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[peacefulatom]

[peacefulatom]

INSAG-7, Midnight in Chernobyl (though be wary of inaccuracies), Dyatlov’s book “How it Happened”,… those are where I’d start reading. INSAG-1 is good, too… not accurate, but good. I’d check out @teeth--thief ‘s Google drive. It’s beautiful. What book have you gotten from B&N? And, as for who hit AZ5, it was Toptunov. Some sources say Akimov. They are wrong.

As you read, you can send in asks to Hunter, as I did. I found it incredibly helpful. You can also scroll back through his account to read his past answers. I hear he has tests coming up though, so I may be able to reply more quickly… my inbox is always open. Hope this helps!!!

ask for infodump about Chernobyl as someone who has never even heard of it

INHALES

Chernobyl is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history, rated at a 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), the only other disaster ranking at a 7 being in Fukushima back in 2011. The disaster occurred on April 26, 1986. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant was located in Ukraine, which was under the control of the Soviet Union at the time. It was only about 16 miles from the Belarus-Ukraine border, which was also under Soviet control. There were two main towns nearby, Chernobyl itself, which was older, had only about 15,000 residents, and was actually farther from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant than Pripyat, which had about 50,000 residents, and was only about 2 miles from the plant. Pripyat was newer, and residents had an average age of about 26. The town itself was filled with young, well educated people starting new lives. A large number of public buildings were located in Pripyat, including a school and a sports complex, which contains the famous Azure Swimming Pool. The plant supplied Pripyat with energy, and the place was considered a sort of "dream city." The plant was an RBMK-1000 type reactor, a generation I nuclear reactor, which are the earliest, and generally most hazardous, nuclear reactors. RBMKs were used to produce Plutonium, a radioactive material primarily used in nuclear weapons. However, they could also be used to produce civilian energy, so a few were constructed to supply parts of the USSR with power. At the time of the incident, there were four reactors in operation, with reactors 5 and 6 under construction. A test was scheduled to be conducted to see if the backup generators could successfully turn on in time to keep the cooling systems running at safe levels. However, the test was delayed until the less experienced night shift was in. They turned off the reactor's shutdown feature and lowered the power to the reactor. Reactors need energy to function, as they have to be cooled. For these reactors, large amounts of water were used to cool them. Without the shutdown function, the reactor was in danger of overheating if it wasn't cooled. Regardless, they ran the test. When the backup generators took too long to turn on, panic set in, and the reactor began to overheat. Then, somehow hit the AZ-5 button, which lowers all control rods into the reactor at once. Control rods are used to absorb excess amounts of shed neutrons from the nuclear reactions. However, they momentarily increase reactions when first introduced into the reactor chambers. The undertrained staff of the night shift were not aware of this. With the increased reactivity, the reactor was now dangerously hot, and the casinging around the fuel rods began to rupture, causing white-hot radioactive fuel to come into direct contact with steam. At 1:23 A.M., April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor #4 exploded. The contact between the fuel and the steam caused a steam explosion, blowing the 1000 tonne reactor roof into the air and spewing radioactive debris and particles into the air.

Two plant workers were killed instantly by either the force of the blast or from being hit by debris. Although plant workers realized what had happened rather quickly, superiors were slow to act. Firefighters were called in, but they were not told the dangers of the radiation. Most died within a few months. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. In Pripyat, the Amusement Park that had been scheduled to open the next day was hurriedly opened a day early to distract residents from the fact that the reactor was on fire.

It took 36 hours for Soviet Officials to finally begin to evacuate Pripyat, only after residents had begun to report nausea, dizziness, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches, all symptoms of radiation poisoning. A few weeks earlier, citizens were trained with gas masks in case there ever was an incident. Officials said that they didn’t need them, as they didn’t want to cause a panic.

Residents were also told they would be returning soon, and to leave everything behind. They did not come back. This left Pripyat as an eerie ghost down where everything seemed to have simply been dropped and left. Today, it is still abandoned, and is being slowly reclaimed by nature.

During the cleanup of the incident, “Liquidators” were called in. Some knew the dangers, others didn’t. The fire of the reactor was too hot to be put out by water, so tons and tons or boron, sand, and lead were dumped onto the burning reactor by helicopters that flew over. It didn’t help much, and the reactor finally stopped burning after about 2-3 weeks. A structure dubbed “The sarcophagus” was built over the reactor to contain the radiation, though it was rushed and leaked radiation. A large area of woodlands was contaminated by the radiation, and it turned red and died, earning the nickname “The Red Forest.” Most of these trees were cleared and buried. Highly contaminated houses were knocked down, animals were shot, and crops destroyed. Absolutely everything that was highly contaminated was at least attempted to be destroyed and buried. Still, not everything could be destroyed and buried, there was simply too much. One object, dubbed “The Claw of Death” was, according to conflicting accounts, either used to assist in the overall cleanup or was used specifically in the cleanup of the plant roof. It is radioactive enough to give a lethal dose if sat in for about 11 hours.

Another rather infamous object is “The Elephant’s Foot” which is a mass of sand, concrete, and melted reactor fuel that had melted its way through the floor and down into the basement. Upon discovery, the sheer amount of radiation it gave off was enough to give you a fatal dose within about 90 seconds. Today, that’s increased to about five minutes. The foot was unyielding to sampling tools, so, they shot it with a Kalashnikov Rifle (AK-47) to get a sample.

After a very short period of time, the remaining three reactors were up and running again, as the USSR simply needed power desperately. By December of 1987, all three reactors were up and running again. They were operated for years, until the last reactor was finally shut down for good in 2000. Being so close to the border, and with the wind conditions of the time, mass amount of radioactive particles were blown north to Belarus. The Soviet Union had planes fly over and seed the clouds with chemicals, forcing them to rain on rural land instead of heavily populated areas, but this still had a major effect, as about 1/3 of Belarusian farmland was contaminated. However, the winds began to shift, blowing radiation towards Europe. Sweden was the first to sound the alarm, asking if something had happened after detecting dangerous amounts of airborne radiation and determining it was not from any of their own reactors. The USSR finally admitted there had been a “very small” incident at Chernobyl, and was very reluctant to give the world information. Careful monitoring protocols were put on resources everywhere in Europe, from grain to milk to wood, all were carefully measured for radiation. Years later, after the Sarcophagus was determined to be unsafe, the New Safe Confinement unit was constructed, which is a semicircular dome over the existing Sarcophagus. The New Safe Confinement was finished in 2018. 

DONE!

(For now)

@not-wizard-council-aristocrat @anarcho-neptunism @siley-the-wizard @villainessbian

[peacefulatom]

theres this really annoying door in my building thats broken(?) and somehow the mechanism is constantly attempting to push itself inwards, so in order to open it, it’s a bit of a fight to first pry the door open and then push it open. getting seriously pissed off with this dumb door. its metal too; hardcore door because of the whole ex-factory thing. tempted to just learn how the fucking door works sometime and fix it myself . i have tools

[peacefulatom]

why is “the workers / operators weren’t skilled” or were undertrained or made fatal errors such a prevalent ideology for chernobyl. how isnt it common sense that they WERENT AT FAULT. theres a whole document exactly about how they werent at fault. its really sad. they deserve to be remembered properly :(

[peacefulatom]

i mightve gone too far with the whole chernobyl thing. ive signed up for russian classes and am attempting to switch my academic language from spanish to russian… yes i know russian is hard but it is also deeply interesting linguistically and im more motivated to learn it. plus its less intimidating to get perfect… everyone here has perfect spanish, ha. but yeah im incredibly excited to start them since im not fluent in russian at all… just kinda a happy life update from me :)

[peacefulatom]

ya dig? (ily wifey)

ily too and ur not blonde

[peacefulatom]

“The RBMK reactor operator clearly knows you cannot do whatever you want with the reactor. The explosion is not an explosion, but an accident in this case. It wil definitely be difficult. They describe us as idiots, they say, what can you believe from them.”

literally from dyatlovs book my man

How did you like your first fight on tumblr.com? Ha. Bit anticlimactic, eh? There's really no getting to people who think they're right... :/

It was great 🙄. I just.. seriously. “Why don’t you Google”? Why don’t you READ… I mean, Wikipedia? Seriously? Seriously. I’m just glad the internet accepts angry reblogs. Great place for my thoughts. Though in all fairness I’d likely do the same in real life, for better or worse. I mean, “no one noticed”? “No one noticed”!? Oh yeah man, they all had instantaneous bouts of amnesia. Totally. Or maybe a fairy came along and removed them? Anyway. Yes it was marvelous! My first victory. 🏆🏆🏆

[peacefulatom]

How did you like your first fight on tumblr.com? Ha. Bit anticlimactic, eh? There's really no getting to people who think they're right... :/

It was great 🙄. I just.. seriously. “Why don’t you Google”? Why don’t you READ… I mean, Wikipedia? Seriously? Seriously. I’m just glad the internet accepts angry reblogs. Great place for my thoughts. Though in all fairness I’d likely do the same in real life, for better or worse. I mean, “no one noticed”? “No one noticed”!? Oh yeah man, they all had instantaneous bouts of amnesia. Totally. Or maybe a fairy came along and removed them? Anyway. Yes it was marvelous! My first victory. 🏆🏆🏆

[peacefulatom]

Sigh. Maybe you should do more than surface level searches. It is well known that it is the Soviet’s perspective (story) that the operators caused an unlikely combination of events that then triggered a beyond DBA event. This view is published in the IAEA’s INSAG-1, which I recommend reading. Since then, the international community determined that the operators were NOT at fault, which is published in an updated INSAG-7, which I also recommend you read. This document also specifically explains that the emergency systems shut off by operators had absolutely zero effect on the accident and were much more indicative of a “lack of safety culture”, a problem much more reflective of the system they were victims to than their inherent intelligence or person. Not only that, but some of those systems being shut off was part of the damn test.

I’d like to note that Wikipedia is a bad source for Chernobyl information, and books would be much better. If you need any books, you can always ask me.

None of the shoddy evidence you provided in any way substantiates your claim that “no one noticed”, which was the main claim I was insulting, because frankly, it is insult-worthy. Your claim that the operators “didn’t notice” implies stupidity or inability on their part, which I feel the need to defend, seeing as they can’t do it themselves. A.S Dyatlov would be appalled by this, I’m sure…

As for what happened that day, the operators did what they were told, and while yes, they broke protocols, these trespassages had no effect on the accident and were not uncommon at the time (again, reflective of Soviet society, not worker’s carelessness).

Yesterday was the 38th anniversary of the tragedy at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Due to supervisor negligence during a routine test, Reactor 4 was unable to cool properly. [Too many cooling rods were removed and no one noticed] This resulted in steam explosions and ultimately a full meltdown. Of the 6,000 plant workers: 2 people lost their lives in the initial explosion, 237 were hospitalized (134 exhibited acute ARS and 28 died) and 100,000~ people had to evacuate their homes never to return. It will take years for the radioactive isotopes to decay. Projected cleanup year is 2065.

Before the Ukraine-Russia war, people were able to tour the city, staying well away from the 1,000 sq mi exclusion zone around the plant.

The most fascinating thing (to me) is the Elephants Foot. Its a large mass of radioactive and man-made materials that formed after the meltdown. The material flowed 49 ft to the southeast of the reactor and 20 ft below ground level. It melted through 6.6 ft of reinforced concrete before settling in the back of room 217/2.

Radioactivity near the Elephants Foot was approximately 80 to 100 grays per hour, delivering a 50/50 lethal dose of radiation (4.5 grays) within five minutes. Between May and November 1986, a shelter (the "Sarcophagus") was constructed to help seal the radioactive materials inside Reactor Number 4.

In 1996, Radiation Specialist Artur Korneyev took several photographs of the Elephants Foot. Some call him the most radioactive man in the world. Artur took up close photos of the mass and produced a very famous "selfie" seen below. The grainy effect is due to the high levels of radiation.

His current status is unknown, but in a 2016 interview he said he was working on construction of a $1.5 billion arch that, when finished in 2017, will cap the decaying sarcophagus and prevent airborne isotopes from escaping. In his mid 60s, he was sickly, with cataracts, and had been barred from re-entering the sarcophagus after years of irradiation.

Pictured below:

☆ Artur Korneyev with the Elephants Foot 1996

☆ View of the city of Pripyat with Chernobyl in the background 2009

☆ The "Sarcophagus" + a picture of the destroyed reactor right after the accident

☆ The "Red Forest" around Pripyat 2009

☆ A piglet with Dipygus at the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum

☆ Map of radiation levels around Chernobyl in 1996

☆ Radiation exposure to first responders at Chernobyl in comparison to a range of situations

[peacefulatom]

“and no one noticed” they weren’t incompetents. each and every operator there was highly skilled and studied for years. you just think they were idiots, hm? oh lets run a four-in-one nuclear reactor, one of the prides of the union, just at random? a few rods here, a few rods there? the operators were not at fault. they were victims of their system and should be honored as such, as heroes, not imbeciles. have you no respect for the dead? and to make an “honorary post”…

Yesterday was the 38th anniversary of the tragedy at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Due to supervisor negligence during a routine test, Reactor 4 was unable to cool properly. [Too many cooling rods were removed and no one noticed] This resulted in steam explosions and ultimately a full meltdown. Of the 6,000 plant workers: 2 people lost their lives in the initial explosion, 237 were hospitalized (134 exhibited acute ARS and 28 died) and 100,000~ people had to evacuate their homes never to return. It will take years for the radioactive isotopes to decay. Projected cleanup year is 2065.

Before the Ukraine-Russia war, people were able to tour the city, staying well away from the 1,000 sq mi exclusion zone around the plant.

The most fascinating thing (to me) is the Elephants Foot. Its a large mass of radioactive and man-made materials that formed after the meltdown. The material flowed 49 ft to the southeast of the reactor and 20 ft below ground level. It melted through 6.6 ft of reinforced concrete before settling in the back of room 217/2.

Radioactivity near the Elephants Foot was approximately 80 to 100 grays per hour, delivering a 50/50 lethal dose of radiation (4.5 grays) within five minutes. Between May and November 1986, a shelter (the "Sarcophagus") was constructed to help seal the radioactive materials inside Reactor Number 4.

In 1996, Radiation Specialist Artur Korneyev took several photographs of the Elephants Foot. Some call him the most radioactive man in the world. Artur took up close photos of the mass and produced a very famous "selfie" seen below. The grainy effect is due to the high levels of radiation.

His current status is unknown, but in a 2016 interview he said he was working on construction of a $1.5 billion arch that, when finished in 2017, will cap the decaying sarcophagus and prevent airborne isotopes from escaping. In his mid 60s, he was sickly, with cataracts, and had been barred from re-entering the sarcophagus after years of irradiation.

Pictured below:

☆ Artur Korneyev with the Elephants Foot 1996

☆ View of the city of Pripyat with Chernobyl in the background 2009

☆ The "Sarcophagus" + a picture of the destroyed reactor right after the accident

☆ The "Red Forest" around Pripyat 2009

☆ A piglet with Dipygus at the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum

☆ Map of radiation levels around Chernobyl in 1996

☆ Radiation exposure to first responders at Chernobyl in comparison to a range of situations

[peacefulatom]

experiencing my first ever hail. wow man

[peacefulatom]

boyfriend in hand. already hooked him on INSAG1 . win

[peacefulatom]

plane landed and i read insag-1. yeay

[peacefulatom]

you might not be able to tell (or maybe you can) but im really into planes. learned warsaw’s IATA code is WAW. lol idk i thought that was funny. WAW! like… cartoon character

[peacefulatom]

stealings okay as long as its technically also a civil service, right guys? (say yes) (i really want a nuclear shelter sign)

[peacefulatom]

how does one admit to themselves that maybe they arent stronger than getting hit by a (pickup) truck… it was over a year ago now and i still limp, but theres something kinda pathetic about seeking any care for that. i’d need pt which is what old women get

[peacefulatom]

name ideas for all of these pls. chernobyl related or just funny puns or anything like that. run free. i kinda wanna name the black one nu pogodi or something like that…. hm.