Chernobyl miniseries - coming to Sky and HBO in May 2019

V_R

V_R

Soldato
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That seems to be the reason from what I understand and I've read, yes. I assume the show will explain it too?
 
Soldato
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That seems to be the reason from what I understand and I've read, yes. I assume the show will explain it too?

Its just the scene where she is trying to find out what they did, and her reaction to it being pressed. To me it seemed like " my god, they pressed the button and it didn't even do anything", now reading above ,it seems pressing the button was the mistake.
 
Soldato
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Its just the scene where she is trying to find out what they did, and her reaction to it being pressed. To me it seemed like " my god, they pressed the button and it didn't even do anything", now reading above ,it seems pressing the button was the mistake.

It wasn't a mistake on the operators behalf per se, it was more a design flaw.
 
Associate
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I'm not expecting a happy ending for the pregnant woman and her unborn child after getting all touchy-feely with her radioactive husband. Obvious nightmare birth defects scene to come, unless by some mercy she miscarries asap.

I'm actually surprised the show flinched from showing one of the irradiated patients. I believe he was only mentioned later on by Emily Watson's character saying "his face was gone", unless I blinked and missed it.
 
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I'm not expecting a happy ending for the pregnant woman and her unborn child after getting all touchy-feely with her radioactive husband. Obvious nightmare birth defects scene to come, unless by some mercy she miscarries asap.

I'm actually surprised the show flinched from showing one of the irradiated patients. I believe he was only mentioned later on by Emily Watson's character saying "his face was gone", unless I blinked and missed it.
Yea, I think that was the same guy that was told to go to the roof and look down into the reactor?
 

Gee

Gee

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I'm not expecting a happy ending for the pregnant woman and her unborn child after getting all touchy-feely with her radioactive husband. Obvious nightmare birth defects scene to come, unless by some mercy she miscarries asap.

Her child died shortly after birth due to heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver.


Part 3 of the podcast is out!
 

Gee

Gee

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It wasn't a mistake on the operators behalf per se, it was more a design flaw.

I don't think it was a design flaw. The two on shift at the time (Akimov & Toptunov) tried to abort the test when they saw the reactor power drop considerably, but Dyatlov overrode them. Pressing the AZ-5 button allows all 211 control rods to fall downward into the reactor, cooling water shoots in, and emergency pumps are turned on. If it was activated at the right time, it wouldn't have exploded.

In this case, the control rods were disconnected so their own weight would let them descend into the core, but they got stuck. This is when they noticed the cooling water & emergency pumps were not activated.
 
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I don't think it was a design flaw. The two on shift at the time (Akimov & Toptunov) tried to abort the test when they saw the reactor power drop considerably, but Dyatlov overrode them. Pressing the AZ-5 button allows all 211 control rods to fall downward into the reactor, cooling water shoots in, and emergency pumps are turned on. If it was activated at the right time, it wouldn't have exploded.

In this case, the control rods were disconnected so their own weight would let them descend into the core, but they got stuck. This is when they noticed the cooling water & emergency pumps were not activated.

The RBMK reactor was unstable at low power output and had a major design flaw with the control rods as they were tipped with graphite and too short when removed they left water in the channels when the rods were reinserted they displaced the water resulting in an increase in local activity before the main boron section of the rod reduced activity which caused a surge in power that blew the top off it. The rod design was changed following the disaster along with a 50% increase in the number of rods and tested in the Ignalina nuclear power which is where the TV series is filmed as the layout is identical to Cybernobyl.

l would say human error was a major factor as you mention they had multiple opportunities to abort before it was a problem main one being the minimum power output of the reactor being at 700MW for the test to start instead they had this around 200MW
 
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Wow this really has been some fantastic TV. The makeup for Ep3 was incredible, they deserve every award going for that department. Its funny watching this part of history. I was 15 when it happened and the whole Cold War/USSR seems like a lifetime ago.
 

Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

Its just the scene where she is trying to find out what they did, and her reaction to it being pressed. To me it seemed like " my god, they pressed the button and it didn't even do anything", now reading above ,it seems pressing the button was the mistake.
It shouldn’t have been.

The design of the control rods was poor. They were tipped with graphite which actually increased the reaction temporarily when they were initially inserted.

Add to that an already out of control reaction and BOOM.
 
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Wow episode 3 was bit grim especially the part of the firefighter and his wife, truly heartbreaking along with the horrific effects of radiation.

Immense episode once again though but a bit stomach churning really.
 
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I had assumed some of the scenes were made up but after reading some of the actions from the main characters most of this program really happened , from the outright denial and disbelief by site managers that the reactor had exploded to the guy being ordered to actually look from the roof into the reactor site

I’m surprised most of those responsible got relatively light sentences
 
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