/r/chernobyl
A subreddit to discuss the Chernobyl Disaster that happened on the night of April 26, 1986, and the Exclusion Zone that isolates the city of Pripyat from the rest of the world.
A subreddit dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster: "The Chernobyl disaster (Ukrainian: Чорнобильська катастрофа, Chornobylska Katastrofa – Chornobyl Catastrophe) was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then officially Ukrainian SSR), which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western USSR and Europe. It is widely considered to have been the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011). The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles."
Subjects considered on topic for this subbreddit include the disaster itself, liquidation efforts, the Exclusion Zone (including the Jupiter factor and Duga radar), the sarcophagus, New Safe Confinement, as well as the pre-disaster history of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant and the city of Pripyat.
Posts about other RBMK reactors or other nuclear disasters (like the Fukushima evacuation zone) are allowed if they relate to Chernobyl and should be tagged with [Peripheral Interest]
Posts to discuss the HBO Chernobyl miniseries are on topic only if they are relating the show to real world events in some way, and should be tagged with [HBO Miniseries]
Self promotion of art, drawings, graphics design or models (both computer and physical) are permitted if they are about Chernobyl and should be tagged with [User Creation]
Topics which advocate for, promote, encourage, or seek advice on illegal activity are strictly prohibited. This includes how-to posts about trespassing in the Zone as well as photos and videos which are explicitly from illegal trespassing.
Discussions about the Current Ukraine/Russia Conflict
Posts and Comments are prohibited if they take sides in the current tensions between Ukraine and Russia, or push any side's justification for war or advocate support for any party in the geopolitical situation. Posts and comments about how the conflict impacts the Zone and what effect a war might have are permitted as they are about the future of the Zone.
This subreddit is about Chernobyl, so as long as the post is about that, it is permissible. But there are plenty of places to discuss the geopolitics of Ukraine/Russia/EU/NATO/etc, so we will be removing comments and posts which make any statement about who might be write or wrong.
/r/chernobyl
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A 1943 photo of the St. Elijah Church in Chernobyl
09:00 UTC
Why did they kill and burry all wildlife and pets in the aftermath of the incident but today wildlife is not sought out and killed in the exclusion zone?
I get that in the aftermath they didn't want the fauna to contaminate the nature in the area and effect crops and water right? Or was that not the reason? So then if the exclusion zone is still now highly irradiated why do teams still not go out and actively kill and despose of any and all animals nowadays like they did back then? Or was that all just dramatized and frictionalized to make the TV show more dramatic and somber?
05:44 UTC
Why did Dyatlov survive longer than Akimov and Toptunov?
Why did the latter two die just days after the incident when Dyatlov died many years later? Were they not exposed to similar amounts of radiation? Sorry if I'm ignorant on some details. Genuinely looking for knowledge.
04:10 UTC
Chernobyl unit 1,2 and 3
Did the people who operated these power plants after unit 4 explosion receive high enough radiation to affect their life?
02:43 UTC
I need help for a paper on war in the Esclusion Zone
Currently readind as a start for my paper, I strongly recommend it.
23:03 UTC
1986 Alla Pugacheva's concert in Chernobyl
21:41 UTC
What is this pannel?
What does those two big round pannels show and what is their purpuse?
(Im more intrested in the left side one because I found a Wiki article about right one)
19:04 UTC
A windmill somewhere in the area of the now Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Photo dated to 1927
13:46 UTC
TV shows
Besides the glorious Chernobyl on HBO and the not so much one on Netflix, what else tô watch?
10:18 UTC
Question about layout
What were the rooms adjacent to the core, below the steam separators but above the pumps
05:02 UTC
Is it known why the other two/three reactors faired much worse than Russian RBMKs?
No Chernobyl reactor had a service life over twenty years. My understanding is Reactors #1 and #2 were shut down/left offline due to being non-economical to repair, and I've heard (potentially false) rumors that #3 wasn't exactly in good shape when it was shut down for political reasons.
Russia is getting 40+ years out of their RBMK fleet. If we assume the worst-that they're in awful shape and have had significant contemporary incidents that we don't know about, they're still economical for Russia to operate. This is despite the remaining/recently shut down reactors operating roughly twice as long as the longest-operational ChNPP reactor.
I could see Russia having more resources (and perhaps at a cheaper cost) to maintain their fleet, but I realize turbine fires like Chernobyl #2 experienced are very destructive. On the other hand, it seems likely there were real reasons other than coincidence why ChNPP faired so poorly.
Has there been any studies comparing ChNPP's reliability to the Russian RBMKs?
22:24 UTC
My trip to Pripyat
I visited the Chernobyl exclusion zone back in 2019.
Our tour guide made a point of how radioactive the hospital still is where the firemen were treated.
A small piece of cloth/bandage was left on the window sill by what she claimed were urban explorers being insanely stupid, attempting to take goods from the hospital.
As you can see, even this tiny piece of cloth made the counter lose it’s shit.
21:48 UTC
What are these?
I've looked everywhere for information on these, but I can't find it anywhere.
18:33 UTC
Are there satellite images of the third stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant between construction and liquidation?
14:55 UTC
A photo from the village of Masheve, now in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Photo recovered by Maxim Dondyuk
14:09 UTC
I Realise It's From The TV Show Side Of Things - But Had Not Heard This Real Life Account Before
13:44 UTC
A word on Dyatlov's character
Discussions on the way Anatoly Dyatlov is portrayed in the HBO series is a frequent topic here so I thought I'll share my thoughts on it.
I grew up in Eastern Europe, and spent my first career years there, from summer jobs to a couple of full time employments. I had teachers acting the same towards school children, and personally met bosses with the same attitude as Dyatlov in not just one job. Usually to a lesser extent with less physical violence, but the feeling that if you fail something or make the boss unhappy there are 100 people queuing to get your job was widely prevalent. The boss was the big guy, and you had to know your place. His boss was the same towards him, all the way to the top. Adult men with stomach cramps from stress of just going to work wasn't anything we considered unusual, it's just the way the world worked for us. This started early in life for millions of people, Eastern Europeans didn't read books on good parenting and talking to your children, some families were lucky, but almost everyone I knew would just get a few slaps, so we quickly learned to hide our mischiefs and stupid things we did. This approach was simply deeply rooted in the society and it took me many, many years to change it as an adult.
Dyatlov wouldn't admit to his errors in the HBO series, because that simply was the soviet work culture. There was no room for error and learning from mistakes, you just blame someone else and hope it's now their problem. I find this part of it extremely accurate.
Was he a complete jerk by modern standards? True. Were everyone in his position in the USSR exactly the same? Also true.
Coincidentally, here's my high school math teacher:
https://uwaga.tvn.pl/reportaze/terror-na-lekcji-matematyki-ls6693546
It only made the news in mid 2000s, then again 10 years later as nothing has changed, in my school days it was the norm. Of course not all teachers were the same, but enough to fuck up millions of people for life. Even if somehow a kid would own a vhs camera to record it, nobody would care. You don't need to understand the language to catch the tone of her voice and a few 'kurwas', I used to have straight As in primary school, thanks to her I nearly failed it in HS and would make up feeling sick just to avoid going to her classes almost every week in the last year.
I brought this to show you that if some teachers would scream "you piss me off you fucking moron", imagine what bosses would do. But that's just how it was for us, bosses are jerks and vent off their floppy dick frustration at work, whatcha gonna do about it.
Dyatlov was a product of the place and time he lived in, that's it.
11:41 UTC
Does someone know where the old Fire and Rescue station is?
I think its on Zavodska street on Pripyat, but i dont have any image or coordinates of it, and i want to find it as a reference for a project im currently making
08:19 UTC
One of the last houses remaining before being demolished in Nahirtsi village
00:58 UTC
Another Khutir Pidlisnyi satellite image (I found it on wikimapia)
22:44 UTC