How TMI Ended

The fateful wrong decision that broke the core during the Three Mile Island nuclear power station accident in 1979. Creation of hydrogen and a hydrogen explosion is discussed. Also how cold water can break hot rocks. Radioactive gasses being released into the containment building and what was done with them.

[mdavid]

Every "fool proof" system will have a "fool" who comes along and circumvents it.

[LittleVolii]

this man and his squeaky marker, they know everything

[aytunch]

05:18
student: Prof, I don't like loud noises, can I leave the class?
Prof: No, everybody will watch it, cover your ears if you want.

[davidwilkie]

It failed and it worked. A good set of instructions or road map tells you when and where you are if you've gone past the intended stopping point, and how to recover.
Looks like pretty good engineering from this distance.

[mikes]

A very impressive series of videos. I have watched several and come away feeling much smarter and better informed than when I started. I subscribed right away and hope that the good professor will continue to provide us with many more of these fine videos. This incident effectively gave the nuclear industry a severe black eye that was not wholly deserved. The public never did really fully understand the problem because the media painted it as a doomsday issue. The anti-nuclear folks had a field day with it.

[jmd]

He sounds a bit peeved with his last statement. Can't blame him, the media blew it out of proportion.

[AXIAM]

Thanks for these video's about TMI. I just finished the Netflix documentary and I was left with so many questions about what actually happened and which mistakes were made.

[marcdombroski]

Literally found your videos, you are one brilliant mind. Going to keep watching!

[syediqbalhosain]

Incredible videos, informative and the scientific knowledge is presented in such a beautiful manner. I hope your students appreciate you so much! an incredible inspiration to future physicists and engineers. Thank you.

[TakeDeadAim]

"There's no substitution for dilution"! Axiom in the wastewater management field!

[Damocles]

It's a shame that in the geography textbook I use in middle-school in France, TMI, Fukushima and Tchernobyl are marked the SAME way in a synthesis map on Technological risk.
They want to show that no continent is spared ! That's ridiculous, and I'll tall my students to mark a correction. 😜

[Koorstag]

I have been watching your videos for most of the day. Very informative and well presented.

[richardcommins]

What should have they done at 2 hours and 24 minutes?  Yes, cold water on hot rocks is not a good idea either.  How about a little cold water at a time?

[jasonmillner]

How did they not know the level inside the reactor??? forget about the holding tank. that should have been the biggest gauge in the control room

[MrSunrise-]

No-one was hurt but they lost a TWO BILLION DOLLAR asset. Money is, in a certain sense, real; the human effort that money represents could have been used elsewhere in the economy. It was a catastrophe, just not the one everyone thinks it was. Oh well, at least it was cheaper than a pointless and stupid war (not thinking of any one in particular.)

[yamilabugattas]

I love these videos on nuclear power, such an interesting topic.

[zxspeccyk]

The most amazing thing about this video is that he can naturally write backwards/mirrored... 😉

[josephpascarell]

So, at 2:24, what was the correct action to stop the core from melting down, if not the ECCS?

[deezelfairy]

Its tragic when TMI should have been one of the biggest endorsements of nuclear power safety, not the demonisation of it.
Even when the operators did everything wrong and managed to melt the core - everything did its job in terms of minimising radiation release to the environment to totally negligible levels.

[TheYoyozo]

Nor many people know what TMI stands for.