REACTING to * Ep. 5 Chernobyl* WHAT AN ENDING!! (First Time Watching) TV Shows

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James and Nobu are reacting to Ep. 5 Chernobyl and what an ending! Enjoy this first time watching tv shows reaction to Chernobyl episode 5!
#firsttimereaction #chernobyl #tvshows #tvshowreaction #sovietunion #chernobyepisode1 #firsttimewatching #moviecommentary #moviereaction #chernobylepisode5
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[@whitenoisereacts]

What other event would you like a series like this made of?

[@tinahastie]

I know it's a movie and not a series, but honestly, the movie called The Impossible is insane. (True story about a family in the 2004 tsunami). I would love to see you guys react to that! Also, The day after Tomorrow!

[@regardingsilence]

The Terror, pls. More Jared Harris. 😊

[@patrioticjustice9040]

I highly recommend Black Sails. It's so well done; think of it like Game of Thrones, only with pirates. It serves as a prequel to Treasure Island, but it features historic events and historic pirates. Michael Bay was an executive producer on the show, so you know all the cannon battles are top notch.

[@Yungbeck]

Since no one answers the question I will, the Dyatlov Pass incident would make a cool, spooky series

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

Global warming 😂

[@SirForwyn]

"They've mistakenly sent the one good man, you were the one who mattered most" always gets me choked up.

[@jillfromatlanta427]

That whole park bench conversation is brilliantly written and brilliantly acted...

[@tinahastie]

"When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there. Sooner or later that debt is paid" Absolutely love that line because it's so true! Lies have the power to destroy everything. Truth is the way, no matter how hard it is!🙏🏻

[@AlexTommo]

They missed out the best line in that statement. "Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth... (sooner or later that debt is paid)"

[@tinahastie]

@@AlexTommo absolutely!!!

[@AlanCanon2222]

And the camera rotates past Khomyuk, who made him do it. So good.

[@adiraguardian2147]

Agreed ! Though i've never seen a truth that people are more offended by than the ultimate truth - That we ALL broke God's law and are guilty , deserving our wages (the wages of sin is death) but that the King and Creator of everything , loved us so much that though we are guilty and were His enemies , Christ , the promised Messiah - The WORD become flesh , died for us to pay the fine. So that all who trust Him/believe in Him and confess that He is LORD and that He was raised from death , they WILL be saved / pardoned . The ultimate truth is that the Christ/Messiah Jesus is THE Way , THE Truth , THE Life and that no one can come to the Father but through Him.

[@tinahastie]

@@adiraguardian2147 💛🙏🏻

[@kuribayashi84]

In late 1988, there was a devastating Earthquake in Armenia. Boris Shcherbina once again was involved in damage control and cleanup. He proposed inviting international rescuers (with thermal imagers and specially trained dogs) to search for living people.

[@incredidude101]

how did it go?

[@Big_Bag_of_Pus]

​@@incredidude101en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Armenian_earthquake?wprov=sfla1

[@philipcoggins9512]

@@incredidude101 There is a memorial to him in Baku, that's how well it went.

[@Caedus696]

@@incredidude101they have a statue of him now for all that he did.

[@WrathMania32]

I think it was a miss not to include this in the otherwise touching afterword. Shows just what a consequential man he really was.

[@guitarrante92]

Boris Shcherbina also helped during rescue operation after Armenia earthquake. This earthquake was quite huge - 25 thousands people died, 140 thousand became disabled and half million lost their home. Boris was a talented organizer and leader, who organized and mobilized all resourses needed for helping people

[@mycroft16]

He was a good human being who knew how to inspire hard work in others where things seemed pointless or impossible. That he had such a low view of himself in the aftermath of Chernobyl kind of hurts.

[@s1lm4r1l6]

Vichnaya Pamyat (The name of the last episode,) roughly translates as "Eternal Memory." Because the Radiation is still gonna be there for 25,000 years. The RMBKs were retrofitted to prevent another Chernobyl-like explosion, but instead of AZ5 being a 'push and all insert at once.' AZ5 is now a 'Push and hold and the control rods insert in a cascade' like a Mexican wave. When the Russians invaded Ukraine they occupied the area around Chernobyl, numerous Russian soldiers were reported to have suffered Radiation sickness because they dug trenches and exposed the layer of earth that had been buried in the clean-up.

[@tinahastie]

It's really insane how long that radioactivity is lasting and still causing problems, so many years later! It blows my mind! 🤯

[@patrioticjustice9040]

Radiation sickness honestly terrifies me. I wouldn't want to wish it on anyone. But I will say this. To the invaders; serves them right. It's a shame Putin never got it, otherwise this war might be over, and prices could start going back down.

[@youtubewontletme]

@@tinahastie Its not that insane, if that blows your mind, the moment you pick up a science book with other infomation about things we arent familiar with in our regular everyday life, you are going to trascend to another dimension. And that is actually cool.

[@tinahastie]

@@youtubewontletme oh I know, radiation has always fascinated me in a weird way. I just find it interesting! Speaking of, the city I live in, has huge amounts of uranium waste, literally just sitting around in massive land fills (from mine dumps). Explains why so many of us are constantly sick (blood noses, random coughs, constant headaches, eye infections etc. Nothing close to Chernobyl, but it does open your eyes a little more to stuff like that. 💀

[@a9renaline]

Ironic that a new lie of "New Soviets"(Russians) led to this. These fools were not told about the danger of the territory near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. I honestly don't wish them a painful death and, if they hadn't invaded, I wouldn't have wished them dead at all, but they got what they deserved. Thank God they did not do more damage and I hope that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will not become the second Chernobyl.

[@WraithWTF]

"They heard me. They listened to you." Such a simple line, yet so amazingly powerful.

[@em8842]

“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid.” That’s my favourite line in the whole show, maybe in any show, damn

[@ZakCrimsonleaf1]

I always appreciate when folks watch this series. Another few points of interest to finish up with: The shot of the goldfish tank in the reactor control room is a reference to one of Dyatlov's favorite insults for those who he felt were incompetent, from his time working on naval nuclear reactors, 'f***ing goldfish.' Dyatlov really did insist to his dying day that he wasn't in the room during the test (considering he was known to be something of a control freak who carried around a notebook to write down the names of people who he believed had failed him, this is very doubtful), however also insisted that all of the reactor staff (himself included, naturally) were completely innocent of any wrongdoing, that it was entirely the fault of the control system flaw. He wrote a letter to Toptunov's parents commending their son for his work and offering his sympathies for their loss. Dyatlov had lost his own son to cancer earlier in life. Boris Scherbina went on to administer the disaster relief efforts after the Armenian earthquake, where he was one of the most forceful proponents of acquiring foreign aid, notably dogs to sniff out people trapped in rubble. Many Armenians hailed him as a hero and named streets after him. Victor Byrukhanov actually only served a partial sentence, being let out for good behavior and humanitarian reasons, as his health had suffered greatly in the prison camp. When interviewed about the disaster many years later, the interviewer remarked that while he was obviously regretful, he treated it almost as an administrative problem and when asked to name his greatest regret, he answered (to paraphrase), 'My greatest regret is that I didn't get to see the office building built and preside over the construction of the Chernobyl 2 power plant.' (A second power plant was being planned to be built just across the river from the first, with a ten-story office building to manage both of them.) He claimed he was joking, but the interviewer got the impression that perhaps he was not. The 'egg baskets' were real, one of those interviewed for the filming of this series insisted that if he was going to tell them about his experiences, they had to use that device in the show, and so it was done. The helicopter pilots who dumped materials on the fire even came up with a Russian rhyme that translates as 'If you want to be a Dad, cover your balls in lead.' Perhaps one of the better summaries of the whole affair is when a Soviet engineer got back to Moscow. He was wearing an army jacket and a soldier called out to him, saying, 'Kandahar?' (A city in Afghanistan). The engineer answered, 'Chernobyl.' The soldier clapped him on the shoulder and said. 'Brother, you had the harder job.'

[@budgreen4x4]

More fun points, during the trial while in custody Fomin broke his glasses and used them to slit his wrists in a suicide attempt, he spent some time in jail and the time in an institution

[@randyparker2134]

Xenon is a neutron absorber. It likes to absorb extra neutrons which sucks away neutrons that would otherwise fission more uranium atoms and continue the chain reaction that makes fission reactors work. That's why it's called a "poison" in the context of a fission reaction- it acts as a brake to slow down the reaction like the control rods. Xenon is also a common product from fissioning uranium atoms. So the reaction itself makes some of this "braking" material. But unlike the control rods, this Xenon is itself unstable with a half like of 9 hours and will dissipate itself. Or faster if there are a lot of spare neutrons flying about like in a full power reactor. With a partial power reactor, the Xenon will build up and slow the reactor more and more. But when the Xenon starts dissipating due to its half life, the reverse will happen and the reaction will start speeding up as if you were removing control rods. That's why the recommended procedure for Xenon poisoning is to shut down the reactor until the Xenon dissipates so there aren't a bunch of chaotic cross effects happening in the reactor.

[@LLiivveeeevviiLL]

Great explanation, thanks.

[@wwoods66]

"But when the Xenon starts dissipating due to its half life, the reverse will happen" This isn't exactly the problem at Chernobyl. When running a reactor, one of the major fission products is Iodine-135. This decays with a 6.6-hour half-life to Xe-135. This is a strong neutron absorber, converting to Xe-136, while putting a strong drag on the reactivity of the reactor. In normal operation, there's a constant production of I-135, decaying at a constant rate to Xe-135, which is immediately converted to Xe-136. But when the reactor power is lowered, I-135 production is lowered; the level of I-135 drops as the inventory continues to decay into Xe-135. The level of Xe-135 goes **up** because there aren't enough neutrons to be absorbed. This is a problem if you want to power up the reactor, like trying to drive a truck through axle-deep mud. Normal procedure would be to wait for most of the Xe-135 to decay into Cs-135. What they _actually_ did was reduce the control rods' drag on the reactor, like flooring that truck's gas pedal. But now the reactor is producing a flood of neutrons ... which burn through the inventory of Xe-135. Whereupon that drag on the reactor is gone -- without warning. So now your truck is out of the mud, but you're still flooring it, so it accelerates uncontrollably. Ka-boom.

[@randyparker2134]

@@wwoods66 Interesting. Thanks for the information/correction. Fission reactors aren't that simple, are they?

[@Wanda711]

@@wwoods66 Iodine-135 was the isotope Khomyuk detected at the institute hundreds of miles away in episode 2 when their alarms went off as they opened the window.

[@BloodylocksBathory]

It's so wild to see an actor normally known for one genre completely nail it in a very different one. Paul Ritter is normally known for comedies, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him play such a bastard like Dyatlov. Like, damn, Mr. Goodman, didn't know you had it in you!

[@introvertedppl]

The "shift change" was critical as usually people assigned on the night shift were trainees or people who were less experienced. As at the night shift, there isnt an equal amount of maintenance going on and the environment was less stressful for the trainees.

[@tommcewan7936]

There's a subtlety in the graphite rod tips that the show doesn't mention; they only cause the big surge on reinsertion if they were first pulled out too far from the core. Normally the automatic control system would not allow them to be pulled out this far, but this limit was overridden when they switched to manual rod control to try to get the power up for the test. When pulling the rods out manually, there would be no indication to the operators that they had been withdrawn past the allowed distance.

[@jamesa4793]

The head of the KGB was mistaken when he said: “When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why?” When the bullet hits your skull the only thing that matters is why.

[@arizona_anime_fan]

that whole scene with the KGB chairman was beautifully subtitle. From the moment that Legosov is shown to the room. the door opens and it's a room with a drain in the middle of the floor. All KGB interrogation rooms had that feature. it was for executions. what the KGB would do is they'd lead people they meant to kill, to the interrogation room, and when the person entered a man would be standing behind the open door and shoot the prisoner in the back of the head without the prisoner even knowing he was going to die. It was efficient and monstrous in its own way to kill a person without letting him know it was his time. No time to pray, no time for a final meal. no time to write a letter. no trial, no appeal. just an efficient and brutal surprise death. The hallmark of the monstrous police state the USSR was. Well Legosov knew this story, so when he's lead to the interrogation room, the first thing he notices is the drain in the middle of the floor, and as he steps into the room, he looks behind the open door to check if he's about to be killed. watch that scene, it's a beautifully subtitle bit of acting, that I'm astonished the staff paid that much attention to detail. This is why Legosov was so relaxed in his meeting with the KGB chairman. he knew they weren't going to kill him, because they didn't kill him when he entered the room. so he knew it was just bluster and intimidation. That's why he had the backbone to talk back to him. he knew the bullet wasn't coming for him today.

[@Frightspear]

"Vichnaya Pamyat" is a Russian language song and is sung by Homin Lviv Municipal Choir. Vichnaya Pamyat (meaning Eternal Memory), are spoken and/or sung at funerals and at the Panakhyda (memorial service for the repose of the dead) many times and in may ways. It is the liturgical counterpart to the Western Rite prayer "Eternal Rest."

[@deathwitheponine]

The series was originally set to be six episodes, but Craig Mazin said he went back to the HBO execs and told them he could do it in five. He said they thought he was crazy for shortening his own series but honestly… what else would you put in an extra episode that would fit? Not sure you could add anything. Chernobyl being so well done and carefully written, and listening to Craig talk about how he did everything in the podcast they made for each episode, is actually what got me excited for The Last Of Us. I never even played the game but I knew Craig was absolutely gonna kill it…and I was right (of course he killed it lol).

[@TheBestPirateDrake]

Apparently Diatlov said at the trial « I will not say that I am guilty, but I cant say that I am not… » an interesting thing to say. The closest thing we have to a confession from him.

[@mycroft16]

Yeah, he was willing to admit to maybe making mistakes, but not to guilt which implies he knowingly did wrong.

[@cpmahon]

There were certainly some exceptionally brave people involved in this. They knew that they were either sacrificing their life or significantly reducing it to save others. I've very much enjoyed your reaction, thank you both.

[@jessicaross7288]

If you recall the opening of the first episode, it is Legasov finishing recording everything he knew about Chernobyl on the tapes. The episode opens in darkness, only his voice, saying, "What is the cost of lies?" So his final voiceover, as he is driven away, is the lead in to the last of his recordings, and then his suicide.

[@bobfrommars5434]

I enjoyed y'all's reaction to this series so much. Y'all actually have thoughtful and respectful conversations. A lot of react channels try to explain things they don't understand but you both were very open to discussion and explanations by the viewers. Thoroughly enjoyed you guys.

[@cfinley81]

So basically, putting that 25 year old in there to test a nuclear reactor that is on the brink of destruction is like putting a 25 year old med student in charge of a heart transplant. It's not going to end well. And he had to die a pretty horrible death.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

at least they all just graduated from college 6 months ago and the reason why they just started working at the age of 25 is because before going to college they had to complete 2 years of military service

[@cfinley81]

@@carkawalakhatulistiwa That doesn't mean he was qualified to deal with something that huge. Anyone can graduate from SOMEWHERE. That doesn't mean shit, obviously.

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

04:32 "Hero of the Soviet Union" was a BIG honor. 08:55 The actual trial was nothing like this at all. But it makes for a collection of FAR more dramatic scenes, and changes nothing important about the true story, so... 10:25 Sounds good, but from I've been told no such safety test on any of this type of reactor was ever successfully completed. 31:14 Boris also was put in charge of disaster relief for a major earthquake, and saved certainly hundreds if not thousands of lives by accepting help from the west. He was such a hero. One of hundreds of thousands. 32:51 The containment dome is really a wonder of engineering. It not only covers and contains the reactor, but is set with robotic controls to dissassemble of the old contain unit which was failing and had also become too radioactive to remain there. The new unit will be upgraded continually to extend its life, and hopefully in time will be replaced by something even better.

[@patchesheadphones3570]

The book they based the show on was a bunch of firsthand accounts of people at the time, so it can be inaccurate sometimes. For example, the bridge of death probably didn't kill everyone on the bridge, and I've seen that it is impossible for a baby to absorb radiation from the mother (which I could be wrong about). So it is mostly created without some of the knowledge we have now. Still, I really love this series. The friendship from Scherbina and Legasov is one of my favorite things about it. It's crazy how much I thought I knew about Chernobyl, but I only barely knew some stuff from the first episode, not counting the other four. I think it's a great series, as long as viewers go into knowing that some of it isn't accurate.

[@ravenofroses]

yeah, the baby "absorbing" the radiation that would've killed her mother is....not really how that works? but i could 100% understand how either a lack of knowledge about radiation could lead to that conclusion, even among doctors at the time, or that it was somehow comforting to ludmilla to feel that her baby died to save her rather than due to unrelated existing health problems. so like it's technically incorrect, but also totally understandable how the people involved could have believed it was the case.

[@nutyyyy]

​@ravenofroses A lot of it is based on what people thought at the time. For example, a lot of evacuees were shunned by people because they thought they were radioactive mutants that could infect them. A lot more is known and understood in hindsight that wasn't back then. But even now the average person knows very little about how radiation works. It's not something that is easy to test.

[@ravenofroses]

@@nutyyyy right! some people STILL think you can "catch" radiation sickness by being around victims of it. i do wish there was a way to acknowledge in the miniseries that some of the things people believed about radiation were inaccurate, but i suppose it would've cluttered up the narrative to be like "actually radiation doesn't work that way but lots of people think it does" in those parts.

[@turkizno]

Unfortunately part of the baby thing is true. Babies do take a lot of minerals and vitamins from their mother, this including the radiation that binds to the bones like calcium. Baby is just, respectfully, a "parasite" that takes what it can take from the mother, and in this case, it was the radiation. (Again, respectfully regarding the parasite thing but that is scientific truth about the process of pregnancy.) So the baby just took, while it was still in a stage where it was creating cells, which is exactly what radiation undoes, completely eradicating everything that it "is". Funnily enough, there is a balancing act between a mother and a baby of how much it can take before the mother's body detects it or has enough... much like the co-efficiency in a Nuclear Power Plant.

[@isabelsilva62023]

Hero of the Soviet Union was only given to people who went above and beyond duty like the guy who drove the truck in the previous episode, he survived Stalingrad. The thing is even if it was the highest honor any citizen could receive I think Legasov would rather not have it since in this case it means he did what the State expected of him. It puts you in a position where even the Secretary General can't say no to you, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was made a Hero of the Soviet Union, it is that level of importance.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

Stalin imprisoned & killed quite a few recipients of that title. It almost seemed like a bad luck charm back then..

[@isabelsilva62023]

@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 Yes, even Brezhnev did not show much "respect" to the title but it awarded them some respect in the sense that they could speak up, as always depending on the subject matter.

[@samuelhaverghast2442]

at least after his death, the new russian government regards Legasov as a hero, the government that took over after the USSR fell, "officially"

[@louhillen8254]

We all became an expert on nuclear reactors briefly after this one episode! 😁 An outstanding episode - an outstanding series. Deserved every award it got.

[@tgcrowson]

The last episode is tv brilliance

[@a.s.raiyan2003-4]

I honestly didn't expect the ending to be this dark. Valery was a hero and in the end he was treated as if he had committed some crime by speaking the truth about the reactors. I Really liked the trio of Valery, Boris and Ulana; Even in real life, Valery was Boris' close friend. Even though Ulana is a original character meant to represent the scientists that investigated the incident they were like Harry Ron and Hermione

[@sirdavidoftor3413]

The fallout from Chernobyl, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russians quickly occupied the area around the reactor. The army commander told his troops to dig trenches and stay in them. A week later or so they were all sent to Moscow hospitals because they all got contaminated with radiation and had radiation sickness. I don’t know how they faired. People really don’t learn do they??? Stay safe, stay sane, stay strong

[@sabrinaicestaff]

@sirdavidoftor3413 -.......The soldiers were not told where they were, they were not told that the radiation in the exclusion zone was very much still active. These poor people had no idea they walked into a 31-year old death trap

[@sirdavidoftor3413]

@@sabrinaicestaff : my indictment was not of the soldiers or their commanders, but of the same Soviet style of keeping secrets and not being transparent to dangers. I will add that western countries have at one point have done similar things. Montgomery, when planning for Operation Market Garden, knew and had intelligence of a German Panzer division stationed near Arnhem. That suppressed information cost lives and was part of the failure of the operation. Stay safe, stay sane, stay strong Ukraine 🇺🇦

[@budgreen4x4]

And the the ghost of kyiv bombed them all too I'm sure. There's heavy propaganda coming from both sides, I'm skeptical that this actually happened.

[@MW_Asura]

Disgraceful

[@mycroft16]

I love the conversation Valera has with the minister. "Of all the congregation of obedient fools, they sent the one good man." And he truly was. From the moment they confirmed the radiation levels he didn't care. What do you need. I don't care how insane or impossible you think it is tell me what you need. And he got it. The man was a true leader. And legitimately a hero of the whole incident for making the impossible happen repeatedly.

[@HHIngo]

I'm from Germany and remember those days.

[@ExtraSqueaky]

In Germany, there was very recently a news article that in southern Germany mushrooms and the like have still increased rates of radioactivity. Nothing lethal or health threatening, but still .. after 47 years!

[@HHIngo]

@@ExtraSqueaky Yes, that's right. I live in northern Germany/Hamburg.

[@iKvetch558]

Welcome to the final episode...well done getting through this show...it is a tough one. I really like the way the makers of the show added the notes at the end to cover some of the things they got wrong, simplified, or made more dramatic...I just wish they had done more of that, or been more honest. For example, they say that "it has been reported" that everyone on the "Bridge of Death" died...but those reports are very much NOT true....so technically, they are being truthful, bur not quite. Other things they do not admit to, I can understand...such as the fact that Legasov was not even at the trial of Dyatlov and company...but it is kind of necessary to turn him into a kind of hero figure and have him do much more than he really did so that the story can be simplified enough for most folks to keep track of. I assume by now you have read the History vs Hollywood article, so you know most of the truth...at least I hope that is the case.

[@neptunusrex5195]

There’s an HBO podcast that discusses the history of Chernobyl and production of the series (also available here on KZbin). There is also a nuclear safety engineer whose channel is called “TheAtomicAge” he did a react to Chernobyl as well and he explains the science of each episode and how radiation works in real life and clears up a lot of the Hollywood stuff. Highly recommend! So together, the podcast and the nuclear safety engineer’s react, listening to both of those will clear up and set the record straight as far as what and how it ACTUALLY happened in reality vs the Hollywood version of events.

[@iKvetch558]

​@@neptunusrex5195 I have seen those reacts...they are excellent. For more like that, look for nuclear physicist Elina Charatsidou, if you have not seen her yet. Also, recently found Chernobylite, you should look at them too, again if you have not already. Hopefully, YT will not delete this reply...again.

[@shag139]

If they had known about the positive void coefficient and the graphite tipped control rods, the test never would’ve been approved and none of it ever happens.

[@kelaarin]

They didn't know. They weren't permitted to know.

[@lunagal]

My favorite part of the show was the talk between Boris & Legosav outside the courthouse. Boris really did have a great arc. There is a documentary of the new confinement shell being built and slid into place in 3 pieces. It’s amazing how technology is able to change so much. The new shell was built in 2017. I think the show is on Prime. 👍🏼

[@bullpup33]

If you think this kind of thing only happened in the USSR you are mistaken. This line of thinking happens in all governments. Also, the brave men who volunteered to go in lived to tell the tale. Karma.

[@kassiogomes8498]

Exactly.

[@KellyJK07]

where are you referring to? Western designs are much better, containment vessels, buildings, etc. 3 mile island was insignificant. Fukushima was hit by a tremendous earthquake-almost impossible to prevent.. the soviets designed a lot of junk

[@kassiogomes8498]

@@KellyJK07 he's talking about the way things work in a government.

[@joehoy9242]

Actually, it's the same in the corporate world more than anywhere else. Hundreds or thousands of people working to please their boss, who wants to please their boss and so on for their own advancement. A worrying number of senior management at the most successful firms are sociopaths who care little about the negative impact of their behaviour as long as they are making as much money as possible. At least with governments in the west you can usually vote the buggers out if they cause too much harm. Dislodging wealthy C-suite types is much harder.

[@matts5161]

It's true that line of thinking happens in all governments. But the Soviets -- now Russia -- perfected it. The war in Ukraine is a sad example of that.Everybody saying the war would be easy, over in 3 days, that Zelensky (a Jew) is a Nazi, that Ukraine wanted to be conquered, when anybody could tell you those are lies. Yet the invasion was launched, at the UN Russia insisted it wasn't going to invade, and they're actively listing killed soldiers as MIA to avoid paying out death benefits to families. They've lost more men than the entire war in Afghanistan but still only acknowledge a few thousand. It's an entire way of life in Russian government. So while it happens everywhere, nobody actively embraces it as the Russians do. Hell, look at the Kursk. Russian nuclear sub sinks due to shoddy design and maintenance. The world offers to help. Russia waits before accepting, preferring their men die and the West fail to rescue them over being shamed by needing Western help. Pathetic.

[@pavelslama5543]

Its also interesting to check some videos about the misconceptions repeated in this series (like for example the "bridge of death", or "baby sucking out the radiation from mother"). Also, I think that Fomin and Bryuchanov were guilty of something entirely different that Dyatlov. They basically forged the results of the test (which by the way was basically impossible to accomplish correctly), but Dyatlov was the most criminally negligent one. His endless ambition lead to the toxic work atmosphere (and later the general atmosphere across half of Europe), which by the way is a thing he endlessly denied even until his death. As a metaphore, I´d say that Fomin and Bryuchanov handled Dyatlov keys to test a broken car, and Dyatlov then proceeded to drive it like a maniac. The thing is, neither of them knew that the car was broken, and those who did never stood trial. Its a problem of the whole Soviet and later Russian establishment. Invent some BS, like the RBMK reactor (which was their idea of combining energy production and military grade plutonium at once), then shun everyone who finds out what kind of BS that is, and then once the excrement hits the fan just proceed to throw the first fool under the bus and just go on like nothing happened.

[@tinahastie]

Yay, looking forward to your final reaction to this series! Thank you for taking the time to watch it. I think it's so important for our generations to know about this kind of stuff that happened. I feel so bad for the poor guy who had only been working for four months and was young. And then to get shouted at over and over🥺. And how those people could sleep at night, knowing that, that one button could become a detonator and kill so many people! AND not even telling the poor guys of the test going on, who were in the pump room. Steaming pile of poop, the whole thing! 😢😠

[@patrioticjustice9040]

That's how the elite few in the Soviet Union operate. Someone invades the city named after you, force one million people into battle (a good many without even a single rifle) and somehow expect victory. A nuclear facility goes up in flames, just throw bodies at it. Everyone, anyone, so long as the elite could keep maintaining the lie that powers their cushioned livelihood at the expense of the rest of the 99%.

[@sannakarppinen4163]

According to Legasovs daughter when he came back from Chernobyl he had lost lot of weight, his appetite was almost gone he only ate sandwiches and drank coffee. And he looked 10 years older than his actual age.

[@davidstephens8543]

The moment on the bench between Legasov and Scherbina was perfectly written and performed. This whole series was stupendously good. The producers/writers exaggerated a few things for effect and time in the series... but overall, so very solid. Thanks for the reaction. Excellent stuff.

[@evie3148]

Phenomenal actors and such a brilliant script to point out the negligence of the government and their lack of action that could have saved so many. Great reaction!

[@ghostsquirrel8739]

Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest decoration in the USSR. It was equivalent to the Medal of Honor and was awarded to both military and civilians for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state.

[@thunderatigervideo]

Xenon 135 absorbs neutrons, similar to what the control rods do. It’s actually the biggest neutron absorber in a reactor, so it’s more powerful than the water or the control rods when it comes to slowing reactivity. When the reactor runs normally, some uranium splits to Iodine 135, which decays 6 hours later to Xenon 135. That’s when neutrons start being absorbed. When a neutron hits an atom of Xenon 135, it becomes Xenon 136, which is stable and won’t absorb neutrons. If a reactor has optimal reactivity, this happens frequently (neutrons are flying all over the place) and Xenon 135 turns into Xenon 136 about as quickly as it’s made, so reactivity isn’t affected. But… If the reactor is at low or no reactivity, then there is too much Xenon 135 and too few neutrons. You need neutrons to bump into uranium and knock off more neutrons. If the Xenon 135 is eating all the neutrons, that won’t happen and the whole thing fizzles to a stop. The way you get past it is a slow and careful restart procedure. Xenon 135 is radioactive and has a short half-life of about 9 hours. In other words, if you wait 9 hours, half of your Xenon 135 will decay and turn into into Cesium 135, which doesn’t eat neutrons like Xenon 135 does. Another 9 hours will see half of the remaining Xenon 135 (a quarter of the original) turn into Cesium 135. So after 18 hours, only 1/4 of the original Xenon 135 will be left. While this is happening, you can slowly increase reactivity and the leftover Xenon 135 will pick up neutrons and turn into the stable Xenon 136. So that’s why the Xenon was an issue and why the safe thing would be to let it go away slowly so you could increase reactivity in a balanced manner without crazy jumps in power.

[@Nobli82]

This state of a reactor is also called a "iodine pit", as 135 Iodine is the first in the line of decay products. 136 Xenon does decay (double beta decay), but with a very, very, very, very long half-life, so actually it might be called stable.

[@audreylwalker]

Thank y’all so much for watching this show! I loved following along each week! I find it such a tragic irony that the safety of countless lives were compromised and there will be effects of Chernobyl for many years to come because of a safety test where leadership said “a few minutes and it will be over.” This episode had so many great lines and scenes for me! The scene with Scherbina contemplating the value of his life and being overlooked was so good and I loved Legaslov telling him his life absolutely mattered. He was such a great character! I think he was my favorite because he really surprised me. He saved many due to his decisions and he was such a partner to the scientists in the aftermath of Chernobyl. Also, I was thinking of the scene with Legasov being scolded and punished after the trial. I think his punishment was worse than being shot. They took away his work, a very meaningful part of his life. And they took away the meaningful relationships he built during the clean-up of Chernobyl who had supported him. That really broke my heart and helped me understand why he committed suicide. I think they cut him off from so much that he needed as support afterwards. I just enjoyed how Chernobyl was thematically brilliant! I like the choice to start the show with Legasov’s suicide because it showed the seriousness of the accident and how all of it affected him. It reminded me of the start of Infinity War with Asgard - they both set the mood that something was going to go down that was big and bad. Hard to watch, but it was worth it to me!

[@Painocus]

If you want more soul-crushing Eastern European history cinema I recommend the Soviet Belarusian film Come and See.

[@CharlesVanNoland]

Shift changes are one of the most common causes of industrial accidents, and caused some of the largest and most deadliest incidents in human history. If you want some examples, look up the USCSB channel on KZbin - the US Chemical Safety Board, who reverse engineer incidents that have happened to evaluate what the causes were and what preventative measures can be taken to prevent them from happening again in the future. They have videos of virtual re-creations of some gnarly instances of industrial accidents that will expand your mind. It seemed like half of the videos they have on their include a shift change where people weren't fully informed as to the status of the plant or facility who were coming into control of it, and could not be expected to avoid or deter the incident from happening as a result.

[@johnnyd1790]

Crazy good episode, wasn't it? 10/10 writing, 10/10 directing. It's insane to think that Bryukhanov who actually wasn't a physicist, an engineer or even a technician asked the question, isn't it a danger to keep the reactor at a reduced state? And all you needed to do to advert the disaster was knowing the right answear. Which is yes, and has 2 solutions. Either abort the test or an even easier solution: raise the power back to nominal 3200 MW/h until before the test, the Xenon burns away and you're safe. They ignored that simple thing... PS: Yes, you can actually watch this series on an endless loop, the end of the 5th episode is the beginning of the 1st.😅 PS addendum: You should react to Claymore for my little soul's reward, it's in my opinion the best show ever made. Yes, an anime.🎉

[@allisonfisher9304]

There’s a very brief scene in this show where you finally get to see into the very heart of the reactor after it has blown…..from a certain perspective, it’s like staring into the Ark of The Covenant…….the raw power of atoms is so astronomically beyond our true comprehension…….it stirs something deep and primal, and puts the literal fear of God in you….

[@digdog5834]

Definitely watch The Terror, another great miniseries (with Jared Harris and the actor who played the fireman) . Nice mix of true story historical and horror/fantasy.

[@DeathKitta]

It's just so depressing. So many innocente people, so many brave people who did all they could to help and save. And all of this because of a bunch of greedy men in power. Their pride meant more than all those lives for them.

[@Puti880415]

Boris said it, and the Russian mentality is like that. They are so obsessed with pride and when you touch the subject of humiliation, you get eliminated.

[@traydevon]

The actor playing Dyatlov died in 2021 at age 54.

[@philipcoggins9512]

The reason we know so much about the Holocaust is the meticulous records kept by the Nazis during the war. The Soviets learned a lot from them. If no records are kept, it is impossible to determine how many workers were impacted by the cleanup process, hence the obscenely low death count.

[@dirdib69]

“Valery was too great, I loved him more than anyone I knew; he gave all of himself away to his work, to Chernobyl. Burned out.” - Boris Shcherbina

[@Amstrdamn]

The real Dyatlov was strict and demanding, but competent and professional. Also, it was Akimov that spread misinformation that the reactor was fine. It was all caused by design flaws and incompetence. When accidents happen, the bosses are always held responsible. BBC needed a big bad and he was selected to be it. The actor, Paul Ritter, delivered one of the best villain performance I've ever seen, he sadly passed away in 2021. Rest in peace.

[@jhilal2385]

About the Xenon: Xenon absorbs neutrons, reducing the neutron flux, which reduces the number of collisions with fissionable uranium. Each Xenon atom absorbs 1 neutron, then stops absorbing. When the reactor is at higher power, there are enough free neutrons for the xenon to absorb as it is created, which is what they mean by "burning off", while at lower power the "unburnt" xenon builds up.

[@rob5894]

It isn't just that the Graphite tips enter the core first, it's that the rest of the control rods couldn't enter at all as the core had already been damaged.

[@DonaldPK51]

The only reason 6 control rods were still in the reactor is because the RBMK design had 6 rods fixed in place that couldn't be pulled up, it was meant to be an emergency backup. Among many other changes, even more fixed rods were installed during the retrofits.

[@jameshurley9551]

Glad you both enjoyed! I think this is one of the best made shows I've ever seen from start to finish. The only show I put higher than it is season 1 of True Detective. The new Watchmen series on HBO was also amazing. If you want something a little more easy viewing I can't recommend Righteous Gemstones enough either! Thanks much for the videos! You were both enjoyable to watch along with!

[@KERRYPIKE]

Great episode.

[@meganoob12]

One thing that is often portrayed wrong is the case of the "graphite tips". Tips suggests that there were only small sections of graphite on the control rods. In reality you have to imagine a long rod of boron, then a almost as long rod of graphite. in between the two is a space for water to go inside. Also the graphite rod is shorter than the fuel rod channel so water can enter into the space at the bottom. What happened when they pushed AZ-5 to shut down the critical reactor was, that all the boron rods enterd at once, which also meant that they pushed the graphite rods downwards. These displaced the water at the bottom of the core, the only thing that was still absorbing neutrons and reducing ractivity. Instead of an absorber you now have only moderators left at the entire bottom of the core. That is where the energy suddenly spiked to a level, the structure of the fuel rod channes could not resist anymore... leading to disaster

[@heavycritic9554]

26:56 This is the only thing about his explanation which isn't correct, afaik. It's not a nuclear bomb, but that's easier and snappier to say. What it is, is a bomb containing nuclear material. The way it explodes is significantly different, but not very much less disastrous in the long run. It's just one of those things that matter when you want to be accurate, but for the purposes of drama it hits harder the way they did it in the show.

[@bramvermaat1453]

This was the best reaction series I've seen on chernobyl by far. It's very refreshing to see 2 intelligent people watching it, who do really understand the most important part about the show. I've seen a few reactions on this, and everyone is just constantly blaming everything on Dyatlov. It is about the accident, sure, but the overarching, more important subject is the Soviet government. You guys summed it up perfectly; "There are all of these problems along the way, but at the heart of this issue is not incompetence. It is this overbearing government and the pressures that the Soviet Union necessarily created. And this need to protect the state with lies. And then, necessarily, you are going to protect yourself with lies. " That's when you know someone has fully understood this series. Your words. Absolutely loved it! Liked and subscribed!

[@penoyer79]

Dyatlov to his dying day accepted zero responsibility and denied any wrong doing in chernobyl.

[@neptunusrex5195]

There’s an HBO podcast that discusses the history of Chernobyl and production of the series (also available here on KZbin). There is also a nuclear safety engineer whose channel is called “TheAtomicAge” he did a react to Chernobyl as well and he explains the science of each episode and how radiation works in real life and clears up a lot of the Hollywood stuff. Highly recommend! So together, the podcast and the nuclear safety engineer’s react, listening to both of those will clear up and set the record straight as far as what and how it ACTUALLY happened in reality vs the Hollywood version of events.

[@sadithebest]

Great reactions guys! Love your channel Would love to see you reacting to His Dark Materials. Amazing show, it's just 3 seasons, 8 episodes each, highly recommend! Also, there is a podcast with 5 episodes made about this show, official, with the director, that explains some of the decisions made for the series, what is real and what is dramatized. it's very interesting, if you want to check it out.

[@RexCapulet]

I’ve enjoyed watching your reaction to this series!

[@johnwalkeristhatdude3018]

It’s why u can dislike but u can’t hate Dyatlov cuz to think he would risk his own life after knowing his actions would lead to his certain death. The real villain was the Soviet Union as a whole

[@piratehunter1]

those fuel rods you saw jumping up and down normally require a built in crane to lift them....they are that fucking heavy and they were jumping like a mosh pit.

[@johnquinn7794]

Best docudrama I’ve seen.

[@dirdib69]

"Perevozchenko looks down on the enormous steel lid of the reactor, and sees the impossible: the control rod and fuel channel caps, which each weigh 350 kilograms, are jumping up and down. He runs to warn the control room. But there’s nothing he can do to stop what is coming." Perevozchenko was born on May 6, 1947 in the Soviet Union. As an adult he worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as a foreman in the reactor section. During the disaster he received fatal dose of radiation during attempt to locate and rescue Valery Khodemchuk and others, and manually lower the control rods with Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov. During this time he looked directly to the open reactor core, suffering radiation burns on side and back while making extra efforts to save fellow crew. He was taken to hospital in Moscow where he was placed in the upper bound level of Degree III estimated dose 8.5Sv (850 rem). He was given a Bone marrow transplant in an attempt to revitalise his immune system however it ultimately failed and he died from his burns, infection and Graft Versus Host disease.

[@AnthonyMartin-k8m]

There are several videos of physicists and engineers talking about what they got right and wrong, which of course makes for a very interesting watch. For example the channel, The Atomic Age, is a nuclear engineer, and he says, for instance, that the full bubbler tanks was not the catastrophic crisis portrayed here. He says superheated water will not explode like an atomic weapon, but it was, of course, still something that had to be dealt with.

[@meganoob12]

Well, It would have caused a thermal explosion, but that would not have the power of 4 megatons. What would have happened though is that the exposion would have catapulted further radioactive fission products into the upper atmosphere, spreading radiation even further than it did anyways

[@John_Locke_108]

What's craziest about this is that I was 9 when this happened and I had no idea it happened until years later. Much later. When I played Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.

[@NZBigfoot]

Weird... what country where you in at the time? I was a similar age when it happened (8), here in NZ on the other side of the world, and I was well aware of it happening and being reported on the news etc (delayed of coarse given the soviets kept it under wraps for quite a while until others started noticing things)... not casting any aspersions (I was a weird kid who watched the nightly news lol), just wondering what could have happened that you hadnt heard about it. Was a scary time as a kid i must admit, with family that could explain it to me etc and just how dangerous the disaster could have been had things gone differently its funny to think how close the world got to a seriously huge event (well far larger than what eventually played out as)... we all got lucky, and we still pay the price of it today.

[@John_Locke_108]

@@NZBigfoot It should come as no surprise that I am from America.

[@robertoprestigiacomo253]

26:04 - That wasn't the only reason. They have oversimplified this part. Chernobyl, like other Soviet nuclear plants were used with a dual purpose of generating power and creating radioactive material to be used for military applications. It's design had many flaws because of that requirements on top of using an outdated design.

[@piuphew9709]

ep5 is so satisfying to watch. a great series and great react from you guys

[@alanfoster6589]

Was there in 2011, before the containment structure was put in place. When you drive past the Red Forest, your dosimeter jumps way up. Pripyat is...sobering.

[@johnstrong4089]

Valery Khodemchuk was vaporized when the core exploded

[@jefffisher1045]

There is a class of future nuclear physicists at MIT, of exactly what happened at Chernobyl, this class is on KZbin, it's fascinating.

[@LadyPrauPrau]

I love watching reaction video's, it took a while but you guys really grew on me! Please keep going!

[@ariadnepyanfar1048]

Craig Mazin, the scriptwriter and producer, has stated that the entire docudrama is also a metaphor and warning about how we collectively have treated Climate Change. I was both happy and distressed to learn this, as when the final Voiceover warning about the cost of lies panned over the green trees, the hairs rose up on the back of my neck as I thought about Climate Change. It’s not just Climate Change of course. It’s every government and corporation of every nation in the world when they/we have lied about anything.

[@MegaroadProducciones]

33:35 "What do you think?" I find it a little funny that since you didn't have words to express yourself, you made Nobu go first, haha....

[@LogicalNiko]

The New Safe Confinement building was built because the original containment, which was built in a rush, was starting to cave in. The roof was expected to collapse so the new building has structural ties holding the structure up from the outside so there is little weight on the original walls. The idea is if the building crumbles all the dust produced will stay in this structure as it has fans that keep a negative pressure so dust cannot be blown out, it would be sucked inward into filters. Unfortunately with the current situation in Ukraine the condition of the reactor and building cannot be monitored. There are Russian forces in the exclusion zone as that is currently one of the front lines.

[@G1NZOU]

The New Safe Confinement structure is a marvel of engineering. Essentially they can use cranes and equipment to dismantle the original containment structure, that was built on unstable parts of the remaining roof, and was gradually degrading, as well as collect and safely store radioactive debris and pieces of the core in a safe controlled environment without risking disturbing dust. That good work to continue the cleanup got disrupted during Russia's invasion last year, but the plant engineers did what they could to keep things safe, to the point that they were having to risk their lives stealing fuel from the Russian soldiers to make sure the generators stayed active. The Russians dug trenches in the Red Forest, which was downwind from the reactor at the time of the accident and is some of the most heavily contaminated, much of it was cut down and buried. Eventually the Russians left with symptoms of acute radiation sickness.

[@Reblwitoutacause]

During the behind-the-scenes interview, Mazin ( creator of the show ) said: "Dyatlov made decisions that no rational person ever should have made. He made crazy choices and in the trial, Dyatlov does say the following thing: *_'I will not say that I am guilty, but I cannot say that I'm not.'_* I thought that was a remarkable expression of - at least the potential - of guilt. In its own way, the statement was very Soviet, to have it both ways."

[@GrouchyOldBear7]

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.

[@ThatDamnPandaKai]

Apparently, Dyatlov wasn't the douchebag the show made him out to be, and seems he told several of the control staff to head home so they wouldn't get sick, but they all stayed there. HBO kind of did him dirty with making him the demon of the series.

[@Big_Bag_of_Pus]

In answer to your question: when a uranium nucleus undergoes fission, you end up with two lighter nuclei as fission products. Those two nuclei will almost never each comprise half a uranium nucleus; instead, you'll almost always get one that's a bit heavier than half a uranium nucleus, and one that's a bit lighter. And it varies, from fission to fission, which two fission products you get. At one point at the beginning of the third episode, you hear Legasov talk about "detecting Cesium-137 in the Gomel district" -- Cesium-137 is a common fission product. Another common fission product is Tellurium-135. Tellurium-135 is itself radioactively unstable, and decays quickly into Iodine-135, which after several hours decays into Xenon-135. That's where the Xenon-135 comes from: it's the end result of the decay sequence of a common fission product. Xenon-135 is the strongest known neutron absorber: neutrons that hit Xenon-135 nuclei are captured, creating the stable nucleus Xenon-136. If you have a lot of Xenon-135 in your reactor core, then it will capture a lot of the neutrons produced in Uranium fission, which otherwise would have hit other Uranium atoms and caused more fissions. This decreases the reactivity of the core. Note that because it typically takes hours for the chain of decays that produces Xenon-135 to complete, the rate at which Xenon-135 is produced depends on the power (the rate of fissions) hours ago; while the rate at which Xenon-135 is "burned away" (into Xenon-136) depends on the power (the rate of fissions) right now. Thus, any time you decrease power, you have to worry about the effects of Xenon poisoning. Wikipedia has a nice page about this -- search on "Xenon pit" or "Iodine pit".

[@martinethelberg9505]

I have just seen tjernobul and you give a god reasoning. I was 15 years old in Denmark 1986 and i remember being scared. Now this series about a nuclear plant accident in Fukushima is a masterpiece. Please see it. From Martin in Denmark

[@henriksvensson126]

Imagine test driving a supercar traveling at a top speed of 250 Mph and suddenly you are forced to slow down. Only problem is that easing on the pedal or hitting the brakes will activate massive rockets welded to your supercar. "Super car designed for top speed of 250 mpg went to the moon."

[@thenecessaryevil2634]

Valery Khodemchuk, the man with a 2 billion dollar coffin.

[@fewwiggle]

The Xenon 'poison' STRONGLY absorbs neutrons and brings the nuclear reactor to a virtual stop.

[@itsmeanvil3759]

Would you try to react to the Spencer movie .. .. Kristen Stewart was nominated for an Oscar for her role as princess diana in the film...

[@tylerhackner9731]

Brilliant episode

[@aer71367]

I think you guys should do the series Picket Fences with Tom Skerrit.

[@G1NZOU]

This kind of failure that the safety test was intended to prevent is pretty much what happened at Fukushima, earthquakes cause the reactors to shut down automatically for safety, but earthquake damage cuts external power lines that power the coolant systems, and the flooding caused the generators to fail, causing meltdowns and hydrogen buildup which caused explosions and spread radioactive material outside the containment buildings. As well as the problem of damaged cooling systems from the explosions leaking contaminated water. Nuclear power is in general very safe, but when it does go wrong, it can go very very wrong and trying to fix the problem has a unique set of challenges. I don't see this series as explicitly anti-Soviet, but anti-corruption and anti-complacency. It's the attitudes of hiding flaws and focusing more on promotions that is the real killer, and that kind of complacency has happened in the West too.

[@shag139]

It was combination of incompetence plus the ridiculous secrecy on safety related issues.

[@Embur12]

I think the Chernobyl explosion was a result of 50/50 operator error, coupled with suppression of the design flaw. In some ways the obedient/ subservient attitude of the soviet people helped with the cleanup as it took many heroic actions to clean up this colossal mess. No amount of protective equipment was going to save you from the extreme amounts of radiation. Yes the soviets failed to acknowledge the severity and or enormity of the problem at first, by trying to hide it from the world, but once everyone was made aware through spy satellite data, they went full force to try and save face.

[@SpectreFantom]

Not a scientist, so probably a surface level explanation. As you might know, there is a thing called "Noble gases". Basically, elements that really don't want to react with other elements because their electron number on the most outer shell is "full", thus not being able to make a connection with other elements (not as easy anyway). However, in the Xenon and Krypton, the heavier of the "Noble gases" their most-outer-electron shell is not full, but half-empty, and even though they don't like to bond with other elements, they are ok with shooting out random stuff from time to time because of their weight (thus they are radioactive). But Xenon has another interesting quality, it is so big that it doesn't care if it will catch more neutrons (the reason the nuclear reactor works). Actually, it is just like me on the saturday night in McDonalds drive-thru, ordering two bundle-boxes full of calories, But in the case with Xenon, it orders 50 bundle-boxes full of neutrons. However, it can't handle when there is too much of neutrons and burns out, but if the reactor is running very low, it has a tendency to appear since it's a reaction product of uranium decay(?) This was my understanding, sorry if it's not entirely correct.

[@marianflores1921]

You should watch 'Deepwater horizon' is a good movie based on another human-made disaster.

[@akiroshinomori8345]

В 1990м году один из знакомых моей мамы купил виноград на рынке. Устроили застолье. К счастью виноград съел только один из знакомых на застолье. К несчастью ему было всего 23. Он умер через месяц от дозы радиации. Как оказалось, поставки винограда были из зон рядом с чернобылем. Хотя прошло уже несколько лет с трагедии.

[@JC2023HD]

“The cost of lies.”

[@RealILOVEPIE]

Xenon absorbs the neutrons emitted by the fuel.

[@maxdon2001]

Great reaction! What a show!