I know damn well if I was one of those guys, I'd 100% be the guy stumbling around and totally ****ing up lmao.
yea .. that was f*cked up. "Run in there . . . . move this **** . . . . .. . get you a gang load of cancer . . .. but don't stay longer than 90 seconds or you die on the spot!" Rocket River
As I watch Chernobyl, I have to ask, how the hell was the Soviet Union a superpower? They did a really good job of hiding reality to the world. Next episode will tie everything up - we know what happened to Legasov in episode 1 so what drove him to that point? How do the other characters move on with their lives?
Top 5 population plus focus on advanced sciences, hence nuclear capability. Other countries have now passed them up population wise.
Other countries have passed them up cause theyve led most of their men to slaughter. Being a war or shoveling graphite off the roof of a nuclear explosion. In Soviet Russia, the name a man gives you is his middle name. They all have the same 2 first names, either "Sacrificial" or "Temporary".
Would it have made sense to reach out to prisoners for that work? Offer them 6mo off their sentence to volunteer for the 90 seconds of debris removal, or something.
They have also shot up a ton of nuclear powered satellites into orbit. One already crashed in Canada and they had to pay to clean it up but they didn't do a great job and some of the radioactive waste traveled down to the Midwest US.
Those are "radioisotope thermal generarors" - basically a small piece of radioactive material to generate heat, and a thermocouple which generates electricity by the difference between temp if the radioactive element and ambient background. They are really inefficient, but more importantly tiny compared to a power generating reactor. No moving parts, a radioactive element maybe the size of a closed fist, and they use isotopes with a short half life (Pu238 - 87 years) compared to the nasty stuff coming out of Chernobyl . They generate power outputs on the order of a PC power supply and they don't have any moving parts. If you took it apart swallowed a new fuel element it would kill you, and you wouldn't leave it sitting around the house radiating, but they are many, many orders of magnitude less dangerous than a reactor. Like the difference between a tiny little firecracker and a 5000 pound bomb.
Absolutely amazing show. Parts of it are so grim and it gives you a glimpse into what the Soviet Union was back then. More importantly, it shows you the loyalty the citizens had for their country - knowing they would die after being exposed to such levels of radiation but at the same time, if they did not help with the clean up, future generations would be doomed. The amount of propaganda/hiding of the truth is surreal. An event of this magnitude and the higher uppers are trying to cover it up like it was just a minor accident.
So many good boys gone forever. That scene was the most traumatizing on television since the Red Wedding...
I really liked this episode, specifically because he was a "regular guy" character that was more than a victim or a stereotype and was intensely sympathetic.
Only 2 episodes in, but I'm loving this. Nothing better than a well-done FACTUAL drama based on true events. Anyone listening to the podcast after each episode? Lots of great background info from the director.
Well, ****, now I have to. Didn't know such a thing existed. Haven't watched Ep3 yet, will do tonight in lieu of Astros.
