Chernobyl 3828
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a moving, first-person account of the people who dealt with the worst of the Chernobyl cleanup.
What it is
A Ukrainian documentary about the liquidators who cleaned radioactive debris off the Chernobyl reactor roof in two-minute shifts. It presents their firsthand accounts and footage of the work.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2014 to 2019.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec pdkl95 · 2016-04 · on “Famous Photo of Chernobyl's Most Radioactive Material Was a Selfie”
One of the most impressive documentaries I've ever seen is "Chernobyl 3828"[1]. It is about the 3828 "liquidators" (cleanup crew) - euphemistically called the "bio robots" - that had to clean up the worst section of roof above the reactor. Maximum allowed dose was two minutes exposure to that section the roof. It has some of the same footage as the sequence in your link to t=3430, but there is a key difference: Chernobyl 3828 is about the people . The psychology of the cleanup was complicated. Some people ran while others faced the danger and accepted a "red badge of courage" because if they didn't, someone else would have to go in their place . [1] [this video]
Recommends pdkl95 · 2017-02 · on “High radiation readings at Fukushima’s No. 2 reactor complicate robot probe”
> Chernobyl-style "bio-robot" "liquidators" Anybody that isn't familiar with the "liquidators" should watch Chernobyl 3828 , a Ukrainian documentary about the cleanup of the worst part of the roof with comments by the people currently working their two-minute shifts as a "bio-robot". [LINK] [this video]
Recommends effie · 2019-06 · on “HBO's Chernobyl may yet become the highest rated TV Show ever”
I understand and partly agree. The geeky stuff was very limited and the narrative and exposition was somewhat dramatized. I am also not sure if the real characters really acted towards the state in such a brave unassailable way as depicted... Still I think the show adopts a valid viewpoint and gives a powerful and needed message about a corrupt totalitarian system. But you are right that telling the story from the point of view of organizational challenges or from a point of view of a real person putting their life in danger in taking part in the effort would be very interesting too. There are some great documents on youtube from these different points of view, e.g. the story told by Starodu
Cites acqq · 2014-11 · on “Chernobyl’s Hot Mess, “the Elephant’s Foot,” Is Still Lethal (2013)”
Related video, also workers at Chernobyl, but another piece of the reactor: the roof. [this video] "Military people call such places "FRONTLINE", liquidators who worked at the Chornobyl nuclear station called it "ROOF COATING". It was the most contaminated, and therefore the most dangerous, place in the zone. The remains of the roof coating of the 4th reactor. The operation on decontaminating the roof lasted more than five months. We will tell about only two days."
Cites pdkl95 · 2015-08 · on “Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?”
Ever since it became easier to get into the Chernobyl area, there has been an increase in people trying to dramatize it. I suggest watching this short video with Tom Scott, about his recent visit, where they try to inject a bit of reality into the situation: a lot of looted/stripped buildings that have stood abandoned for decades. It's impressive, but doesn't have a lot to do with radiation or the reactor. [LINK] There are certainly a lot of areas where you shouldn't linger for extended periods of time. The reactor accident (and how the situation was handled afterwords[1]) was absolutely terrible. That said, it is important to remember that - even accounting for the Chernobyl disaster (and t
Cites pdkl95 · 2015-12 · on “Irradiated: The hidden legacy of 70 years of atomic weaponry”
I thank the 3828 liquidators that cleaned up the worst of the Chernobyl roof, two minutes at a time. [this video] > died for nothing While that is certainly true, it's worth remembering that most are still alive, though many are now having trouble in the healthcare system thanks to poor CCCP records (or finding those records now).
Cites pdkl95 · 2016-01 · on “2015 “smashed” 2014’s global temperature record”
> There is still a lot of that material I never said there wasn't. The cleanup is ongoing and will take a very long time, but it still isn't "destroyed for good". At least the caesium eventually goes away. The Pb, Hg, and As in the 1.1 billion gallons of fly ash slurry that the Tennessee Valley Authority spilled[0] over homes and into the Emory and Clinch rivers doesn't have a half life. > economy and agriculture The tsunami also did incredible damage to the economy and agriculture of Japan. > Can you claim without flinching that this will never ever happen? Absolutely. Even the idiotic RBMK design can be run safely after being modified to fix the void coefficient. I suggest actually reading
Cites pdkl95 · 2019-05 · on “They Fictionalize Nuclear Disasters Like Chernobyl Because They Kill So Few”
The people that were very unfortunately necessary that deserve to be remembered are the 3828 "liquidators" that cleaned up the radioactive graphite (mixed with bits of reactor fuel/waste) that covered the roof above the reactor. In their own words[1]: > [the remote control bulldozer] has overridden a graphite block with it's right caterpillar track, and now was sitting on 12,000 Roentgen fragment. [...] Starodumov was already thinking about something else... what all of us have already known: robots failed, and the extra radioactive zones will have to be cleaned by men. > The shift lasted only two minutes. [...] Here, the unthinkable background radiation of nearly 8000 Roentgens. 20 meters a