Ukraine's Chernobyl 2.0 Concern: Inside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Crisis

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Shortly after the war began, Russia took control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. But as Ukraine begins threatening to take back its southern tier, concerns arose that Russia might deliberately cause an accident. Just how bad is the risk? This video examines the potential problems, how likely Russia would pursue any of those strategies, and what the broader implications are for NATO and future assistance to Ukraine.
0:00 The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
1:47 The Power Plant's Strategic Positioning
3:32 How Nuclear Power Plants Work
4:55 Russia's Motivation to Sabotage the Plant
8:28 How Bad Would a Disaster Be?
9:23 Safety Feature #1: Shut Down
11:29 Safety Feature #2: Lack of Graphite
12:11 Safety Feature #3: Containment
13:28 Smaller Targets
15:18 Russia's Most Likely Sabotage Strategy
18:02 NATO Article 5 Concerns
21:22 The Crying Wolf Problem Problem
24:39 #whereseveryone Update
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[@JombieMann]

The plant operators that have been coping with all the trouble and still keeping the plant safe deserve praise. Their dedication has been instrumental to prevent any radiation leakage. Once this is all over, they deserve recognition and praise.

[@MrLekorrigan]

also a butt load of cash and a nice vacation

[@anteeko]

Yes it must be incredibly challenging to work in those condition. they are heroes

[@JohnnyD45]

Fact

[@jado96]

😅

[@kingace6186]

They also deserve a raise!

[@drakejohnson5386]

"Never tell the same lie twice" an amazing piece of wisdom from Garak

[@BWEEOOP]

And it's a skill, unlike any other, which requires constant practice

[@aresjerry]

Sick DS9 reference

[@LaGrandeBayou]

Puppetskyy telling comedian lies.but no one laughing

[@mwfp1987]

I felt like Craig when he said that

[@john38825]

The only logical answer is to pick up the plant and move it to Poland. The soil is similar and it's in summer so it will have plenty on energy to help repair the roots that were cut.

[@13253415]

Summer is a bad time to transplant. Late fall or early spring are optimal.

[@MrAlexsa2]

Pov: Polands god given right to whip russia's ass back to vladivostok

[@DauthEldrvaria]

I thought you were Fucking about but I guess you can quite literally pick up an entire nuclear power plant and move it else where? Fuck lol

[@cliveengel5744]

How are you going to move the Containment Structure which is 800 mm post tensioned concrete with a steel liner?

[@stargazer-elite]

“We should take Bikini Bottom and push it somewhere else” - Patrick Star

[@KR4FTW3RK]

The medias' ignorance of how nuclear works is SO tiring. Here in germany it's so bad that funding was cut to research on nuclear power and all the plants were shut down. We had built a LOT of plants in the 80s and 90s, some getting torn down without reaching full power ONCE. Now we're up shit creek without a paddle. We've been dependent on russian gas, now we gotta buy the nuclear power from our neighbors.

[@MayaPosch]

There's this 1970s book in Germany called 'The Cloud' in English which is essentially anti-nuclear propaganda, yet it is very popular and seems to have made generations of Germans believe that every nuclear plant is a nuclear bomb, just ready to go off, along with radiation leaking out of the spent fuel... and now Germany is burning lots of coal and lignite that will absolutely kill thousands of people each year and cause more COPD. Just swell.

[@gfrewqpoiu]

Also, in Germany at least, the media LOVES to run fear campaigns to influence public opinion into the negative even though when knowing all the details you would know that it is not a big deal. This is also why Germany is pretty much the only european country without google street view. There was a massive media campaign against it and about half of people asked for their houses to be not visible on Street view so that Google decided to not bother anymore. Even though Bing and Apple totally did the same thing by now on their mapping services.

[@dagda1180]

It's so stupid (Austrian speaking). Nuclear power may create waste that needs perpetual cooling or must be stored in a shielded manner, but it's generally better than coal.

[@DauthEldrvaria]

It’s honestly so Fucking annoying. “No nuclear Power Plants! It may blow up and kill us all. The entire world!”

[@JohnDoe-vy5hh]

That is a travesty.

[@ashkebora7262]

The funny thing about Chornobyl is... It ALSO wasn't a nuclear explosion. Yes, the energy source was nuclear, but the thing that shoved the core apart was steam, and possibly a hydrogen explosion. Nuclear power plants _literally cannot_ explode like a bomb _in any way_ on their own. They don't explode as if the nuclear material itself has suddenly gone far beyond super-critical like in a bomb. They just get HOT, and weird and powerful stuff can happen as a result.

[@MayaPosch]

Indeed, the reactivity surge from the graphite moderator on the tip of the control rods, plus the positive void coefficient was enough to instantly turn the remaining water in the cooling channels into superheated steam. Fun thing about ChNPP's #4 reactor is also that it was essentially in shutdown mode when the disaster happened, which is another fact that gets glossed over not only this video and countless others...

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Isn't that how every explosive works? It just gets very hot, very fast.

[@MayaPosch]

@@MostlyPennyCat No, explosives work by making molecules move away from each other very, very quickly. Not necessarily because of temperature, though steam explosions are a notable example of that.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@MayaPosch But temperature and pressure are two sides of the same coin. Yes, chemical explosives fall down the entropy ladder with each molecule (usually) turning into lots of nitrogen gas in a small space over a short time. But atomic weapons don't do that, they get very hot, very fast. Reactor Number 4 ran away, positive void coefficient, until the vessel gave way. Then the reaction fizzled due to explosive deconstruction. So only tons of explosives instead of kilotons. I remember there was a paper analysing the fission products which showed that at the time of the explosion, heat wasn't just coming from the, er, damn it I forget the proper terms. Not just fissions from "delayed" neutrons was it? "Fresh" neurons or something, not from decay products. Something like that, I think they put a sample through a spectrograph and looked at the citation product ratios. But this was so long ago I read this so I probably have that all wrong.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@MayaPosch But temperature and pressure are two sides of the same coin. Yes, chemical explosives fall down the entropy ladder with each molecule (usually) turning into lots of nitrogen gas in a small space over a short time. But atomic weapons don't do that, they get very hot, very fast. Reactor Number 4 ran away, positive void coefficient, until the vessel gave way. Then the reaction fizzled due to explosive deconstruction. So only tons of explosives instead of kilotons. I remember there was a paper analysing the fission products which showed that at the time of the explosion, heat wasn't just coming from the, er, damn it I forget the proper terms. Not just fissions from "delayed" neutrons was it? "Fresh" neurons or something, not from decay products. Something like that, I think they put a sample through a spectrograph and looked at the fission product ratios. But this was so long ago I read this so I probably have that all wrong.

[@josephcaouette]

As a former nuclear operator, we spent tons of time speculating about how to "best" cause accidents. It's a pretty good way to discuss the theory of operation and what NOT to do. This is a decent summary so far but I feel as though a short discussion on decay heat could have added something here.

[@XIIchiron78]

It's probably genuinely difficult to do a better job than Chernobyl tbh, they did everything right/wrong. Both the design and the careless and near suicidal test procedures...

[@josephcaouette]

@XIIchiron78 I totally agree. However, cold water casualties in a pressurized water reactor with a negative temperature coefficient of reactivity can be pretty nasty. This would normally be pretty difficult to pull off, but with sufficient tampering with safety interlocks, it could be pretty devastating.

[@clancyjames585]

@@josephcaouette What do you mean by "cold water casualties"?

[@josephcaouette]

@clancyjames585 If the reactor produces more power as the water temperature drops, the sudden addition of much colder water than expected can cause the reactor to become prompt critical, causing a sudden massive increase in power generation. This can be very bad, think pressure cooker.

[@davidschaftenaar6530]

​@@josephcaouette Isn't prompt criticality runaway fissioning that happens, because the Uranium is confined in a small enough volume for the neutrons from each fissioning atom to hit another and trigger 1> further fissioning event? Like what made the bomb they dropped on Hiroshima go boom? Uranium has become vastly more terrifying to me, since I learned that all you need to have it go off is to have enough of it concentrated in one place.

[@comraderedcomando]

I love how a serious geopolitical information and analysis almost always ends with a “Where’s Waldo” hunt. Definitely brings the mood up

[@lukebeich]

To be fair, the "crying wolf problem problem" might be less severe given that Russia has already sabotaged one infrastructure, so maybe a few shepherds will still show up.

[@ROBLOXGamingDavid]

But do it for a lot of times, that would create serious doubts of Ukrainian's warnings that Russia will attack.

[@johna.zoidberg3049]

​@@ROBLOXGamingDavidIts Russia we talk about. Nobody will gives second thoughts especially with the dam incident thing. They will still end up doing exactly as predicted.

[@lukebeich]

@@ROBLOXGamingDavid ok, but it won't be a "lot of times", will it? If they keep warning about a sabotage to the power plant and that doesn't happen, that would be "one" time that they cried wolf.

[@theMPrints]

Why would russia sabotage a damn dam that was in their hands?

[@amandablake8365]

It is not crying wolf, it is not knowing the timing. After the dam how can anyone have any doubt. It is this doubt that achieves Russia’s goal of the Wests inaction. Russia wants to destroy as much of Ukraine as possible, replace the Ukrainians with Russians and divide up the territory. Or if I can’t have it then you can not have it either. The IAEA was not allowed on the rooftops. The ZNPP needs to be secured by an international force. Period. The west needs to react asap instead of sitting on their hands. Let’s not wait until an environmental disaster occurs.

[@josephmassaro]

"Never tell the same lie twice" - Garak, a simple tailor

[@anthonyoch8285]

Spaniel must be in with the Obsidian Order. It's all a conspiracy to control the Alpha Quadrant.

[@techsilver7761]

Haha I'd wondered if someone else had picked up on that :D

[@thefalseking4815]

@@techsilver7761 I'd like to think so, but one can never say. We live in uncertain times.

[@joshua24601]

Fantastic scene! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZ2ZZ5yihqh2hNU

[@williamcostigan91]

The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination - Garak, occasional gardener

[@edwardblair4096]

I was expecting a more thorough analysis of the "crying wolf" problem. Yes the lesson most people hear is "don't say the same lie twice". But the other one is "if you set up a warning system, you must be prepared to respond every time it is activated". You can analyze false alarms and make adjustments to the system, but if you don't respond, then eventually the warning will not be acted on when it is most needed. It doesn't matter whether or not the threat is self-aware and attempts to manipulate the situation to its advantage or the person giving the warning is acting in bad faith, the lesson still holds.

[@XIIchiron78]

"normalization of deviance"

[@Destroyer_V0]

Thank you.

[@lacklustermathie]

Hot shutdown means that they keep the reactor pressurised and the water at a higher temperature (I think ~250C instead of less than 100C). The fuel in the reactor still generates the same amount of heat, because there are no new fission events, they just let it get hotter before cooling. In addition to being easier to start the reactor, hot shutdown lets them generate steam for district heating. That explains the winter. Maybe they still need steam for hot water, or there is some other industrial process nearby? I think most of this is just a Russian information operation. Spread fear and panic by putting suspicious parcels on the turbine hall (not even the reactor containment structure) to be seen by satellites, and show dominance over the IAEA by not letting them go everywhere they want to. The western press freaks out, but governments being advised by nuclear engineers know that nothing has really changed.

[@MayaPosch]

ZNPP provides heat for the Enerhodar's district heating system. Without it the city essentially has a problem with hot water and more.

[@13thbiosphere]

So you're saying the probability of a meltdown is 0%? If the coolant stops flowing what happens?

[@MayaPosch]

@@13thbiosphere The passive coolant flow in a VVER-1000 is sufficient to cool a reactor core for a certain amount of time, even if all coolant pumps stop working. If the core is in shutdown mode (operating in low or zero power mode), this passive cooling capacity can possibly sustain the cooling indefinitely.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

​​@@MayaPoschSo once in Cold Shutdown a VVER-1000 doesn't need the cooling water to be pumped? Just convection does the job? Assuming they condense the water vapour that forms inside the core and route it back out to the storage pond, what's the consumption rate of cooling water like, do we know? Now that there is no fresh water supply to refill the cooling pond, how long can that amount of water keep the spent fuel ponds and 6 Cold Shutdown Cores cool enough to prevent fuel rod heat damage?

[@cpt_nordbart]

I remember what happened in Fukushima. The reactors were shut down mostly. but still hot and cooling collapsed. That's why three of four reactors exploded. It was hydrogen gas not the uranium or plutonium ( dunno what they used)

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

Still blows my mind that we only get power from a nuclear power plant by using the damn thing to boil water and run a steam engine.

[@singlespeedpunk7744]

Just the Victorian age of steam with extra steps 😁

[@jackthorton10]

Never thought of it like that, cool way of thinking about it in a way

[@endoflevelboss]

Spaniel outdoes himself. Switching N and U in Nuclear on-screen to form Unclear. Almost makes up for the absence of the word materiel in this episode.

[@earthflash]

GREAT GRAPHICS! You make a complex subject --- easy to grasp. Thank you.

[@clayongunzelle9555]

I appreciate how you give information with very little opinion just straight information as your see it

[@andrewhart6200]

Your videos don't rush to come out(often when information is still very fluid) and you get the facts straight...Truth is not found much if, at all, these days. I sincerely appreciate your efforts my friend!

[@Hayman1969]

Thank for the reporting, I am forever done with professional media as they made me less knowledgeable about this issue over the last week. We just want knowledge and understanding of events to make educated decisions on. Honest writers seem to make the best reporters and I am fine waiting a week to get accurate reporting. Love your books and reports, I hope you make a media empire that rivals all others with your honest style of reporting.

[@jacob_90s]

I never gave it that name, but I remember thinking about the Cry Wolf Paradox when the lockdowns first started, how if the government was really on it's game and really locked down the country when they detected a new and possibly deadly illness, how almost no one would get infected by it, and people would have a hard time taking the government seriously next time.

[@lilithdvs13]

It’s the government. They’re never to be taken seriously by definition. It’s just not the government’s job to protect its people. They’re there to fight wars. Why would you even listen to the government in a pandemic? Is the government run by doctors?

[@diogorodrigues747]

I mean, in many countries it was actually many people that joined the lockdowns first, and not only by imposition of governments. And, I mean, the reason was quite obvious: it was a new thing and people were scared. Lots of people died or had serious illnesses. I personally know many that suffered from it - thankfuly I didn't. Of course, as time went by and things evolved, people started to adapt and from the Middle of 2021 to the begining of this yesr things went back to normal.

[@theslavbeing335]

almost nobody? Hundreds of millions did, and plenty of people had their loved ones die because of it.

[@robomonkey1018]

​@theslavbeing335 I think you misunderstood OP. He said if governments responded promptly enough. They did not and the pandemic wasn't blunted to the point of ineffectual.

[@duncanlutz3698]

Yeah, I got really depressed when I thought that through. Government takes effective measures and prevents a disaster? People, at least a sizable majority, won't accept that a legitimate threat existed that required emergency powers and spending to combat. Government slacks off? They are pilloried for failing their people. Either way, the government is going to be hated. The cynic in me is thinking that leaders will need to do some really macabre calculations on just how much suffering they should allow before stepping in... if only to make sure the population understands this was a real threat that required government action. But not TOO much death or the people turn against the government for negligence. Human nature is just so fucked. We always have to complain about something: it's why we can't have nice things!

[@jochenkirn9468]

What a smooth segue to promoting your book. Well done!!

[@lymphe]

I'm always looking forward to your next video; thanks for your content, I appreciate it a lot

[@awgates85]

The DS9 reference caught me off guard 😂 I've always liked Garak's take on that parable

[@lydiazafra3476]

Ty William , as usual it’s excellent analysis take care

[@neotradeneokanobi7913]

Great analysis and thanks for clearing the noise of false assumptions. Keep up the good job

[@REVOLVER_NOIR]

I know I’m just someone on the internet, but I really enjoy your content. 😊

[@NovemberOrWhatever]

Containment buildings are thick enough that it should be basically impossible to breach them by accident, and even with military weapons it will require some careful planning. Light artillery for example, probably won't do much, and you will need a *lot* of explosives. At Three Mile Island, a large quantity of hydrogen exploded inside the containment building, and the operators assumed the pressure sensor had just glitched, because it was fully contained, due to the whole meter-thick reinforced concrete thing. It just doesn't seem possible for Russia to convince anyone internationally that damage was the result of anything but deliberate action.

[@sdrhawaii9129]

William, you hit the nail on the head, so to speak...I have worked in and on and all over Nuclear power Plants. . All on the east coast of the United States. I've worked as a pipe fitter welder on the stainless piping which takes almost forever to weld due to numerous inspections and x-rays as we move down the line... I also welded on the huge stainless steel wall surrounding the reactor... The best job I ever had....It took me more than a month to take all the weld tests necessary of which, I passed all. The first Nuke plant I worked on was approximately 25 miles north of new York city which is Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The next is in New Jersey, the Salem Nuclear Power Plant... Last but not least, Three Mile island, Nuff said...Not my fault

[@jacksonpark5001]

i am so happy you get the pronunciation right

[@ahjussi]

excellent, thank you for the insights

[@odw32]

Regarding the "crying wolf problem-problem": The analogy in this case would be a boy crying wolf, all the shepherds coming over, and arriving just in time to see a wolf disappear behind some trees. There is no clear evidence of the wolf's intent to eat sheep. But there is evidence of wolf activity near sheep, so the alarm was valid -- and that is how Ukraine and allied nations should keep treating these threats in my opinion.

[@noahclendenon5809]

The video I’ve been waiting for🤩

[@joshuamunoz3310]

excellent video, clear and objective.

[@polizei16]

Yes! I asked about this! Thank you!❤

[@Gametheory101]

If you are the one who I exchanged comments with on the last video, then yeah, I 100% was not going to do this until that conversation.

[@polizei16]

@@Gametheory101 wasn't me but I had posted in your what video next post

[@johndoyle2347]

Excellent video. Very good perspectives.

[@AdvancedGT]

Chernobyl's problem with graphite wasn't really about that it's flammable. More precisely the problem was it doesn't boil away like water in pressurized water reactor. Meaning when the reaction went off the rails, the graphite stayed there, kept moderating and allowing a run away reaction. In a PWR the water would turn to steam and stop the reaction. Mess would still be there. Hydrogen explosions possible. But not a total positive feedback runaway reaction Otherwise great video as always

[@WraithMagus]

16:06 Prigozhin on the far left, Surovikin a bit to his right at the edge of the curtains behind a chair, and Gerasimov on the right of Putin's head, just behind a chair and under the painting.

[@scotthazelton519]

Thanks for sharing

[@KarmaKitten01]

🙏 thank you for doing this!!!!! It has answered sooooo many of my questions. I pray daily that it is not damaged… it should never have even entered into Russian military hands… but hopefully intl policy makers are taking note and we will soon see clarity about the governance of nuclear facilities in times of war. Which I believe falls squarely in the lap of Political Analysts to figure out. While I know there would be countries that oppose atleast it would perhaps dissuade future such antics…?

[@Aaron-tc5gq]

I'm reading your book and it's really good, didn't know you wrote it until I saw the lines on maps 😂

[@dsolis7532]

I’m a physicist and I do know a lot about how to make nuclear disasters… we study it to avoid them, so they know how to fuck the reactor

[@paulk.dicostanzo2279]

22:23 Thank you, Mr. Garak.

[@trshxgod8040]

You are so quick man i applaud you

[@MadMax11060]

Thanks!

[@christiankrueger8048]

Thank you!

[@aclearlight]

Thoughtful and interesting as always, thank you!

[@charlesransom4546]

“The morale of the story is you shouldn’t say the same lie twice” I see somebody is a Deep Space Nine fan

[@General12th]

Hi William! I like these videos.

[@boonedockjourneyman7979]

Thank you.

[@alexanderscourtney]

Dr. Bashir : But the point is, if you lie all the time, nobody's going to believe you, even when you're telling the truth. Garak : Are you sure that's the point, Doctor? Dr. Bashir : Of course. What else could it be? Garak : That you should never tell the same lie twice.

[@Justan669]

I do like how the ZNPP has inadvertently shown how incredibly strong and safe these buildings are and how stupid Germany is for shutting their reactors

[@arnoldwatcher]

I guess you work for the nuclear industry ! Stupid to shut something down that can kill millions ????

[@FriedrichHerschel]

Germany isn't shuting down their nuclear power plants because it fears they may get damaged in a war, but because of the unsolved waste problem.

[@arnoldwatcher]

@@FriedrichHerschel The decision to shut them down was longed planned and a consequence of the review of lessons from Fukushima.

[@AdvancedGT]

True. Furthermore new reactors don't even require active cooling in an emergency and can survive flooding. Silly decision to phase out nuclear

[@AdvancedGT]

@@FriedrichHerschel and the waste isn't really a big deal. There is very little of it. You can just put it in dry cask. Longterm solution is just burry it somewhere. It's not green liquid goo

[@Scorv2112]

22:22 lmao! I wasn't the only one thinking about Garak's version!

[@richardtabor8686]

Thank you for this. Super valuable for my understanding. Dunno how I wasn't before, but I'm subbed now!

[@XIIchiron78]

The other thing about the VVER design as compared to the RBMK is that it has a negative void coefficient, meaning the reaction slows down if it starts overheating, instead of Chernobyl's design, where boiling water in the core accelerated the reaction well above 10x the maximum design power, flash vaporizing a lot of the core, leading to the massive explosion and allowing much more radioactive material to be dispersed.

[@hlopplopp7066]

Thanks for a great video

[@RidingWithDave]

Man, your videos are always so well researched, informative and well presented. Always an insta-click for me.

[@saintfelician4life]

Love the ds9 Ilum Garek reference. On a side note about the story I use it to explain bias as it is told by the other shepherds/villagers (what if the wolf was there since day 1?) and to explain concepts such as conditioning.

[@idleishde6124]

It took too much scrolling to see someone else get the DS9 reference.

[@mr.nobody6205]

This is a well thought and researched Vid ! Great work my guy

[@tennentslagerman8910]

@16:09 Prigozhin, Gerasimov, and Surovikin all there

[@masamune2984]

Yet another absolutely brilliant breakdown and video. I don’t know you how you keep up this quality, but thank you.

[@BrandonOrtizCasas]

Ok... I am done... Im gonna by the book

[@dougm2174]

Nice little deep space nine shout out there. 🤟

[@bdz_4206]

22:21 Ahhh a man of my own heart, or perhaps a fan of a certain Cardassian tailor.

[@anthonyoch8285]

That DS9 Elim Garak quote wont get past me! Well quoted!

[@RM-el3gw]

great content and insight as always

[@napalmholocaust9093]

I have graphite molds and crucibles. Never managed to burn one even with acetylene. They get the slightest ash on the surface when they're glowing white in atmosphere and that's about it. A directed flame will erode it but it has never caught as far a I've seen. Alumina is a shield for it as outer liners in gas furnaces. That holds for a while till you use the hotter exotic gasses.

[@AdvancedGT]

Yup. It's difficult the burn it. The problem rather was it doesn't evaporate. So the moderator stays there accelerating the reaction. In a PWR the water is your moderator. So when it boils away->no more moderator - > chain reaction stops. In chernobyl the graphite stayed there and kept the reaction alive

[@carolwilliams8511]

Thank you. Highly informative.

[@stargazer-elite]

I love your channel you give unbiased and accurate information on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and your comment section as a sanctuary away from the Putin and Prigozhin Bots

[@Angry.Dinosaur]

Thank you sir. I don't comment like I did when your channel was small and got a response from you. This subject is difficult. It is a game of playing the end result.

[@lincolnlog5977]

I liked the DS9 reference lol. Garak is the best

[@PeterP552]

You are cool William, facts albeit adapted to your personal tendency, but most certainly educational.

[@jaywaii3187]

22:22 Star Trek DS9 reference? Garak was the best.

[@GojiMet86]

11:17 Great job calling out Wikipedia. For many people looking for quick and digestible answers, Wikipedia is the first place they think off. However, Wikipedia is not the infallible, undisputed site it is imagined to be. Any person can make an account and put in (or conversely keep off) certain information.

[@NickanM]

Wikipedia is biased. I stopped donating after they got exposed being left leaning in their political articles / views.

[@justincronkright5025]

Not every nuclear reactour requires enrichment by the way. Although, now that it is quite cheap relative to the past it is usually a fairly desired reactour-type.

[@-delilahlin-1598]

9:44 those are some tiny monitors

[@PlanetJeroen]

You kinda missed how the type of reactor is completely different as well, making it literally impossible to explode.

[@JohnDoe-vy5hh]

It's a pressure water reactor which is similar to the boiling water reactors at Fukushima. Water surrounds the fuel rods on both designs. What makes you think the same thing that happen at Fukushima can't happen here?

[@nerdisaur]

Found the guy from Chernobyl

[@MayaPosch]

@@JohnDoe-vy5hh The 'thing' that happened at Fukushima Daiichi was the hydrogen that collected in the spent fuel pools (located there on top of the reactor) finding an ignition source and going big boom because TEPCO was too cheap to install hydrogen vents. As these spent fuel pools are located that far up, the loss of coolant pumps affected them the most, resulting in the fun steam + hot zirconium catalyst = hydrogen 'thing'. The cores themselves didn't go 'boom', they just had some sad melting events in a few cases that damaged the fuel rods. Everything that happened at Fukushima Daiichi was due to gross human negligence, courtesy of primarily TEPCO, creating a scenario that does not exist at ZNPP.

[@WOTArtyNoobs]

Exactly. Water is the moderator as well as the coolant. Take away the water and the reactor might be ruined, but the lack of a moderator would slow down the reactions and eventually shut down the reactor for good. All you'd be left with is a reactor requiring decommissioning ahead of time and pools of melted fuel rods that would have to sit in the ponds for decades before being processed. The damage to Ukraine is the loss of the generating capacity. However, Russia could be forced to compensate Ukraine with gas to make up for the lost energy.

[@killingtimeitself]

@@JohnDoe-vy5hh PWR is not similar to BWT, RBMK reactors were in fact a black sheep design but PWR and BWR are quite different. Fukushima was caused by hydrogen buildup in the containment building which couldn't be vented and thus exploded, in a PWR reactor you would need either your main or secondary to breach, and then the water inside it, (or i suppose anywhere else in the plant) to break down into hydrogen. Only a breach in the primary loop would cause radiation leakage due to its isolation, that plus the fact that its almost certainly built to help deal with hydrogen buildup, as opposed to fukushima, I would argue a fukushima event is unlikely. Here its possible the same thing happens with spent fuel but its a separate building entirely and would be unrelated to the reactor type.

[@houcky7777]

Confirmed: William Spaniel is Garak's burner KZbin account.

[@alex_zetsu]

12:58 I think a caveat here. If just the concrete structure has a sudden hole in it, then yes literally nothing happens. This structure is not an integral part of the plant's power generation and cooling. But how would you breach it? Probably with an explosive on the roof no one can inspect. And rather than just creating a hole in the structure, such an explosion might destroy a power cable. Given how many times there were issues with the diesel generators even before the liberation of Kherson, it's not too hard to imagine that the plant might lose power at the same time its backup is failing.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

How to beach it? HEAT explosives I guess?

[@alex_zetsu]

@@MostlyPennyCat A normal explosive wouldn't do much unless it was forced in one direction like a HEAT and it's hard for me to imagine that a HEAT round "only" breaches the concrete structure and doesn't hit any of the wires.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@alex_zetsu Or there's cutting charges, which are just shaped charges, no copper liner like you get in HEAT. But yeah, we have the explosive technology to chop through steel and concrete. However, with the reactor cores in cold shutdown, there's no pressure to suddenly release, no Chernobyl. Just a wrecked reactor with an expensive cleanup bill.

[@nvelsen1975]

@@alex_zetsu Uhm, that's all a perspective thing. If you put a stick of dynamite inside the containment vessel, all you get is interesting modern art patterns on the walls. Now carry a few thousand kilograms of explosives in there (presumably after murdering anyone present and claiming they were totally Ukrainian soldiers and they did it) blowing it up should go fine. It all depends on how crazy Russia is.

[@sbeast64]

I have no idea about this war, but the new James Bond movie looks great!

[@tomblaise]

A friend of my father had a job where he would deliberately attempt to overload or cause nuclear disasters across the US. The government paid him to do so in order to test their own safety systems around nuclear plants. There were both theoretical drills where they would walk through the steps to overload the reactor, and practical drills where they would actually go and attempt to take control of a nuclear power plant. At the end of it all, he would always say he has absolute confidence that nobody could pull off a terrorist attack on a U.S. nuclear power plant. The number of people and planning required would be barrier enough, but even if the dozens of people involved in the operation could pull it off, they could not maintain control of the plant long enough to cause a meltdown. If one had complete access to the plant for a long period of time though, without outside interference, a specialist could definitely cause a meltdown if they wanted to. Nuclear security must know how a meltdown can deliberately be caused so as to create safeguards to prevent it from happening. A nuclear meltdown, combined with a large amount of explosive, could cause a disaster for sure, but the benefits of doing so are very unclear.

[@MayaPosch]

The lessons from the 'operator error' at TMI have been well-studies and many fixes implemented to prevent them from ever happening. Such 'don't even trust the operator' policies became even more stringent after the ChNPP disaster, which was effectively due to operator error as well (who got to happily disable safeties at will and run the system far outside its design specifications).

[@ILaunchNukes]

Ukraine's power plants are Soviet built

[@AveXx]

@TheAtomicAgeCM I know you are working more on the side of Transport, not Power Plants but your opinion/a reaction would be cool

[@Jondiceful]

There is one facet of the debate we glossed over here. That is the issue of rogue actors. The Russian military and its partners has displayed poor discipline, lack of training and resources, poor coordination, bad morale, and more recently mutiny. As with the destruction of the dam, I contend that there is the possibility of a rogue element, even amomg loyalists, to take matters into their own hands to achieve whatever personal goals they feel compelled to pursue. Whether those goals are based on sound science, good tactics, or even common sense instead of ignorance, fear, or hatred is a matter that becomes increasingly uncertain the farther we stray from a disciplined well-coordinated and loyaly force. There are reasons for concern here. The more rational the decision-makers at the top are, the safer we would like to think we are, but when those rational actors are themselves unmasked as incompetent, unscrupulous, and perhaps even mutinous and the entire top brass undergoes a shakeup/purge, the conditions are ripe for ambitious field commanders to take the initiative and trust their gut over their orders. And that assumes internal rivals don't further complicate matters by staging an attack on or sabotage of the power plant in the hopes of pinning the actions on a rival. Honestly, the situation is probably worse than it seems. It's a lucky thing we can trust the physics of a nuclear reactor, because it is pure chaos trying to predict the actions or motivations that might precipitate an attack on or attempt at sabotage of the plant.

[@jackthorton10]

On this we agree

[@armyfirefighter]

I have some training in dealing with the potential of these sorts of things (retired military firefighter trained in radiological types of disaster). First, thank you for being a voice of reason. In these click bait times for the news, I sometimes wonder if they’re actually cheering on an incident. Russian-designed reactor systems have never been known to be exactly safe. Compared to Western designs that least. That said, this reactor design is MUCH CLOSER to Western Light Water Reactor designs. Compared to something like the RBMK design at Chernobyl, the difference is night and day as far as safety design features sabotage would need to get around. It is not impossible to be sure, an environmental disaster could be engineered quite effectively as the Russians have the exact blueprints of each reactor and access. (Even with a “standardized” reactor design every single reactor ever built is a slightly unique piece of engineering.). And as you pointed out, a full bore release of material depending on wind direction could easily irradiate Crimea and Rostov. Not exactly desirable if you’re a Russian leader who has just faced down a rebellion. A much more likely sabotage scenario IMO would be to disable the cold side of the units generating systems. Without getting too far into the weeds, disabling the generators that are used to put electricity on the grid after the reactors make heat. As I understand this design, the radioactive steam components are separate from each the non-radioactive steam components (like in a western plant as this design). So, you could set small charges or other forms of sabotage to the grid generators themselves. Taking them out takes the units off line to any electric generation until the end of the war and large electric generators could be manufactured and installed. But, done properly, that would leave the hot sides of the plant intact. As the Russians do have the exact plans and built these reactors in 1980s, with the time they have had they certainly could do such a thing with minimal, but not zero, risk of hot side unit damage. It isn’t zero risk. No sabotage if a nuclear reactor is ever that. But it would allow the Russian to take blame but to also say they took out the generating capacity “safely.”

[@killingtimeitself]

afaik this is a PWR reactor which means there shouldnt be any radioactive steam in the system, just the water in the primary loop, the secondary loop is isolated so inert in comparison, if the primary is breached however you will have a fun time.

[@armyfirefighter]

@@killingtimeitself I just briefly looked at the outline in a news article. It didn’t specify if it was a PWR or a BWR. As I said no need to get too into the weeds. And yes - as long as any sabotage stays to the cold side components it is at least theoretically safer.

[@killingtimeitself]

@@armyfirefighter yeah, you did say that it was isolated, so you weren't wrong, just pointing out that if its a PWR there is no radioactive steam in the system, or atleast they're shouldnt be lol.

[@armyfirefighter]

@killingtimeitself True. The focus of my training was what happened when things are not exactly operating to spec, haha.

[@killingtimeitself]

@@armyfirefighter yep, no fault there but it doesnt hurt to learn new things every now and then.

[@AndrewNakas]

Thanks for breaking down the nuclear power plant details. I knew because most reactors were cold the risk was not as huge as the media portrayed but huge thanks for quantifying the risks.

[@magina23]

Thanks so much for the video

[@nazodreemur8284]

I remember the wolf effect happen the same way with the dam, Zelensky said it multiple time and everyone finally didn't care, then it happen.

[@ericbrennemann7474]

16:07... got them!

[@Crushnaut]

Didn't know you were a simple tailor Mr Spaniel.

[@Gametheory101]

Spaniel. Just plain, simple Spaniel.

[@kingace6186]

LMFAO I love how casually #wheresPrigozhin blended in with the crowd. (24:50)

[@jeffreywenum9699]

What about lines on maps

[@Bizz55]

Excellent video and exactly what I wanted to know.

[@FrankTheUnknown]

Before watching: If i hear 1 bit of sensationalism i’m leaving. After watching: I learned something and 100% recommend people watch. Thank you for the video and good job🙏🏻

[@ivanmileta1886]

You watched a 25min video in 12min that it’s been out?

[@PabloB-KMP]

​@@ivanmileta18862x speed.

[@VisboerAnton]

Welcome to this channel, first time viewer

[@LARPing_Services_LLC]

@ivanmileta1886 plebs gonna pleb

[@FrankTheUnknown]

@@ivanmileta1886 you’ve wasted your life looking into things. Touch grass

[@vhostovich]

One of your best episodes. Thank You.

[@cageybee7221]

the craziest thing about chernobyl is how they kept it running for decades after the disaster.

[@HaxxorElite]

Cool pfp

[@YouuuuuuTosserrrr]

2:57 sounds like someone would make a good Cardassian 🤔

[@Gametheory101]

Me? I am just a simple tailor.

[@nanorider426]

16:15 I loved the Mythbusters reference. ^^

[@Alexandragon1]

Thx for the video!

[@deadlyarturok]

the whole situation is a mess!...;(, honestly any situation around power plant should be taken serious

[@raresmocanu1743]

I genuinely thought when my eyes glanced over the thumbnail that it was Sidorovich and the Ecologist faction logo.

[@eudaenomic]

Thank you so much forvthe insight. however, nova kahkovka is farther north, i believe you designated the Antonivka bridge - macht nichts really. Remember the song Russians by Sting? I don't think Putin loves his or Russian children.

[@dk6024]

Monday posts are bad for worker productivity.

[@nothingvenured.nothinggain4589]

@20:26. #wheresprigozhin. I'm really not sure about this one, but it does look like him in the doorway on the far side of the room.