ABC News Nightline: Chernobyl Accident - 04/28/86

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  • Опубликовано: 12 янв 2025

Комментарии • 4,2 тыс.

  • @kongfeet81
    @kongfeet81 5 лет назад +12203

    its amazing to think that journalism was once a real thing

    • @marscarda
      @marscarda 5 лет назад +349

      They didn't have to deal with twitter then :)

    • @Jeicto24
      @Jeicto24 5 лет назад +72

      Nick picking on technicalities much...

    • @FortoFight
      @FortoFight 5 лет назад +81

      @@fubar12345 "Seems virtually certain".

    • @RoyWiggins
      @RoyWiggins 5 лет назад +229

      @@fubar12345 meltdown isn't a technical term and can mean simply "a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating." This is exactly what happened at Chernobyl and all evidence as of this broadcast pointed that way.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_meltdown

    • @nananana8846
      @nananana8846 5 лет назад +108

      @@fubar12345 Meltdown was the worst case scenario that could happen in western style nuclear plant designs, they didn't even consider an explosion.

  • @fhowland
    @fhowland 6 лет назад +7692

    Man, watching these old newscasts really brings to the fore how dumbed-down current day TV news has become.

    • @mynameisawesomeman
      @mynameisawesomeman 5 лет назад +161

      @@dorkmax7073 Oh bullshit. Both sides spew propaganda daily. You don't think MSNBC is biased? And even back then when Woodward and Bernstein worked for WaPo it was still politically biased. The media has always been and always will be biased.

    • @Adamz678
      @Adamz678 5 лет назад +47

      @@dorkmax7073 The roots of your beliefs are part of the problem.

    • @linkplays95
      @linkplays95 5 лет назад +2

      @Shufei doubt that by a lot.

    • @jakubswatowski1007
      @jakubswatowski1007 5 лет назад +3

      @Shufei well for u maybe it is more dangerous than Chernobyl cause you live in US on the other part of the world and the radiative cloud wasn't even close

    • @robo1p
      @robo1p 5 лет назад +4

      @Horsemanray For someone who seems to care a lot about the fairness doctrine, you are really ignorant as to who it applied to. Unless you are in Minnesota (where MSNBC broadcasts terrestrially), the fairness doctrine never restrained MSNBC and similar *cable* shows.

  • @SubZeDiZeD
    @SubZeDiZeD 6 лет назад +5251

    I lived in Ukraine when this happened, and can confirm that no one knew anything.... This news spread exclusively by word of mouth, and no one knew where the radioactive cloud was headed. Still remember my parents taping up the windows in our house just in case

    • @OldAussieAds
      @OldAussieAds 5 лет назад +293

      I found this a little funny briefly and then felt really sad. I'm sorry to hear your parents would have lived through that real fear.

    • @SenorNavel
      @SenorNavel 5 лет назад +312

      When it blew up, people in Pripyat stood on a bridge to watch all the pretty colours. The radiation dust went straight over that bridge. Simply terrible.

    • @todaysbestmix
      @todaysbestmix 5 лет назад +163

      @@SenorNavel That's right, the bridge of death. It's all so sad. It scared me in 1986 as a child in the UK. I cannot begin to imagine what people near the plant were going through.

    • @SenorNavel
      @SenorNavel 5 лет назад +60

      @@todaysbestmix I was born in 87 so I missed it all. But I did a lot of research of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. I believe the people working at Chernobyl were thinking "awww shit".

    • @NoName-ze4qn
      @NoName-ze4qn 5 лет назад +11

      The govt didn't tell you about that?

  • @ervinghenderson4780
    @ervinghenderson4780 8 месяцев назад +519

    When I was a kid, if you heard that Nightline theme it was WAY past your bedtime.

    • @BeamerTheFox
      @BeamerTheFox 7 месяцев назад +7

      you aint kidding

    • @ParzivalTheThird
      @ParzivalTheThird 6 месяцев назад +7

      It is 4am right now 😂

    • @hycron1234
      @hycron1234 5 месяцев назад +3

      @ervinghenderson4780 - lol ... same, like how long before the parents knock on the door and tell me to get some sleep.

    • @akshonclip
      @akshonclip 24 дня назад +5

      Right before Nightline you heard “Its 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?”

    • @reneedennis2011
      @reneedennis2011 13 дней назад

      Yup.

  • @stuartmartin3408
    @stuartmartin3408 5 лет назад +5751

    I wish news was still like this. Admissions of not knowing and when assumptions are being made. A fair discussion of fact and what is being inferred. Treating the viewing public with intelligence and not making a serious situation into TV entertainment.

    • @Tehnicker
      @Tehnicker 5 лет назад +191

      How the west has fallen

    • @noka79
      @noka79 5 лет назад +77

      The news is fucked, there was a murder during rioting here last night at around 11pm within an hour we knew what happened who it was,where she was from with a photo of her, how it happened, and by whom, the news, SKY BBC etc, had vague news at 1am and did not have details until this morning, social media is a powerful tool

    • @da4127
      @da4127 5 лет назад +27

      Pretty damn sure that everytime something serious happens the news are still using the same format, you cant compre this to the weather forecast you saw this morning.

    • @SylkaChan
      @SylkaChan 5 лет назад +13

      TV was so kool back then

    • @I_like_big_bombs
      @I_like_big_bombs 5 лет назад +30

      DISASTER STRIKES IN RUSSIA! Is it World War III, I sure as fuck don't know I only have a degree in Black Studies and Journalism.
      Does this mean the end of the world! Find out after this Ad From Coca Cola.

  • @oskardudley3408
    @oskardudley3408 6 лет назад +1349

    Sober, knowledgeable, competent, objective, articulate.

    • @aliexpress96
      @aliexpress96 5 лет назад +10

      Well, not objective, but i get your point.

    • @HalfDecentTrashCollection2001
      @HalfDecentTrashCollection2001 5 лет назад +11

      @@aliexpress96 what exactly wasn't objective here?

    • @Eaglefan4ever
      @Eaglefan4ever 5 лет назад +6

      Isaac Zelinski Providing an understanding of a major nuclear accident by getting nuclear scientists answers to questions is not being objective in this situation.

    • @HalfDecentTrashCollection2001
      @HalfDecentTrashCollection2001 5 лет назад +17

      @@Eaglefan4ever That's exactly what objective journalism is actually. The news station is providing the facts about a situation.

    • @kid5rowck
      @kid5rowck 5 лет назад +3

      @@Eaglefan4ever what is your definition of objective then

  • @miked9000
    @miked9000 5 лет назад +6186

    when the american news gave us facts, not feelings.

    • @fubar12345
      @fubar12345 5 лет назад +176

      I like your rose coloured glasses, where can I get a pair?

    • @adnand4167
      @adnand4167 5 лет назад +59

      Because feels sell good but facts dont

    • @havanascp9602
      @havanascp9602 5 лет назад +76

      Ain't feels. Now is all propaganda 😬😬. Basically Cra p

    • @fullm3tal90
      @fullm3tal90 5 лет назад +73

      Funny there are a lot of “facts” conservatives never bring up

    • @happyhammer1
      @happyhammer1 5 лет назад +60

      @@fullm3tal90 both sides do this. A couple month ago on a panrl of jpurnalists Ted Koppel himself lambasted Brian Stetler about CNN chasing sensationalism over hard news

  • @lexavaritia7596
    @lexavaritia7596 5 лет назад +1800

    I miss old reporting like this. Id actually sit down and watch news like this

    • @matthewgabbard6415
      @matthewgabbard6415 2 года назад +30

      It’s still there at 6 and 11 o clock. Make the time

    • @LoudestHoward
      @LoudestHoward Год назад +15

      You might, we might, but not enough people would.

    • @Novastar6
      @Novastar6 Год назад +21

      @@LoudestHoward Everyone loves that opinion based news now

    • @qwerty6383
      @qwerty6383 Год назад +23

      we need more nuclear meltdowns

    • @jimsilvey5432
      @jimsilvey5432 Год назад +8

      @@qwerty6383
      Give it time.

  • @opticalecho119
    @opticalecho119 5 лет назад +2873

    Those computer graphics illustrating how a meltdown happens have both aged poorly and incredibly well at the same time

    • @harrysmith1700
      @harrysmith1700 5 лет назад +290

      I love old school graphics. Their simplicity communicated their subject clearly and straightforward.

    • @johanvangelderen289
      @johanvangelderen289 5 лет назад +131

      It was state of the art at the time. Not up to today's standards. Yet entirely sufficient to get the point across.

    • @gamestycon2239
      @gamestycon2239 5 лет назад +7

      k user and they fail in the important thing, to make you understand clearly whatever you are seeing it.

    • @VexaS1n
      @VexaS1n 4 года назад +52

      I have a curious affection for vintage graphics like that.

    • @XxSTAR1977WARSxX
      @XxSTAR1977WARSxX 4 года назад +25

      One of the experts refers to it as a “cartoon” later in the broadcast

  • @jamesdenofantiquity
    @jamesdenofantiquity 5 лет назад +1284

    No yelling, no hysterics, no monologues and no ramblings. Some men having an honest discussion of a news event. What happened to television news and how we watch it. I remember watching this program when serious news broke out like the World Series earthquake. Nobody was shouting and demanding, just reporting.

    • @crabapples1995
      @crabapples1995 5 лет назад +30

      I think loud people have aggressively demanded that everyone’s politics must be worn as a badge of honour.

    • @Dotalol123
      @Dotalol123 5 лет назад +23

      No mate, its the internet fault, if you are interested in facts you just need to do a ordinary google search and you can know everything that interests you anytime you want and depending on time you have you can become an expert on the topic, you dont have to wait for the news like 40 years ago, television producers are aware of that and instead of selling you facts they turned to sell you spectacles, television is just outdated thats all.

    • @TheHistoryPrincess
      @TheHistoryPrincess 5 лет назад +2

      Piers Morgan happened 😂😂

    • @paddle_my_mad_laddle
      @paddle_my_mad_laddle 5 лет назад +13

      That was back before politics became volatile. Before America experienced a political mid-life crisis following the rise of civil terror and fall of the soviet union. Without a common ideological enemy that Americans had held since the ww2, Americans would politically turn against each other. Furthermore, politics were less democratized back then, as in fewer people had an active platform to convey their opinions to thousands. Nowadays with the advent of the internet some bozo can write a politically charged twitter comment and have their opinion reach anywhere between four people to tens of millions of people. The old underground newspapers and cult-like political movements of insurgent groups in the late 19th century and early 20th century have risen to the top of media. Today the big wigs of mass media and anyone with a political opinion now fight on a leveled platform of the internet. It's only natural that this new feeling of distrust, social paranoia and contentious, volatile atmosphere of US social politics would encapsulate the modern America.

    • @jameskehoe5091
      @jameskehoe5091 5 лет назад +8

      News became partisan. Its sad. I miss watching the news and finding out about what is going on. No opinions, just information.

  • @donal935
    @donal935 5 лет назад +574

    The stark difference of class between the news then and the news now is jaw dropping.

    • @nominalize8162
      @nominalize8162 Год назад +62

      comments like these make me chuckle. This wasn't the regular news, this was Nightline, a late-night news-magazine whose mission was to go in-depth and avoid speculation and sensationalism.
      If you miss it, guess what: It's still on every weeknight on ABC, in the same time slot it always aired, so you can still enjoy that style of journalism.

    • @Meattornado
      @Meattornado Год назад +10

      Society changed the news went with it

    • @ShadowAngel18606
      @ShadowAngel18606 Год назад +3

      Propaganda hits different when nostalgia is involved. The experts on this american show are laughable actors (Why do i think of the Koloffs from wrestling?) and it paints a vastly different picture compared to what we experienced here in (then West) Germany and how it was reported here

    • @shaboopie12
      @shaboopie12 Год назад +3

      Part of the reason for this is due to something called the Fairness Doctrine that was introduced by the FCC in 1949. It was abolished in 1987.

    • @kochiyama
      @kochiyama 7 месяцев назад

      ​@@nominalize8162 Nightline's been a propaganda mouthpiece for over a decade now. These days are long gone, now it's all about how your baby is racist and we all need to give up our homes and cars and live in "15 minute" prison colony cities.

  • @smileplease_91
    @smileplease_91 5 лет назад +499

    I'm just flabbergasted at how amazing the news anchors are in conveying their message. No gimmicks, no drama- just straight facts. We need to get back to this type of journalism.

    • @robertshiell887
      @robertshiell887 8 месяцев назад +25

      It still exists, but is drowned out by the sensationalism surrounding it. Most news programs (either right or left wing) has a plain news component, it just doesn’t generate the outrage-and by extension the ratings.

    • @JayKno420
      @JayKno420 6 месяцев назад +6

      Nobody would watch it now unfortunately

    • @NotesNNotes
      @NotesNNotes 6 месяцев назад +2

      No, they still lied 😂. They just did it with more convincing presentation.

    • @gbodybala9295
      @gbodybala9295 6 месяцев назад +4

      @@NotesNNotes please elaborate how these journalists in this program were lying or you're just talking out of your butt! because this is just straight facts which is rare today by modern "journalists". this would be a breath of fresh air if aired today lol

    • @bramptongora2008
      @bramptongora2008 5 месяцев назад

      Today's American would never stand for it.
      Americans don't want information, they want to be told how to think. That's why there's no impartial news, 1980s ABC News wouldn't last a year.

  • @RainbowManification
    @RainbowManification 5 лет назад +791

    I love this. No talking heads. Any speculation is rooted in the facts of the issue currently available and is kept to a minimum. Interviews are with subject matter experts. Information is presented in a clear, concise, and non-sensationalized manner. It's so refreshing compared to the 24 hour cycle we have today

    • @nominalize8162
      @nominalize8162 Год назад +54

      This wasn't the regular news, this was Nightline, a late-night news-magazine whose mission was to go in-depth and avoid speculation and sensationalism.
      If you miss it, guess what: It's still on every weeknight on ABC, in the same time slot it always aired, so you can still enjoy that style of journalism.

    • @bradjames891
      @bradjames891 Год назад +3

      Yes. Conjecture is kept within its bounds.

    • @RobertCraft-re5sf
      @RobertCraft-re5sf 8 месяцев назад

      @ Are yoy kidding me?

    • @anthonydixon4636
      @anthonydixon4636 7 месяцев назад

      Weekends new on anc and cbs is geared towards news like this. Not one act plays for ones disdain over the left and right.

    • @Polit_Burro
      @Polit_Burro 7 месяцев назад

      "subject matter experts" = Establishment spokes-persons.

  • @JamesSavik
    @JamesSavik 5 лет назад +3876

    When the Soviets admitted they had a problem, you had to know it was a horrible disaster that shooting a few thousand peasants couldn't cover up.

    • @terrypennington2519
      @terrypennington2519 5 лет назад +110

      I laughed way too damn hard at this...

    • @daetslovactmandcarry6999
      @daetslovactmandcarry6999 5 лет назад +40

      True. 😒

    • @Petey0707
      @Petey0707 5 лет назад +201

      That doesn't even make sense. Ironic coming from a westerner when your history is steeped in genocide and slavery. Just remember what's happening to the whistleblowers who are exposing your corrupt politicians.

    • @daetslovactmandcarry6999
      @daetslovactmandcarry6999 5 лет назад +194

      +Karl V Redweld
      ¿Seriously bro? ¿Seriously? ¿You're _seriously_ gonna defend a genocide three times the size of HITLER'S in the post-Auswitz era by pointing out events over a half-century earlier to counter the observation that communist countries suppress even critical but basic public safety information?
      Tell me you're joking.

    • @amanisilvester26
      @amanisilvester26 5 лет назад +37

      @@daetslovactmandcarry6999 Mandatory Carry rich coming from a western shill such as yourself America has killed over 20 million people since ww2 more than Hitler killed Jews and Japanese killed other peoples combined you want to talk genocide talk about the inception of your country how many thousands of Indians did you wipe out before you ran out of easily obtainable land to steal?, Honestly the fact that your calling those other countries communist only shows your level of ignorance there has never been a communist country in human history only democracys, bureaucracys and dictatorships with varying degrees of socialist policys, you Americans are truly brainwashed from birth it's sad to see. smh

  • @seanz6586
    @seanz6586 5 лет назад +1105

    Wow! A news broadcast that actually wants to hear from scientists and experts in the field!!!!

    • @jefflewis4
      @jefflewis4 5 лет назад +44

      Nightline was an unusual show for the time. Rarely would you have gotten this much detail of coverage for one story back then. But Nightline would dedicate the full show (30 mins) to a single story. It was groundbreaking for its time.

    • @frankwm1988
      @frankwm1988 5 лет назад +2

      @@jefflewis4 Now solid news is cable's job, whether it's CNN, Fox, or MSNBC.

    • @shhsodjsjwiiqjsuakkajsheje1170
      @shhsodjsjwiiqjsuakkajsheje1170 5 лет назад

      Nature Boy In the mental asylums!

    • @basetpk
      @basetpk 5 лет назад +9

      "Lets go with Ja-Rule to get his opinion on this"

    • @jyrkijyrki9392
      @jyrkijyrki9392 4 года назад +11

      Now we can't have experts because that would trigger the left...

  • @lrmbvv
    @lrmbvv Год назад +28

    we took T. Copple for granted back then, flawless delivery, great program, News now is a mile wide and inch deep.

  • @madmanmapper
    @madmanmapper 5 лет назад +1913

    It's nice to watch REAL news for a change... even if it's really old.

    • @JoaoAlves-zz6tx
      @JoaoAlves-zz6tx 5 лет назад +74

      This is like ASMR for journalists. Feels really good to watch news without BS, even with some anti-commie moments.

    • @trulymeparker
      @trulymeparker 5 лет назад +15

      Your comment made me feel ancient because I'm from 1975

    • @linkplays95
      @linkplays95 5 лет назад +2

      Mhm

    • @-Danny
      @-Danny 5 лет назад +26

      This video held my attention and left me satisfied. Normally I am disinterested in broadcasted news, but even though I already knew the story, this video kept my curiosity. It feels strange to enjoy old news like this.
      I’m curious to watch other news reports from this time period. Do they hold up to this example?
      At the same time, I‘m disappointed that I was not around for reports like these. Although I’m hopeful a new standard for succinct news like so arise in popularity.

    • @gsxerwhite
      @gsxerwhite 5 лет назад +1

      jmarks881 it was HER turn

  • @barleysixseventwo6665
    @barleysixseventwo6665 5 лет назад +947

    USSR: Comrads we may have had a minor accident.
    West: There has been a major Nuclear Incident in Chernobyl!
    USSR: No I said MINOR accident.
    West: We heard you. If it was really a minor incident you wouldn’t be telling us about it.
    USSR: What if we had told you it was a major accident?
    West: We’d discuss the feasibility of continental evacuations and go from there.

    • @malikmoin7598
      @malikmoin7598 5 лет назад +42

      You, sir, must delve in screenwriting 😉

    • @LorenzSinclair
      @LorenzSinclair 5 лет назад +6

      Just change accident with incident and incident with accident

    • @lv4u2
      @lv4u2 5 лет назад +22

      You just illustrated the political feeling at that time

    • @LaserTractor
      @LaserTractor 5 лет назад +2

      Cpt Lorenz Sinclair as a russian who's trying to learn english
      What's the difference?

    • @LorenzSinclair
      @LorenzSinclair 5 лет назад

      @@LaserTractor uh search it up , I don't actually remember anymore

  • @Muonium1
    @Muonium1 7 лет назад +554

    A fascinating historical artifact.

    • @Deplorable_Nerfherder
      @Deplorable_Nerfherder 7 лет назад +1

      10mintwo it's still playing out presently, and will have significant effects for another 600 years

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +1

      Chernobyl will be fine In the year 501987

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +1

      Chernobyl will be fine in the year 501987

  • @miguelrivera3383
    @miguelrivera3383 Год назад +135

    I really do miss real journalism. Ted Koppel /Nightline was one of my favorite news shows back then too

    • @JustinEdge-i3i
      @JustinEdge-i3i Год назад +1

      Well it’s was different but the internet wasn’t available to the public at this time so ppl ain’t taking sides or whatever

    • @ovalwingnut
      @ovalwingnut 8 месяцев назад

      Yes Mig*. Today it's just "Doom Scrolling" on the net...

  • @jcb5782
    @jcb5782 5 лет назад +957

    You know, I kinda want to start a talkshow like this. No jokes, no humor, no political aims, no unneccesary special effects, just reviewing the most influential event of the week in an objective manner.

    • @raymond4955
      @raymond4955 5 лет назад +5

      I want more talkshows like this:
      ruclips.net/video/4Q4O5ztz92o/видео.html

    • @dreamabyss5423
      @dreamabyss5423 5 лет назад +29

      You'd have to at least talk about the Kardasians or not enough people will watch.

    • @ryanpatron6940
      @ryanpatron6940 5 лет назад +6

      I’d watch it.

    • @CatFoodCritic
      @CatFoodCritic 5 лет назад +2

      Did you do it?

    • @kaps89
      @kaps89 5 лет назад

      Raymond why are you geh

  • @alexmcqueen2748
    @alexmcqueen2748 5 лет назад +534

    Then "- and to discuss the potential outcomes here is an expert in the field..."
    Now "- and to discuss these findings is our topic correspondent..."

    • @crashlogger4283
      @crashlogger4283 5 лет назад +49

      And as a professional, we'll talk to this 7 year old we told we'd give a lollipop if he talked to us

    • @drone_video9849
      @drone_video9849 5 лет назад +6

      ​@Ken Lompart not if you hold down the Mute :-) but yeah your right on this.

    • @Dylan-xv3hp
      @Dylan-xv3hp 5 лет назад +5

      @@crashlogger4283 If he read this script*

    • @njclondon2009
      @njclondon2009 5 лет назад +11

      too true. ahh, the age of reasoned reporting. I think you're being kind, i think today there would be a little scrolling text saying, "BREAKING NEWS: RUSSIAN NUCLEAR MELTDOWN ENDANGERS THE LIFE OF MILLIONS"

    • @isaac_aren
      @isaac_aren 5 лет назад +10

      Now "-and to give their thoughts on these findings, here is a random celebrity"

  • @eFeXuy
    @eFeXuy 5 лет назад +478

    It's only 3.6 roetgens. I've been told it's the same as a chest x-ray.

    • @vikasagarwal9205
      @vikasagarwal9205 5 лет назад +141

      Not great not terrible.

    • @convilcali
      @convilcali 5 лет назад +3

      Did you hear that on Glenn beck show?

    • @filipinowhiteboy
      @filipinowhiteboy 5 лет назад +23

      @@convilcali It's from the HBO show

    • @vercoda9997
      @vercoda9997 5 лет назад +49

      An exposure that’s over very quickly indeed, Not sustained. You might as well waft your fingertip through the world’s smallest candle flame, and claim how harmless it is. Holding that fingertip in place for 40 minutes over that tiny flame, however...

    • @jaybeeo1530
      @jaybeeo1530 5 лет назад +16

      Yeah 400 of them..

  • @ptrekboxbreaks5198
    @ptrekboxbreaks5198 2 года назад +49

    TV from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s is so nostalgic

  • @TickleFingers
    @TickleFingers 6 лет назад +565

    I remember when news was just "news"......... I miss the 80's and 90's.

    • @northroad1
      @northroad1 5 лет назад +8

      Plenty of spin and no one to contradict it

    • @user-ri5oc5rw5b
      @user-ri5oc5rw5b 5 лет назад +13

      Now is political political political political political and COMMUNISM

    • @novemberajax3226
      @novemberajax3226 5 лет назад +3

      I say the same, and I from the other country.

    • @cesarcedillos1032
      @cesarcedillos1032 5 лет назад +18

      Fox News started in 1996, that’s when the news went to the shitter.

    • @vercoda9997
      @vercoda9997 5 лет назад +2

      Leave America then. Most of the rest of our countries just present the news without the toxic spin and personality-led segments that’s destroyed America’s limited news.

  • @lilcam-qk9mp
    @lilcam-qk9mp 6 лет назад +260

    Back when news was simply news and not this modern cancer we have now

    • @u.v.s.5583
      @u.v.s.5583 Год назад

      Back when you actually didn't need to watch the news to get cancer. In those days you could simply breathe in the iodine and get your cancer.

  • @helenaprimera516
    @helenaprimera516 5 лет назад +461

    "worst case scenario is reactor meltdown"
    OH LITTLE DID THEY KNOW BACK THEN

    • @helenaprimera516
      @helenaprimera516 5 лет назад +68

      ​@@PSNcharlie97 Chernobyl wasnt only explosion. It was core explosion with radioactive fallout on half of the planet, threat of the massive steam explosion with same fallout, and meltdown actually happened too, its just that bottom part was reinforced in time, before it forced through concrete to the soil. This is worst case scenario. Half of the europe got higher cancer rates, irradiated forests in north, irradiated water, Soviet republics got affected by this too. It got INES rank 7 for a reason.

    • @Zappina
      @Zappina 5 лет назад +16

      @@helenaprimera516 Chernobyl was a partial reactor wall meltdown and a steam explosion. It could have worse though, a full reactor meltdown when the steam build up pressure which then break the protective wall apart in a huge steam explosion, carrying radioactive material all around a huge area. There is no core explosion, the core melted down to the basement where it formed the thing called Elephant Foot.

    • @spankthemonkey3437
      @spankthemonkey3437 5 лет назад +1

      ForMan Kind like in Japan

    • @Beans360
      @Beans360 4 года назад +5

      @@PSNcharlie97 not true. A core reactor exploding spewing high levels of radiation into the atmosphere for months is far worse than fuel leaking into the ground. If a meltdown had occurred then yes it would of potential contaminated the ground water mildly over the Ukrainian but not as much as the contamination of what the radioactive particles spewed out into the atmosphere which contaminated much more than water. And let's not forget a meltdown takes time and can be prevented which is why they had time to reinforce the protection underneath the reactor. The core exploding was instant.

    • @ucirak
      @ucirak 2 года назад

      @@helenaprimera516 you are writing nonsense, I am from Czechoslovakia and there was no nuclear explosion at that time. There was a melting of the fuel cells in the reactor and the subsequent rupture of the reactor due to the accumulation of energy to a critical point, and radioactivity escaped into the air from the burning reactor.

  • @miroslawczajka3577
    @miroslawczajka3577 4 года назад +20

    Excellent and interesting material! It was amazing to get the perception of the event from "the other side" of the wall. In 1986 I was child in Poland and believe me - the event was widely present in the state media and "in the streets". Poland - despite the advice from our "Big Brother" from the east - took a lot of preventive actions to protect their own citizens from the aftermath of this catastrophe.

  • @TechBuRn1337
    @TechBuRn1337 5 лет назад +395

    Could we please go back to media like this?

    • @ehex3
      @ehex3 5 лет назад +23

      There's no profit in it

    • @Holret
      @Holret 5 лет назад

      We kind are already there - just a hint of BS you have to be able to sniff out.

    • @megsinzoa7424
      @megsinzoa7424 5 лет назад +2

      Just stop watching the news.....

    • @paulallen8109
      @paulallen8109 4 года назад +3

      The ADHD generation with the 5 second attention span wouldn't watch it I'm afraid. They get all their "news" from their favorite social media "celebrity" anyhow which is why quite a high percentage of them only speak internet meme and repeat things like parrots.

    • @eloisanzara237
      @eloisanzara237 4 года назад

      Paul Allen I was going to fight you there, but I just remembered that my generation literally forgot the fact that Cardi B literally robbed someone. When I brought it up, they didn’t care that their favorite artist is a thief.

  • @NJbldragon
    @NJbldragon 5 лет назад +97

    After seeing Chernobyl, this news segment is haunting knowing some of the implications of the size of the disaster.

  • @vapingcat1885
    @vapingcat1885 5 лет назад +61

    I am from Slovakia, and I can confirm that the first time the public was informed of this accident was from Austria, because the capital is almost on the borders, people were able to tune in non Soviet channels, which was almost 2 days sooner than Soviets admitted, and if that's not enought, Soviets said nothing about safety precautions, while In Vienna it was not advised to open windows and go into sand and dirt

    • @Opiuth
      @Opiuth Год назад +3

      Heh, I was playing in the sandbox in Sweden when the rain came. Strange thing is that the suicidal rate spiked and was one if not the highest in the country. Scientists still monitor wild boars in Uppsala and Gävle.

    • @LMB222
      @LMB222 Год назад

      We in Poland listened to Western radio and we also knew immediately.
      Commies had to admit something was wrong when the streets got completely empty - and it was an unusually sunny and warm spring.
      And then they started handing out iodine to kids and pregnant women, so any pretense of "nothing happened" was blown off.

  • @PetersPianoShoppe
    @PetersPianoShoppe Год назад +28

    Man, that ABC Nightline theme instantly brings back my childhood.

  • @PlaceStillMatters
    @PlaceStillMatters 5 лет назад +563

    I bet this clip is going to get a decent uptick in viewership due to HBO’s excellent new miniseries “Chernobyl” (admittedly based on just the first episode). And yes, television news used to be MUCH LESS entertaining and MUCH MORE informative. Oh, how I miss real journalism.

    • @gotch09
      @gotch09 5 лет назад +4

      I saw episode 3 last night. Ending was so sad.

    • @mrbriscoe2001
      @mrbriscoe2001 5 лет назад +4

      No more Ted Koppells, either...

    • @FallKrietr
      @FallKrietr 5 лет назад +2

      I agreed, disasters are entertaining indeed.

    • @gowersup6441
      @gowersup6441 5 лет назад +1

      Keith Bell congrats for copying other people’s comments bro

    • @artistwithouttalent
      @artistwithouttalent 4 года назад

      I'll be honest, this is more entertaining, too. Watching the imbeciles I see on TV news flailing about and parroting the party line of whoever their viewers support makes me long for the sweet release of death. There's something very interesting to watch about smart people being competent.

  • @promiscuouscrab4040
    @promiscuouscrab4040 5 лет назад +185

    Wow I’m hearing facts....clear, concise, unadulterated, informative facts! No unyielding bias, no speculation, just information based on measurements and observations.

    • @JustinDeFouw
      @JustinDeFouw 5 лет назад +4

      The news I miss when I was a kid. And I will never forget that famous opening theme.

    • @bunqiejump
      @bunqiejump 5 лет назад +19

      the whole report is almost all speculation though, informed speculation but at the time no one knew for sure

    • @jenniferclark9842
      @jenniferclark9842 5 лет назад +5

      bunqiejump All they could do then was make educated guesses, based on what little information they had and their expertise (nuclear science).

    • @luxborealis
      @luxborealis 5 лет назад +2

      But most of the speculation is wrong... For example the reactor didn’t have a meltdown until weeks after this, as a result of the dumping of boron sand.

    • @ConkersBFDN64
      @ConkersBFDN64 5 лет назад +7

      Most of it is speculation, but it was made absolutely clear what was fact and what was hypothesis. Plus it was well explained how they used the few facts they had to get to their hypothesis.

  • @chrismeier5553
    @chrismeier5553 5 лет назад +227

    I feel like I actually learned something . The news was also a source of knowledge with what’s going on. Now it’s just people yelling “you’re wrong”

    • @jenniferclark9842
      @jenniferclark9842 4 года назад +1

      Chris Meier And people wonder why I don’t watch the news anymore. It gives me a headache. I turn on the Weather Channel in the morning, and that’s it.

    • @nubreed13
      @nubreed13 2 года назад +3

      yeah everything went sideways when the fairness doctrine was removed.

    • @nominalize8162
      @nominalize8162 Год назад +6

      Fun fact: This wasn't the regular news, this was Nightline, a late-night news-magazine whose mission was to go in-depth and avoid speculation and sensationalism. It made Ted Koppel a household name.
      If you miss that style, guess what: Nightline is still on EVERY weeknight on ABC, in the same time slot it always aired, so you can still enjoy that style of journalism.

  • @IhmePinokkio
    @IhmePinokkio Год назад +59

    My mother might have been victim of this fallout in southern Finland. We live in area where the fallout was one of the heaviest.
    She died 3 years after this "accident" to bone cancer.

    • @Opiuth
      @Opiuth Год назад +7

      Question. Did the suicide rate spike in your area? Because in Sweden where I live it did.

    • @brucheweinberger6863
      @brucheweinberger6863 Год назад +10

      She probably was. My friend's cousin died of cancer as he was a soldier that was sent to clean up there without adequate protection.

    • @NGabunchanumbers
      @NGabunchanumbers 7 месяцев назад +5

      Sorry for your mother. Just curious, why did you put accident in quotations?

    • @kathykillgore6440
      @kathykillgore6440 6 месяцев назад +1

      sorry for your loss

    • @Cool_Jack
      @Cool_Jack 3 месяца назад +1

      ​@@NGabunchanumberscause the word accident means that there was no intention to cause harm and there's no one to blame

  • @ylette
    @ylette 5 лет назад +439

    Living in Denmark in 1986 I got really tired of the Soviet Union once they started spewing radioactive clouds over us and not telling us what was going on.

    • @unitedwestand56
      @unitedwestand56 5 лет назад +110

      Don't worry, I lived in Odessa, Ukraine at the time, and they didn't tell us neither

    • @radiostalker740
      @radiostalker740 5 лет назад +17

      You said like they did it to actually hurt people. This was a catastrophy, a lot of people got sick and died. Have you read about Ukrainian and Russian casualties? Blame Gorbachev and his friends, not the country and regime.

    • @snx70
      @snx70 5 лет назад +17

      Not being told in Denmark? I'm Danish and clearly remember the incident in 1986 - concerns over fallout was very common in Danish news. I also remember a school trip to the East getting cancelled because the school was concerned of contaminated food. Obviously nobody knew the FULL extent of the incident, we barely do now :)

    • @unitedwestand56
      @unitedwestand56 5 лет назад +43

      @@snx70 I think he meant the Soviets who provided delayed and limited information about the event.

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +6

      Think those Chernobyl workers saved millions. And millions of white people when they shut down the reactor god. Bless them white lives matter

  • @impasse0124
    @impasse0124 5 лет назад +319

    It’s scary to watch this old footage knowing in retrospect that it wasn’t a meltdown but an explosion and that the damage was far more serious than anyone outside of the USSR could’ve known.

    • @natlek08
      @natlek08 5 лет назад +28

      Not only outside of the USSR but people living in the Soviet Union too. Only people who were in the communist party or directly saw the site knew what happened in its entirety until after the fall of the USSR and the large majority of the people who saw it died prematurely. Most of the documents weren't declassified until the late 90's, early 2000s. Even months after the accident, citizens from the exclusion zone were never told they could never go home. More people within the USSR learned of the accident from allied forces radio broadcasts than from their own government.

    • @cromagn1n
      @cromagn1n 5 лет назад +29

      It was a meltdown resulting from an explosion.

    • @jlgunn922
      @jlgunn922 5 лет назад +12

      To give them credit though, they do state multiple times that the fact that the Soviets are acknowledging that anything happened at all is telling that this is extremely serious and something to be very worried about

    • @pepebeezon772
      @pepebeezon772 5 лет назад +24

      It is a meltdown... You can't have a nuclear explosion from a reactor. In a nuclear bomb they use uranium with around 50% U235(the enriched isotope). The Rbmk uses a 2% enriched uranium (only 2% of the uranium atoms are U235) while the naturally occurring uranium only contains 0.7%. And there are even reactors who uses non-enriched uranium like CANDU. A reactor can't cause a nuclear explosion. Look it up.
      A meltdown means a reactor over heating melting the concret core and releasing the radioactive isotopes into the environment. When you hear about a nuclear reactor explosion it's most likely caused by steam because a reactor is hot and that's how they make power.

    • @Zappina
      @Zappina 5 лет назад +10

      @@pepebeezon772 Nicely done. Clearly you cant have nuclear explosion from a power plant, but you can have an explosion, steam or electrical. Although the reactor melted down, it was only partial, otherwise the damage would be far worse.
      Good to know some people are still use their brains and the informations readily available to them.

  • @willypete1897
    @willypete1897 5 лет назад +379

    Teds hair absorbed most of the radiation. Ted is a hero.

  • @ronaldgarrison8478
    @ronaldgarrison8478 4 года назад +48

    The containment buildings on US reactors were emphasized quite a bit. But this was two days after the accident, and they didn't know then the full scope of what happened. We now know that the explosion was huge, to the extent that any of our containments would have been destroyed. The explosion blew the lid off the reactor hall-I think it was 1000 tonnes, and blown a dozens of meters into the air. This was not just a meltdown, but much more extreme.

    • @Kyle-gb9dq
      @Kyle-gb9dq Год назад +5

      Our reactors won't explode like that one did. Ours are a different design. They just melt down. But ours have a containment building, their's does not.

    • @ronaldgarrison8478
      @ronaldgarrison8478 Год назад +5

      @@Kyle-gb9dq Por dios you don't have to explain that to me. None of that relates to my comment. Again: No containment could have contained the Chernobyl explosion, which was far too violent to contain.

    • @totalyep
      @totalyep Год назад +2

      They failed to mention that the use reactors are water moderated making them much safer. The Soviet designs use boron for moderation making them unstable by design.

    • @ProfessorIgor
      @ProfessorIgor 8 месяцев назад +2

      An RBMK containment vessel would have to have been ridiculously strong and big.. Like the RBMK itself. They're GINORMOUS.

    • @ronaldgarrison8478
      @ronaldgarrison8478 8 месяцев назад

      @@ProfessorIgor Exactly. In fact, if such a containment were in place, anything and anyone within it would probably have been destroyed. There might have even been serious problems with the ground supporting such a structure. It might have been even more extreme than the present New Safe Confinement.

  • @Emmet72
    @Emmet72 5 лет назад +61

    Just another incident that made the 80s a wild decade

  • @fratercontenduntocculta8161
    @fratercontenduntocculta8161 5 лет назад +73

    its quite interesting to read all of the comments about how happy we would all be if the media just gave up the act it's using now. I would be too. I'm glad the internet exists to let us see great old stuff like this.

    • @sillygoose635
      @sillygoose635 5 лет назад +2

      There is no act, maybe if idiots weren't so blindly stupid, we would have a better world

    • @cadinnelson5168
      @cadinnelson5168 5 лет назад +2

      Stevie what do you mean by “there is no act?”

  • @timfenton7469
    @timfenton7469 5 лет назад +19

    Real journalism, refreshing.

  • @play-doughsrepublic5121
    @play-doughsrepublic5121 Год назад +5

    Thank you for this.
    I remember that event.
    Ted Koppel handele this in a professional manner, as he always has.

  • @reaganforsythe9735
    @reaganforsythe9735 6 лет назад +272

    One of the reactors has been "damaged"

    • @nolen1960
      @nolen1960 6 лет назад +37

      It should have been called destroyed.

    • @baruchben-david4196
      @baruchben-david4196 5 лет назад +46

      Yeah. You blow up the reactor, it's damaged. It's just amazing that the Soviet Union even acknowledged anything happened. They were great for just denying everything.

    • @iuliya95
      @iuliya95 5 лет назад +1

      Baruch Ben-David bullshit. In a first day the personnel didn’t know that the reactor was blown up. They even tried to flow water there

    • @DocC993
      @DocC993 5 лет назад +11

      Even this broadcast doesn't know the full extent of it; they talk about full meltdown, when actually the core exploded! Even worse than anyone at that time could imagine. One can see why even Soviet officials were in denial at first.

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +2

      In the Chernobyl hbo movie the Chernobyl power plant looks like it was built in the year 1900

  • @neoamaru
    @neoamaru 5 лет назад +85

    y'know, for the time, the graphics and visuals looked awesome!

    • @Pidalin
      @Pidalin 5 лет назад +3

      compared to communist TV news really yes :-D

  • @sweetnsour3693
    @sweetnsour3693 5 лет назад +84

    I like how professional this all is.

  • @RedAngelS60R
    @RedAngelS60R 3 месяца назад +3

    I got a RUclips ad exactly at 19:33, and I am not even mad. I didn't even realize I could skip it.

  • @simokoistinen7470
    @simokoistinen7470 5 лет назад +765

    This comment section in nutshell:
    Everyone came here when they watched HBO's Chernobyl and got satisfied by old news.

    • @karlisulmanis3810
      @karlisulmanis3810 5 лет назад +5

      I haven't watched the HBO series yet...
      watch me edit this in a few years when I've watched it

    • @VicMcFly111
      @VicMcFly111 5 лет назад

      Simo Koistinen täähän se ois

    • @TechnologicallyTechnical
      @TechnologicallyTechnical 5 лет назад +16

      You forgot about all the comments of boomers complaining about the news nowadays

    • @kingkold
      @kingkold 5 лет назад

      True for me lol

    • @Zappina
      @Zappina 5 лет назад

      Never watched that crap. Its more like a western type docudrama than anything else.

  • @K3v114
    @K3v114 5 лет назад +49

    The map they show at 9:02 is wrong.
    Chernobyl is 30 miles north.
    That shows you just how little information they had on the soviets.

    • @Metal_Enjoyer
      @Metal_Enjoyer 5 лет назад +10

      ksw33n3y yeah but nowadays with our more advanced mapping tech we would probably be able to figure it out even if they still didn’t release any information

    • @Indipuk
      @Indipuk 5 лет назад +12

      Soviet union never released any precious maps. It was all a military secret

  • @stanleyqc2244
    @stanleyqc2244 5 лет назад +16

    I'm really impressed by the quality of journalism in this 33 year old footage.
    People actually seem to be knowledgeable about the subjects they're talking about.
    6:26
    "... or is it normal human instinct to cut corners?" - Very well said!

    • @Lyne_Taperz
      @Lyne_Taperz 7 месяцев назад

      Yeah I was like : "oh you could say that on TV thirty years ago."

  • @metalgearsolidsnake6978
    @metalgearsolidsnake6978 4 года назад +11

    Always nice to see back in history:) Thank you for this:)

  • @MrSpruce
    @MrSpruce 5 лет назад +17

    Two men from my Stepmother's village in Latvia went to help. They both died in the same summer as one another two years later, in their forties.

  • @NullyBird
    @NullyBird 5 лет назад +246

    American Media: "Something terrible has happened"
    VIewer: "What are they going to bait me with this time?"
    Soviet Media: "An accident has occured"
    Viewer: "I'm dead"

    • @abasvee
      @abasvee 8 месяцев назад +1

      Well, is it tho?
      "Between 1951 and 1992, the U.S. government conducted a total of 928 nuclear tests here (Nevada test site). Out of these tests 100 were atmospheric, and 828 were underground. "
      How many information of this tests have you got from your government?

  • @Lex5576
    @Lex5576 6 лет назад +117

    This marked the beginning of the end for the Communists in Russia. Times really sucked for the Russians at this point. Not just Chernobyl, but also the 40th Army's performance (shellacking) in Afghanistan, food shortages, and economic stagnation. The Russian people went from loving the Regime.....to distrusting the Regime....and finally hating the Regime. I'm certain Gorbachev knew what Chernobyl meant, the very existence of Soviet society was about to die.

    • @furrball
      @furrball 5 лет назад +3

      we need another one today to stop Putin and his disgusting levels of conservatism. Anyone volunteering to blow up one of the remaining RBMKs, say in Kursk? :D

    • @watchrami
      @watchrami 5 лет назад +3

      Loving the regime? :)

    • @jonver1104
      @jonver1104 5 лет назад +1

      Soviet union never really had anything good that was given to their people and to those nations they've controlled, like north korea and East Germany.

    • @_Andrew2002
      @_Andrew2002 5 лет назад +10

      @@furrball Trust me, Conservatism is a lot better than socialism. Heck anything between moderate left and moderate right is better than socialism

    • @dreamabyss5423
      @dreamabyss5423 5 лет назад +3

      It was the beginning of Glasnost that eventually led to the destruction of the Soviet empire.

  • @Keichwoud357
    @Keichwoud357 5 лет назад +19

    Back when information was not instantly available to everyone, giving news media actual purpose and responsibility, which they did their best to cherish.

  • @ohiopower
    @ohiopower 6 лет назад +77

    Blew up 2 days before this broadcast.

    • @Shadow77999
      @Shadow77999 5 лет назад +2

      So scherbina was on the helicopter with legasov then this was aired :D

    • @Shadow77999
      @Shadow77999 5 лет назад

      So scherbina was with scherbina on its way to the reactor when this happened :D

    • @mtphill71
      @mtphill71 5 лет назад +1

      How you still alive? 💥

  • @C.Dynamo
    @C.Dynamo 5 лет назад +2509

    Who else is here after watching *HBO'S CHERNOBYL*

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +32

      That movie is great hbo

    • @marieantoinettescake9513
      @marieantoinettescake9513 5 лет назад +34

      I'm here after watching Game of Thrones. 👍

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +16

      I can't wait for episode two of Chernobyl that first episode was great and historic it was real cool how many episodes will there be of Chernobyl ?

    • @Cinemaphile7783
      @Cinemaphile7783 5 лет назад +5

      @@marieantoinettescake9513
      In Chernobyl they were tickling the dragons tail and got swatted.

    • @MrGutty117
      @MrGutty117 5 лет назад +8

      @@jonjonas2528 5 episodes total, the 2nd one is already out. They premier every monday.

  • @mothra__13
    @mothra__13 6 лет назад +123

    man, old school american news reporting was the shit. nowadays we're, ironically, much closer to the soviet model of "journalism."

    • @joshgellis6098
      @joshgellis6098 6 лет назад +1

      bleh has brains. WTF!? 🤣😂

    • @Gozoman24
      @Gozoman24 2 года назад +5

      We call that "propaganda."

    • @user-ok2yb5zi2g
      @user-ok2yb5zi2g 2 года назад +3

      That man WAS 👨 the shit. I love how he actually breaks it down. More information than any of the knews I see now.

    • @bmasters1981
      @bmasters1981 2 года назад

      @@user-ok2yb5zi2g Ted Koppel?

  • @mitchceiling1506
    @mitchceiling1506 Год назад +18

    I miss when the news reporting was like this. This kind of reporting died in the late 90’s and was cremated after 9/11

    • @artistwithouttalent
      @artistwithouttalent 6 месяцев назад

      I'd like to make a joke about jet fuel melting media criticism and integrity in news reporting, but I hate conspiracy theorists too much.

  • @sidneyfrederickson3941
    @sidneyfrederickson3941 5 лет назад +59

    I remember when this happened and the reaction at the UN. At one point the ambassador from Denmark turning to the Soviets and shouting "YOU HAVE MURDERED US!"

    • @theotherotter
      @theotherotter 5 лет назад +10

      is somewhere on internet the footage of this ? i really want to see the meeting.

    • @jenniferclark9842
      @jenniferclark9842 5 лет назад +10

      He shouldn’t have held back. He should have been more blunt.

    • @TheRealCaptainJamesTKirk
      @TheRealCaptainJamesTKirk 5 лет назад +15

      Gorbachev made a statement about opinion of the USSR being lowered, and you have to give him credit. I mean, when global opinion of your nation is already shit, and you find a way to lower it, that's an accomplishment.

  • @albertowen1025
    @albertowen1025 7 лет назад +98

    I really remember this vividly - my ex-fiancée was living in West Germany at that time and Ramstein AFB was in full panic mode because of fallout. Whatever became of her after that...never heard back from her after June 6, 1986. Also - that Marshall Goldman is in fact Food Network's Duff Goldman's father...a little trivia for you.

    • @WadcaWymiaru
      @WadcaWymiaru 7 лет назад +4

      Nothing happen and shrooms in German are MORE contaminated than apples in Czarnobyl...

    • @realspecialweek
      @realspecialweek 7 лет назад +14

      Nothing would've happened, she was well away from any severely affected area.

    • @shastealyomeal
      @shastealyomeal 6 лет назад +7

      Albert Owen What Do You Think Happened To Her

    • @deadfreightwest5956
      @deadfreightwest5956 6 лет назад +8

      + Albert Owen - I, too, recall this. I was at work in 1986 when the story broke and I heard it on the radio. Previously, the most significant events in my life were: The downing of KAL 007, and the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and Mt St Helens flipping her lid. Well, there you go again.

    • @krashd
      @krashd 5 лет назад +6

      Your fiancee goes missing so you just get on with your life?

  • @nate1988
    @nate1988 5 лет назад +53

    HBO's 'Chernobyl' is fantastic so far and used some of this footage in their second episode. Highly recommended!

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +3

      Chernobyl is great so action. Packed with adventure what a great action movie the best part no black in the movie

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +1

      Chernobyl should have happened in Africa not the Soviet Union white lives matter

    • @TheRealCaptainJamesTKirk
      @TheRealCaptainJamesTKirk 5 лет назад +2

      @@jonjonas2528 it may interest you to know that Russia sent a team to South Africa to possibly help build nuclear reactors there, and the team came back stating that would be a horrible idea.

  • @guidosarducci209
    @guidosarducci209 8 дней назад +2

    Getting to the description of a "possible meltdown", my reaction: "Oh, it was much worse than that. They had NO idea." The reactor core exploded violently into the air, blowing the top off the building and combining radioactive graphite with oxygen under high heat, generating a secondary explosion. The reactor became a thermonuclear bomb. The graphite left in the core continued to burn, releasing a constants stream of radioactive material into the atmosphere which likely would have exterminated most of Europe had they not somehow managed to contain it. The description on Nighline was incredibly tame compared to what really happened.

    • @VeronicaGorositoMusic
      @VeronicaGorositoMusic 22 часа назад

      It wasn't a ''bomb'', it was a steam explosion. That it was due to fisible materials is just secondary. What was really dangerous is the molten core reaching the water reservoirs in the lower parts of the building, which could've lead to a thermonuclear reaction, which didn't happened.

    • @guidosarducci209
      @guidosarducci209 15 часов назад

      @@VeronicaGorositoMusic There was a secondary explosion. The steam was the first one.

  • @mathgasm8484
    @mathgasm8484 5 лет назад +78

    My parents would not let me play in the sandbox till the sand was replaced and the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl was gone.

    • @rachelslur8729
      @rachelslur8729 5 лет назад +7

      Seems reasonable, I wouldn't want my kids possiby eating on touching a radioactive partice.

    • @thedemonhater7748
      @thedemonhater7748 5 лет назад +10

      ุุ ุ it doesn’t make any sense. If the sand is radioactive, so is everything else.

    • @mathgasm8484
      @mathgasm8484 5 лет назад

      @@thedemonhater7748 They waited till the military base replaced it. It was the 80s after all.

    • @leovikstrom8266
      @leovikstrom8266 5 лет назад +4

      Thedemonhater That’s not how it works

    • @sigsin1
      @sigsin1 5 лет назад

      Yeah...talk to the downwinders of the Nevada Test Site.

  • @LMacNeill
    @LMacNeill 6 лет назад +25

    I remember this happening. Shocking that it was 32 years ago now. Seems like it was much more recent than that.

  • @zcdc4689
    @zcdc4689 5 лет назад +33

    Tremendous to watch this. Respect to all of them.

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +2

      God bless those Chernobyl workers that shut down that nuclear reactor they saved millions and millions of white people that night and the Chernobyl fireman that stopped a nuclear explosion that would have destroyed the Ukraine thank you and God bless and remember white lives matter

    • @Robert_B_445
      @Robert_B_445 5 лет назад +2

      @Jon Jones why are you bringing race into this?

  • @VenerableBede2510
    @VenerableBede2510 20 дней назад +3

    Reagan called Gorbachev and offered any help necessary. Gorbachev frankly told him they didn’t know what help that could be

  • @bloodranger1188
    @bloodranger1188 5 лет назад +112

    “Damaged reactor” is an understatement 😂

    • @bernybrandon
      @bernybrandon 2 года назад +6

      its triple of an understatement bro

    • @KingThrillgore
      @KingThrillgore 2 года назад +4

      It blew its top off.

    • @danielcarlson800
      @danielcarlson800 Год назад

      It melted to nothing.

    • @u.v.s.5583
      @u.v.s.5583 Год назад

      - The reactor is damaged.
      - How do you know?
      - It is not there anymore!
      - If it is not there, how do you know it is damaged? Comrade, stop spreading disinformation or you go to jail and your family gets shot in Siberia!

    • @livethefuture2492
      @livethefuture2492 Год назад +4

      That's what the Soviets do...

  • @MichaelJW72
    @MichaelJW72 5 лет назад +70

    The USSR couldn't keep this one covered up because Chernobyl was too close to the rest of Europe including US Allies who raised the alarm.

    • @paulallen8109
      @paulallen8109 4 года назад +14

      Sure thing. The first reports came from a Swedish nuclear plant (Forsmark) which discovered unusually high levels of radiation outside their own plant. Last time I checked Sweden was neutral during the Cold War and not part of any "alliance". No "US Allies" raised the alarm. Sweden did and they correctly concluded the radiation probably stemmed from the Soviet Union and openly told it to international media. THIS forced the Soviet Union to come forth and admit there had been an accident at Chernobyl. Btw, Finland (also a neutral country) had discovered high levels of radiation even before that but they chose to delay the news another day by which time Sweden had already told the world.
      You brush up on your history. A neutral nation raised the alarm. Period.

    • @LordZontar
      @LordZontar 3 года назад +6

      "A nuclear plant in Sweden has detected radiation, and identified it as a byproduct of our fuel. The Americans took satellite photos of the reactor building, the smoke, the fire. The whole world knows. The wind has been blowing toward Germany. They're not letting children play outside, in Frankfurt."

    • @johnroscoe2406
      @johnroscoe2406 Год назад +1

      @@paulallen8109 Were you really THAT mad about his comment?

  • @Tortuosit
    @Tortuosit 5 лет назад +23

    Even in Germany, which is always maybe 2-5 years behind the US, every snowstorm is now a "end of the world" disaster. Was surprised how calm the abc news were.

    • @atomsmash100
      @atomsmash100 4 года назад +3

      That's how it used to be on every network. Now the news in the U.S. is a disgrace, with the exception of PBS. Just the news, please. Thank you.

  • @AndrewTubbiolo
    @AndrewTubbiolo 4 года назад +13

    It's stunning how 24 hours into the crisis, how much of the prognosticated points came out to be true when everything played out.

    • @CatroiOz
      @CatroiOz Год назад +5

      It's because they actually do not speculate on things they don't know about. Meaning their predictions are based on the facts they have. Notice how many times they say "we do not know" and move on to what they know. You wouldn't have that nowadays unfortunately.

  • @TheVredeHunter
    @TheVredeHunter 5 лет назад +102

    Crazy how what actually happened was 10x worse than what they thought

    • @LMB222
      @LMB222 Год назад

      You mean ten times less bad?

  • @Bottlesbybigd
    @Bottlesbybigd 5 лет назад +72

    Brian Williams was there inside the reactor when it exploded

    • @jeffreychandra912
      @jeffreychandra912 5 лет назад

      _ปพก พกุ้ยาน่ ยเะกะกผ ำทยาย บส_

  • @corazoncubano5372
    @corazoncubano5372 5 лет назад +32

    As a teen I remember my parents discussing this event. It horrified me then and still does now. The USSR as they were known at that time was very secretive about the event. I remember the report of the radioactive cloud that pretty much spread over a good portion of the world because of this meltdown. It still "shivers me timbers."

  • @judyl.761
    @judyl.761 Год назад +2

    Ted Koppel is my favorite news broadcaster there has ever been. So talented. RESPECT.

  • @TiborRoussou
    @TiborRoussou 7 лет назад +118

    I remember when this was news, I was a teenager. It still disturbs me this happened. Just think we are at the first half life of Cesium 137; only about 9 more half lives before just the cesium levels are acceptable! Moreover, unreacted uranium was spewed from the reactor when it blew; the half life for uranium 235 is about 704 million years. That area will have issues for a very long time, sad as that may be.

    • @WadcaWymiaru
      @WadcaWymiaru 7 лет назад +22

      But remember radiation od U-235 is ~23 MILLIONS times weaker...than Ce-137...

    • @Pixliized
      @Pixliized 6 лет назад +1

      The half life of uranium is 1000 years.

    • @WadcaWymiaru
      @WadcaWymiaru 6 лет назад +4

      *iiPixlz*
      I laugh!
      U-238 half-life ~ 5 billion years...
      U-235 ~700 million years...
      And my beloved Thorium is frikkin 14 000 millions years!

    • @WadcaWymiaru
      @WadcaWymiaru 6 лет назад +1

      Haha no.
      I like thorium since this:
      ruclips.net/video/uK367T7h6ZY/видео.html

    • @azkor91
      @azkor91 6 лет назад +1

      Ummm. Unreacted Uranium 235 and 238 are safe. And are too weak to cause any harm to life.

  • @Duke_Togo_G13
    @Duke_Togo_G13 5 лет назад +9

    I remember this when it happened. It was all over the 6 o'clock news. They brought up the safety of nuclear energy, and used Three Mile Island as an example.

    • @1L6E6VHF
      @1L6E6VHF 5 лет назад +1

      That would be like talking about an A380 plane crash and using a Piper Cub as an example.

  • @ReckerFidelWOLF
    @ReckerFidelWOLF 5 лет назад +16

    5:08 Even in the 80's they really know how to make people think about the seriousness of events, especially when they zoomed in on the molten penetrate the earth...

  • @LittleWhiskey
    @LittleWhiskey 5 лет назад +3

    Thanks RUclips recommendations...can’t help but think you put this in my feed for some secret reason ;)

  • @pw3848
    @pw3848 5 лет назад +19

    Seems like they also didn't know how the RBMK reactor explodes.

    • @usuallinkinultimate
      @usuallinkinultimate 5 лет назад +8

      They didn't know THAT it exploded...they only knew there was some fire at Chernobyl which was a nuclear powerplant. No one guessed the core exploded because it had never happened before

    • @gabegu5102
      @gabegu5102 Год назад

      @@usuallinkinultimate i remember hearing that the Pentagon did figure that it was core was exposed and open to the air because of the heat plumes from the satellite photos

  • @cyberbug9699
    @cyberbug9699 5 лет назад +53

    If only news wasn't so watered down these days.

  • @Dirtyboxer1
    @Dirtyboxer1 5 лет назад +45

    boring, calm, informative, non-partisan news casts. i miss this.

  • @bigouncer4029
    @bigouncer4029 5 лет назад +19

    I was 5 when it first exploded, in Romania,Galați and i remember one thing from that, my dad taping the windows and doors as our news said that a big cloud of radiation was coming.
    Horrible things happend to newborns....

  • @TheForge10
    @TheForge10 5 лет назад +50

    News conveyed by facts from expert scientists . Unlike today like the drone hysteria were not one expert has ever been interviewed on the danger of drones , just Journos reporting breathlessly that a toy drone was seen 10km from an airplane and watch out !

  • @runforit420
    @runforit420 7 лет назад +12

    Also, at that time, nobody outside of Soviet scientists knew about the partial meltdown at the Leningrad RBMK plant close to Sosnovy Bor in 1975 nor the partial meltdown at Chernobyl at reactor #1 in 1982, let alone what scientists discovered with the control rods at Ignalina unit 1 the same month that that Chernobyl unit 4 came online.

    • @GetToHellOut
      @GetToHellOut 5 лет назад

      @Shufei soviet design is safer and widely used around the globe as of today. Those accidents had nothing to do with the design.

    • @yarpen26
      @yarpen26 5 лет назад +2

      @Shufei That's what the culture of not telling your superiors bad news because you get blamed for it even if it's not your fault gets you.

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +1

      That Soviet newscast from eightysix is probably more truthful than the black media that runs cnn MSNBC. Abc. CBS NBC. ESPN right now

  • @bogdanshulga2465
    @bogdanshulga2465 6 лет назад +22

    I was 2 years old when it hapen. We lived about 200km west from Chernobyl in city called sarny.

    • @dyslexicstoner2408
      @dyslexicstoner2408 5 лет назад +2

      You were so close to dying it's ridiculous. They had 3 days to stop the other fuel tanks from igniting which would've caused half the country to become uninhabitable.

    • @alanhowitzer
      @alanhowitzer 5 лет назад +1

      Glad to see you made it.

    • @jesesfin
      @jesesfin 5 лет назад

      @@dyslexicstoner2408 yeah

  • @reneedennis2011
    @reneedennis2011 13 дней назад +1

    I remember when this happened. I was a senior in high school 🏫. Thank you for uploading this video.

  • @lutello3012
    @lutello3012 5 лет назад +11

    I remember seeing the Challenger disaster on the news when I was 7. Wonder why I don't remember this at the time.

    • @Kyle-gb9dq
      @Kyle-gb9dq Год назад +2

      I was 17 at the time. Remember the Challenger disaster distinctly, but not this so much.

  • @Broncort1
    @Broncort1 6 лет назад +849

    I kinda miss these days...now it's all republicans vs democrats...trump vs the media...conservatives vs liberals...the USA is so divided now.

    • @B3astMass
      @B3astMass 6 лет назад +78

      Broncort1 yeh I guess the threat of nuclear war was just so much more exciting-

    • @Zedek
      @Zedek 6 лет назад +88

      Back then it was USA vs Soviet Union.. . . . .

    • @slavaukraini54
      @slavaukraini54 6 лет назад +79

      That’s the whole point , keep the people divided so you can control them .

    • @InVinoVeratas
      @InVinoVeratas 5 лет назад +70

      ^ divide and conquer the mindset of the voters. Make them believe their choices matter when in actuality there is no difference in who they vote for.

    • @44excalibur
      @44excalibur 5 лет назад +15

      This is why everyone misses the 80s, even people who aren't old enough to remember the 80s. We need to bring this era back.

  • @TakJakbyLuksusowo
    @TakJakbyLuksusowo 5 лет назад +9

    Well. scientist in Poland on April 28 knew about accident because, radiation in Poland increase very much in the morning, after analisis of dust they realised that came from burning reactor and later, at the evening they hear information from BBC (unofficial way), about accident in Chernobyl. At 29-th they start giving chirldren and young people Lugol's iodyne to prevent thyroid cancer. This is the first association when you ask anyone in Poland about Chernobyl Accident.

    • @dreamabyss5423
      @dreamabyss5423 5 лет назад +2

      Nuclear reactor workers in Denmark were coming into work and were contaminated enough to set off alarms. At first they thought it was local but then found out it was coming from the Soviet Union.

  • @LoFiHaven693
    @LoFiHaven693 Год назад +57

    "50,000 people used to live here. Now it's a ghost town."

    • @andrewfloor8651
      @andrewfloor8651 7 месяцев назад +1

      I’ve never seen anything like it.

    • @MrFittb
      @MrFittb 6 месяцев назад

      good ol' Cpt. MacMillan

  • @eszterszeles8990
    @eszterszeles8990 6 лет назад +20

    This is so sad. One of my relatives died because of the radiation :'(

    • @kelvinbremont1341
      @kelvinbremont1341 5 лет назад +3

      Eszter Szeles sorry for your loss

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +5

      God bless your great relative your relative is living with God in heaven now god bless the Chernobyl people that passed away 33 years ago

    • @jonjonas2528
      @jonjonas2528 5 лет назад +5

      God bless you relative who passed away at Chernobyl these mighty warriors from Chernobyl are war heros god bless and God give these mighty heros a great life in heaven forever

    • @sharefactor
      @sharefactor 5 лет назад

      How?

    • @jenniferclark9842
      @jenniferclark9842 5 лет назад

      I’m sorry for your loss 😢

  • @DrogoBaggins987
    @DrogoBaggins987 6 лет назад +23

    I was 14 when this happened. It was frightening. The fact that the Russians said something about it was part of what was frightening. They never acknowledged anything and we were thinking holy cow if it's bad enough for them to say something this could be really bad. We didn't know how bad it was because it kept going on and on. We kept thinking that the rest of the plant could have problems or maybe the whole building would fall down or something. We were thinking that there was a fundamental problem with their reactors and that other plants could melt down. We just didn't know what was going on or what it would mean. One guy was saying that their economy was in really bad shape and the only way they had to survive was a war economy and this would push them into having to start WW III or something. Conspiracy theorists were saying it was all staged and that they would say that it was American sabotage and it would then be used as an excuse to start a war. Of course people who didn't know anything about radiation were saying that it was going to give everyone cancer. Good times.

    • @Tortuosit
      @Tortuosit 5 лет назад

      I'm at your age, I didn't care, but my parents did.

  • @giraffeman326
    @giraffeman326 5 лет назад +11

    I wish news was still this honest

  • @chickenfricken
    @chickenfricken 3 месяца назад +5

    "Thats 4 more sentences than the Soviets usually provide" goes hard

  • @LordZontar
    @LordZontar 3 года назад +3

    I very likely saw this very Nightline segment at the time. I was a big news junkie coming out of high school and I watched all these news programmes: Nightline, 60 Minutes, The McNeil-Lehrer Hour, Washington Week In Review, etc, along with news specials as they came out.

  • @mlgmounted9599
    @mlgmounted9599 5 лет назад +198

    lol soviet TV host says one of the nuclear reactors damaged, ha, damaged, u know)

    • @Kni0002
      @Kni0002 5 лет назад +46

      more like completely destroyed

    • @mark33545
      @mark33545 5 лет назад +11

      Technically true lol

    • @KKKVVV-ox6sm
      @KKKVVV-ox6sm 5 лет назад +26

      fuckin exploded

    • @Pllayer064
      @Pllayer064 5 лет назад +4

      Just, uh, some minor leakage from, uh, cafeteria's waste disposal facilities resulting in emergency evacuation. It's, uuuuh, it's just a drill.

    • @StellarYankee
      @StellarYankee 5 лет назад +5

      Encyclopedia PapaStalina:
      Damaged: Cover word for big boom boom, kill many people, none of your business, go back to pick wheat Cyka Blyat!

  • @paskapaavo
    @paskapaavo 6 лет назад +27

    They were speculating meltdown, but it was huge explosion. So little information came from Soviet.

    • @UnitAlir
      @UnitAlir 5 лет назад +8

      Some conspiracy theorists were saying the Core literally exploded. They were mistaken. Delusional. Ruptured condenser lines, the feedwater is mildly contaminated.

  • @caesar7734
    @caesar7734 5 дней назад +1

    2:13 The Kyshtym Disaster was declassified in 1989. It occurred on 29/09/1957.