The Nuclear Reactor In The Middle Of London

[@mathematicalcowboy3166]

You know you’re British when you’re measuring power output in terms of tea kettles.

[@bjh3661]

It's the only number we Brits care about :) Cheers!

[@brightshadow39]

You forget that we also measure in tea, this is a more specific measurement as it also shows us how much water is being boiled.

[@dubdubdidubadubdub]

kWh , kettle (full of) water hour

[@barathrajkumar5564]

and Americans, measuring using football fields

[@pedantik]

@@barathrajkumar5564 & small units to make everything appear to be bigger !

[@ernest3286]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity for a Thorium joke here.

[@RayquaSr.]

Mizu!

[@kurtsnyder4752]

@@RayquaSr. Ghezundheit!

[@GamesFromSpace]

Things I did not know: Thor invaded london

[@nitehawk86]

Yeah, I thought the Vikings did not invade so far south.

[@Yeeguss]

nitehawk86 they explored even out to Canada and America

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Well, Christopher Eccleston invaded London; Thor just had to get in there to stop him.

[@thelorddoctor1519]

London was the best part about that movie, that and Chris Odowd

[@John.S92]

And his hammer might be powered by fission reaction and/or electricity.

[@colinfurze]

Dave and Oli have now been kicked out the navy for telling secrets haha.

[@anatoleh1]

omg Colin !! xD

[@Oliver-pi4wd]

Hi

[@brockbayley5279]

not just kicked out. ever heard of "snitches get stitches"

[@floorpuncher3280]

Snitches kill witches

[@theretep6494]

Brock Bayley oh so they got surgery?

[@egoterrorist]

Might not of been enough for a Chernobyl, but there would of been enough for a Chernibble.

[@proevomen90]

+gabor ah man you never want to buy Ukrainian trousers. Wear them, and Chernobyl fall off

[@Nijht]

Hats off to you, sir. You won something. I'm not sure what, but you definitely won something.

[@ChallengeTheNarrative]

😩 thank you

[@abramo7700]

Stop this

[@androgenius_alisa]

@@Nijht mystery biscuits

[@U014B]

+Tom Scott A little refresher course: Thor was born with a silver hammer in his mouth, and his parents were bitten by radioactive Vikings in an alleyway just before their home planet Loki was obliterated. Thor survived the explosion by making a force field around him with his magic ring. After arriving on earth, Fruita, the prince of Loki, along with his crony AutoZone, followed after him in order to destroy him. Thus begins the tale…

[@gFamWeb]

no. just no. :)

[@kalebbruwer]

and he discovers his ways with the force while the klingons are also after him.

[@margaretmadole]

+

[@dwarfie24]

the dark elf helpers sent support in the form of tea.

[@lettonster]

are autozone like kwik-fit?

[@Ryan50Ryan]

Tom did the "relationship goals or something, idk I'm single" type joke 6 years before it was relevant.

[@Matticitt]

Hmm, Thor with the nuclear-powered hammer invading Earth is an interesting concept indeed.

[@curofbadenoch4301]

"Hey, what's Thor's hammer made of, Tim?" "Thorium, innit?"

[@YTScrwdUp]

ii121 I thought he was Norwegian

[@padriazozzriaorizifian8672]

@@ii121 hamster?

[@Crazy___Ginger]

the college i go to use to have a nuclear reactor. the room where it was housed had been converted into an auxiliary wood/metal shop. the blast doors are even still there as well as an air evacuation system, or as we like to use it for, a giant fan to cool off the room rapidly while lowering the air pressure inside the entire building, generating a pleasant breeze.

[@najeyrifai1134]

Which college, if you don't mind me asking?

[@ACELog]

Was that Queen Mary College? I graduated there

[@wbfaulk]

The college I went to still does. NCSU has had a nuclear reactor right in the middle of Raleigh, NC since 1953, starting at 10kW, upgrading to 250kW before it was replaced in 1973 with a 1MW reactor.

[@ThomasGiles]

"If Thor had invaded a couple of decades earlier..." LOL ;P

[@ciaraoddminzer8807]

***** That's the joke.

[@dylandarnell3657]

+Thomas Giles Though you have to admit that would make a pretty interesting movie.

[@jomarcenter]

he didn't invaded he prevent an end of the universe there. since the main wormhole point is there.

[@AnastasiaCooper]

@@jomarcenter that's what Odin would like you to think ;)

[@treereaverjones6535]

I was trained there. Jason's name came from the leader of the Argonauts. Its power output was half a megawatt. It was a pressurised water reactor running on uranium. We scrammed it most days, but like the real things in our submarine it failed safe!

[@JordanBeagle]

Well, that's good to hear. I suppose Chernobyl was set to fail dangerous?

[@denisrhodes54]

Jordan operator error

[@edwardteach3000]

@@denisrhodes54 And piss poor reactor design

[@garethreece]

@@denisrhodes54 Was a chain reaction of operator errors. any one on they probably could of recovered it.

[@wolfgangmcq]

@@denisrhodes54 Calling the Chernobyl accident "operator error" is like saying WWI was caused by someone visiting a café.

[@abdulhafizmesro2318]

things you might not know: thor the dark world's ending.

[@Toastytop]

Someone should do a "Things You Might Not Know About Marvel" for Tom

[@nickjones6401]

My late mother worked for Defence Works Estates and was involved in the decommissioning of the reactor. It took quite a bit of planning, what with secretly moving nuclear material in the dead of night through one of the most heavily populated cities in Europe.

[@nightjarflying]

I assume it was playfully named "JASON" because it was an “Argonaut” class [ARGOnne Nuclear Assembly for University Training] reactor supplied by Argonne National Laboratory Nuclear Engineering Division based in Argonne, Illinois, USA. The "JASON" doesn't seem to be an acronym & yet I often see it capitalised.

[@BENBOBBY]

Yup!

[@BENBOBBY]

nightjarflying Apparently it might be called "JASON" also because it was installed during July, August, September, October and November!

[@robmarkworth5377]

A navy chum told me it was called Just Another Source Of Neutrons

[@IVANxVx]

or maybe it was named by David Cage

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

There was a small reactor in an office building at ICI in Redcar until the 1990's. At that time there were dozens of small reactors around the UK, they were financed as 'Research Projects' through the Nuclear Levy on electricity bills and when that stopped the reactors all got decommissioned. I would have one in my garden if I could, but the planning department wouldn't let me.

[@TheSmegPod]

I love those shots that imply that there should be a camera somewhere you can see that there isn't

[@myladycasagrande863]

And can we all appreciate that Tom knew to stop walking backwards before he fell down the stairs? I was half waiting for him to take a couple more steps (but he wouldn't have used that take...)

[@d9zirable]

Tom Scott be like "Thor when he's in the dark world idk i haven't seen it"

[@gurubhaktmohit]

Tom hasn't seen Marvel movies means we know things Tom might not have known. And that gives me pride unheard of.

[@spacewarpphotography1667]

That was a masterful summary of Thor 2, bearing in mind that you haven't seen it. Best laugh I've had all night! 8)

[@crook108]

Queen Mary University of London's Engineering department also had a nuclear reactor in their basement till the mid nineties.

[@ukar69]

I used to live opposite there and saw them shooting the Thor scene. Two speedboats tied together going towards the bank with a helicopter filming from above and extras/vehicles scrambling to get out the way. They did so many takes I lost count. Working title for the movie was Thursday Mourning.

[@BENBOBBY]

Wrote my dissertation on this reactor :)

[@ArdisMeade]

B E N B O B B Y ᵝ I'm surprised they couldn't find you a desk for that.

[@BENBOBBY]

Ardis Meade lol well it kept me warm in winter :P

[@madhuragrawal5685]

B E N B O B B Y ᵝ What about it specifically? Can I see it Online?

[@nixtheclause9984]

i am now convinced that thor’s hammer has a wee nuclear reactor in it, and that’s the sole reason it’s so powerful.

[@markwright3161]

Imagine the number of kettles it could boil.

[@AnastasiaCooper]

according to Marvel, Mjölnir was made from special metal from the heart of a dying star - might as well be radioactive.

[@windowsxpmemesandstufflol]

@@AnastasiaCooper can it run 5 electric kettles?

[@Wrinklynewt]

Tom is the kind of guy to find out how many teakettles the nuclear reactor could power but didn't research how Thor's hammer worked

[@blenderpanzi]

There is still a nuclear reactor in the middle of Vienna. Similarly weak and for research-only.

[@torokati44]

In Budapest too.

[@theplayer57saywhat.65]

Shut up about other countries

[@waterworks111]

@@theplayer57saywhat.65 Wtf is your problem?

[@RaameshGowriRaghavan]

And there's one in Mumbai too

[@deadchannel1745]

And there's another one at !

[@liquidminds]

We have one in Vienna since 1962. It's still in use. But at least thousands of school kids get the opportunity to stand on a reactor and look down at the cooling-rods that way. Was very interesting back then.

[@xcoder1122]

Nuclear reactors are far less complicated than most people think and they are also far safer than most people think. The real problem is that they produce highly radioactive waste, which on top of being radioactive is also often toxic (so it would be dangerous even if it wasn't radioactive) and we have no place to safely store that stuff. And if you take the production, transportation and the total storage costs into account, which are often ignored, it's also far from cheap energy; solar power is cheaper, wind power is even cheaper by a magnitude and both produce no toxic, radioactive waste we need to store for millenniums.

[@chintex_]

Ah yes the place that got blown up in Thor 2... problem is I cant remember a single thing from Thor 2.

[@somitomi]

Just to add to the "List of nuclear reactors within cities": the Budapest Universitiy of Technology (BME) has a 100 kW (or 50 kettles) reactor conveniently in the middle of the university complex (and thus quite close to the city centre). It is rather boringly used for educational and experimental purposes.

[@somitomi]

+SomiTomi Oh and there's a 10 MW research reactor of KFKI* on the outskirts of Budapest. *KFKI (Központi Fizikai Kutató Intézet): the physics research institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

[@dusterdude238]

what is the name of the course at (BME)? "Chernobyl - the study of things that go BOOM in the night"? and the companion course " is that a nuclear reactor rod in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"

[@dannypipewrench533]

Pocatello, Idaho, has one in the basement of Idaho State University.

[@Nastyswimmer]

I had a friend who was a stoker on a nuclear submarine ...

[@Desmaad]

I'm assuming the nuclear reactor there was run competently, unlike the one at Chernobyl, so a meltdown was unlikely.

[@DemolitionTurtle]

Well, it was run by people who were learning to run them, so perhaps by definition it was run incompetently :P (I know they would've had trained people there too, but it sounds cool :D)

[@andrewmoore7022]

actually they didn't really matter much since it is a fairly modern built to code reactor meaning even in the unlikely chance it did fail it probably wouldn't fail as badly as say Chernobyl or Fukushima

[@OrangeDog20]

@@andrewmoore7022 Chernobyl or Fukushima are for powering major regions, this reactor is for a single vehicle. The worst-case scenario isn't that bad.

[@stevekelly5166]

@@OrangeDog20 5 kettles of power in a single vehicle? Do not join the Royal Navy. Get a job as a person who pretends to know about fission at a warehouse, carphone, as 'you can fix them dot com', at a local out of town warehouse. Hey I can power you nuclear sub off of next to no energy - just 5 kettles for everything. Can I have my bonus now?. What it sank? All souls lost? Tell them they can get a partial refund if they were suckered into the 3 year warranty.

[@Rationalific]

I'm glad that I know more about the history of Baroque architecture in Britain than I do about Thor movies. (I didn't even know there was a "Thor 2".) I guess that makes me pretty rare.

[@markmarbun]

Rationalific bruh chill

[@NaGromOne]

yes, Thor 2: Even Thor-er.

[@Dave5843-d9m]

Even taking the very worst case scenarios on Chernobyl, nuclear power is by far the safest energy source we have. Coal kills millions mining power plant accidents and via pollution. Oil and gas are better but people die. Dams collapse, etc etc.

[@motorheadmalc]

I love the shot across the Thames at 00:19. There's a Thames Sailing Barge moored just right of centre.

[@owenjones2263]

I was about to correct you, but then I checked, and it turns out kettles have got higher power recently. Well done on staying up to date with kettle power consumption, you never know when stuff like that will be handy ;)

[@ReeceJamesTM]

0:43 I wish we made amazing stuff like this today, i mean holy shit thats amazing.

[@mariosebastiani3214]

"Thor, how much does your hammer weight?" "About 3.6 kilos. Not good, not bad"

[@seannot-telling9806]

Sounds like someone needs to go have a marathon moving watching session.

[@trueriver1950]

That's a good Thort

[@spiritofthetime]

Loved this factoid when I used to live next door to the ORNC.

[@nightlibra]

i really hope Tom Scott has seen the movie by now

[@nicebear8268]

I loved to see you stammering. Don't get me wrong, normally you know everything so well, it's kind of refreshing seeing the all-knowing KZbin dude wordless :D

[@philipsharp1742]

Thor didn't invade it was that elf guy.

[@nickwilliams3659]

There is a plaque on the ground floor of the King William building (on the inside.. to the right of were Tom is standing ) for the reactor when the University of Greenwich took over the site from the Navy. I'm a student at the university and have not seen any access to the Basement of the KW building near to the plaque. The cloest I know of a basement for the building is the Painted Room but there isn't a lower level than the Ground Floor in the teaching area of the building.

[@allanlank]

There used to be a working reactor in the engineering building of the University of Toronto's down town campus, blocks away from the Ontario legislature building and four major hospitals.. It was small and used for radioactive research and medicine, decommissioned in 2000.

[@IcEye89]

That is a rather lovely building - never mind about the very interesting factoid about it - now I'm rather miffed that I didn't go there when I went to Greenwich. I mean the observatory is nice as well and that park it's in is pretty neat (Even in February, at least if the Sun peeks out) but I do think this warrants another trip to that particular part of London.

[@DEinarsson]

"There would never have been a schnoble here."

[@swgic1]

JASON is currently owned and, until recently, operated by Imperial College London. The original plans were to put it in re basement of the Chemistry Department on the South Kensington campus which is nestled between the science museum and royal Albert hall as well as being close to the V and A and the natural history museum.

[@micahphilson]

I don't understand why this is so surprising; many universities (around the world) have reactors in the basement of the Physics or Chemistry department for research and teaching.

[@amoral_minority]

Does anyone *actually* remember what happened in Thor 2?

[@gabrielbennett5162]

Probably a General Atomics TRIGA or similar swimming pool-type research reactor. I used to work in a facility that had one right down the hall. They're actually very safe and are designed so that even if you were to lose all liquid coolant from the bulk shielding tank, air convection is enough to keep the core from melting down.

[@dipro001]

Please make more of these

[@samplayle1858]

There was also a 1kW nuclear reactor in Queen Mary University of London under Mile End Road from 1964-1966, replaced with a 100kW reactor under what is now the Olympic Park in Stratford from 1966-1982.

[@JMc.D]

That’s incredible! Somebody actually watched Thor 2!

[@MegaBoilermaker]

Our "security" services were set up by the Royal Navy Tom.

[@oddball_the_blue]

There's still a working nuclear reactor in the middle of Leeds University...

[@kieran10202]

Thor's hammer channels, induces, stores and redirects lightning. There's a few questions about the hammer, as it can only be lifted by thor, where he leaves or throws it, it cannot be moved from by anyone but him. The fictional mechanics of this are controversial? is it heavy, and if so, why doesn't it sink to the earth's core? Does it chemically bind to the ground, and if so, why doesn't a chunk of ground come up when thor lifts it?

[@PapaFiki]

+kieran10202 this actually seems like a common misunderstanding Thor's hammer was forged *in* a dying star not from a dying star and according to marvel its actually 42 lb which is heavy to lift with one hand but not heavy enough to sink to the core or horribly kill you the same way that black hole does

[@kieran10202]

I believe weight doesnt come into it, it just sticks to the ground or whatever it's on, and no force can break the bond, it is however able to change its momentum according to Thor's mental commands

[@Alex_Plante]

Montreal also used to have a nuclear reactor in the city. It was at the University of Montreal.

[@ajs41]

Interesting. I've been to Montreal (from England) for precisely 2 days in my life, in July 1997.

[@sfluendy]

There are still two you've missed. And at least one is still working.

[@tasty_fish]

Something you may not know: this nuclear reactor has a name. Jason.

[@DaniBarza]

We have an unused small nuclear reactor like this one in Milan too

[@redwards5000]

There used to be a nuclear reactor run by Queen Mary University which was directly underneath Mile End road

[@Davemcfc]

Being that Thor is the God of thunder, it shouldn't take too many guesses to figure out what his hammer is powered by.

[@joeabc]

Solar.

[@filipeharbs234]

Did Tom Scott come up with the "idk haven't seen the movie" meme?

[@denbriggs82]

That’s a coincidence I only re watched Thor 2 last night.

[@Electriix1]

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a nuclear reactor in London

[@MEZNAY]

His hammer is powered by the tears of children.

[@montgomeryrichard]

You seem to have forgotten about the other TWO (maybe more) in central London used to make isotopes and maybe other uses. Stand by to be shocked residents of Teddington for over 30 years, if it is still there one at Paint research station but difficult to remove tons of radioactive lead… And of course the one at imperial college south Kensington London.

[@JoeBorrello]

The University of Michigan used to have a nuclear reactor on North Campus in Ann Arbor. I believe it’s no longer there.

[@lohphat]

How many Mjöls of of heat did it generate? /sorry

[@roberttill3787]

A reactor with such a small output would probably be about the size of a matchbox!

[@robbo777cricket]

I think there was another reactor that was deactivated in the 1980s, was where the olympic park is today.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA has a 5 MW nuclear reactor on its campus. It was there for years before the city noticed it and got nervous. The school's response was, well, it has been here for years and how else are we to provide appropriate instruction?

[@dannypipewrench533]

I am going to study nuclear engineering at Idaho State University. They have a 5 Watt nuclear reactor in the basement of the nuclear engineering building, and a 20-foot shaft with neutron-emitting radiochemicals at the bottom. I took the tour about 3 months ago, it is very interesting.

[@thatissuperfunny5358]

1:27 "Shernoble"

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Fascinating! A fun video would be about the lump of lead filled with radioactive gubbins sitting on top of Glasgow Uni

[@chuckoneill2023]

University of Arizona in Tucson had a teenee little reactor. Which was housed in such a way as to make it visible to the public - really, you could walk right into the building and look at it through glass panels. It didn’t even produce as much as the Jason training unit, but it was also for educational purposes.

[@dannypipewrench533]

Idaho State University and New Mexico State University each have a 5 Watt reactor, and both are still used. Ideally, I will be operating the one in Idaho in a few years.

[@randomsfx2272]

I swear the pandorica shot out the roof of that building in an episode of Dr who....geronimo 😄

[@prodigalretrod]

So if it's just a really small reactor, does it just use really small atoms?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

A true brit measures power output in kettles!

[@zach4604]

My college is less than 15 miles from an actual nuclear power plant and many students intern and do research there. I haven’t toured it yet but I want to, it’s a very nice facility

[@LDNvibes]

What a interesting London fact! Cool video mate

[@222Randomness222]

There is/was also a nuclear reactor in the middle of Bronx, New York City. It's was a university facility so its presence wasn't and still isn't widely known about. I just did a quick search and apparently it was part of Manhattan College. Apparently they still have stored nuclear waste there.

[@yegventures]

That's like the slow poke reactor at the University of Alberta dentistry department, which finally got turned off last year.

[@Ravie1]

Around two dozen public universities in the US still have working tiny research reactors that they use to train students and the like.

[@bazawhacha]

There is still a nuclear reactor inside of Corvallis Oregon, Its used by Oregon State University for education but it is functional and inside of the city

[@Vegalith]

"Shenobble"

[@fruit3193]

I wonder if he’s seen Thor 2 since then.

[@mattkroll4464]

That last Thor line isn't entirely wrong, in Kyle hills video on nuclear pasta he states that it is made from a dying (presumably a neutron star) so it might've made his hammer that slightest bit more radioactive.

[@aaaahaelp3940]

I want to see your version of Thor 2

[@Bengtssonsan]

Well, these guys at least knew what they where doing :P In the center of Stockholm (capital of Sweden), there is a University called KTH (Royal Technical University) where scientist where tasked to try to find out how this "nuclear reactor" actually worked back in the day when it was a military secret. As far as I understand it, they had absolutely no idea of what they where doing, but somehow they manahed to build a functioning reactor.

[@theowinters6314]

Speaking of weird places to find reactors, Kodak (yes, the film company) used to have one at their campus in Rochester NY (about 300 miles away from NYC).

[@myladycasagrande863]

There are a lot more reactors than most people realize - some hobbyists have even built them in apartments and sheds!

[@kdmc40]

Davis and ollie are now living with Edward Snowden!😁

[@DmanYTofficial]

IS THIS WHERE THE END SCENE OF GULIVERS TRAVELS WAS FILIMED

[@retepaskab]

There are two nuclear reactors in Budapest, one at the Technical University, one at a Physics Research Institute.

[@garyclark3843]

This just proves that being a nerd doesn't mine you know everything in everything nerddom.

[@jasongraves1841]

Tom are you a professor ? Your knowledge is fantastic keep up the great work Tom love watching your videos😎👍

[@Maxi25554]

JASON YOU

[@The1Helleri]

That's not just having not seen the movie. That's not having seen nor read anything Marvel ever.

[@nuggetthepenguin473]

0:38 Tom scott out of context

[@CyberJamSam]

Walking backwards talking to nothing... that's dedication to content 0:30