet9488]

Support Russia more. There will be such Chernobyls for every generation.

[@glebskachko1811]

@@redplanet9488 you mean Ukraine, Moscow made Chernobyl happen

[@redplanet9488]

@@glebskachko1811 да, я о том же

[@attackofthequasars]

I live in Greece. When Chernobyl happened, I was 8. I vividly remember our parents not letting us go out of the house and really being anxious about milk, vegetables, water; for about a year we didn't eat anything that grew above ground because everyone was freaking out about how the radiation from the explosion could impact what we ate. This series was really needed. It was really dark and sad and infuriating. But it's closer to the truth than everything we knew back then. Thanks for the reaction!

[@theemperormoth5089]

My favorite quote from the pretty grim 4th episode was: “Those guys, they cut down trees. Those guys evacuate villagers.” “What about them?” “I don’t know them. Fuck them.”

[@samwallaceart288]

That guy is the ultimate Disney-villain and I love him

[@jordanpeterson5140]

My favorite part of that episode will always be Boris beating the phone to death with itself.

[@SlightlyStabby]

Despite that some of the science of this series is less than accurate (mostly to make certain parts more dramatic), Legasovs' account of the reactor explosion is incredibly accurate. As a nuclear physics major, it makes me incredibly happy to hear it explained so simply and accessibly!

[@corynydam2361]

They were told not to look over the rail because it would expose them to more radiation. Radiation is emitted like light, and the core was sending up a huge spotlight of radiation. While on the roof, they were in the “shadow” of the radiation from the core.

[@TheAlanFish]

On the roof the real danger was the graphite all around them, as it was heavily contaminated and extremely radioactive in it's own right. Just not nearly so bad as the core itself, hence the danger of looking over the rail as you pointed out. The first workers who entered the roof faced the greatest dangers. Each successive crew would have a slightly less dangerous environment, though even just the dust left over when they finished would likely be enough to kill in hours.

[@mahliz]

@@TheAlanFish And it just makes me think of that poor scientist that was sent up there and had to look over the railing to see that the reactor "was still there". Yeah I understand why we didn't get to see his face.

[@TheAlanFish]

@@mahliz It was actually Akimov who's face "was gone" in the show, but yeah, it probably wasn't pretty with Sitnikov either.

[@ryanhampson673]

Came here to say this…Gamma rays are just extremely energetic photons (light). For every 90 degree angle the radiation drops 90 percent..If you see some power plants (Chernobyl included) a lot of the hallways leading up to the reactor core had several 90 degree turns in the hallways

[@slugmanvandam]

Props to the editor for going above and beyond with the research on this with the quick "google searches"! really enlightening to see what the show missed too.

[@hobbes6392]

Boris is probably my favorite character from this show. Even if part of it is fictionalized, a good man is one who chooses to learn and grow and let go of lesser things in the name of common good and he exemplifies that

[@peytone5387]

Stellan did a great job. Not much is known about the real Boris but I think Stellan filled in the gaps well

[@Supernatpy]

Boris served in a similar role after the catastrophic 1988 Armenian earthquake. Seems like after Chernobyl he had a reputation of man who can solve any problem

[@gpeddino]

The book “Voices From Chernobyl” by Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich was one of the sources used by the creators. The author interviewed more than 500 people related to the tragedy, including Lyudmilla Ignatenko herself.

[@2012Ragnvald]

It's funny that Ignatenko herself did not like the series as a result. Well, for a long time no one takes Alekseevich seriously - she lies like she breathes, but she breathes all the time. She took the baton from Solzhenitsyn, also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate))

[@gpeddino]

@@2012Ragnvald Ignatenko never claimed she didn't like the series. She said she felt "hurt and uneasy" because she was not approached before production began, and because of the scrutiny from the public and the media. You're the one who's lying here.

[@2012Ragnvald]

@@gpeddino you have to be an idiot not to understand what she was saying. a direct quote from her interview - "... and this lie in the film - there are a lot of unfair, wrong shots."

[@PV1230]

@@2012Ragnvald another commie mad that Solzhenitsyn exposed the gulag archipelago.

[@2012Ragnvald]

@@PV1230 not quite - I was upset that everything the communists lied to us about turned out to be true.

[@mitchellneu]

“Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now, I only ask… What is the cost of lies?” Love how the series begins and ends with this quote(or at least the second half of it)

[@jordanpeterson5140]

Perfect bookends.

[@sld1776]

"You'd think they'd care more about their heads." As Woody Allen pointed out, the brain is my second-favorite organ.

[@nathanliteroy9835]

And Natalie is mistaken, they are not thinking about their dicks or with their dicks. It's to protect balls from radiation so that children wouldn't have mutations

[@johnlightspeed5931]

Keep in mind, it took men something like 50 years to start wearing helmets when playing Hockey, but the "family jewels" were always protected 😎

[@Parker2010]

@@NiclasLoof and sterilization.

[@politedog4959]

The brain is one of the most radiation resistant organs, as its cells replicate very slowly. Youre far more concerned about organs with rapid cell division, such as your balls , lungs, stomach lining, blood...

[@realburglazofficial2613]

It’s only relatively recently that we have figured out that testes and ovaries don’t absorb radiation anywhere near as much as we thought they do. That lead would have been better served around his throat to protect his thyroid.

[@windwalker5765]

The kid not knowing how to use the gun: Two reasons. First, most Soviet soldiers are conscripts. They're drafted, given minimal training, then released after two years. Second, this happened in 1986. Soldiers from that time would have been trained on the Kalashnikov (AK) family of assault rifles. The weapons they were issued for hunting animals were Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles, a World War II weapon which is more powerful (to kill the animal cleanly) but operates very differently.

[@ryanhampson673]

I bought a Mosin-Nagant a few years ago from 1942…Still a great shooter

[@mrs7195]

The crazy thing is that Dyatlov had been involved with another nuclear mishap BEFORE he came to work in Chernobyl. He really was the last person you want anywhere near nuclear material.

[@mistrants2745]

8:00 reproductive organs are one of the most sensitive parts of the body when it comes to radiation, ESPECIALLY the male ones because they arent shielded by being inside the torso and they constantly make new sperm cells. General rule of thumb with radiation: the more new cells are being made in a body part, the more sensitive it is to radiation. The brain is shielded by a layer of bone and has relatively little cell division going on.

[@monojitchatterjee3185]

Thyroid?

[@phh2400]

@@monojitchatterjee3185 Thyroid is special in a sense that it stores the iodine from the blood for hormonal creation. When it is full, by taking the iodine pills, the radioactive iodine you breath in, will be just pissed out.. less time of the radiation exposure in the organism.

[@stras676]

The official podcast (available on KZbin) that accompanied the series was really good. They explained what was fact, what was fiction, and why they made the decisions they made to about what parts to fictionalise. I think I recall that in a few places the story was even worse and more dramatic than what they showed, but they decided it was sometimes too much.

[@brandonwilkinson5201]

What was the podcast called?

[@kamaukhary5370]

@@brandonwilkinson5201 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIbIeYN5jtmKj7M

[@Jay5002]

@@brandonwilkinson5201 Chernobyl Podcast....it is excellent...here is the link to Part 1 on KZbin, just click the playlist for the rest kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIbIeYN5jtmKj7M

[@sitting_nut]

actually it contained lot more falsehoods. main narrative of the show is problematic because it is false and propagandist. this false narrative depicts scientists seeking truth at any cost, conducting an investigation against wishes of the state, and revealing the results at great risk to themselves (even of life and imprisonment). in fact, what happened at chernobyl and aftermath (now known and even accessible in west through books like midnight at chernobyl) on those main narrative points, was quite different (in fact almost 180 degrees different). investigation was done by state itself, and its findings were not hidden (in fact were used by defense rather than persecution at trial). nobody was at risk of back room execution, or imprisonment, because of investigation and a unnecessary and fictional dramatic revelation of findings. legasov (who was heroically responsible for some important aftermath decisions) was ostracized not by state, but by fellow scientists, who thought he was proposing reforms (not mentioned in show, some of them heroic in their own way) detrimental to status of scientists, and finding faults with other individual scientists (some of whom suffered and were fired because of this) who had earlier helped his career. his "tapes" were sent to editor of state propaganda newspaper pravda (and a fellow member of ruling faction like legasov himself), and not secretly dropped of to a possible clandestine dissidents. and yes rulers of that state were very fractured, far from monolithic, with lots of non fatal infighting, well before 1980s, and quite unlike how they are depicted in western propaganda ( as well as in this show), which almost always depict that state's political culture as if it was same as in 1930s. in anther telling lie, show deliberately changed the anger of general ( an incident that is on camera) against the scientists for giving false radiation number after the german robot failed , because that means his men have to go on roof, to anger of boris ( who was not there at that point ) against the state for allegedly giving false number to cover up. tendency of change obvious. no wonder show does not mention or give credit to actual footage of liquidation, that contain this incident, even though they make use of it to recreate. alleged "cover up" that involved recording everything, obviously does not fit the false narrative of show. as i said there are whole lot of this kind in show. show chose to deliberately lie on those points. those lies are especially problematic in a show with theme of "cost of lies" .

[@SMenkveld]

@@sitting_nut your unfamiliarity with definite articles is showing...

[@davidmichaelson1092]

A good friend and colleague of mine when I was in graduate school had been a doctor in Minsk at the time. He died young of a very rare form of thyroid cancer, almost certainly because of Chernobyl. He was one of the nicest people I had ever met...and left behind a wife and child.

[@bungle0h521]

My school, in the UK, was part of a scheme called the Chernobyl Project. it was an opportunity for children, people under the age of 16, from Chernobyl and surrounding areas to come to the UK for a 2 week stay, mainly being put up by the parents of children, as well as the teachers the school. I was part of the fundraising team for the while 5 years of my school life (1996 - 2001) and was lucky enough to meet some of the bravest people ever. the one thing i remember being said from these meetings was "2 weeks away from there, would help life expectancy by at least 2 years"

[@jonasfermefors]

About the terror watching from neighbouring countries: We didn't see anything. The Soviet Union didn't share any information. The only information we got was radiation data from stations monitoring it around Europe that combined with weather reports gave predictions for expected radiation.

[@veronikamajerova4564]

Yeah, I live in the Czech republic, and was born just two months after the accident. From what my mom and grandma told me, the goverment even told the citizens to partake in customary 1st may festivities (which included parades and other outdoor things, which yeah, was a lot of fun especially for childern, but in this situation...).

[@alder2460]

In Poland suprisingly actions were taken. Whithin days after catastrophy, decision were made to give people Lugola drink, that contains iodine - almost 20 mln people took it within hours, mostly kids. Moreover it was recommended to stop consuming freash fruits and vegetables, It was decided to stop grazing cattle in the meadows and even streets were cleaned with water. Even in newspaper some radiation tables were publicized. However before 1st of May it all came to stop and disinformation was started.

[@michaelccozens]

@@veronikamajerova4564 I'm sure there's no parallels with govs whose wealthy connected donors are seeing their short-term profits being threatened telling us to "get used to Covid" and "live as normal", right?

[@amberreed4443]

@@michaelccozens Great point!

[@VainerCactus0]

My Mum remembers radioactive sheep in England.

[@Edninety]

13:54 I've always loved that shot, imo it shows him settling in and in a way loosing his innocence through these terrible happenings that are out of his control. You don't see his face, you just see a man in uniform from behind. Closely related to the monologue the other soldier has with him at lunch. Just great cinematography

[@yiannis5972]

Its interesting how people had more emotional reactions to the death of dogs than to people being melted from the inside due to radiation

[@mitchhamilton64]

because dogs are basically more innocent. they dont know why theyre being killed, you cant explain it to them but suddenly you must end their life.

[@jamesfirth4168]

I think sadness for the death of animals is less complicated. Often people create a barrier to human death by talking about reasons and blame and fault. It’s like we need to construct distance because the reality of tragic human death is overwhelming. It’s like a defence mechanism.

[@chikitronrx0]

@@jamesfirth4168 Rationalizations help us to deal with an unbearable truth. Judging something and making justifications is our way to assimilate horrific events, when you don't have a reason for what is happening you become crazy. Even if those rationalizations, justifications and judgements are lies and you know that are lies, you can live with that contradictions, but not without reasons.

[@jamesfirth4168]

@@chikitronrx0 I think you’re right. You often hear people in the moment say “It’s not fair” or “It was not deserved” or “It’s not right”. This moral dislocation sits with them until a rationalisation is found. It’s very hard to sit with the notion that ‘fair’, ‘deserve’, and ‘right and wrong’ are themselves human concepts. Valuable when building a society but poor comfort when dealing with the chaos of existence, the random nature of ‘dumb’ luck. Grieving for dead dogs is a straight line in comparison.

[@vytisagafonovas3887]

@@jamesfirth4168 interesting idea

[@vkdeen7570]

"nothing about that night was sane" really sums it up. this true story is so dark and so depressing and yet it's also inspiring... for all our greed all our flaws our capacity kill lie and harm each other u still see the strength of human spirit the courage the sacrifice... we make errors but when the chips are down we'll (some ppl) give our lives for each other to fix things

[@2b0n02b]

The trial didn't take place in Chernobyl. The nuclear power plant was built before Pripyat was built, the closest town to the power plant was the town of Chernobyl about 15 miles away, so the power plant was also called Chernobyl. That's where the trial took place, in the town of Chernobyl, relatively safe distance away from the power plant but still in the exclusion zone.

[@ForgottenHonor0]

A soldier who was part of the animal hunting teams described in an interview an encounter he had during a patrol through Pripyat. Something crossed their path, it had no hair and the skin was hanging off its bones, nobody could recognize what it was and some thought it was an actual alien. Then it turned to look at them and meowed.

[@ExquisiteChunk]

It’s so tragic that the actor who played dyatlov died a few years after this released, such a talented man.

[@Nbalko1997]

Goooood I know, he was such a great actor. Funny as hell as well.

[@joshuaoehler5796]

The most powerful five hours of televisual storytelling I've ever experienced. Beautifully, wrenchingly written, directed, and acted. Utterly heartbreaking and stunning. Every tear and lump in the throat utterly earned for these poor, brave people. May nothing like this ever happen again to anyone.

[@SidPhoenix2211]

3:58 No, they made the make-up and everything. They could've done it. But the showrunner (+ writer, Craig Mazin) and the director (Johan Renck) felt that it was unnecessary and it felt kinda explopitative. Seeing one of the men looking so fucked up, and then later hearing that akimov "had no face" had the desired effect. They believed that the viewer would conjure up a terrifying enough image in their head.

[@sitting_nut]

main narrative of the show is problematic because it is false and propagandist. this false narrative depicts scientists seeking truth at any cost, conducting an investigation against wishes of the state, and revealing the results at great risk to themselves (even of life and imprisonment). in fact, what happened at chernobyl and aftermath (now known and even accessible in west through books like midnight at chernobyl) on those main narrative points, was quite different (in fact almost 180 degrees different). investigation was done by state itself, and its findings were not hidden (in fact were used by defense rather than persecution at trial). nobody was at risk of back room execution, or imprisonment, because of investigation and a unnecessary and fictional dramatic revelation of findings. legasov (who was heroically responsible for some important aftermath decisions) was ostracized not by state, but by fellow scientists, who thought he was proposing reforms (not mentioned in show, some of them heroic in their own way) detrimental to status of scientists, and finding faults with other individual scientists (some of whom suffered and were fired because of this) who had earlier helped his career. his "tapes" were sent to editor of state propaganda newspaper pravda (and a fellow member of ruling faction like legasov himself), and not secretly dropped off to a possible clandestine dissidents. and yes rulers of that state were very fractured, far from monolithic, with lots of non fatal infighting, well before 1980s, and quite unlike how they are depicted in western propaganda ( as well as in this show), which almost always depict that state's political culture as if it was same as in 1930s. in another telling lie, show deliberately changed the anger of general ( an incident that is on camera) against the scientists for giving false radiation number after the german robot failed , because that means his men have to go on roof, to anger of boris (who was not there at that point ) against the state for allegedly giving false number to cover up. tendency of these changes is obvious. no wonder show does not mention or give credit to actual footage of liquidation, that contain this incident, even though they make use of it to recreate. alleged "cover up" that involved recording everything, obviously does not fit the false narrative of show. as i said there are whole lot of this kind in show. show chose to deliberately lie on those points. those lies are especially problematic in a show with theme of "cost of lies" .

[@michaelwong8083]

@@sitting_nut What exactly are your sources?

[@sitting_nut]

​@@michaelwong8083 legasov's actual biography and still living family ( such as the fact he was an "academician" which was a title few got in ussr and which in hierarchy and privileges was equal to that of a 5 star general, btw making him outrank boris, who in show is depicted absurdly threatening to throw him out of a helicopter) , his "tapes", investigation reports, actual trial records, video by documentary crew that was recording everything(same that were erased in show, while show used their footage to recreate events like rooftop without giving credit since their very presence would have contradicted its propagandist narrative), etc etc. if you are averse to such primary sources and wants them in english , see books like "midnight in chernobyl" and english subtitled edited version of documentary footage ( search youtube for a version ) i hope your question was meant in good faith and you asked for sources for show too. if they replied please let me know their answer . i have been unable to get a reply. even to basic questions like, given the frequency of threats of arbitrary executions in show from all kinds of bosses, how many people were actually executed in 1980s at whims of highest authorities in ussr , let alone petty bosses, and why there is like no records and rehabilitation of them, when even those executed in 30s were rehabilitated.

[@jemmrich]

It was a great series and sent me down the rabbit hole of reading about all the other accidents that have happened through history. It is shocking how many accidents there have been and the very gruesome experiences people were forced to live through for doctors and scientists to understand the effects of high dose radiation exposure is crazy.

[@jemmrich]

An example was in 1999, Hisashi Ouchi, aged 35, was forcibly kept alive for 83 days in excruciating pain. These types of accidents are happening now, not just 40 years ago :/ With that said, I am still confident that Nuclear energy is the gateway for humanity to have scalable, efficient clean energy, we just need to do better and put more money into it.

[@IamMiaga]

Someone living in Kiev posted that after this show came out they, for the first time, saw flowers left at the Chernobyl memorial.

[@KC1976fromDetroit]

The Chernobyl disaster was one of the key elements that brought about the downfall of the Soviet Union, according to Mikhail Gorbachev. Nearly everything in this show actually happened, even though some events are dramatized or shifted around in time...for example, the helicopter crash happened in October of 1986, about the same time the liquidators were going on the roof to clear debris

[@kylereese4822]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3mrdnqJhZeKeqs&ab_channel=dipching looking directly into the core from above with the radio active white smoke...

[@kylereese4822]

At 3.42 you see the rotor blades of the helicopter.

[@KC1976fromDetroit]

@@kylereese4822 - Here is one of the best documentaries about the disaster, it was released on the 20th anniversary of the accident in 2006 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJi0aZmgp5aca68

[@Codemaster1138]

As for the men that went into the water, in fact water is a really good, not shield for radiation really, but it slows it down and is a sort of buffer, so them being waist deep in water for that time might be the biggest reason they survived.

[@Nbalko1997]

That on top of what protection they wore, they were some of the safest.

[@colinm3130]

We have nuclear reactors where the only barrier between humans and the core is water. So people can look down directly into the core with no danger because of the amount of water shielding them. These are of course smaller research reactors and not large production ones like Chernobyl.

[@gabrielherman8930]

@@colinm3130 I believe MIT has one like that

[@alexkramerblogs]

There's a story of a diver who would help move items out of the pools that reactors and radioactive materials were housed in as part of maintenance. One of the times, he picked up an item and put it in his carry basket tied around his waist. There was something wrong with his detector, so he didn't realize the item was radioactive until he came to the surface. What saved him was that the basket was further from his body, and being in water shielded him from a bad dose.

[@lordmortarius538]

water shielding is one of the methods being considered not just for interplanetary travel to protect human passengers from solar radiation, but it 's also a consideration for protecting hab modules on Mars and such, as water is something that can be synthesized on-site rather than having to find lead deposits and mine/process it.

[@sasankapodlaska9457]

I had chills practically the entire time I watched this series. I remember the first time I heard about it in a lesson at school. I live in Poland, so this topic has always appeared since the accident. I was terrified when I heard as a child that they wanted to build a nuclear power plant here (now I know that today's power plants are much better protected and breakdowns happen much less frequently). Some time later, I asked my mother, who was a child at the time, about it. The radioactive cloud that reached Poland caused her asthma, which was much more aggressive and unusual, as the doctors called it. She also had a huge problem with getting pregnant, and the gynecologist said that fact that she gave birth to me and my brother was a miracle. It is scary how many such and worse cases this outburst caused, all mostly because of politics. Besides, I am very happy that you liked our vodka :)

[@matthewmckibben]

I've (inexplicably!!!) watched a few different reactions to this miniseries. I just wanted to shout you out and give you *massive* kudos for your (and your team's) factchecking along the way. It's very refreshing, tbh. Well done.

[@kylereese4822]

Ignalina Nuclear Power Station (INPP), the sister nuclear plant to Chernobyl used for scenes in the Chernobyl HBO miniseries. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqnQmnyoiJpmnq8&ab_channel=BitsofEurope In December 1983, when Ignalina Unit 1 came online, a design flaw of the RBMK was noticed for the first time. When the graphite-moderated tips on its control rods were entered into the reactor, they immediately caused a power excursion.

[@jamesanderton8817]

As someone that operates nuclear reactors, the explanation of what went wrong is actually a pretty decent explanation. There a lot more to it, but for a layman it works really well. To be clear, the reactor itself did not explode, the steam that was superheated and split into hydrogen and oxygen is what exploded.

[@arraikcruor6407]

Operating nuclear reactors must be such a fascinating job! How did the super heated steam split into hydrogen and oxygen?

[@jamesanderton8817]

@@arraikcruor6407 two ways, thermal decomposition and radiation. In the runaway core of Chernobyl, temperatures were well in excess of 2000° c and the neutron and gamma ray flux was huge. The combination of these two factors produced a large amount of pure oxygen and pure hydrogen. There was two explosions the first one was caused by the rapidly increasing stream pressure, the second was the hydrogen and oxygen recombining.

[@FloarMin]

interesting im thinking of working at a nuclear plant when i get older

[@jamesanderton8817]

@@FloarMin If you are under 18 and live in the US... the US Naval Nuclear Power Program is where I trained and learned and subsequently worked in for 10 years. It is an awesome opportunity.

[@robm9516]

Double protecting their 'junk' was an attempt not to become sterile.

[@fletch-a-sketch9250]

Not just that, but was also to help prevent cancer. The testicles are constantly creating new sperm cells, which makes them a much higher risk of contracting cancer compared to, for example, the brain, because once you reach adulthood, you stop generating new brain cells.

[@avsmiga]

I love art in movies/shows, it's never just art. In that painting of Ivan the Terrible he is holding his dying son after an argument in which HE struck him in the head with a pointed staff. It's an allegory for the series, the (self) harm done for the sake of power and vanity is only realized and regretted after the damage is done.

[@SkyForgeVideos]

"Our goal is the happiness of all mankind".

[@tenmark7055]

It was tough watching this when broadcast, tough again at second hand. Kudos to you Nat for getting all the way through it and your honest reaction. People I know quit half way through. With some of the workers, like the young man who had to shoot the animals, it wasnt a case of being able to quit - it was fear of retribution by the State which tried to control all aspects of their lives.

[@Jaeden_Phoenix]

Yeah, this series sticks with you for a long time. I watched it when it aired, haven't managed to shift it since, it's always been in the back of my mind. Show is incredibly powerful. -Side Note: "90 Seconds on the Roof" is the most clenched I have ever been doing anything in my life. So phenomenally intense. As to the "Don't look over the rail" Rule, it's because they would be looking *directly* into the reactor's open core. It's the same flaming thing that the 2 People in the first episode looked at and instantly turned red-faced. That's the source of everything, and they were only about 40 Feet away from it, protected by the fact they were on the roof at a 90 Degree angle (not that it was much), but they were still more protected than looking *straight* into the core. -Second Side Note: The Trial actually took place in Chernobyl as a kind of "See? It's completely safe!" kind of move by the Soviet Government. Very Soviet Decision. -Side Side Note: The guy that played Dyatlov is Paul Ritter. He sadly passed away last year. He is well known in the UK as a comedy actor. -Side Side Side Note: WHen Valery is shown into the "Make-shift Prison", first thing he does is look behind the door. The KGB's signature move was to stand behind a door and assassinate people as they walked through it. Clearly Legasov thought he was dead. If you want more information on Chernobyl, the creators of the show created a podcast that goes into details about what was dramatized, what they had to cut out, what was exaggerated or de-exaggerated, and all the good stuff. Additional Note: The Soundtrack, composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir, was created using mostly sample sounds from an abandoned soviet reactor (Not Chernobyl, but one of similar design).

[@sitting_nut]

you are ignorantly parroting lot of propaganda . main narrative of the show is problematic because it is false and propagandist. this false narrative depicts scientists seeking truth at any cost, conducting an investigation against wishes of the state, and revealing the results at great risk to themselves (even of life and imprisonment). in fact, what happened at chernobyl and aftermath (now known and even accessible in west through books like midnight at chernobyl) on those main narrative points, was quite different (in fact almost 180 degrees different). investigation was done by state itself, and its findings were not hidden (in fact were used by defense rather than persecution at trial). nobody was at risk of back room execution, or imprisonment, because of investigation and a unnecessary and fictional dramatic revelation of findings. legasov (who was heroically responsible for some important aftermath decisions) was ostracized not by state, but by fellow scientists, who thought he was proposing reforms (not mentioned in show, some of them heroic in their own way) detrimental to status of scientists, and finding faults with other individual scientists (some of whom suffered and were fired because of this) who had earlier helped his career. his "tapes" were sent to editor of state propaganda newspaper pravda (and a fellow member of ruling faction like legasov himself), and not secretly dropped of to a possible clandestine dissidents. and yes rulers of that state were very fractured, far from monolithic, with lots of non fatal infighting, well before 1980s, and quite unlike how they are depicted in western propaganda ( as well as in this show), which almost always depict that state's political culture as if it was same as in 1930s. in anther telling lie, show deliberately changed the anger of general ( an incident that is on camera) against the scientists for giving false radiation number after the german robot failed , because that means his men have to go on roof, to anger of boris ( who was not there at that point ) against the state for allegedly giving false number to cover up. tendency of change obvious. no wonder show does not mention or give credit to actual footage of liquidation, that contain this incident, even though they make use of it to recreate. alleged "cover up" that involved recording everything, obviously does not fit the false narrative of show. as i said there are whole lot of this kind in show. show chose to deliberately lie on those points. those lies are especially problematic in a show with theme of "cost of lies" .

[@mohammedashian8094]

@@sitting_nut oh cry us a river and shut up would ya please?

[@sitting_nut]

@@mohammedashian8094 why should i, or anyone, shut up in face of propaganda and lies? not everyone is craven like you.

[@mohammedashian8094]

@@sitting_nut you think anyone has the time to care about propaganda and shit? Think again nobody cares I’ve always had a distaste for politics so Don’t assume that I support bs lies because I just don’t care

[@sitting_nut]

@@mohammedashian8094 you are free to be willfully blind to propaganda, but don't shout at me to "shut up" . so you are ok with purposes to which such propaganda is ultimately aimed at, including war mongering? will be you be ok with similar "docudrama" about iraq war, depicting lies about saddam's wmd and his alleged collusion with those responsible for 9/11, as truth, with bushes, clintons and rest of usa oligarchy as heroes? propaganda justifies evil. as show itself says (in between lies) there is a cost to lies. are you willing to pay that cost? even if it was other people's deaths and destruction. also being willfully blind to evil is same a supporting evil.

[@peterevans6752]

Good to see the compassion you have for others shine through Chernobyl's tragedy. Thanks for sharing.

[@MoA-Reload...]

This was an amazing series. First few episodes especially had me literally shouting in frustration at the screen. The point about the true cost to human life will never be known is very true. As far West as Scotland recorded a significant increase in radiation levels and there was also an increase in cases of cancer over the whole of Europe, not just in Russia itself.

[@tealsquare]

The thing about this show is that after all the horror and suspense we've witnessed by the time we reach Episode 5, you are still on the edge of your seat when they are reenacting the minutes leading up to the explosion. Amazing TV!

[@CleverClothe]

The show does a pretty good job of explaining the cause in terms non-experts can understand. But also Scott Manley has a great video that goes over it in a little bit more detail.

[@vplusah]

This is a show that you really don't want to watch again, but it is masterfully done and very deeply moving. Thank you very much for your reaction.

[@johnirving5949]

Natalie is a great reactor. Chernobyl wasn't.

[@faustosar6151]

"Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant"

[@The_Cranky_Painter]

The "egg basket" was one thing that stuck with me. The brain is surprisingly well I protected against radiation. But the testicles aren't. They were protecting their potential to have children with the metal shielding.

[@realburglazofficial2613]

It’s only relatively recently that we have figured out that testes and ovaries don’t absorb radiation anywhere near as much as we thought they do. That lead would have been better served around his throat to protect his thyroid.

[@Ohne_Silikone]

11:29 it was terrifying, I live in the Netherlands and was six at the time, but as more and more came out, we got instructions over the radio not to eat certain crops. I still remember the intensity with which my mother followed the reports rolling in. I grew up with Chernobyl and the whole anti nuclear movement it brought in its wake. That said, a lot was kept in the dark about what was going on. Europe kind of had to figure out what had happened and it took a while before the truth got out. Neighbouring countries got seriously affected. Due to the prevailing winds, most of the fallout was not in Ukraine itself, but in Belarus if I remember correctly.

[@Native_Creation]

They say that Eastern Germany and other parts of Eastern Europe are found to be more radioactive than in Ukraine

[@Ohne_Silikone]

@@Native_Creation that is interesting. Is it Chernobyl related though? How did they deal with it? I know there are charts about fall out, I guess based on wind conditions at the time. Of what quality these are I don't know.

[@emileraikin9442]

I was 6 too. Leningrad, SPb now. We've got Swedish report from BBC and isolate our-self

[@andrewzamora2689]

The divers likely survived because water is actually really good at shielding radiation, so good in fact it's how we still shield spent fuel rods.

[@tidusace0721]

As heartbreaking as killing the dogs was, it was the most humane thing to do in this situation because the alternatives would have been far worse.

[@Denis-Maldonado]

True

[@Zac_Frost]

Yeah the "don't let them suffer" line worked two ways. Do they let them suffer too much pain of the shots, and don't let them suffer radiation sickness.

[@multipass2567]

The lil boxes when you ask questions is a cool addition

[@marianne5055]

The whole "baby absorbed the radiation" was made up for some drama in the show - but realistically they wouldnt have wanted her near the husband moreso for his sake since his immune system would basically be nil.

[@joelwillis2043]

probably one of the dumbest things I've seen a serious show make up

[@Alex-kd5xc]

I didn’t know that was completely fabricated for the drama. When I first saw this show I believed it could happen

[@mitchhamilton64]

its recounted in the mothers book that thats what she was told when the baby died.

[@KyrainMcLeod]

Thanks for pointing that out. Radiation (sickness) is not contagious. Once the dust and irradiated clothes are removed, people suffering from radiation sickness are no harm to anyone. However the radiation probably severely damaged their immune system, so they are the ones in danger. There is the rare possibility that minerals in the body (potassium, natrium, chlorine and iron) get activated, however their concentration and half-life are really low and so the resulting radiation would be of no concern to other people.

[@RenegadeShepTheSpacer]

@@joelwillis2043 Nonsense. That's not what happened. She was told that herself and obviously believed it.

[@feipo4699]

the best youtube reactions come from people who have the gift of gab, I would hate watching a show with a gabber in real life but they make the best reaction videos

[@IndySidhu88]

When Nat mentioned about animals/dogs being killed in the previous reaction video I knew Episode 4 would break her. :(

[@camillagodoy3412]

The part of the dogs I had to mute, it really gets you. The baby part too. I cry and got so angry watching this series, that’s why it was one of the best piece of tv I watch in years !

[@rogersjgregory]

This show is a masterpiece, just next level storytelling. When I lived in the U.K. I remember the government warned us about acid rain, caused by the Chernobyl accident. So yeah, I remember Chernobyl.

[@tbirdguy1]

Some how rewatching this with you hits harder then seeing the first time. Having a dog makes this so hard to look at. Dog's are such loving loyal creatures, and while you know it had to be done, it's still incredibly painful to watch.

[@vwlssnvwls3262]

I watched a short film of how they built a cover for that reactor, and them placing it over the reactor. Really interesting stuff.

[@quietman71]

1:16 I’ve read that most of the miners don’t think their effort was wasted. They’ve said they were glad that the heat exchanger wasn’t needed after all, but they’d do the work again in a heartbeat; better to be safe.

[@martinbraun1211]

Please watch the series "DARK"!

[@ALSL8]

Masterpiece!

[@kiwichlofro3733]

Probably my favorite series of all time !

[@Alberto-cv4ff]

Best series ever.

[@ALSL8]

@@kiwichlofro3733 mine too

[@KD9YCE]

Great series

[@christopherkaylor2940]

Kyle Hill, a science communicator has numerous videos about Chernobyl, from the cause to the effects, including the Elephant's Foot, and one of the latest videos is the first in a series exploring Chernobyl, which the Reactor is covered by a sarcophagus while scientists study the site.

[@vwlssnvwls3262]

Books, movies, television, theater are all meant to stir the emotions. It is unfortunate when they stir the worst of our emotions, but you can't go into a show about Chernobyl and expect anything less.

[@shadowfire_08]

now that you’re fully traumatized, time for some existential crisis….WESTWORLD 🤠🤖 or True Detective S1, or Leftovers lol. HBO has some gems

[@johncarter7611]

Good to know that even a Cali girl like Nat knows common fun safety. Makes a southerners heart proud

[@velosoduda12]

Just to add a bit, they were probably protecting more their genitals than their heads because areas with more celular activity are more sensitive to radiation. So the reproductive organs are more at risk than the brain, for example.

[@bartterp88]

*Southpark scene intensifies*

[@michaelwong8083]

Radiation damage to a man's genitals will increase the chance that his children will suffer from genetic defects. Radiation damage to his brain might affect him, but would have no effect on his children.

[@BFKate]

Its an excellent series. During the cold war we had an idea of the Soviet Union that was essentially denuded of humanity. The thing I like is this series was all about people and the humanity of everyone on the ground desperately working to prevent a disaster getting worse. I’m so glad this has been made.

[@michaelgonzalez6295]

The poeple that went to the roof for that 90 seconds of work became called the "Chernobyl Liguidators". Like the elderly generation of Japan cleaning up at Fukishima, they risked their remaining lifespans if not their lives to save others. I do wonder if we in the US could make that same sacrifice.

[@Velocitist]

Sigh

[@Deimos2k5]

Not quite true mate. The liquidators were a diverse bunch of people doing all kinds of roles. Basically everyone involved in the cleanup efforts, not just the roof guys

[@michaelgonzalez6295]

@@Deimos2k5 Thanks.

[@joelwillis2043]

People won't even wear a mask here, so probably not.

[@duanevp]

Sure. However, when it occurs in the US it isn't immediately swept under the rug (compare Three Mile Island incident), we wouldn't be sending in normal firefighters with absolutely no training or understanding of dealing with potential nuclear contamination, we'd have had working geiger counters and people who would believe others who tell them what the counters say, we would not have sent anyone to "just go look" after an EXPLOSION like that, nobody could have ever even begun operating a nuclear plant before the qualifying tests were completed much less have had it online and producing power for two years, nobody operating the reactor would have been deliberately kept in the dark because the government didn't want design flaws and previous accidents to be known, even after that kind of explosion we would have had better equipment options to clear the roof without having to use people, if we didn't have better equipment we would not have LIED about the radiation level to get equipment from another country knowing it would then only fail because it wouldn't have withstood the radiation, we would not have continued to operate THREE other nuclear plants at the same location from the same building, evacuations would have begun immediately after an explosion like that, the entire world would have been _watching_ us fix our own f-up on TV, and on and on... The most remarkable thing about Chernobyl and other catastrophic Soviet-era f-ups is that such an appalling, de-humanizing _governmental_ system like communism can still have people in it and under its _colossally_ ignorant and oppressive thumb that will make such supreme sacrifices for their fellow man.

[@demyanrudenko]

12:08 it's kinda heartwarming to see him turn from being a stubborn career man into a person who understand the gravity of the situation, realizes how heavily they got fucked over with this robot, and necessity of making this known to the higher ups.

[@OrionBlarg]

"Can you imagine living in other countries while this is happening..." So I was born in Tacoma literally days before Chernobyl happened. According to my mom there was legitimate worry about how bad it would be so they didn't take me outside for a while. My parents were in the Air Force so we moved around a lot. When I was almost 10 we moved to Germany since my dad was stationed there. One day we were out in a hike and we saw a bird that had two beaks. One normal size one a a kinda smaller, misshapen one. When we asked about it they told us it was because of Chernobyl that mutations in animals like that was more common. It's one of those things that makes me realize just how much something in the other side of the planet can have such in impact.

[@aryadhole]

Damn

[@BabylonLurker]

For me there is no imagining. I live in Denmark, and even if we were somewhat less affected than other countries around us, we felt the impact, because if the wind had changed, it might have been worse here.

[@wudruffwildcard252]

From my childhood in Germany i can remember to not picking up mushrooms anymore one day. And before on a walks through forests it was a competition of who is picking up the most amount of edible mushrooms. That was a drastic change i noticed as a child!

[@timsoel566]

The miners weren't there for the lava. The divers dealth with that already. They were there to prevent uranium from the meltdown getting into the watersupply.

[@shatterquartz]

13:33 You're right, it's a rule in movies and TV series that you don't kill dogs and especially not puppies, and definitely not onscreen. If a dog does get killed, a) we don't see it and b) whoever does it is an unredeemable villain. And here the guys doing it are just ordinary people, who end up numbing themselves with vodka to deal with the self-loathing. It's a powerful way of showing just how messed up the situation was.

[@BabylonLurker]

Natalie: It is OK not to be OK. This is probably the most difficult story to watch, of the ones I have seen.

[@lockekappa500]

I enjoy your point about it being a heavy experience, but also a necessary one. I do think understanding horrific events like this is crucial to understanding the entire human experience, and makes us a better and more well rounded person.

[@jamesmayes4351]

Dayatlov was probably the most heavily radiated man who ever lived. He was exposed twice at levels in the median lethal range. Also nuclear is still the safest power source available. By at least one order of magnitude.

[@janak132]

This happened when I was 7. I lived in a part of Norway that was hit hard by Chernobyl fallout. Basically we lived 2000 kilometers northwest of the disaster. As it happened that was the direction the wind decided to blow, so directly downwind. We were of course kept home from school for a short while, well, after visiting the school once to get our iodine. I remember the radio periodically reporting on becquerels (a unit measuring the strength of the source of radiation) in berries and animals for the next few years. Many outdoors grazing animals had to be put down. Practically the entire stock that year, if memory serves. And not because we guessed, but because we measured and found untenable levels of radiation. Also fishing inland and picking berries was strongly discouraged and in some areas, like where I lived, even forbidden. Did we have any extra deaths where I lived back then? We don't know. We know there were fewer children born in that area for a short while, but we don't know whether that was because people were afraid to get pregnant or that radiation actually caused issues. I expect a bit of both. In 1991 my family for completely different reasons moved to a place that had suffered much less fallout. One thing struck us as odd though. Down in the area where we live now, people die from all the usual causes, but up where we used to live... It seems when we hear someone we knew up there has died, cancer is more often the cause. To be honest I wondered why it didn't show up in public regional statistics. Then I realized.. The areas where the fallout was more than 25 000 becquerel per square meter mostly didn't have much people living in that area.. except the small area where I lived. Map showing kBq/m² in Norway after Chernobyl: www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Ytre-Eide/publication/259850499/figure/fig8/AS:668630064853009@1536425238639/Deposition-of-Cs-137-in-Norway-after-the-Chernobyl-accident.jpg

[@teddyalbritton797]

I've been waiting for this. I'm too scared to watch it on my own.

[@brianelson1481]

Me too

[@cesargonzalez6651]

30:24 Radiation afects people (well, all living things) diferently, some are able to "wash it off", others trajectly can't. Sad fact ; my hometown (Ciudad Juarez, Mexico) had a nuclear accident in the 80s, and it is considered as the biggest nuclear accident in all of America. Some guys that work in a hospital were allowed to take and sell whatever they wanted from the hospital’s warehouse, they recollected all things metal (aluminum, iron, etc.), and in between those pieces was an old radiotherapy machine. They didn't know what it was, but they knew that its pieces could earn them some cash, and so, they disassemble the machine and uncover 6,010 pellets of cobalt-60 (a highly radioactive material) which they sold at Yonke Fénix dumpster, a dumpster that had an agreement with several smelter factories that would take the scrap metal and melt it to build construction materials and even tables. As you can imagine, all this radioactive metal went directly to the factories. It’s estimated that 20,000 tons of radioactive metal was processed and transported throughout the country and some of it was even exported to the US. And let's not forget, about all the other metals and stuff, that got infected by their contact with the cobalt, (I don't know how does it work in the US, but here Yonkes are places where you go and buy metal stuff for your home, car, park, etc. You need a new fence? to the Yonke, a new door for your car? To the Yonke, and all of that stuff was now radioactive. And to top it off, one of the guys, parked his pick-up truck near his house, but later on, somebody stole the battery of the truck, and the now-radioactive truck was left parked for about three months in a densely-populated neighborhood, of the third biggest city in Mexico! (I still live here, by the way). And because we didn't have any form of radioactive sensors or anything like that, nobody knew about this for months, the only reason somebody discovered this, was because a loaded truck, that was going to New Mexico passed near the Los Alamos National Security Lab, the laboratory where the Manhattan Project (atom bombs) was developed. So, when the truck passed through, the sensors immediately go off, and days later, they find the truck. One thing leads to another, and now the governments of both countries are dealing with recovering all this radioactive material before more people get sick. In those years, the number of people with cancer and other health issues spiked in my city. Not all the metal was recovered, nobody knows where it is, but what we could recollect, was buried in the desert (ah, yes, my city is in the middle of a desert). Supposedly, nobody can enter, but, not everybody follows orders, we tend to do that here. Oh, and the guy with the truck? He is still here, never got cancer or anything for that matter, worst place and worst time, but the best DNA to resist radiation. No joke, other people that got near the metals died in 4 or so years, but this man took each and every pellet of cobalt-60, and is still alive.

[@MrOnomatopoeias]

The guys in the control room weren't just scared of losing their jobs. There is no quitting and walking away in this situation. There is doing your job as you are dictated, or being killed as they know too much already. That what makes it so heartbreaking for them. They were in an impossible situation but they did a heroic thing in their death by going down and turning off the valves.

[@sitting_nut]

you are ignorantly parroting propaganda, just like the show . 1980s ussr was nothing like 1930s ussr. show is depicting g 1930s ussr not 1980s. i have written more detailed comment under the video showing what is wrong with false narrative of the how show. you are welcome to read it, if you are really interested in truth.

[@fredwin]

@@sitting_nut Please enlighten us as to the truth then, about how open and forthcoming the 1980s regime actually was.

[@RoboNarples-et6ky]

@@fredwin While the USSR in the 80s was far from a bastion of freedom, the idea of them executing people for not doing their job is ridiculous. By this point the KGB was significantly less powerful than it had been in the past, and the nation in general had much greater freedom and openness. Saying anything else is completely ignorant of the political climate of the time and the reforms of Gorbachev, sadly too many people seem to think the USSR remained as awful as it was under Stalin until the very end.

[@fredwin]

@@RoboNarples-et6ky While I assume you are correct about Soviet life all across the union, I don't think you really understand that Chernobyl and the events surrounding it were very much subject to the harshest oppression the USSR had to offer. These were military secrets, these were secrets that might get you killed in more liberal counties and you think the Soviets took this softly?

[@sitting_nut]

​@@fredwin i already detailed several falsifications in show in my 1st comment. read. but if you want a summary, ussr in 1980s was not a monolithic state controlling everything, using methods like back room executions. nobody was in danger of execution during this, least of all legasov, who was not involved in investigation ( and nobody was imprisoned for investigating ) or trial. instead he, a family man "academician" ( if you know what that means in russia ) enjoying quite a lot of privileges of state due to his rank, was allied with ruling faction( yes state was riven with factions) with his "tapes "( which had nothing to with investigation but were about reforms opposed by other scientists), instead of being sent secretly to some dissidents ( as depicted in show), were sent to editor of pravda, main state newspaper.

[@alder2460]

About graphite tips of control rods - they were not a tip. Control rods in RBMK reactor are made of two rods, boron one to slow reaction down, and little shorter graphite one to speed it up. When you want to slow down reaction, boron one is inserted, graphite is pulled out, when you want to increase reaction, boron one in pulled out, graphite one is inserted. Why? Without graphite rods water would fill it's place, and water also slows down the reaction like boron, so when you would pull out boron rod to speed up reaction, it would be replaced with water, that is also a neutron absorber , so it also slow reaction down. That's why there is whole graphite rod, to replace water and speed up the reaction. It was well known what control rods were made of. However none knew how it behaves in low power circumstances when majority of boron rods are pulled out. The power in the reactor did not increas until AZ-5 button was pressed - that's when graphite rods started to be slowly withdrawn from the reactor, pushing out remaining water in the bottom of the reactor, creating perfect conditions for neutrons that resulted in power spike. This sudden power rise, led to temprature rise, water turned into steam, steam ruptured pipes and channels, blocking graphite rods in this position, which led to bigger increase in power, leading to explosion. The atmosphere in control room was completely different from the show. Diatlov was also not the person presented on the screen. No screaming, no ordering, no thretening, everyone knew what to do - and that is from the testimony of the people that were that night in the control room. Pressing AZ-5 button WAS part of the test, so it wasn't done in reaction to increase of power, there was none before that button was pressed - however only Akimov and Toptunov were near the button and made decision to pressed it, but from others perspective they were calm without any sight of worry.

[@RenegadeShepTheSpacer]

Thanks for the great reactions, Natalie. I've been a fan of the channel for a long time now and I was hoping you'd react to Chernobyl at some point. It's such a harrowing, gruesome tale but it absolutely must be told for the betterment of all people. I understand some of it can be difficult to watch, so thank you for putting yourself through it. Even if one discounts the horror Chernobyl conveys, it is a genuinely brilliant show. I'm just glad I have been desensitised to the point that it didn't emotionally kill me. I'm looking forward to what comes next! I'd like to recommend Dark, which is the best show on Netflix in my mind. And if you liked Squid Game, can I recommend Alice in Borderland for a reaction series? It has a similar concept to the games being played there. Just a couple of options, if you're interested!

[@thewandering01]

The painting from 2:38 is a famous depiction of Ivan the Terrible killing his son. Ivan was incredibly paranoid and wrestled with madness. There are differing account about what happened, but Ivan got into a fight with his son and hit him, then the son died later. The artist went with the most dramatic version, that Ivan's son died there at the scene and focused on the regret and horror of Ivan.

[@c0mf0rtablel1ar]

I like watching this and thinking "wow she's being so dramatic", and to be honest I'm pretty sure I sobbed during the dog scenes too. Can't watch Marley & Me without crying like a baby.

[@alexjohnson2527]

I was in the marines, and did CBRN training (chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear defense). Basically, how to wear gas masks/hazmat suits, how long to wear them in certain scenarios, the classic how to position yourself if you see a mushroom cloud, etc. But honestly...the few pieces of that gear we are issued just ends up buried at the bottom of a bag at the bottom of our storage container unless we know there is an active threat. So if I did face some disaster like that while in service, it would probably be about an hour before I could even get to my gas mask, much less access to a full Hazmat suit. After Fukushima, US military aide came to help. A lot of the people on those ships weren't told what was going on right away. After the word did get out, there were still people ignoring it because some jobs are nearly impossible to do while following the protocols. On boats, the water for showers, faucets, water fountains, etc. are all filtered from ocean water. That ocean water was now contaminated, so the crew was told to only drink the bottled water given to them. This went on for weeks. A lot of people caved and used that water. And in the air wing, you have to go up to the flight deck for maintenance and other responsibilities quite often. So many of the people working on aircraft didn't always have the full protection for being outside the walls of the ship (think the depiction of the coal miners in the show). A LOT of young people on those boats have since died, and even more got cancer from it. We like to think situations like this are behind us, but they really aren't. Human error, misinformation, choosing immediate comfort over something that could add decades to your life...it's all happened time and again. If anyone wants more sad stories, just look up what happened to a lot of the US service members that responded to that catastrophe in Fukushima. And if anyone wants sad, but wholesome stories, look up the Japanese response. When it came time to do damage control afterwards, it was all the elderly people volunteering. The ones who only had a decade or two left anyways, instead of the younger people with their whole life still ahead.

[@lordmortarius538]

"It's so frustrating living in a state where all they care about is the image that they have and making sure that they're maintaining the lies and not what the truth is." We live in that state. The USA is that state :P

[@dnocturn84]

A little bit of an exaggeration here. I'm not from the US, but at least people in the west can dig in hidden stuff, write about it and publish it. Then it's just a matter of how interesting this leaked information is for the public. Some things or topics become popular, others not so much. Sure, a bit more complicated today, as too much fantasy and conspiracy theories kind of "overshadow" some important events through their numberous believers who are a bit too loud regarding their own "religion". But compared to the Soviet Union back then... That was absolutely impossible to do that against the interest of the government. You would've sacrified a lot. Lost your job, propably ended in jail in some lucky cases and most likely branded as traitor for the rest of your life, without anyone ever helping you. Without actually spreading your message around to the public anyways. Others ended up in the loony bin and received their daily dose of interesting chemicals hidden among real sick people, some just disappeared entirely. I highly doubt you would really want to change places and time with people from this place.

[@Ooog__]

@@dnocturn84 exactly, you can easily fact check anything

[@owenbutters9610]

Dyatlov is played by Paul Ritter. An amazing British actor who did some hilarious comedies (like Friday Night Dinner) and some great dramas like this Unfortunately he passed away from a brain tumour last year aged 54

[@vintagesoup79]

He was a wonderful actor and will be missed.

[@kalevi7821]

People get warned all the time to do something and then they do the opposite. Like asking people something simple as 'wear a mask'. Good job everyone listened isn't it?

[@kelaarin]

Considering they don't work, and never did, it didn't matter. Distancing was what mattered. And allowing massive, worldwide race protests with people in close contact gave people a false sense of security. Every lie incurs a cost.