The 1982 Chernobyl Unit One Accident: The Untold Story

Meet Nikolai Karpan. In 1986, he was the Deputy Chief of the Nuclear Safety Department, vital to the liquidation efforts of the disaster following the explosion of Unit Four. But this is not that story, and this is not Karpan’s first experience with an accident at Chernobyl. In 1982, at the end of summer, Karpan bore witness to the partial meltdown of Unit One. Behind this accident lies a story of cover up and scapegoating, so let’s peel back the layers and examine what really happened one afternoon in September.

[Alois]

Terrifying how all 4 reactors at Chernobyl had an accident. Surprised other rbmk reactors didn't explode

[ChrisMatthewson]

"Cover up and scapegoating" and operators blamed. Now that's a story we have never heard before! It seems like the same cut and paste excuse story where the design and authorities are NEVER to blame for anything.
In that respect, the HBO special got it right: The authorities were never to blame and if you did question that, you were treading on dangerous ground.

[amp]

3:57 "When they removed the top of the channel and used a periscope to look into the core..." <--- I think this should be a *borescope*

[lboyadgiev]

I had to do a double take and nearly spat out my metaphorical drink when chernobyl guy brought up Kozloduy. I didn't expect the Bulgarian NPP to ever be mentioned.

[KurisuYamato]

I was not aware that Unit 1 was never able to be run at full power again. In retrospect I guess it makes sense, given the logistics nightmare and resource cost that partially dismantling an RBMK to do such repairs would be -- best to, since the design was so very modular in operation, just use the rest of it that wasn't irreparably damaged and let that be that...

[csszabo]

I'm sorry for the nitpicking, but the damaged fuel channel was 62-44 and not 16-44 (as mentioned twice). (But located correctly on the cartogram at 1:33 )

Fun fact: The cover-up of the 1982 accident was so successful that in February 1986 the English-language Soviet magazine 'Soviet Life' published a picture, where the damages (blinded and bypassed fuel channels) of reactor #1 were clearly recognisable, but no one knew it sholdn't have been published so.

[saschakrause]

Fantastic Sir. You‘re doing great. Can not wait for the next episode. 🙏

[AtomGradNPP]

Bro, fr, THESE VIDEOS ARE JUST AWESOME! Great another video again:D I love watching your vids!

[MrFrankfurt]

2:33 This bloke seems to be involved in all these accidents...

[zephyr]

In Soviet Russia, meltdown contains you.

[PositionLight]

Thank you for all your good work on this!

Would you consider making a summary video on what the exact RBMK design flaws were (as in the ones that make it subject to so many accidents), the minimum needed to change them and why the fixes weren't or couldn't be carried out? Currently this info seems a bit spread out and someone wanting to be able to counter the weaponized narration would benefit from a one stop shop so to speak. This could include analysis like "the positive scram effect was just a symptom of trying to build a large graphite reactor" or something else that gets to the various root design flaws if it's not something simple.

[pintohoareau]

This is some high level content mu freind. Cheers.

[That_childofapollo]

I was literally hoping you would make a video on this yesterday

[Microbe_obliterator]

I now have 4 stories to tell trainees in RBWR about Chernobyl 😭


Now I know why rod temp imbalance isn’t good

[alterhund]

Danke für Deine Superguten Videos.
❤️ Grüße aus Deutschland

[Alan]

2:06 Those two sad guys can tell how serious it is!

[zendell]

I just blame the Soviet government and Communism in general. It always feels like they try to downplay real problems and axe promising or fruitful individuals for minor mistakes. Just speaking generaliti here. Totalitarianism is a hell of a thing.

[user]

The problem with the Soviet society was too much punishment. No one should be treated like a criminal for making a mistake or not being able
to prevent a complex accident. I’m surprised anyone was able to work at all in such an environment with so little trust.

[otrab]

I'm leaning towards the smekalka'd fuel channel being the cause.

[Pamudder]

What sensor(s) told the operators that something was wrong and the reactor needed to be shut down?