the--arch - Tumblr blog

[the--arch]

Engine room before the accident.

@tryingtobealwaystrying, @elenatria, @valerafan2, @fmasha-l, @kriegskrieg, @kriegsverlobte, @toptunovs,  @russian-senpai, @alyeen1, @art-is-a-malady, @rbmk-ana, @akimfu, @drunkardonjunkyard, @siriuslymeg, @johnlockismyreligion, @litttlesilkworm, @dank-hp--memes, @shit-in-silk-stocking, @borisboyfriend, @wolfgangamaderik, @attachedtofictionalpeople, @the--arch, @thegreenmeridian, @shark-from-the-park, @cocomoraine, @pottedmusic, @jedikatalina, @potter012, @gwinny3k, @gwaciechang, @liza801, @live-long-and-time-warp, @itisa-profoundbond-sarandom, @green-ann, @megaladyrocker, @bewareofdragon

[the--arch]

Take this with you

[the--arch]

‘It is a day that signifies liberation’ — NAACP President Derrick Johnson on why Juneteenth matters, especially right now

follow @nowthisnews for daily news videos & more

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It’s pride month!!!!! 

As we welcome this month of celebration and remembrance, please remember that our Black friends and allies bore the burden for us so that we could live without fear; the black rights movement paved the way for the recognition of LGBTQ+ rights; the first Pride was a riot by queer people of colour. It’s time for us to stand and bear the burden with them. The only true way to destroy hate is to spread love and pride… BRING ON PRIDE MONTH

[the--arch]

happy indigenous history month. solidarity

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If you have a lot of followers and you’re not spreading information about BLM and events currently transpiring due to the movement and racism, protests, etc... please reconsider. Your silence is just as bad as racism. And remember, don’t post people’s faces who are protesting, not in videos or pictures.

[the--arch]

Seattle PD sent seven police cars to arrest the guy who filmed them macing a child and are holding him without bail on trumped up charges of “Unlawful discharge of a laser pointer.”

Seven police cars. No bail. This is retaliation.

Link to Twitter thread

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Here’s a link to a Google Doc with a bunch of Indigenous organisations which you can donate to, including Black Rainbow (LGBTQIA+ Indigenous organisation) and groups that support incarcerated Aboriginal people and work towards ending Indigenous deaths in custody

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Pripyat in the 1970s and 1980s before the disaster.

@tryingtobealwaystrying, @elenatria, @valerafan2, @fmasha-l, @kriegskrieg, @kriegsverlobte, @toptunovs,  @russian-senpai, @alyeen1, @art-is-a-malady, @rbmk-ana, @akimfu, @drunkardonjunkyard, @siriuslymeg, @johnlockismyreligion, @litttlesilkworm, @dank-hp--memes, @shit-in-silk-stocking, @borisboyfriend, @wolfgangamaderik, @attachedtofictionalpeople , @the--arch, @thegreenmeridian, @shark-from-the-park, @cocomoraine, @pottedmusic, @jedikatalina, @potter012, @gwinny3k, @gwaciechang, @liza801, @live-long-and-time-warp, @itisa-profoundbond-sarandom, @green-ann, @megaladyrocker

[the--arch]

Construction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4 (Part 1)

@tryingtobealwaystrying, @elenatria, @valerafan2, @fmasha-l, @kriegskrieg, @kriegsverlobte, @toptunovs,  @russian-senpai, @alyeen1, @art-is-a-malady, @rbmk-ana, @akimfu, @drunkardonjunkyard, @siriuslymeg, @johnlockismyreligion, @litttlesilkworm, @dank-hp--memes, @shit-in-silk-stocking, @borisboyfriend, @wolfgangamaderik, @attachedtofictionalpeople, @the--arch, @thegreenmeridian, @shark-from-the-park, @cocomoraine, @pottedmusic, @jedikatalina, @potter012, @gwinny3k, @gwaciechang, @liza801, @live-long-and-time-warp, @itisa-profoundbond-sarandom, @green-ann, @megaladyrocker

[the--arch]

when will people stop…..shipping real life humans. with other real life humans. and coming up with “””””headcanon”””” for these actual people…..and when will they stop writing fanfiction about - and i cannot stress this enough - real people who are alive and out in the world partaking in their own existence as a person who is not fictional, not pliable according to your imagination, not an imaginary vessel for you to toy around with like a paper doll with no agency because they are a person please i’m so tired just leave them alone

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???? Why are people shipping TWO real people who died thanks to the consequences of a tragedy, which happened IRL, in modern age????

This is not even a meme. Full offense intended but that’s disrespectful. “But they’re characters in the tv show!” Yeah, not only based off real people: they’re real people, they just happen to be represented by two wonderful and talented men.

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???? Why are people shipping TWO real people who died thanks to the consequences of a tragedy, which happened IRL, in modern age????

This is not even a meme. Full offense intended but that’s disrespectful. “But they’re characters in the tv show!” Yeah, not only based off real people: they’re real people, they just happen to be represented by two wonderful and talented men.

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Half an hour with Legasov - English subtitles.

The latest Legasov video compilation I made.

There is one clip in it that was never before published on youtube.

The video compilation features the Soviet side of Spacebridge where American and Soviet scientists did a joint broadcast and discussed the issue at hand.

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Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - Night of April 25th, 1986

In particular, many people owe their lives to Anatoly Kurguz, the operator of the central room of the Reactor Section. When he heard the explosion, he looked to the central reactor room [where the reactor was located] and saw a thick curtain of hot steam and dust. A former submariner, he immediately decided to close the heavy pressurized door to the central room. His decision saved other operators from burns and radiation exposure; then he led them out from upper floors and then lost consciousness.

After the destruction of the reactor, numerous fires emerged in the turbine room posing a threat of explosion of hydrogen that is used to cool generators. It was necessary to discharge hydrogen from turbine generators 7 and 8, and replace it by nitrogen.

Anatoly Baranov, a turbine mechanic, had done it.

Konstantin Perchuk, the chief mechanic of the turbine room (first, he cut off pumps from fractured pipes, preventing inflow of radioactive water from deaerators into the turbine room) and Vyacheslav Brazhnik, a turbine mechanic, both got lethal radiation exposure doses when they eliminated the turbine oil spill caused by oil pipe fractured by a falling roof plate. They also extinguished fires in the turbine room.

Aleksandr Lelechenko, the deputy chief manager of the Electric Section initially extinguished fires in the turbine room - he identified failed equipment units and cut them off the grid.

In the course of his equipment checks, he found a fractured pipe at the electrolyzer. He managed to reach the hydrogen supply main through debris and closed it. In the process, he got a lethal radiation dose and died ten days later. Viktor Lopatyuk, on-duty electrician, who assisted Aleksandr Lelechenko, also died.

Valery Perevozchenko, the shift manager of the Reaction Section (RS), led emergency work in the section. He searched for his wounded subordinates and led them out of the explosion zone. He saw the remains of Unit 4′s reactor with his own eyes. He looked for Valery Khodemchuk, the operator of the main circulation pumps who was buried under the construction debris. His strength had its limits… He had gotten a lethal dose of radiation and died two weeks after the explosion.

Anatoly Sitnikov, the deputy Chief Operational Engineer of the first stage of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (units 1 and 2), was called to his workplace that night to assess the scale of damage and design accident mitigation measures. Accompanied by Vladimir Chugunov, the chief manager of RS-1, he surveyed the damaged reactor unit twice, assessing the scale of damage and participating in accident mitigation works. After his second area survey (in the morning), he returned to his office, but was unable to leave it himself. His wife, Elvira Sitnikova, was worried by his long absence, and finally she managed to contact him by phone and call medical assistance. They met only in Moscow, in Hospital #6. Elvira asked him the question that tormented her for a long time: “Tolya, why are you here now, why did it happen? You were not responsible for Reactor 4; you were not obliged to work there!” Anatoly Sitnikov answered: “Should we fail to do this, Ukraine definitely would not exist now, maybe half of Europe as well. You have to understand this.” Anatoly Sitnikov also got a lethal radiation dose. He died on May 30. On the last evening, Elvira was with her husband. It was still sunny, that hot spring day. Anatoly suddenly asked: “Elvira, why is it so dark here?” Her heart sunk when she realized that her husband had gone blind. “Tolya, you have not noticed that it is already late, that is why!” Sitnikov asked her: “Then, visit our guys also, cheer them up. It is late now and you will have to wake up tomorrow at 5am.” These were his last words. Even right before his death, he did not care of himself. He was nominated to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. When the list of nominees was reviewed by the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev objected to awarding Anatoly Sitnikov: “People would not understand us if we award a top manager of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant a Hero.”

I think that [Aleksandr Akimov and Leonid Toptunov] are the most tragic persons among the personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They were wrongly sentenced and professionally traduced by the crafty Chernobyl court process.

Some top managers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sacrificed them to defend themselves. First, Anatoly Dyatlov, the chief manager of the rundown tests forced them by his orders to violate some provisions of the Test Safety Program. Then they were among the first people who launched accident mitigation works and got lethal radiation doses. In early May 1986, they died in Moscow in terrible agony, tormented by investigators of different ranks. They, forever silent, were blamed for the explosion of the reactor. Firm orders of the chief manager of the tests - as if by some magic ordeal - transformed into their discretionary "unauthorized” actions and failures. These lies formed the core of the further investigation.

Leonid Toptunov, the Chief Reactor Control Engineer (CRCE) pressed the emergency shut down system button (AZ-5) as instructed by Aleksandr Akimov, the chief shift manager, after successful completion of the “rundown” test program. He made it in time, even before alarm signals “overpower” and “excess power growth rate” sounded. These facts were later confirmed by analysis of the registration tape of the diagnostic unit (DREG2), recording key operation parameters of Unit 4′s reactor. So, what were the reasons to qualify them as criminals?

They died without even knowing the real underlying causes of the reactor explosion. They could not even imagine that the emergency shutdown of the reactor by activation of the AZ-5 button might decisively effect concealed design failures of the reactor control and safety systems, and reveal faults in physical design of the reactor.

Taken from От Чернобыля до Фукусимы (2012)

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heartbreaking.

[the--arch]

So, it was asked ( @elenatria ) how I got into Chernobyl and Valery Legasov well before the amazing, wonderful HBO Chernobyl show came to be. I have studied Chernobyl, and Valery Legasov’s story, for years, and until the HBO gods created this show, I didn’t have very many people to talk to about it.

It began in an unlikely way. I was never taught about the Chernobyl Disaster in school. I used to watch a TV show called Destination Truth. On one episode, Josh Gates’ team visited Pripyat. They were investigating Pripyat with geiger counters and such, and there was this unseen force of radiation that was afoot. I’ve always been a biology and astronomy geek, but never strayed into chemistry much before. I was mesmerized by the idea that a city full of people had to leave home and never return because of something no one can see. I started learning everything I could about the Chernobyl Disaster.

At first, I only cared about the science of it. i didn’t care about the people involved in the disaster. I’m a fan of dystopian literature as well. The science of it and the dystopian vibe around the disaster was what kept me going.

I watched all the YouTube documentaries on the disaster. I read every single book there was to read about the Chernobyl disaster that had been translated into English. And during that time, I saw the same names over and over again. I started needing to learn those names to keep track of everybody. I memorized the power plant workers first: Aleksandr Akimov, Leonid Toptunov, Anatoly Dyatlov. It was from those three names that I spanned out.

Chernobyl Notebook is a book that was, as far as I can tell, the earliest account of the disaster. It was published in 1987. It was the first to truly take people inside the disaster… inside the control room, and inside the clean up.

I learned just how terrifying the situation was. Chernobyl easily could have become a European catastrophe had those other explosions that they were fearing gone off. It blew my mind that I hadn’t learned about this in school.

I still had not seen the name Valery Legasov very much.

In the earliest accounts, within Chernobyl Notebook, Legasov is only mentioned 4 times. They don’t even give us his first name. And his name is hidden in with other names. Never is he listed by himself. “Shcherbina and Legasov,” “Shasharin, Sidorenko, and Legasov,” etc. He appears as a listed item, no more. Keep in mind that this book was written before Legasov’s suicide, while he was still alive and causing trouble for the Soviet Union.

For a long time, Valery Legasov went underneath my radar. The name was meaningless to me.

But more recent accounts of the disaster was written. New documentaries were made. Slowly, it seemed that Valery Legasov was appearing as an individual rather than just another name. The Chernobyl disaster needed someone who knew what s/he was talking about because everyone was running around like idiots. And it seemed like, as time passed and more accounts were written, it was a collective effort to bring Valery Legasov’s name from the background. He was that person who had such a large hand in saving millions of lives. But his name had hidden behind others’ names for a long time. “Shcherbina ordered to evacuation of Pripyat,” and the like. Of course Shcherbina ordered the evacuation of Pripyat - Legasov didn’t have the authority to, but it was Legasov who was begging him and the rest of the committee to give the order.

It all came into place with me after watching two documentaries and reading one newer book. BBC’s Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl episode was a docudrama that followed Valery Legasov. Chernobyl Disaster: Valery Legasov’s Battle was another. And then the book Chernobyl: A History of a Nuclear Catastrophe was published in 2018, and those three things was what solidified Legasov’s story for me.

And you know what? The Chernobyl HBO show is an amazing compilation of all of these sources I have already mentioned. The Chernobyl HBO show would not have been possible twenty, fifteen, ten, maybe even five years ago.

Chernobyl HBO takes from everything that came before it. I can see what they took from Chernobyl Notebook, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, Surviving Disaster… everything.

And I’m so glad that this show was made. I suppose we just had to wait for it. Valery Legasov died thinking that the truth about Chernobyl would never come to light, ever. He was all but erased from everything while he was still alive. And it’s taken 33 years for us to finally have the complete picture that we now have.

That doesn’t mean we know everything still. There’s a lot we still don’t know the truth about. But the fact that people who don’t know anything about the Chernobyl disaster now know the truth, along with Legasov’s story, makes me so happy.