Reactor Hall of Unit 2, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

We visit the Unit 2 reactor hall (central hall) at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in November of 2016. My video editing skills are minimal and I am slow, so for better material please visit the channel of my nuclear companion Bionerd23:

The RBMK is notable for its circular reactor lid where the control rod drive mechanisms reside and where loading and unloading of fuel occurs by means of a massive crane-mounted machine. In essence, the hall is a heavy-walled hot cell designed to shield potentially high radiation levels while fuel operations are underway. The hall also contains the short-term spent fuel storage basins, fresh fuel storage, a fuel transfer hatch to ground level, and access panels into the upper steamwater communication lines linking the reactor channels to the steam separators on either side. Unit 2 at Chernobyl has been shut down since a fire in 1991 damaged its generators and feedwater system. The reactor is defueled and dry, as are its spent fuel basins.

Some highlights of this video tour:
0:31 The reactor building elevator threatens to malfunction and we take the stairs instead.
3:03 Entrance to the anteroom of the Central Hall on the +20.2m level, where we put on additional PPE clothing.
5:02 Central Hall shielding maze
7:20 Gamma radiation above pressure tubes on reactor face is about 3.3 mR/h.
10:10 Fuel element stringers in the spent fuel pool are locally contaminated and spicy, with one measurement showing 2 R/h.
14:16 Discussion of the division of reactor channels between fuel and the protection and control (SUZ) system, noting that one SUZ channel has been repurposed for neutron transmutation of silicon. The RBMK was particularly good for this, and it occurred in Units 2 and 3 at Chernobyl.
14:58 Ascend the scaffolding to the refueling machine operator's compartment and look out the leaded glass window.

[lucasgreen]

* Comrad Dyatlov suddenly comes out of the toilet after 33 years. *

[horse]

"This tour is great, one question though. *Does anyone else taste metal?"*

[aciidbraiin]

Now let’s see reactor 4!

I’ve heard that’s where the party’s at.

[LEK]

6:08 This just lets you realize how incredibly powerful the explosion was. Not only did the pressure in the core lift that incredibly heavy lid, it also blew it up a good 30 meters up while also ripping the entire roof apart.

[lol_vevo]

Everybody gangsta until you confuse building 2 with building 4

[Patyx]

everybody gangsta until the control rod caps start jumping

[Mcnutty]

It's like the beginning of a horror movie when the guy misses the elevator at the start.

[minelayer]

fun fact: units 1, 2, and 3 were still being operated after the explosion, these units did eventually close down, unit 3 closing in 2000

[zunzan]

Everybody gangsta until you hear the tour guide say "not great, not terrible"

[yougoober]

*Reactor lid starts violently bumping up and down*

Yo this is part of the tour right?

[davy_K]

The scale of the physics and engineering involved in these places is fascinating.

[Krizefugl]

I once worked in a place that was working with weak radioactive Isotopes (Pharmacy industry) and I remember a very similar kind of "checkout" thing you had to go through each time you wanted to leave certain building otherwise your card wouldnt let you through. Basically it just measured if you had any radioactive residue on your feet or hands after working and even though it was more modern, it is amazing to see that pretty much the same design was used back then

[bq]

" he kinda gets annoyed at us asking to go see the elephants foot"
Careful if you annoy him too much he might just oblige you

[kritzkrieg]

meanwhile in control room
*"oh look, a red button"*

[alteraltar]

In the early 2000's I was a janitor for about a year in the building in Manhattan where the Manhattan Project dealt with the radioactive materials. I understand that the building was radioactive until the 90's when either the EPA or OSHA attempted to rip up some flooring and remove the radioactive residue. There's a report about their findings and the clean up undertaken but it's too dense and technical for me to fully grasp. As a janitor I came home every day with black mucus as a lot of the flooring was crumbling and I was inhaling a lot of dust from ledges (even while wearing a mask) that hadn't been touched in years. I spent a lot of time on the loading dock which I believe was once radioactive too and may still have been. There were circular spaces on the floor in the stairwells which I was told were where metal drums of radioactive material had been stored- apparently that flooring was left untouched by the government. And lastly I would take lunch seated on the floor in the basement where I have heard a good deal of the radioactivity was located and potentially not all removed successfully. Do you think I'm at risk of getting cancer from my time working there? I don't know who else to ask and I stay awake at night wondering since I inhaled more material/spent more time in the basement than the average employee there due to the nature of my work. Thank you very much for reading.

[fardrives]

Stanislav is a really good person for making sure they don't go to the room with the elephant foot. That's the last place you want to accidentally be. Even if someone claims they know what they're doing, it's on him to make sure people don't. Otherwise everyone in the world would be saying "why didn't he stop them!".

Thank you for the video!

[llcvtmimmlde]

Guide : "As you can see, this is the graphite of the power plant.."

Comrade Dyaltlov: "you didn't see Graphite! Because it isn't there!"

[ellllllo]

goodbye normal comment section, hello HBO Chernobyl references

[fohhee]

If going to Chernobyl nuclear power plant is on your bucket list, you gonna want it at the end of your list.

[Beauc]

This was incredibly fascinating- great work here.