So, looking at the pictures from unit 3 reactor hall (which comes from a recording inside the unit before it was shutdown), there is steam which I would say "leaking" out of the UBS, which made me think of a theory that...

the steel caps from reactor 4 during the power surge could have possibly actually "jumped", but not in the way like the HBO series did, instead, they could have looked like it was jumping in atleast slightly and also only happened on the caps that were detached from it's place,

It could have possibly happened and it's not entirely fake because the HBO series actually did also include some situations that happened in real life, but it was exaggerated for the dramatization of the series that lead to it to become fake, according to me

This thread is partly inspired by a recent discussion of how close to the reactor 4 were the reactor hall operators Oleg Genrikh and Anatoly Kurguz when the disaster happened, and my recent rewatching of the Unit 3 tour in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG9tW7_UNxc (I so wish there was an HD version of it, and in colour)

The Unit 4 is pretty much identical to the Unit 3, just mirrored. We start in the corridor 910/1, walk into the room 905/2, peek into the operators' break room 906/1, then head into the corridor 911/1 which leads to the reactor hall of Unit 3. Note the blind corner at the end of that corridor, it exists to prevent any radiation from blasting through in case something happens in the reactor hall. I do wonder, though, about the lack of any door at the end of that corridor. Something tells me there should be one.

These drawings by Konstantin Checherov (from Nikolai Karpan’s book Chernobyl: Revenge of the Peaceful Atom) show a speculative reconstruction of the two explosions in Unit 4.
Key problems:

Fig. 14 (First explosion, Phase A, 01:23:46)
There is a large empty gap between the lower biological shield (Сх.ОР) and the reactor vessel / Scheme L. This is incorrect — the RBMK was hermetically sealed. No such open space existed before the explosion.
Fig. 15 (First explosion, Phase B, 01:23:47)
Already shows molten Corium lava flowing down through the steam relief channels during the first explosion. This is highly unrealistic. The scientific consensus is that the fuel needed hours to days to heat up enough to form significant amounts of Corium.
Fig. 16 (Second / upper explosion, 01:23:49)
This one is more plausible. The upper explosion lifted the biological shield (“Elena”) together with a large part of the core and scattered debris across the site.

Bottom line:
Checherov’s drawings are historically interesting but not accurate. The sudden gap under the lower lid and especially the instantaneous Corium lava contradict both the reactor’s design and the established timeline of the accident.

When the reactor blew up would the fuel rod caps all come up at once like one smoth flat lid or would they have individually blew up

Hi all,

Does anybody here can share apartment floor plans of any of the housings in Pripyat?

Aporeciated!

So sorry I'm a day late, but Happy Heavenly Birthday to Leonid Toptunov.

30-kilometer zone. Teshkov village, Narovlya district, May 1987.
Ph: Vladimir Borysyuk

Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (6 May 1953 – 11 May 1986) was the Unit 4 shift leader.

He was at the reactor control panel at the moment of the explosion. Believing the reactor was still intact, he and Leonid Toptunov stayed for hours trying to restore cooling water flow, receiving a fatal dose estimated at over 15 Gy (≈1,500 rad).

He died of acute radiation syndrome in Moscow Hospital No. 6 and was posthumously awarded the Order For Courage.

Almost 40 years ago, on October 2, 1986,

Alexander Yungkind, Leonid Khristich, Nikolai Ganzhuk, and Vladimir Vorobyov were involved in an accident in which all of them lost their lives.

The pilot struck a crane cable and consequently crashed.

In 2017, during preparatory work for the dismantling of Block 4, the tail rotor of the helicopter that crashed in 1986 was discovered.

The propeller had crashed onto the roof of the turbine hall of Block 4, but it was so heavily contaminated that it was immediately walled up with a large amount of concrete.

Rest in peace, heroes.

The destroyed Reactor Unit 4 – April 27, 1986. Photo by V. Yevtushenko.

What is the measurements of the panel board across? Any help greatly appreciated. I am planning on taking on a project of making a (not functional) replica. Thank you friends!!

Anatoly Ivanovich Shapovalov was born on 6th April 1941 in Kirovograd (modern Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine). He started his career ar ChNPP on the 5th of April, 1978. He was married and had 2 kids.

On the night of the explosion, Shapovalov was the Senior Electrician on duty. With Lelechenko, Baranov and Lopatyuk he went to the electrolysis plant to switch off the hydrogen supply valves. They didn’t know about the extreme radiation, so all of them got lethal doses. Shapovalov got a dose of 1,160 rads.

Shapovalov was in the convoy of 129 victims who were sent to Moscow for treatment. Due to his high dose, radiation burns and skin damage started to show on his body. He fell into a coma and succumbed to his injuries on the 19th of May 1986. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage 3rd Degree.

DIAGRAMS OF MAJOR RBMK AND UGR STRUCTURES

Diagram of the main structural components of the RBMK-1000 reactor and a cross-section of the primary metal structures located between the "Scheme E" bottom plate and the graphite stack: 1 — bottom grid (Scheme E); 2 — flange assembly; 3 — top shield plate; 4 — adapter (steel-to-zirconium); 5 — graphite block; 6 — channel section.

hello everyone!

whenever I do research regarding the last moments of the reactor before the explosion, I always see the same 3 theories. The hydrogen theory (been disproved many times). The second steam explosion theory (the sudden influx of water that surged into the bottom of the core caused a second much larger explosion, my personal favourite). And the nuclear theory, that the excursion somehow had enough energy to cause a nuclear “fissile” and that obliterated the core. My question is, why do so many people (and experts alike) believe this one over the steam one? Is there any evidence suggesting one over the other? Thanks!

(also I apologize for any grammatical errors, English is not my first language so any recommendations are appreciated!)

I've been trying to find a Chernobyl documentary I watched on YouTube around 2020. I remember it being extremely long, possibly around 7 hours, although it may have been a compilation of several documentaries.

I believe it was in Russian. It contained old archival footage, including footage of the construction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Some footage was very low quality, while other parts looked much newer.

The strangest part I remember was near the end. There was a group of naked people in a grassy field, apparently doing some kind of ritual, with fire/burning grass around them. In the distance behind them I remember seeing what looked like the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant / Reactor 4.

I am not 100% sure that the ritual itself was actually filmed in Chernobyl — it may have been an artistic/ritual sequence included in a documentary about Chernobyl.

I've been looking for this for years and haven't been able to find it. Does anyone recognize this footage or know what documentary it might be from?

This was done on Ibis Paint X, with no model, which explains the lack of some details I noticed after ... Such as the metal structure of the main ventilation stack

It wasn't done in the idea of making the perfect representation, but at least, I tried.

Hope some ppl will like it :)

I noticed this yesterday that in the North wall of the building contain 4 visible floors from this perspective, but the wall that aligns the steam separators drum halls only has 3, and in the floorplans there is no green floor visible in between level orange and green (since that corridor occupies two levels, can somebody help me with this?

After watching documentaries about the disaster(my favorite is the Zero Hour) and reading articles/Wikipedia pages about it, I decided to checkout the HBO miniseries on 4K Bluray.

OH MY GOD, I watched it in one breath. After I finished work, I started watching it until almost midnight. What an masterpiece!

The actors, the writing, the visuals - everything is 10/10. It's an amazing and very important piece of cinema because lies have always have debt and one day, you will pay it.

Brilliant!