History Buffs: Chernobyl (PATREON VERSION)
Added 2024-12-08 18:02:58 +0000 UTCHello everyone,
I just wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you to all of you for your continued support. With your help, I was able to put together my review for Chernobyl – a project that took a lot of research, time, and care to get right. Your support means the world, and it allows me to keep creating these reviews at the level of quality I aim for.
This will be my last review of the year, so I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season treats you well, and I’m excited for what we’ll tackle together in 2025.
Thanks again, and see you soon!
Cheers,
Nick
Comments
You also mentioned that akimov and toptunov would have been tried as well When dyatlov found out that Soviet prosecutors had sent letters to there families stating if they hadn't died they would be put on trial, dyatlov wrote the familys letters himself praising them for there actions.
Derek Henschel
2025-02-02 22:30:16 +0000 UTCThe show really is worse then you made it out to be, it doesn't tell the stories of the men who died in the control room well at all, it makes them all, especially dyatlov, look incompetent, stupid, and in the case of dyatlov, entirely makes up who he was and what he did. They were all heros. They all stayed longer then they should have and all got sick. The show got the problems with the reactor wrong not only that but the idea that the negative scram effect, the effect that caused the power to raise when the control rods were inserted, was secret or unknown is laughable at best, it was known, when the reactor was shutdown for maintenance later that morning it was planned as part of the work to fit new control rods that would fix this known problem. It wasn't understood and the results of what exactly it caused at Leningrad weren't generally known that was the part that was "covered up" the Chernobyl operators weren't aware that this momentary spike caused extensive damage to an already melting down reactor and even if they had no one could have predicted it could cause an explosion. No one to this day knows why Chernobyl reactor 4 exploded and the event can't be recreated in computer simulations. It's also important to note that graphite is a moderator like water and boron, but it's a worse moderator than both. The graphite doesn't directly boost the reactivity at the bottom of the core, but because it pushes all the water out there's a void created. It also wasn't cheaper to do this the part that was cheaper is they shortened the control rods. Not all rbmks had the same control rods inorder to save money, later versions of the reactor had these short control rods like Chernobyl reactor 4. These reactors are the ones that had the major problems with the positive scram effect. And there were multiple ways to prevent this, as I said new control rods had been designed. And ultimately all remaining rbmk reactors today have a telescoping control rod design that stops this from happening. The test wasn't required idk how you feel for that blatant lie told for years, especially since it's easily researched, infact the turbine rundown test had never been performed at a majority of rbmk reactors, the main one that tried, Chernobyl reactor 3, couldn't do it and refused to try again. No one made them do it it was a decision of dyatlov and the other senior staff at the plant to try it with reactor 4 im not sure why but it was never required of them. There were other tests however that hadn't been performed at reactor 4 despite being said to have been done, but this was normal in the Soviet Union, as was stated by you in a quote. The people in the control room weren't "Inexperienced" akimov was 33 years old and had been working as a nuclear engineer for a decade at that point. Toptunov had little experience but he didn't do anything without orders. Toptunov was observed by Akimov, dyatlov, and evening shift supervisor Yuri Tregub who stayed to observe the test, and would later help toptunov raise control rods when they stalled the reactor when he observed him removing rods from only a small part of the reactor at once. 3 of the plants most capable men were there that night. Dyatlov is the most problematic in the show, dyatlov was not the rash arrogant asshole depicted. He was a very firm but gentle man, who never once that night raised his voice at anyone in the control room, nor abused his employees verbally, nor physically as depicted in the show. Dyatlov wasn't in the room when akimov decided to raise the power by removing control rods, nor was he in the room when akimov decided to lower the power orgininally from 760 megawatts. Both of these actions were approved by dyatlov when he returned from observing other parts of the plant. Note that while at the trial people there claimed dyatlov was there and forced akimov and toptunov to raise the power. Those people were threatened, and no one who has come forward after the fact, nor the testimony of those who died before the trial, stated that he was there, nor that he was abusive to anyone. Dyatlov was aware of what had happened and was not in denial of it, other people in the control room however were. Dyatlov was not aware that the entire core was gone until awhile after the explosion but he was aware that the core was either partially or entirely exposed. How he knew exactly isn't well documented but multiple people did tell him as much as he moved around the control room and between buildings giving orders to others to evacuate, fight fires, and making sure reactor 3 shut down to protect it as was part of his job. Dyatlov was the one in the bunker to tell fomin and brukanov that the reactor exploded and that he had seen graphite on the ground, they both believed him but would go between states of denial later as more party members arrived. Needless to say the 3.6 thing is not real either, dyatlov knew that reading was incorrect immediately as it was the max on the low range dosimeters. There is a lot more the show doesn't get right, for instance at the end you mentioned sitnikov. He never looked over the core, he was never ordered to do so, he went to the roof, saw barely anything besides graphite, and left. The dosage that killed him, was caused by standing in the feed water while turning valves with akimov and toptunov. But if I keep typing about it this will go on forever. Tldr: the show mischaracterized everyone in the control room and multiple others and did not get the timeline anywhere near correct. It was not faithful at all to the men who died.
Derek Henschel
2025-02-02 22:25:00 +0000 UTCIt's always a pleasant surprise to get a new History Buffs episode.
Ella Clark
2024-12-17 02:53:30 +0000 UTCThank you so much for this review. Have watched this mini-series at least 5 times.
Beverly
2024-12-10 19:47:03 +0000 UTCThis was such a great episode!
Rosie on Guitar
2024-12-09 17:11:58 +0000 UTCHe needs to rip apart Napoleon first
Simon Larder
2024-12-09 04:56:33 +0000 UTCWell since you covered Chernobyl now, need to cover the show about Fukushima, it's called "The Days" and it's on Netflix
Connor Hicks
2024-12-08 19:08:18 +0000 UTCNo sound? I can hear it on my end
Nick Hodges
2024-12-08 18:22:25 +0000 UTCAlso merry xmas!
Saul G
2024-12-08 18:20:00 +0000 UTCNo sound?
Saul G
2024-12-08 18:18:59 +0000 UTCCan't wait for you to rip apart Gladiator 2 😂
John Goepel
2024-12-08 18:07:11 +0000 UTC
