Weird... "Ulana" didn't call someone at block 4, but someone from administration common to the whole plant. The secretary or a telephone operator were supposed to be at work and answering the phone. The other three reactors were operating at the time with all personell working on them (reactor 3 was in shutdown phase initiated after the explosion by its chief's own decision).
@@visnjamusa9395 you're absolutely right. A receptionist for the plant *should* have picked up, especially if Ulana didn't directly call Reactor 4. The fact that no one answered implied that nobody was in a building that should be manned at all times. I suspect the area had to be evacuated or administration gathered in one place (an all-hands-on-deck deal) to assess the situation. Also I remember one of the senior officials directing communication lines to be shut down to the outside world to "prevent the spread of misinformation." Whatever the explanation, the fact that nobody answered means that something is very wrong.
Can't help but notice the phone is ringing instead of "The number you have dialed is disconnected/unavailable". Not in an answering machine, but literally a "no service" type of way... Meaning somewhere in that flaming building... a phone was ringing.
The first sign of catastrophe in the west was at a power plant in Sweden. All workers have to go through a machine that checks for leaks on the way in and out. One morning a guy started beeping, they managed to isolate the radiation to his boots. But inside everything was clear. The reactor shut down and emergency was called. They checked everything, even the insides of every chimney. When there was no sign of any radiation they knew what must had happened. Using the same logic as in this clip. My grandpa a physicist and a professor at the royal institute of technology here in Stockholm got a call from a colleague that worked at the plant. He directly came home to us with a weeks worth of food, told us all to get inside and close every window and door. This was before any media even mentioned it, I thought it was the apocalypse.
Forsmark, yeah? I'd be terrified if something like this happened, terrible enough that you're tripping alarms a thousand kilometers away, not knowing how or when or what.
Smart man, understood what was going on, said "I have to get them and isolated them, make sure nothing happens to them." P.S. Yes I heard the story about workers in nuclear facilities having their footware go off in the radiation detectors and then realizing that it must mean that it's coming from outside, not inside.
The blank stare wasn't because of realizing that they were split open. The blank stare was because the first question in her mind once she had that fact was, "What do we do now?" and she had absolutely no answers.
@Rafael Acosta The soviet union actually did have a nearly 50/50 split between men and women in scientific fields... actually, in almost all fields. So if anything, men are still over represented in the show.
I thought that small pause to look at each other for validation all the while the window, the barrier to the source of the radiation, is wide open. I thought that was great subtle acting. Very human behavior.
@@nikhilpuppala7907 Yeah. The alarm going off 2 seconds *after* he opened the windows. And he immediately closed them. He may not be a rocket scientist, but he knew.
The way she rushes, as if every second is absolutely crucial, because it is, adds so much weight and tension. It's not overdone, either. Masterclass in physical acting
The editing is excellent too. Her haste is emphasized by the subtle jump cuts. Notice how each of her actions are slightly cut off so she appears to move from task to task very quickly?
I love that scene. The eerie feeling when you know something big is happening, but you have no clue yet what it is, and when every moment seems significant, so it gets engraved in your memory just in case. Also, the character of Ulana. Something about her, she's instantly trustworthy.
@Rafael Acosta not wrong but she is supposed to be a representation of the large amount of scientists that helped during this and they were probably to first ones to know shit hit the fan and are trying to fix it
She is a conglomeration of several people, a sort of a symbol of peaceful, hard-working, trustworthy, salt-of-science people who genuinely wanted to help the world.
The speed at which she puts that sample together speaks volumes about her experience. As a an actress, I'm sure she must have practiced until she could do it without looking.
The best horror is the one where we actually see nothing, and we are invited to imagine what is going on. That is what makes the beeping phone so horrific.
@@doktarr Many of Game of Thrones best scenes were just two characters talking. Robert and Ned chatting about assassinating daenerys, Ned and Jaime talking about the mad king, Varys and Baelish, Tyrion telling lies to the members of the small council to reveal the mole.
You can see in his reaction at 2:49 that he’s weighing the idea that Chernobyl could indeed be split open. The body language alone in this scene speaks volumes. The concerned glances after the alarm sounds and her quickened pace with every movement after learning of the radiation.
I don’t think he was weighing the idea that Chernobyl could be split open, I think he was weighing the pros and cons of what would happen if he were to ask her to show him her feet while he awkwardly played with himself
@@dynamicworlds1 nah, the russians didnt have the same standards as other countries with there reactors. Besides nuclear technology is extremely safe and clean.
@@Halo47143 but _why_ didn't they have the same standards? Because they were Russian, or because they were trying to modernize a country that was largely agrarian less than a century before as fast as possible while dumping huge amounts of resources into the Cold War? Even with a lot more resources, the US did a lot of things that were at least crazy and reckless durring the Cold War, so a poorer nation trying desperately to keep up is a recepie for disaster.
It's one of the better written scenes in the series. Very little is actually said. Most of what we learn is from seeing the whole thing simply unfold for two scientists knowing something is wrong and going down the list of what might be the cause. And then the phone just keeps ringing.
Those two actors were the condensation of the entire scientific community of the Soviet Union. They KNEW something went horribly wrong, but could not go public without being arrested for crimes against the people. They had to be quiet, quiet about the whole incident.
When the news about Chernobyl broke, I was a student in Gießen, Germany. I stayed home for three days until the rain stopped. Then, I went to the Geiger counter in our physics lab. It was a system that measured your radioactivity over your whole body. It wouldn't let me out again, because the soles of my shoes had 30.000 Becquerel. I climbed over the barrier and told my friends. After the lecture, the whole semester checked themselves. The highest count I saw was at a playground in Marburg, in the sandbox: 300.000 Becquerel. I didn't use milk products for months and tried to only buy food that had been produced before the catastrophe. Scary times...
@@adrianghandtchi1562 It's a testament to the strength of Soviet censorship at the time. People on the other side of the planet knew there had been a nuclear disaster before citizens living in the nearby towns.
I was east of you in Bamberg, perhaps same rainstorm. Saw the NBC teams sweeping the roads, beeping away. We were told it was like the steam release at Three Mile, justa coupla flashing lights and sirens, so we just ignored it for the most part. Probably better we didn't know, now that I think about it.
Ulana was one of favorite characters despite not being a real person. She went straight into action, not even hesitating, doing her best to get people to safety.
I absolutely loved her character. Absolutely competent, completely professional. A true expert amongst experts and the kind of person you’d feel most comfortable with in a disaster situation. No panic, no fears, just eyes on the situation and full concentration on the problem.
@@brandonxing9546 Not to mention, imaginary. Typical trope now: imaginary flawless female character, showing clueless boys around. Ignoring REAL women to begin with.
For the Soviet people, the first sign something was horribly wrong was that all TV and Radio stations played nothing but classical music/ Balléts. This was the standard operating procedure for whenever something happened, and the government was deciding what to tell the people.
Yes, there's a guy online who was a Soviet school kid at the time and was puzzled because Gorbachev was young and they were not expecting more time off from school like with Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko. Still, the classical music played. My friends nearby said it was Soviet musical chairs. You keep struggling to improve your position and when the music stops you grab the seat you're nearest.
A colleague of my sister's who worked in the same lab lived in SSRB in 1986 when she was a teenager. She remembers the first hint the morning after the explosion that something incredibly strange had happened was when her mother went out into the back yard to collect the bed linen she'd left out to dry the day before. She noticed that the sheets which should have been clean were stained in places with a light yellow substance.
Its a myth that Soviet science was underfunded. It was in fact very well funded but not in a flashy way like in the West. All substance, no flashy media propaganda.
and of course the ultimate good ol boy network the Communist Party. Problem is no matter how smart your scientists are when the real decisions are made by stupid policiticans
For reference, 8 milliroentgen is about 80 microsieverts. The hourly dose a person gets on average is about 0.2 microsieverts (or 0.02 milliroentgen). 80 microsieverts (8 milliroentgen) is roughly about the dose one would get normally in about 2 or 3 weeks. In one hour. (For further reference 3.6 roentgen is 3,600 milliroentgen, or about a decade or two of average background radiation, all in one hour. And that was the number they were saying “not terrible” about.)
They made the soviet setting so believable. My grandmother had the same dirty walls, the same sad half dead indoor plants, the same communist looking souvenirs hanging from all kinds of furniture. This show is top notch.
In my ignorance I thought Moscow would still look the same 😬😅 as you described.I was there in Aug 2019 and atleast the part of the city I was in was nothin like that.Neither was St Petersberg ofcourse 😅
Funnily enough, right after JFK's assassination, a similar situation went like this: US: "Was it the Soviets?" Soviet: "Was it the KGB?" KGB: "Was it a rogue agent?"
Even though Ulana's character is a blend of several real-life persons she is really well written and it's easy to instantly get on board with her and share her struggles.
@@erikjohnson9075 Classic feminist gaslighting: telling men that they are threatened by "empowered" *(fictional!)* females when pointing out the lazy writing, yet women *need* the whole industry shoving Mary Sues in the media just to be "inspired" to become functional citizens... but sure, men are the ones threatened by the opposite sex. LMAO!
Take a moment to understand the dread that these guys must have felt in the few moments between calling Chernobyl and hearing the beeps. It might have been just a thought but not a confirmed reality yet for them that the reactor has indeed been split open. But that nagging sense that you and your government may just have destroyed the continent must have been so paralysing.
If you get the feeling that something has happened to someone or somewhere and you call, yet no-one picks up the phone, chances are that people know and are not going to pick up the phone.
I wish they had a scene where the Soviet people learn that something is horribly wrong when they hear the Western radio stations warning people not to go outside, tape windows and doors shut, and not eat fresh fruits or vegetables.
@@proshark9966 You think millions of Soviet citizens in East Berlin *DIDN'T* listen to Us radio and watch US tv from West Germany? Radio waves can't be stopped by even the strongest, well patrolled wall, or Iron Curtain.
@@RobertMorgan my mom was born in the soviet union, she claims that nobody listen to american radios. Probably the goverment or something like that did. Plus i was born in moscow anyways.
@@RobertMorgan My mom was born in the soviet union (Moscow) and she claims that nobody was listening to western radios/tv channels. Probably the government did or the KGB or something. Plus I was born in Moscow myself. My family is Russian.
@@RobertMorgan Yes,from east Berlin,not from the USSR itself...They just didn't have access,and nobody would risk their life for listening to foreign radio...
@@proshark9966 The Ukrainian who has the Usunka Show channel on RUclips says that some people had illegal radios and that's how they found out the magnitude of the disaster.
The urgency and speed with which she collected and analyzed the sample, immediately made a calculation and concluded - if it's Chernobyl, it must be split open for this levels of radiation to reach where she was - she's a scientist equivalent of a NAVY seal
Although we can make out part of the conversation Ulana made with the first power plant, I kinda wish that we could get a clearer idea of what they were saying. Based on what we did hear, they were probably just as panicked and horrified as these two are.
Of course. Anyone working in a nuclear field and knows how dangerous radiation truly is is going to be the first to flip the hell out when they detect radiation but are unsure of its source. For all they knew it could have been from their own plants or if they figured out it wasn't that then that still begs the question: where was it coming from? Then they find out about Chernobyl and... Ruh Roh!
IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) rushed, loud ) Hello? KHOMYUK Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with the Institute of Nuclear- IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) You don't think we already know? We're looking for it! KHOMYUK Looking for- IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) We've got 4 milliroentgen here, I've got men crawling over the whole plant... no steam leak, no water leak, nothing! We can't- KHOMYUK All right, stay calm. IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) Don't tell me to stay calm, I want to evacuate, Moscow tells us we can't, and now you call? Who the hell are you anyway- Khomyuk hangs up on him. No time for this.
@jayswee Fascinating exchange. They seem much more professional than the management at Chernobyl. Even at 4 miliroentgen they're trying everything to find the leak and even want to evacuate. Meanwhile at Chernobyl they're at a believed 3.6 Roentgen and they're like "ehh no biggie"
That's such a good dialogue. The scene establishes that these are very smart people. They dismiss that it can be Chernobyl because that would mean that the crisis is enormous before moving on to other things. Finally at the end they realize at the same time that it IS an enormous crisis. And the audience, even knowing nothing about roentgens and whatnot, are along for the ride because they are told this in a way anyone can understand. "It can't be X, that would be bad" "Turns it's X." and we all go "oh no". Brilliant.
Late to the party, but you can find the script for the show online. For this episode, the telephone conversation at 2:15 reads like this: Ignalina: (Rushed, loud) Hello?? Khomyuk: Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with the Institute of Nuclear- I: You don't think we already know?! We're looking for it! K: Looking for- I: We've got 4 milliroentgen here, I've got men crawling over the whole plant, no steam leak, no water, leak, nothing! We can't- K: All right, stay calm. I: Don't tell me to stay calm, I want to evacuate, Moscow tells us we can't, and now you call?? Who the hell are you anyway- *Clang* (K hangs up on him; no time for this) They're at 4. It's not them
There is one detail I missed when I first watched the series. When Khomyuk called Ignalina Nuclear Plant, one phone ring and they immediately answered not even allowing Khomyuk to finish her sentences. But when she called Chernobyl, I was so occupied with the conversation between Khomyuk and her colleague that it took several beeps until she noticed there might be something wrong with Chernobyl. Fascinating and terrifying at the same time.
My dad had his school friend Arsenije, a neighbor, from our city in Serbia. He was the best student, young doctor in VMA (Military medical academy - its top tier here), my dad remembers that time when Chernobyl happened, that friend of his was on excursion in SSSR (Ukraine i think, it was popular back than) and as young doctors from SFR Yugoslavia they went to help out. He never came back home. Nor i found any story about him and that group that went there, written in Yugoslavia from that period. Like they never existed. Also from stories from what my remembered that the sky over Yugoslavia back than, was illuminated in orange color. You can see by face expressions, its something they never seen like it before.
It is. The immediate assumption is a leak from inside, considering the materials they have on hand. When it's confirmed to have come through the window instead, it's panic time.
The alarm hadn't gone off before opening the windows. Why think it's inside when it goes off _after_ opening the windows? We know they're not rocket scientists, but still........ .
The most funny thing in this scene, but no one noticed: Ignalino in Lithuanian Socialist Soviet Republic, located at the borders of Latvia and Belarus was built as a twin of Chernobyl. Those reactors present at that power plant were RBMK - the same ones constructed at Chernobyl and where TV Show's NPP was made. Btw. I still remember what my dad told. We, in Poland, at that day lived normal. No signs of catastrophe, but at morning some students and institutes of nuclear physics checked some unexpected changes in the air. Of course later government took their equipment, but they said what happened. To say that they were in shock it's to say that they were just surprised.
Someone in Poland on a government or scientist level might have known. But a Swedish nuclear power plant discovered it early in the morning only a few hours after the explosion. They checked the winds and concluded it was Chernobyl. Shortly thereafter it was global news. 99,99% of the Poles got the information thanks to the Swedes.
My wife was a college student in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1986. I think this was probably the most influential incident leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
@@SamaritanPrime I can assure you, he was right about that. While the general population never _really_ believed all the propaganda from Moscow, it was this incident and the blatant lies that came after, that made them finally realize the government would sacrifice THEIR lives for its image. It was THE incident that made people understand the USSR could not continue. It took another 5 years, but the truck caught fire and started rolling down the hill on April 26, 1986.
I love how he quickly slams the window shut, not to protect the inside from the outside, but to protect the outside from the inside. It's a subtle detail that gets overlooked.
Khomyuk's first three lines are questions. Delivered almost like an interrogator. This immediately establishes her role as an investigator, a scientist, and a seeker of answers and truth. I adore this scene. This is how you depict "scientists doing cool things" in film. A rapid fire series of questions, and hypotheses, and observations, and conclusions. That they're able to piece together the situation based on limited information is so cool. Like a superpower.
I love that the characters keep talking while she dials Chernobyl, so the viewer is distracted by their conversation and doesn't realize until Ulana points it out how long she's been ringing with no answer.
One of the best TV series of recent times. I am old enough to remember the incident, as a small child. I didn't know much about it, just that we detected radiation from it in the UK and it was from a power station. But, in recent years since this series, reading about it and learning about it, absolutely terrifying how close the world was, to it being massively worse than it was. Brilliant acting and production of this series.
The amount of efforts she took are incredible....like waking up , collecting the dust , opening the closet , containing the sample and walking to another building in instant moment to check it on machine.... imagjne if there was a lazy person there ..... see how small things affects our life
Fun fact - the relative values of these numbers are realistic given the distances between Chernobyl, Minsk, and Ignalina. Shows someone actually worked the numbers instead of guessing. I would have expected the characters to immediately understand the grave implication of these values and know almost with certainty that it had to be coming from Chernobyl, even before they tried calling.
Keep in mind that the USSR actively spread the message of how amazing russian nuclear technology was. RMBK reactors were so mind-blowingly amazing that they didn't even need containment buildings. When everyone says the reactor simply can't melt down, why even think it? USSR propaganda plays a big part here.
@@michalsoukup1021 No. "According to KGB documents, declassified in Ukraine on 26 April 2021,[21] serious incidents occurred in the third and fourth reactors in 1984. According to the same documents, the central government in Moscow knew as early as 1983 that the powerplant was "one of the most dangerous nuclear powerplants in the USSR"." Even Moscow knew the RBMK reactors are shit, as with most things from the USSR.
Ulana is a combination of dozens of very real people who all did their part. A Soviet researcher at the radiological institute in the city the scene occurs in did in fact discover that there was a major problem - and likely very close to how this scene played out. A radiation alarm was set off. They did a swab test and tested it and identified I131, and they knew that it had to come from a nuclear reactor core... and which were the likely ones given the wind direction. I have no doubt that they quickly identified that it was Chernobyl.
"The Americans?" Reference to the Three Mile Island accident, which took place seven years before Chernobyl - which Soviet officials mocked the public's reaction to. Little did they know they'd have it much worse.
Bought a Geiger counter with a dosimeter feature recently just for curiosity sake and have been letting it run constantly for 720ish hours (about a month) now and it's only recorded 71μSv over the course of that month. A Milliroentgen to Microsievert Converter says that is 7.61 Milliroentgen, less than what that alarm picked up in a few seconds. That's kinda neat and freaky.
2:31 As a late-Soviet kid, I have to say that we hardly had such computers, but other than that, tiny details work well, the tv show gives very strong Soviet vibes and has very trustworthy cinematography. Fantastic job!
The nobody is answering the phone..... That absolute terrror. One of the largest nuclear power plants in that part of the world, with radiation floating around all over Europe.... and there people there are too busy to answer the phone. Too Busy To Answer The Phone... that's why she's like..... 😳😳😳😳😳
Worse. In a situation like that, someone is always ready to answer the phone because the politicians are involved. No one is answering the phone because it is too dangerous at the phone location to be answering it...
I went nearby in 91 - I was all over the Union, right before the end of it… - anyway, I met some nice people. I was there from USofA to dance. Much love and many thanks to everyone I met. I’m sorry I didn’t get back.
That's a scintillation detector, not a mass spectrometer. It analyzes the characteristic energy spectrum of the radioactive emissions to allow you to identify the isotopes involved.
It's scary thinking that the only fictional thing about this is seeing people this smart, working something like this out, this quickly, all without wanting to kill each other.
The scary thing here is people that think like you. If everything looks shitty, its time to clean your glasses. Dont project your hated and cold hearted murderous ways on others. Else, I may have to kill you
I dont' thionk this is fictional, scientists USUALY work like this, situation like this, you work the problem, until you either solved it or it solved you.
@@michalsoukup1021 no, no, no. That doesn't fit his edgelord hardcore kill all the things narrative! Because obviously, being an intelligent and apparently bloodthirsty person, if others were smart like him they too would be equally as bloodthirsty, duh! The only reason why people aren't constantly trying to kill each other is because they are dumber than them. (Because in this day and age it actually needs to be said thanks to the "if you don't believe exactly what I do for exactly the same reasons you are my enemy" pop-culture) #obvioussarcasm The fact that there are people that view the world this way, and don't see the inherent issues with that are a very functional part of the larger problem. Unfortunately, those among us who have bothered to look outside our narrow world views, and question their origins, validity, inevitabilities, avenues for abuse not just by the ideals but from the anti-ideals as well, they have come to a deeper understanding of existence than Mr alpha douche bro there could ever hope to achieve if they could even conceptualize it in the first place. And this unfortunate understanding affords them at the very least the privilege to continue breathing, which they abuse by spreading their tired old clandestinely spoon fed memetic viral willful ignorance, and hilariously thinking themselves tall for it! Junior there doesn't even realize this 'im 14 and this is deep' ride he's spouting is classic disillusionment to keep us distracted from what The Man™ is doing behind the scenes. Which, spoiler alert, isn't as much as ones media rattled mind would assume (again if ones mind can even wrap itself around the concept most of the experiences they pull their outrage from is from popular media.....ha yeah, right....). Nevermind the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, the index 1st knuckle doesn't know the 3rd knuckle even exists, and assuming the pinky knuckles are aware enough to be in a hierarchical organization, its in cahoots with the left ankle. Unless the returns next quarter don't come through, of course. The simple truth is on the whole no one really knows what anyone else is doing, and anyone could be working a con with anyone else whether either party realizes it or not. But this idea that 'smart people to the death thing' is absolute hilarious lunacy and smacks of 'oh you sweet summer child' 😂
Many times. History is brimming with them. Chernobyl is simply one of the top closest times we've actually almost lost it all. Here's something to really think about: We as a species have permanently bound the survival of all life on this entire planet with the survival of our species. All thanks to nuclear power, because if humanity were to suddenly vanish or go extinct tomorrow, all that would do is begin the countdown timer to each and every single nuclear reactor on earth inevitably failing without humans to oversee, operate, ans maintain them, and thus would begin having meltdowns akin to Chernobyl. At which point each one would begin leaking radiation all over the planet until all life everywhere would eventually die off. Chernobyl Reactor 4 by itself almost made the entire continent of Europe uninhabitable for 20,000 to over 50,000 years by itself... How many other plants/reactors are there around the world? A Nuclear Reactor core doesn't turn off by simply flipping a switch or pressing a button.
I admit I myself am perfectly capable of this, but human beings sometimes have an amazing capacity to bury their heads in the sand and pretend nothing's wrong.
0:56 this is how i found out about Fukushima. i was a navy nuke stationed in Yokosuka, Japan for march 11th, and had duty the following day. the US navy has a lot of environmental monitors set up on and around bases where there are nuclear powered ships, because they want to be able to prove that they aren't spreading radioactivity. the day after the earthquake and tsunami, a saturday, the base commander called the reactor office on our ship asking why the machine that checks for airborne radioactivity at the school was alarming. we had no idea. by the end of the day, all of our airborne detectors on base, EXECPT the ones inside the skin of the ship were alarming. so it was like "we don't know what's happening, but we know it's not us."
Both actors, especially the dazzling Emily Watson, are so perfect in this scene. I am American and hearing “the Americans?” still gives me chills. Bravo on such a wonderfully done series!
The Soviets panicked when they realised that because of scientists like this there was no way they would be able to keep a lid on it. Can 9you imagine the terror all these people felt when they realised that the only way of getting such high readings was something that they thought was impossible had happened, a nuclear reactor had burst and was spreading its poison unendingly. I think a few would have thought it would be the end of the world. Chernobyl is something that we will have to remember for the rest of human existence.
Throughout the movie, government party characters distrust their instrumentation or claim it to be faulty. But the scientists always know their data is good and trust the results to guide their next steps.
"That's too far for 8 milliroentgen, they'd have to be split open."
Well about that...
Scott S s
Scott S split open they were
More like the entire core has been exposed
8 milliroentgen?? Now where did you get that number 🤔
That gave me chills
"No one's answering the phone"
Yeah...not something you should EVER say about a nuclear plant.
Weird... "Ulana" didn't call someone at block 4, but someone from administration common to the whole plant. The secretary or a telephone operator were supposed to be at work and answering the phone. The other three reactors were operating at the time with all personell working on them (reactor 3 was in shutdown phase initiated after the explosion by its chief's own decision).
@@visnjamusa9395 you're absolutely right. A receptionist for the plant *should* have picked up, especially if Ulana didn't directly call Reactor 4. The fact that no one answered implied that nobody was in a building that should be manned at all times. I suspect the area had to be evacuated or administration gathered in one place (an all-hands-on-deck deal) to assess the situation. Also I remember one of the senior officials directing communication lines to be shut down to the outside world to "prevent the spread of misinformation."
Whatever the explanation, the fact that nobody answered means that something is very wrong.
@@visnjamusa9395 people don't realize how flawed this whole series is. Entertaining sure, very well made, but it's full of shit.
Can't help but notice the phone is ringing instead of "The number you have dialed is disconnected/unavailable". Not in an answering machine, but literally a "no service" type of way... Meaning somewhere in that flaming building... a phone was ringing.
"How's it going there?"
"Not great, not terrible."
The first sign of catastrophe in the west was at a power plant in Sweden. All workers have to go through a machine that checks for leaks on the way in and out. One morning a guy started beeping, they managed to isolate the radiation to his boots. But inside everything was clear. The reactor shut down and emergency was called. They checked everything, even the insides of every chimney. When there was no sign of any radiation they knew what must had happened. Using the same logic as in this clip. My grandpa a physicist and a professor at the royal institute of technology here in Stockholm got a call from a colleague that worked at the plant. He directly came home to us with a weeks worth of food, told us all to get inside and close every window and door. This was before any media even mentioned it, I thought it was the apocalypse.
Forsmark, yeah? I'd be terrified if something like this happened, terrible enough that you're tripping alarms a thousand kilometers away, not knowing how or when or what.
@@ricksaburai indeed Forsmark NPP.
and unfortunately this scared people off nuclear energy for a generation
Smart man, understood what was going on, said "I have to get them and isolated them, make sure nothing happens to them."
P.S. Yes I heard the story about workers in nuclear facilities having their footware go off in the radiation detectors and then realizing that it must mean that it's coming from outside, not inside.
It very well could have been.
I love the acting, you can see the blank stare at the phone as she realises that yes, Chernobyl is in fact split open.
he opens the window and the radiation alarm goes off indicating bad things are happening🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀💀
The blank stare wasn't because of realizing that they were split open. The blank stare was because the first question in her mind once she had that fact was, "What do we do now?" and she had absolutely no answers.
@@badgercdlyons well her first thought was they were split open
and then the second was what do we do now?
It's a chilling beep to confirm your worst fears
Imagine the eerie ferling of calling the power stations in your region.. and just one doesn't answer
That moment when you've just discovered the worst nuclear disaster in history...
@Rafael Acosta *To better represent scientist diversity in the Soviet Union
@Rafael Acosta The soviet union actually did have a nearly 50/50 split between men and women in scientific fields... actually, in almost all fields. So if anything, men are still over represented in the show.
...yet.
@Rafael Acosta 75 % soviet docter is women
@@Lessinath complete utter lie
The way he slammed the window closed. They both knew.
I thought that small pause to look at each other for validation all the while the window, the barrier to the source of the radiation, is wide open. I thought that was great subtle acting. Very human behavior.
Actually no. He closed it shut to contain the radiation leak. Only later did he accept that indeed the radiation was from outside.
Russians have good survival instincts.
@@nikhilpuppala7907 Yeah. The alarm going off 2 seconds *after* he opened the windows. And he immediately closed them. He may not be a rocket scientist, but he knew.
@@josephastier7421 They most likely were Belarusians
The way she rushes, as if every second is absolutely crucial, because it is, adds so much weight and tension. It's not overdone, either. Masterclass in physical acting
its the smell of smoke before the inferno
The editing is excellent too. Her haste is emphasized by the subtle jump cuts. Notice how each of her actions are slightly cut off so she appears to move from task to task very quickly?
Emily Watson is a great actor
I love that scene. The eerie feeling when you know something big is happening, but you have no clue yet what it is, and when every moment seems significant, so it gets engraved in your memory just in case. Also, the character of Ulana. Something about her, she's instantly trustworthy.
Hard working people tend to be trustworthy. They're so into their work and becoming experts in it that they tend not to have time to bullshit.
@Rafael Acosta not wrong but she is supposed to be a representation of the large amount of scientists that helped during this and they were probably to first ones to know shit hit the fan and are trying to fix it
She is a conglomeration of several people, a sort of a symbol of peaceful, hard-working, trustworthy, salt-of-science people who genuinely wanted to help the world.
The speed at which she puts that sample together speaks volumes about her experience. As a an actress, I'm sure she must have practiced until she could do it without looking.
@@Whiterabbit124 But we have to make it a woman so they won't cry. CHANGE HISTORY SO WOMEN DON'T FEEL BAD BIGOT
The phone's beeping at the end is so terrifying because you know what horrors are on the other end.
The best horror is the one where we actually see nothing, and we are invited to imagine what is going on. That is what makes the beeping phone so horrific.
This is cheapest scene to make it to the list of greatest scenes of all time.
Close, but I have to go with the coin toss scene from No Country for Old Men
@@CaptainTrips560
How about The Last of Us when they talk about the Fungus Pandemic
@@Waywind420 never saw it
Even in action movies, the best scenes are often just two people talking.
@@doktarr Many of Game of Thrones best scenes were just two characters talking.
Robert and Ned chatting about assassinating daenerys, Ned and Jaime talking about the mad king, Varys and Baelish, Tyrion telling lies to the members of the small council to reveal the mole.
The scary moment when phone beeping turns into ambulance siren.
You can see in his reaction at 2:49 that he’s weighing the idea that Chernobyl could indeed be split open. The body language alone in this scene speaks volumes. The concerned glances after the alarm sounds and her quickened pace with every movement after learning of the radiation.
I don’t think he was weighing the idea that Chernobyl could be split open, I think he was weighing the pros and cons of what would happen if he were to ask her to show him her feet while he awkwardly played with himself
@@Troyy22
I laughed out loud at your comment hahahahaha
@@Troyy22You win.....you win all of it 😁
“The Americans?!”
When the worst nuclear accident takes place during the Cold War.
Lol
The sad thing is, if not for the cold war, the accident likely wouldn't have happened in the first place.
@@dynamicworlds1 nah, the russians didnt have the same standards as other countries with there reactors. Besides nuclear technology is extremely safe and clean.
@@Halo47143 but _why_ didn't they have the same standards?
Because they were Russian, or because they were trying to modernize a country that was largely agrarian less than a century before as fast as possible while dumping huge amounts of resources into the Cold War?
Even with a lot more resources, the US did a lot of things that were at least crazy and reckless durring the Cold War, so a poorer nation trying desperately to keep up is a recepie for disaster.
DynamicWorlds they didn’t have lobbyist and critics where silenced. Public opinion is very powerful
It's one of the better written scenes in the series. Very little is actually said. Most of what we learn is from seeing the whole thing simply unfold for two scientists knowing something is wrong and going down the list of what might be the cause. And then the phone just keeps ringing.
The sound design in this show. The deeply unsettling sound of a ringing phone. Horror on a level I've not felt in a show before or since
Great Visual storytelling 🙆
The cinematography, sound design, and pacing definitely help elevate this scene.
Those two actors were the condensation of the entire scientific community of the Soviet Union. They KNEW something went horribly wrong, but could not go public without being arrested for crimes against the people. They had to be quiet, quiet about the whole incident.
When the news about Chernobyl broke, I was a student in Gießen, Germany. I stayed home for three days until the rain stopped. Then, I went to the Geiger counter in our physics lab. It was a system that measured your radioactivity over your whole body. It wouldn't let me out again, because the soles of my shoes had 30.000 Becquerel. I climbed over the barrier and told my friends. After the lecture, the whole semester checked themselves. The highest count I saw was at a playground in Marburg, in the sandbox: 300.000 Becquerel. I didn't use milk products for months and tried to only buy food that had been produced before the catastrophe. Scary times...
I never considered that, especially as the radiation spread upward twords other countries
@@adrianghandtchi1562 It's a testament to the strength of Soviet censorship at the time. People on the other side of the planet knew there had been a nuclear disaster before citizens living in the nearby towns.
That’s scary. You were basically living like it was the apocalypse 😮
I live in Gießen today and am very interested in your story. Can you elaborate a little bit? ☺️
I was east of you in Bamberg, perhaps same rainstorm. Saw the NBC teams sweeping the roads, beeping away. We were told it was like the steam release at Three Mile, justa coupla flashing lights and sirens, so we just ignored it for the most part. Probably better we didn't know, now that I think about it.
Ulana was one of favorite characters despite not being a real person. She went straight into action, not even hesitating, doing her best to get people to safety.
I absolutely loved her character. Absolutely competent, completely professional. A true expert amongst experts and the kind of person you’d feel most comfortable with in a disaster situation. No panic, no fears, just eyes on the situation and full concentration on the problem.
@@brandonxing9546 Not to mention, imaginary. Typical trope now: imaginary flawless female character, showing clueless boys around. Ignoring REAL women to begin with.
@@piotrd.4850 what?
@@piotrd.4850 she's just a combination of real men and women because you can't show all of their stories in a few episodes
@@willkettle3959 He needs to feel victimized.
Coming back to this and
“That’s impossible, they’d have to be split open.”
Followed by
“No ones answering the phone.”
The show did its terror well.
For the Soviet people, the first sign something was horribly wrong was that all TV and Radio stations played nothing but classical music/ Balléts. This was the standard operating procedure for whenever something happened, and the government was deciding what to tell the people.
Yes, there's a guy online who was a Soviet school kid at the time and was puzzled because Gorbachev was young and they were not expecting more time off from school like with Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko. Still, the classical music played. My friends nearby said it was Soviet musical chairs. You keep struggling to improve your position and when the music stops you grab the seat you're nearest.
That's the russian government for you.
@@crimony3054 Yep, I'm pretty sure that was Sergei Sputinikov
A colleague of my sister's who worked in the same lab lived in SSRB in 1986 when she was a teenager. She remembers the first hint the morning after the explosion that something incredibly strange had happened was when her mother went out into the back yard to collect the bed linen she'd left out to dry the day before. She noticed that the sheets which should have been clean were stained in places with a light yellow substance.
thatsoundslikeblue that’s insane. Interesting to note that the color of death, as it turns out, happens to be.... yellow. How unexpectedly quaint.
@@fakename2926 yeah, and usually radiation shows green for unknown reason
Your sister's colleague is delusional! Someone take her to the infirmary!!
@@Nayushe0 Because it's the colour of the phosphor from old glowing radium paint, so it became the symbol of radiation.
Yellow as a color is very ominous actually. I've never liked it. From mustard gas to radiation.
I love how they portray Soviet science. Clearly underfunded, yet effective and smart.
Its a myth that Soviet science was underfunded. It was in fact very well funded but not in a flashy way like in the West. All substance, no flashy media propaganda.
and of course the ultimate good ol boy network the Communist Party. Problem is no matter how smart your scientists are when the real decisions are made by stupid policiticans
Brilliant, even. It's astonishing how much Soviet scientists and engineers accomplished given what a mess the Soviet Union was.
They were a close second to us in some areas..but at the cost of the people of the Soviet Union living in squalor.
For reference, 8 milliroentgen is about 80 microsieverts. The hourly dose a person gets on average is about 0.2 microsieverts (or 0.02 milliroentgen). 80 microsieverts (8 milliroentgen) is roughly about the dose one would get normally in about 2 or 3 weeks. In one hour.
(For further reference 3.6 roentgen is 3,600 milliroentgen, or about a decade or two of average background radiation, all in one hour. And that was the number they were saying “not terrible” about.)
I'm blaming Larys Strong for the Chernobyl disaster now.
They made the soviet setting so believable. My grandmother had the same dirty walls, the same sad half dead indoor plants, the same communist looking souvenirs hanging from all kinds of furniture. This show is top notch.
In my ignorance I thought Moscow would still look the same 😬😅 as you described.I was there in Aug 2019 and atleast the part of the city I was in was nothin like that.Neither was St Petersberg ofcourse 😅
"They'd have to be split open" most chilling line in the whole serie
This scene and the “trust but verify” scene are my favorite, I’d say. They’re very eerie in their own ways
Something bad happened during Cold War
US: "Is it the Russians?"
Soviet: "Is is the Americans?"
Funnily enough, right after JFK's assassination, a similar situation went like this:
US: "Was it the Soviets?"
Soviet: "Was it the KGB?"
KGB: "Was it a rogue agent?"
@@ilikewindows3455 Rogue agent: "Was it you, Ivan?"
Ivan; was it you Lee
Khruschev in between moments of sadness was scared shitless that they did it. He really likes the guy too.
@@ilikewindows3455 Turns out it was the CIA the entire time.
Even though Ulana's character is a blend of several real-life persons she is really well written and it's easy to instantly get on board with her and share her struggles.
They should have called her Mary Sue
@@UryendelI'm just surprised she didn't knock out a whole group of highly trained kgb agents at some point.
@@kylemayer8486 she's a scientist not a commando. Are you just threatened by competent females or insecure about your own incompetence?
@erikjohnson9075 no, I'm threatened by lazy writing by progressives that mary Sue a group of scientists.
@@erikjohnson9075 Classic feminist gaslighting: telling men that they are threatened by "empowered" *(fictional!)* females when pointing out the lazy writing, yet women *need* the whole industry shoving Mary Sues in the media just to be "inspired" to become functional citizens... but sure, men are the ones threatened by the opposite sex. LMAO!
"They'd have to be split open."
I still get chills when the busy signal turns to ambulance sirens
What busy signal? The phone was ringing.
“They’d have to be split open.”
Superb foreshadowing!
I mean, we kind of already knew at that point.
Ahhh the days when a machine took up a whole table to print out a reading
20 liters of fuel an hour.
That said, it was supposed to cut an apple into four parts and didn’t work, glad they found a use for it.
@@Justanotherconsumer only cut apple into 3 pieces
Take a moment to understand the dread that these guys must have felt in the few moments between calling Chernobyl and hearing the beeps. It might have been just a thought but not a confirmed reality yet for them that the reactor has indeed been split open. But that nagging sense that you and your government may just have destroyed the continent must have been so paralysing.
If you get the feeling that something has happened to someone or somewhere and you call, yet no-one picks up the phone, chances are that people know and are not going to pick up the phone.
Or they're dead. *shudders*
Or they see you on caller ID and ignore you because they think you're annoying. (At least that's what happens these days)
@@Kamina.D.Fierce when something dangerous happens, noone ignores because of annoyance
No one answered the phone because the government cut the phone lines to isolate the town.
I wish they had a scene where the Soviet people learn that something is horribly wrong when they hear the Western radio stations warning people not to go outside, tape windows and doors shut, and not eat fresh fruits or vegetables.
@@proshark9966 You think millions of Soviet citizens in East Berlin *DIDN'T* listen to Us radio and watch US tv from West Germany? Radio waves can't be stopped by even the strongest, well patrolled wall, or Iron Curtain.
@@RobertMorgan my mom was born in the soviet union, she claims that nobody listen to american radios. Probably the goverment or something like that did.
Plus i was born in moscow anyways.
@@RobertMorgan My mom was born in the soviet union (Moscow) and she claims that nobody was listening to western radios/tv channels. Probably the government did or the KGB or something. Plus I was born in Moscow myself. My family is Russian.
@@RobertMorgan Yes,from east Berlin,not from the USSR itself...They just didn't have access,and nobody would risk their life for listening to foreign radio...
@@proshark9966 The Ukrainian who has the Usunka Show channel on RUclips says that some people had illegal radios and that's how they found out the magnitude of the disaster.
"No one's answering the phone" - it`s frightening, because may be everybody already dead.
The urgency and speed with which she collected and analyzed the sample, immediately made a calculation and concluded - if it's Chernobyl, it must be split open for this levels of radiation to reach where she was - she's a scientist equivalent of a NAVY seal
Although we can make out part of the conversation Ulana made with the first power plant, I kinda wish that we could get a clearer idea of what they were saying. Based on what we did hear, they were probably just as panicked and horrified as these two are.
Of course. Anyone working in a nuclear field and knows how dangerous radiation truly is is going to be the first to flip the hell out when they detect radiation but are unsure of its source. For all they knew it could have been from their own plants or if they figured out it wasn't that then that still begs the question: where was it coming from? Then they find out about Chernobyl and... Ruh Roh!
The main point of the conversation with the first power plant was that they were panicking at 4 milliroentgen, when they were at twice that level.
Someone made a comment above yours that shows what the script actually read from the show, showing what the people on the phone were actually saying.
IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) rushed, loud ) Hello?
KHOMYUK Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with the Institute of Nuclear-
IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) You don't think we already know? We're looking for it!
KHOMYUK Looking for-
IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) We've got 4 milliroentgen here, I've got men crawling over the whole plant... no steam leak, no water leak, nothing! We can't-
KHOMYUK All right, stay calm.
IGNALINA OPERATOR (PHONE) Don't tell me to stay calm, I want to evacuate, Moscow tells us we can't, and now you call? Who the hell are you anyway-
Khomyuk hangs up on him. No time for this.
@jayswee Fascinating exchange. They seem much more professional than the management at Chernobyl. Even at 4 miliroentgen they're trying everything to find the leak and even want to evacuate.
Meanwhile at Chernobyl they're at a believed 3.6 Roentgen and they're like "ehh no biggie"
*3:14* "No one's answering the phone..."
"Also this camera guy following us is probably a sign that something is happening."
That's such a good dialogue. The scene establishes that these are very smart people. They dismiss that it can be Chernobyl because that would mean that the crisis is enormous before moving on to other things. Finally at the end they realize at the same time that it IS an enormous crisis. And the audience, even knowing nothing about roentgens and whatnot, are along for the ride because they are told this in a way anyone can understand. "It can't be X, that would be bad" "Turns it's X." and we all go "oh no". Brilliant.
1:32 who the F passed that light switch being that high
Imagine how scary the Swedish nuclear power plant operators are when their alarm went off.....
"Sir, our people are lit up with radiation!"
"Oh, noes! We have a leak!"
"Sir, they're not leaving, they're coming in."
Every detail. The way people dressed, colors, lighting, the condition of buildings, the starkness of everything... so drab and lifeless. Brilliant.
That was the Soviet union in the 80s.
I thought they just randomly started eating gum but I think that was iodine ... Amazing!
Late to the party, but you can find the script for the show online. For this episode, the telephone conversation at 2:15 reads like this:
Ignalina: (Rushed, loud) Hello??
Khomyuk: Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with the Institute of Nuclear-
I: You don't think we already know?! We're looking for it!
K: Looking for-
I: We've got 4 milliroentgen here, I've got men crawling over the whole plant, no steam leak, no water, leak, nothing! We can't-
K: All right, stay calm.
I: Don't tell me to stay calm, I want to evacuate, Moscow tells us we can't, and now you call?? Who the hell are you anyway-
*Clang* (K hangs up on him; no time for this) They're at 4. It's not them
NOT, ALL heroes wear caps! You're da man, Wolf..!!
What about the radio at the start of this scene?
@@MBOmnis Sorry, I thought I replied to this but I guess RUclips ate it. The radio is reciting the poem "to Alexei Surkov"
Hey, thanks for the transcript!
THANK YOU!!! I was so confused when I heard her say "They're at 4" I was like "4?? 4 What?? apples? bananas? Reactors??"
There is one detail I missed when I first watched the series. When Khomyuk called Ignalina Nuclear Plant, one phone ring and they immediately answered not even allowing Khomyuk to finish her sentences. But when she called Chernobyl, I was so occupied with the conversation between Khomyuk and her colleague that it took several beeps until she noticed there might be something wrong with Chernobyl. Fascinating and terrifying at the same time.
The absolute horror which she would have felt when she said "nobody is answering the phone"
The subtle change in his face from surprised concern to horror when she says that
My dad had his school friend Arsenije, a neighbor, from our city in Serbia. He was the best student, young doctor in VMA (Military medical academy - its top tier here), my dad remembers that time when Chernobyl happened, that friend of his was on excursion in SSSR (Ukraine i think, it was popular back than) and as young doctors from SFR Yugoslavia they went to help out. He never came back home. Nor i found any story about him and that group that went there, written in Yugoslavia from that period. Like they never existed.
Also from stories from what my remembered that the sky over Yugoslavia back than, was illuminated in orange color. You can see by face expressions, its something they never seen like it before.
Opens the window, 2 seconds later radiation alarm goes off. That's China Syndrome-frightening.
It is. The immediate assumption is a leak from inside, considering the materials they have on hand. When it's confirmed to have come through the window instead, it's panic time.
The alarm hadn't gone off before opening the windows. Why think it's inside when it goes off _after_ opening the windows? We know they're not rocket scientists, but still........ .
The most funny thing in this scene, but no one noticed: Ignalino in Lithuanian Socialist Soviet Republic, located at the borders of Latvia and Belarus was built as a twin of Chernobyl. Those reactors present at that power plant were RBMK - the same ones constructed at Chernobyl and where TV Show's NPP was made.
Btw. I still remember what my dad told. We, in Poland, at that day lived normal. No signs of catastrophe, but at morning some students and institutes of nuclear physics checked some unexpected changes in the air. Of course later government took their equipment, but they said what happened. To say that they were in shock it's to say that they were just surprised.
Ignalin plant was used to film some scenes
Someone in Poland on a government or scientist level might have known. But a Swedish nuclear power plant discovered it early in the morning only a few hours after the explosion. They checked the winds and concluded it was Chernobyl. Shortly thereafter it was global news. 99,99% of the Poles got the information thanks to the Swedes.
I love at 1:13 you can see in the movement of her eyes as she goes through her mental checklist of "what could have happened?"
I cannot get over how brilliant the editing is.
(Opens window)
(Seconds later, radiation alarm goes off)
*Shudders*
IDK why but I love the ASMR of her running all the tests. The clicks and clunks of mechanical switches from 1980s Soviet equipment
My wife was a college student in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1986. I think this was probably the most influential incident leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev would agree. He cites Chernobyl as a factor in the collapse of the USSR.
@@SamaritanPrime I can assure you, he was right about that.
While the general population never _really_ believed all the propaganda from Moscow, it was this incident and the blatant lies that came after, that made them finally realize the government would sacrifice THEIR lives for its image.
It was THE incident that made people understand the USSR could not continue.
It took another 5 years, but the truck caught fire and started rolling down the hill on April 26, 1986.
I just love those vintage analogue equipments.
I love how he quickly slams the window shut, not to protect the inside from the outside, but to protect the outside from the inside. It's a subtle detail that gets overlooked.
I love the subtitles 0:10
"Literally she borrows guru bahu bahu Noguchi"
"a spoiler stir boil vacations"
Khomyuk's first three lines are questions. Delivered almost like an interrogator. This immediately establishes her role as an investigator, a scientist, and a seeker of answers and truth.
I adore this scene. This is how you depict "scientists doing cool things" in film. A rapid fire series of questions, and hypotheses, and observations, and conclusions. That they're able to piece together the situation based on limited information is so cool. Like a superpower.
Best composite character of all time.
I love that the characters keep talking while she dials Chernobyl, so the viewer is distracted by their conversation and doesn't realize until Ulana points it out how long she's been ringing with no answer.
One of the best TV series of recent times. I am old enough to remember the incident, as a small child. I didn't know much about it, just that we detected radiation from it in the UK and it was from a power station. But, in recent years since this series, reading about it and learning about it, absolutely terrifying how close the world was, to it being massively worse than it was. Brilliant acting and production of this series.
You get radiation poisoning from just making a phone call to Chernobyl in 1986. That beep coming from the phone is the sound of death.
There always be a hard pill to swallow when nobody answer the phone.
The amount of efforts she took are incredible....like waking up , collecting the dust , opening the closet , containing the sample and walking to another building in instant moment to check it on machine.... imagjne if there was a lazy person there ..... see how small things affects our life
one of my favorite scenes
Don't worry guys, Steiner's attack will fix the radiation.
Mein Fuhrer ... Steiner's attack ... has failed.
"That was an ORDER!!"
2:39 Oh, the irony... 😅😓
Fun fact - the relative values of these numbers are realistic given the distances between Chernobyl, Minsk, and Ignalina. Shows someone actually worked the numbers instead of guessing. I would have expected the characters to immediately understand the grave implication of these values and know almost with certainty that it had to be coming from Chernobyl, even before they tried calling.
It's called "ruling things out".
@@grizzfan08 More like "exposition"
Keep in mind that the USSR actively spread the message of how amazing russian nuclear technology was. RMBK reactors were so mind-blowingly amazing that they didn't even need containment buildings. When everyone says the reactor simply can't melt down, why even think it? USSR propaganda plays a big part here.
Yeah, they were amazing, they were cheap and made plutonium.
That being said RBMK IS safe when operated properly.
@@michalsoukup1021 No.
"According to KGB documents, declassified in Ukraine on 26 April 2021,[21] serious incidents occurred in the third and fourth reactors in 1984. According to the same documents, the central government in Moscow knew as early as 1983 that the powerplant was "one of the most dangerous nuclear powerplants in the USSR"."
Even Moscow knew the RBMK reactors are shit, as with most things from the USSR.
Ulana wasn't a real person, but she does in fact represent the scientists who helped with the clean up.
Ulana is a combination of dozens of very real people who all did their part. A Soviet researcher at the radiological institute in the city the scene occurs in did in fact discover that there was a major problem - and likely very close to how this scene played out. A radiation alarm was set off. They did a swab test and tested it and identified I131, and they knew that it had to come from a nuclear reactor core... and which were the likely ones given the wind direction.
I have no doubt that they quickly identified that it was Chernobyl.
Just now realized that that's Larys Strong from House of the Dragon (played by Matthew Needham)
"The Americans?"
Reference to the Three Mile Island accident, which took place seven years before Chernobyl - which Soviet officials mocked the public's reaction to. Little did they know they'd have it much worse.
No, the question was if the Americans had launched nukes. That's why she checked the isotopes, and concluded it was non military.
The Clubfoot knows all.
Bought a Geiger counter with a dosimeter feature recently just for curiosity sake and have been letting it run constantly for 720ish hours (about a month) now and it's only recorded 71μSv over the course of that month. A Milliroentgen to Microsievert Converter says that is 7.61 Milliroentgen, less than what that alarm picked up in a few seconds. That's kinda neat and freaky.
2:31 As a late-Soviet kid, I have to say that we hardly had such computers, but other than that, tiny details work well, the tv show gives very strong Soviet vibes and has very trustworthy cinematography. Fantastic job!
3:14 The terrified look in her eyes.
The 1980's was not a good decade for the Soviets.
So this was what Lord Larys Strong did before becoming Master of Whispers
I frigging love this scene
*Khomyuk:* That's too far for 8 milliroentgen, they'd have to be split open.
*Graphite:* 🎵 Sunshine, on my shoulders makes me happy. 🎵
More like:
The core: Ura~nium fever has done n got me down!
Uranium fe~ver is speadin all around!
Reactor 4's core, split open: * *incomprehensible screeching* *
Everything about this series has a sick, nauseating, soulless tone to it. It’s brilliant.
The nobody is answering the phone..... That absolute terrror.
One of the largest nuclear power plants in that part of the world, with radiation floating around all over Europe.... and there people there are too busy to answer the phone.
Too Busy To Answer The Phone... that's why she's like..... 😳😳😳😳😳
Worse.
In a situation like that, someone is always ready to answer the phone because the politicians are involved.
No one is answering the phone because it is too dangerous at the phone location to be answering it...
I like how they showed them taking iodide anti radiation medications.
I went nearby in 91 - I was all over the Union, right before the end of it… - anyway, I met some nice
people. I was there from USofA to dance. Much love and many thanks to everyone I met. I’m sorry I didn’t get back.
the auto captions are great. "a spoiler stir boil vacations echoic we see a monkey reduce"
Radiation traveled 248 miles in 7 hours..she was split open indeed all the way open
Side note: Perfect editing right at the end. The ambulance siren is syncing with the dead line.
a well done J-cut)
great show.. goes into great detail!! and shows the lengths they had to go thru !!! Many heroes !!!!
The urge to own all the equipment in this video is massive...only problem is that I don't know what they are.
02:45 "that's too far for 8 millirad they would have to be split open" D:
Everyone needs a mass spectrometer lying around! 😃
That's a scintillation detector, not a mass spectrometer. It analyzes the characteristic energy spectrum of the radioactive emissions to allow you to identify the isotopes involved.
It's scary thinking that the only fictional thing about this is seeing people this smart, working something like this out, this quickly, all without wanting to kill each other.
The scary thing here is people that think like you. If everything looks shitty, its time to clean your glasses. Dont project your hated and cold hearted murderous ways on others. Else, I may have to kill you
I dont' thionk this is fictional, scientists USUALY work like this, situation like this, you work the problem, until you either solved it or it solved you.
@@michalsoukup1021 no, no, no. That doesn't fit his edgelord hardcore kill all the things narrative! Because obviously, being an intelligent and apparently bloodthirsty person, if others were smart like him they too would be equally as bloodthirsty, duh! The only reason why people aren't constantly trying to kill each other is because they are dumber than them.
(Because in this day and age it actually needs to be said thanks to the "if you don't believe exactly what I do for exactly the same reasons you are my enemy" pop-culture) #obvioussarcasm
The fact that there are people that view the world this way, and don't see the inherent issues with that are a very functional part of the larger problem. Unfortunately, those among us who have bothered to look outside our narrow world views, and question their origins, validity, inevitabilities, avenues for abuse not just by the ideals but from the anti-ideals as well, they have come to a deeper understanding of existence than Mr alpha douche bro there could ever hope to achieve if they could even conceptualize it in the first place. And this unfortunate understanding affords them at the very least the privilege to continue breathing, which they abuse by spreading their tired old clandestinely spoon fed memetic viral willful ignorance, and hilariously thinking themselves tall for it! Junior there doesn't even realize this 'im 14 and this is deep' ride he's spouting is classic disillusionment to keep us distracted from what The Man™ is doing behind the scenes. Which, spoiler alert, isn't as much as ones media rattled mind would assume (again if ones mind can even wrap itself around the concept most of the experiences they pull their outrage from is from popular media.....ha yeah, right....). Nevermind the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, the index 1st knuckle doesn't know the 3rd knuckle even exists, and assuming the pinky knuckles are aware enough to be in a hierarchical organization, its in cahoots with the left ankle. Unless the returns next quarter don't come through, of course.
The simple truth is on the whole no one really knows what anyone else is doing, and anyone could be working a con with anyone else whether either party realizes it or not.
But this idea that 'smart people to the death thing' is absolute hilarious lunacy and smacks of 'oh you sweet summer child' 😂
One question for all. How many times has humanity come close to hell on earth.
Many times. History is brimming with them. Chernobyl is simply one of the top closest times we've actually almost lost it all.
Here's something to really think about:
We as a species have permanently bound the survival of all life on this entire planet with the survival of our species. All thanks to nuclear power, because if humanity were to suddenly vanish or go extinct tomorrow, all that would do is begin the countdown timer to each and every single nuclear reactor on earth inevitably failing without humans to oversee, operate, ans maintain them, and thus would begin having meltdowns akin to Chernobyl. At which point each one would begin leaking radiation all over the planet until all life everywhere would eventually die off. Chernobyl Reactor 4 by itself almost made the entire continent of Europe uninhabitable for 20,000 to over 50,000 years by itself... How many other plants/reactors are there around the world? A Nuclear Reactor core doesn't turn off by simply flipping a switch or pressing a button.
I admit I myself am perfectly capable of this, but human beings sometimes have an amazing capacity to bury their heads in the sand and pretend nothing's wrong.
Meanwhile the radiation fries their arse, but at least their head is fine... for a minute longer.
0:56 this is how i found out about Fukushima. i was a navy nuke stationed in Yokosuka, Japan for march 11th, and had duty the following day. the US navy has a lot of environmental monitors set up on and around bases where there are nuclear powered ships, because they want to be able to prove that they aren't spreading radioactivity. the day after the earthquake and tsunami, a saturday, the base commander called the reactor office on our ship asking why the machine that checks for airborne radioactivity at the school was alarming. we had no idea. by the end of the day, all of our airborne detectors on base, EXECPT the ones inside the skin of the ship were alarming. so it was like "we don't know what's happening, but we know it's not us."
This series is literally some of the best television ive ever seen
i just realized that dude is Larys Strong in HOTD
Both actors, especially the dazzling Emily Watson, are so perfect in this scene. I am American and hearing “the Americans?” still gives me chills. Bravo on such a wonderfully done series!
The Soviets panicked when they realised that because of scientists like this there was no way they would be able to keep a lid on it. Can 9you imagine the terror all these people felt when they realised that the only way of getting such high readings was something that they thought was impossible had happened, a nuclear reactor had burst and was spreading its poison unendingly. I think a few would have thought it would be the end of the world. Chernobyl is something that we will have to remember for the rest of human existence.
"they'd have to be split open." >>> what a line!
With those nom-core glasses, I can’t tell if she’s a female scientist from 1985 or a Brooklyn hipstar from 2020.
You should bet in the second option.
Throughout the movie, government party characters distrust their instrumentation or claim it to be faulty. But the scientists always know their data is good and trust the results to guide their next steps.
Kind of brainwashed. If you have been told by someone in authority that something can't happen, then it has to be the instruments.