I’m still in shock about the fact that 1 RTG becomes orphan in the USA everyday. I’ll do my research and bring it back to my fellow colleagues to see what actions can be taken on it. Be sure to show love to Kyle’s original video which I’ve linked in the description and to check out his channel. ☢️👩🏽‍🔬

@LogicalNiko

Жыл бұрын

Correction 1 uncontrolled radioactive source (an orphan of any type of radioactive regulated material) on an overall average. Most of these tend to be smaller samples, or radiological sources used for cancer treatment/imaging. RTGs are very uncommon in the United States and mainly are only used in military or space applications (very rarely). Other sources of material are way more common, and some have very short half-lives so are not necessarily a big worry. But sometimes they are larger. I used to live near, and visit, Red Gate Woods in Illinois. And there is a history of people finding parts left over from the first secret reactors/piles that existed there. There is a high probability that it’s all found and buried now (it’s now swept and checked every few years as after operations were declassified, the NRC stepped in, and later turned it over to the EPA for long term management. And this is why there are “do not dig” signs everywhere, areas covered in concrete, no drinking fountains, a mountain of paperwork for any park maintenance, and why it can not be used for anything else but a park for a few thousand years) I suspect a lot of these are small lab samples that accidentally get thrown out or misplaced in universities or the like (it happens, especially with lower end radiation sources).

@spvillano

Жыл бұрын

@@LogicalNiko especially true given NASA has ran out of RTG's to field in their deep space probes. What we do end up with is orphaned *sources*, each of which can result in a massive fine for the abandoning party and trust me, they'll find a responsible licensed party. Anything hotter than a smoke detector being orphaned will bring a significant regulatory response and the sound of a wrist being smacked - with a sledgehammer. Don't mind me, I still remember the volume of crap I had to go through to just enter a room with sources, all to fix one computer and be nowhere physically near a source. Situation: You're in a radioactive source repository and a sealed radioactive source falls on your foot. What is the appropriate response equipment to be summoned? A toe truck. I'll just get my hat...

@jonhutto580

Жыл бұрын

Most "Orphan sources" are not like that.. I know of one in the US that was handled.. It was a damaged and neglected X-ray machine from a Clinic that closed years ago. It had a small amount of Cobalt 60 in a shielded section of the device. It was barely detectable outside the device, but it was, by law a "Orphan Radiological Source" and HASMAT closed the area, removed the device and properly disposed of it.

@spvillano

Жыл бұрын

@@jonhutto580 yep. And the US NRC is really good at locating those responsible, even when the organization ceases to exist and administering a very, very firm and stern pee-pee smack.

@LogicalNiko

Жыл бұрын

@@jonhutto580 yeah it’s the medical devices that tend to be the worst. They sit in the hospital/clinic for decades, the buildings get sold, moved, equipment hauled off, and people don’t realize it’s a regulated nuclear device.

Strangely warm cylinder --- Hell no.

@spvillano

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I think I'd only feel safe if I had safely stored it next to photographic film.

@EShirako

9 ай бұрын

"It's like magic! And surely TOTALLY safe!" I like a comment from @AllExistence up above. "Remember guys, if energy appears from nowhere, it's most certainly paid for by your lifespan." That really seems to sum up the 'new saying' that I'd love to spread through our parents. "Look both ways" and "No such thing as a free lunch", "Invisible energy comes from your life force." Though really it should be seen as an extension of "No such thing as a free lunch", because that lunch is simply 'heat', and it's VERY not 'free' in the end.

Thanks for the review, Elina. Appreciate you and your work, but I'd prefer in the future that you don't use my *entire* video so there's no reason for your audience to check out the original. Thanks.

@colsylvester639

Жыл бұрын

Great video thanks to both. Elina, did you know about ration pack heaters? kzread.info/dash/bejne/a4atlrN7gcjQdrg.html

@arizonadeux

Жыл бұрын

@Elina: one thing you'll learn from Kyle's Half-Life playlist is that if you ever see a suspiciously shiny cylinder somewhere, you RUN and tell some authorities.

@real_MacrocosM

Жыл бұрын

@@arizonadeux or anything mysteriously self illuminated!!

@JSMan5000

Жыл бұрын

Holy hell. Kyle putting down the ban hammer!!! 😮😮

@MeppyMan

Жыл бұрын

I saw this video and went straight to your video and watched that first, but then I am already a subscriber. I then came back here and skipped to her reactions. I think there is a place for reaction videos like this, but agree she used way too much of your original video content.

Girl, you seriously underestimate the sheer amount of fucks the USSR didn't have to give.

Remember guys, if energy appears from nowhere, it's most certainly paid for by your lifespan.

@YouTubeSupportSucks

Жыл бұрын

Great way to phrase it!

@femmefuntime

Жыл бұрын

The law of equivalent exchange

@BabyMakR

Жыл бұрын

The sun? Wind? Waves?

@AllExistence

Жыл бұрын

@@BabyMakR It isn't nowhere.

@BabyMakR

Жыл бұрын

@@AllExistence Neither is the energy from an RTG.

Kyle Hill's entire "Half-Life" series is worth watching. :D

@marianmarkovic5881

Жыл бұрын

If you are bored, Plainly difficult "nuclear stuff" playlist is for you kzread.info/dash/bejne/nGmrvNGsp7a0p8Y.html

Kyle also did one about a similar accident in Brazil from an abandoned medical device that caused an entire city to get exposed

@marianmarkovic5881

Жыл бұрын

First time I heard of this was on Plainly difficult channel 2years ago,.. kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZGefx8-yiMbIiNI.html

@orangecat504

Жыл бұрын

Yep I highly recommend her checkout the Goiânia accident doc. It is mind boggling how much incompetentnce went into that disaster

@Juanxlink

11 ай бұрын

That was goiania, no "entire city", altho that makes no difference. If you dont already, check "plainly difficult" and enjoy.

@olenilsen4660

11 ай бұрын

@@Juanxlink What do you mean "not the entire city"? I know not everyone got terminally ill, but this shit took the bus around town! It´s a nightmare in terms of uncontrolled radiological exposure!

@Zarcondeegrissom

10 ай бұрын

plainly difficult has a play list of them things. it's always the less educated that pay the price for the actions or neglect of others.

It's worth remembering there are many many medical applications for radioactive sources in everything from Hospital, to Dentists to Vets etc etc. Whilst staff may be trained in the operation of "new" kit, as staff change and the fortunes of private facilities change it is easier to understand how the danger posed by an old obsolete piece of equipment can get forgotten. Videos like this should be shown at Schools to make the general public much more aware of the dangers.

@danilooliveira6580

Жыл бұрын

that is basically how the Goiania incident happened. it was a improperly discarded nuclear source used for radiotherapy. people that didn't knew about the radioactive material just discarded the machines in a dump instead of calling the nuclear agency when the hospital was demolished.

@marianmarkovic5881

Жыл бұрын

if it is warm/hot for touch, and you dont know why,. Drop and run,...

@spvillano

Жыл бұрын

@@marianmarkovic5881 just stack photographic film around it. Once processed, you can sell the imagery as "ghostly images". ;) Although, to be serious, a ring of buckets of water would be more than adequate shielding for a 0.6 mev beta source, with a couple of inches of wooden cover. At least until they could set up a proper nuclear security theater company to deal with it.

@elijahfeuerstein4710

10 ай бұрын

I dunno if it would be necessarily a good idea to show videos like this without other radiation and nuclear education first. If you understand the science well enough then you can see these as severe, but uncommon accidents... if you have a poor understanding... "OMG RADIATION SCARY! BAN ALL NUCLEAR!!!"

@michaelpettersson4919

8 ай бұрын

And the staff must be careful at work with these radiation sources. As such, as a patient I may stay there totally exposed at the X-ray machine but the operator are at a safe distance, protected. For me it a few times during a lifetime exposures but the hospital staff work with these on a daily basis.

I watched Kyle's video before your reaction video, and it was chilling to see your response. Tragically, the chaos inside the former Soviet Union after collapse means that few, if any, of those responsible will be held accountable. Those poor woodsmen were probably barely literate, and were ignorant of any radioactive devices smaller than reactors or bombs.

@ianmcintosh418

9 ай бұрын

Most of them were fired by the government - without reference to what they were managing as I understand it? The whole place was a bankrupt mess, and a revolution rarely provides much continuity of management...

Kyle hill sent me here to help flood the video with positivity 😊

Kyle's video on the first meltdown in the USA really was shocking to me. The fact that this happened after the fall of the USSR made it less surprising because I have seen a lot of videos lately about how hard those times were

@danilooliveira6580

Жыл бұрын

though the video about tree miles island was also meant to debunk a lot of myths about the incident. it was showing how a properly managed meltdown is supposed to be handled. it was so uneventful that the second reactor in the island is still running to this day. what that video also shown is that the media is ready to panic about everything nuclear related before they even get proper information from trustworthy sources.

@Voc_spooksauce

Жыл бұрын

And how irresponsible people were

@kenibnanak5554

Жыл бұрын

@@Voc_spooksauce In the USSR many workers weren't told what they were building, carrying or guarding. There was no perceived need. If the workers died, they would be replaced by someone else. Such was the way. What the people don't know won't hurt the leaders. Russia still works that way.

RTGs are commonly used for space applications, Elina. Some US Mars rovers have them as power and heat source, since they can be used as TEGs when patching them with peltier elements or connecting a Stirling engine in a closed loop

@theAessaya

Жыл бұрын

Yup. Both Voyager probes and the New Horizons are powered by RTGs. Basically anything that goes beyond Jupiter orbit needs one, as there's just not enough solar power there.

@faurovidiu

Жыл бұрын

@@theAessaya oh that I didn’t know, I thought they’re powered by fission reactors

@Firebuck

Жыл бұрын

@@theAessaya The most recent Mars rovers also use RTGs. That include the current one, Perseverance.

@theAessaya

Жыл бұрын

@@faurovidiu RTGs _are_ a subtype of nuclear fission power sources, but they're not _quite_ reactors, as they're nowhere near being at critical mass. The main reason reactors aren't used is because they are very bulky, and have lots of moving parts. Plus, 470W (275W in case of New Horizons) of power is enough for a probe that's smaller than your regular car.

@theAessaya

Жыл бұрын

@@Firebuck yes, many were, including just lander probes. Percy is powered by RTG, but Oppy and Spirit were solar-powered, however.

Frankly, having lived through the 90s and early 2000s in a post-soviet republic (even if I was but a child then), I am absolutely not surprised that something like RTGs or other kind of radiological sources could get lost. The times were bad, especially deeper in Russia, and nobody really cared about things like that. Hell, nobody really cared about them when USSR still existed, but at least then there was some accounting. With the collapse it was all spread around and all paper trails and traces were lost among the over a dozen breakaway states. As for the incident, I've been aware of it. Outside of Kyle there is another youtuber who does similar kind of videos, Plainly Difficult. He's racked up a significant amount of radiological disaster videos of his own there.

@captainz9

Жыл бұрын

Agreed, but at least they should have been properly marked... Danger symbols & writing at least to warn most people away.

@theAessaya

Жыл бұрын

@@captainz9 yes, yes they should have.

You forget how things were in the former USSR. The physics and engineers who knew about them were jobless, the records were probably fragmented, heavily censored, and in many ways, classified. It was unlikely that anyone knew all about them, as how the Soviet information management standards were maintained. After the fall and for like a decade, Russia was lawless, ran by gangs and oligarchs, who were only concerned with getting as rich as possible. The huge TB epidemic, the rampant alcoholism, crime, the cold weather and the power cuts, emigration... Russia lost a lot of population, the biggest lost since WW2. There were fears of losing whole nuclear warheads, given the deplorable state of control and recording. The transfer from Ukraine and Kazakhstan were almost miracles. Some of these situations have never been properly dealt with. One of the largest is maybe the whole Russian Artic fleet homeport, where they have even whole nuclear submarine hulls rotting and rusting in seawater, and God knows what else the Soviet government buried, left, or just dumped into the bay...

In the USA many of these orphaned sources were from old X-Ray machines. They never collected the radioactive material from the machines. Many hospitals shut down and the material was left in canisters and closets within the abandoned hospitals. My older sister & I actually witnessed such a canister within one facility in the early 1990's when the owner of the abandoned hospital allowed us to briefly view it. It was marked with a radioactive warning label but the closet was unshielded and had no warning symbols. ( unbelievable) We were not allowed in that part of the building for long. The government wanted and wants to collect these cylinders after 9-11 because they are afraid that the material would be turned into a dirty bomb. ( otherwise the materials would still be locked away in old hospital closets) No such information was publically issued but the owners of such properties who are aware of such materials should have been notified. The government will send someone out to collect the containers. ( it took them a long time to do so ) It is what I have been posting on your channel, not all governments and companies treat nuclear material responsibly. This what makes nuclear energy dangerous, irresponsible people is the biggest danger in nuclear power, not the technology. It is also why Americans find the Simpson's so funny.

@radeksvoboda

11 ай бұрын

X-ray machines do not contain radioactive material. They use X-ray tubes instead.

@redox4088

11 ай бұрын

@@radeksvoboda Yap, I think he means Cobalt-60 machines used for cancer treatment. And many sensors and meters are also mildly radioactive. All lost radioactive sources are not as harmful as RTG's but rather milder sources of radiation and thus cared for with less importance. Not to mention the US has admitted to loosing 6 nuclear warheads so the actual number is likely much much higher.

@Psi105

9 ай бұрын

The Proper People on KZread came across some medical device with radioactive signs sitting in an abandoned hospital they were exploring. We don't know if the source was still inside the machine or not. Thankfully it was a very fast decaying element, according to the manual for the machine, with a half-life in days. So even if it was still there most of it had decayed into something stable in the many years since the hospital closed

Elina! Hope your well and thank you for making these videos. They debunk nuclear energy for people who are not in the know about the great benefits from using nuclear power plants.

@YourFriendlyNuclearPhysicist

Жыл бұрын

Thanks I’m glad you enjoyed it 👩🏽‍🔬☢️

Kyle's videos are so so so good

Well, after having spoken with people that grew up in the CCCP and experienced the collapse, the reason such things were lost/forgotten about, is that people was so fed up that when the CCCP collapsed, people just stopped and dropped whatever they were doing and went home. EDIT: Have watched (all, I think) Kyles half-life series, and they are awesome. Quality content for sure :D

@Chris-hx3om

11 ай бұрын

Same. That series, for me, is THE very best. Concise, informative, and non-accusational.

@andreyturkin

11 ай бұрын

Well, there not fed up per se; more like suddenly a lot of low level government (or army) positions stopped getting paid - at all - and they needed to keep feeding their families, so they quit their jobs and moved to whatever paying job they could find. Add to that rise in number of "junk" collectors who were looking to loot abandoned (or "abandoned" as in not guarded) metal scrap and such, and this is the end result. Collapse of the USSR wasn't a simple "switch" from single country and government style to a bunch of smaller countries with different government style; oh no, it was a huge humanitarian disaster and this incident is one small tragedy of many that were caused by it. I'm puzzled Elina reacted this way to it ("they just left them?!!") as there likely weren't many, if any, of "them" left to care about the RTGs.

@renscience

9 ай бұрын

Exactly. They had more pressing problems, like eating. Americans and Westerners in general cannot comprehend this kind of mindset and emergency, except the homeless.

If you haven't also seen them, Plainly Difficult (aka John), covers a lot of the radiological accidents. I've learned so much from his episodes.

@joewiddup9753

Жыл бұрын

He does such a good job!

@KarinaMilne

Жыл бұрын

Love John and Kyle

@MichalKolac

Жыл бұрын

I agree it is sada that noone did a reaction vid to his videos

Orphaned sources could be a problem in a very surprising places like in the middle of a city. In Bulgaria, in the town of Buhovo, which is a few kilometers away from the capital a radioactive rod was found on a kids playground which was estimated to have spent there more than 40 years before being discovered by accident.

@Jablicek

Жыл бұрын

We've areas in London cordoned off for this reason too.

A positive thing about the subsequent search in Georgia is that those 300 orphan sources were found and steps could be taken to inform people about the risks and then steps could be taken to remove and, as much as possible, safely dispose of those sources.

For react content if you're new to this I think it's important to give some insight based on your specific knowledge so it brings additional material to the video and adds value, making it your own. Otherwise without that its really just watching a person watching the video which does not add extra value. If you find videos where your background and knowledge allows you to chose key points in it to address and expand on them and give deeper meaning then that is an ideal opportunity for a review video. And I think specialised knowledge like yours could be very interesting in such cases

1950-60, quite believable and maybe understandable, 2000+, that is insane!!!

The people living in Georgia and rest of the Soviet Union were very tired and disillusioned about the future . Caring for even dangerous materials was ignored, especially when the system collapsed. Just look at all the submarines with nuclear reactors still rusting away abandoned.

There is a youtuber from UK that covers all kinds of mishaps: Plainly Difficult. He has whole nuclear stuff playlist.

@elvinhaak

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I've seen a lot of is video's too.

@dr4d1s

Жыл бұрын

He does good work for sure.

The men working on the recovery of those radiological devices had to have hearts of lions. Especially knowing what they were dealing with. I hope they got medals because of the bravery they displayed.

The largest problem with orphan sources comes from improperly decommissioned medical equipment. And, to be honest, I expected this to fall into that category. But, good grief.

@CMDRSweeper

Жыл бұрын

Well this one is fairly mild compared to the Ciudad Juarez incident in 1984... That one is a lot worse.

Was coming back from a trip and was waiting for my bags at the Philadelphia International Airport when a noticed a pile of boxes in the corner. Appeared it was some sort of cargo that hadn’t been pick up yet. It was addressed to the hospital where I worked. It had radiation warning signs on the boxes. I assumed it was some low level medical grade pharmaceutical type substance but who knows. .....All I could think was someone could casually swipe the boxes and do something dirty with the material.......whatever it was.....😳

Kinda surprised a nuclear physicist hasn't heard of an RTG. They have been in use for awhile now. Even on the Mars rovers.

@YourFriendlyNuclearPhysicist

Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks for the comment, I am aware for the space use but it was a surprise to know they’re extensive use here on earth.☢️👩🏽‍🔬

@Zarcondeegrissom

10 ай бұрын

@@YourFriendlyNuclearPhysicist if left alone and kept away from people, it's not that bad (looks in the direction of the Voyager craft and New Horizons). it's when people that don't know better start taking wire, and metal off the RTGs to bring to the scrap yard that things get iffy. same goes for medical equipment that gets left abandoned due to whatever shenanigans (plainly difficult has a playlist of them, "Sources in the wild").

I like how the best answer to every shocked question you ask throughout this is “it was the Soviet Union”.

Your reactions near the end are especially perfect. Its exactly how I felt hearing those numbers.

You cannot miss Kyle's Half Life series on KZread. You will sitting like this 😮 throughtout the video.

I was so glad you finally covered this. I did put it in the comments but to be honest I assumed you knew all about Orphan Sources and maybe it was something already "done to death". There's another similar accident in South America called the Goiania Incident.

@kylehill

Жыл бұрын

Have a video on that too

@MichalKolac

Жыл бұрын

There were many more plainly difficult had made a lot of videos about orphan sources

@lxndrlbr

Жыл бұрын

@@kylehill your exposé on that incident was both very deeply documented and very concerning, and it does make an argument that long-term use of nuclear power MUST NOT TOLERATE ANY LAISSEZ-FAIRE ON SAFETY Yet in France (my country), the government wants to divest from the IRSN (Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety research Institute) who are the technological and scientific experts and only keep the ASN (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, Nuclear Safety Authority) who are mostly administrators and lawyers, and that concerns me.

Allow me to shed some light on the "how did the fall of the Soviet Union..." - I'm from Poland, and I was alive (though very young) when this went down. it was _absolute bedlam_ when the USSR fell. Imagine this scenario: - you're working in a big power plant that is the size of Chicago; - you've been working there for the past 40 years; - you can't even purchase basic stuff like sugar or meat because the shops don't have it, but that's a non-issue because you're being paid like $1/hr; - you're routinely handling deliveries of tons of uranium, but the accounting is so lax that people can walk up and _take a pellet home_ - nobody cares, it's abundant and poorly-protected; - your management is more concerned with kicking each other off their positions to make more money - in fact, you don't even know what these people look like; - you're running 60-year-old technology that's falling apart (not that anyone cares, you have tons of people to replace any unfortunate deaths); - the neighbouring city is running 10-year-old technology, but the management keeps telling you that yours is top-of-the-line (and if you say otherwise, one day you just don't come to work, and nobody knows what happened to you); - the general approach to safety is "not_great_not_terrible.jpg"; - there're probably three very secretive groups running management-mandated experiments at any given time; you don't know these people, and you pray you'll never meet them; every few weeks, something blows up and you're told it never happened; sometimes you need a permit that takes a week and a three-generation background check to issue just to walk down hall 3A, nobody knows why, and if you ask questions - your friends will probably deny knowing you once you're gone; - Canadian dollars have like 10x the buing power of yours, but it's illegal to own them! (but funnily enough, however illegal it may be - there's a shop set up in the middle of the plant that will coincidentally exchange CAD for yours, no questions asked)... Imagine that scenario. Feel yourself living in that drudgery, that bleakness. Feel yourself _not caring_ any more. And then one day, a group of people storm the gates yelling "Freedom!", get up to the management offices... and find them _empty._ The management is just _gone._ All documentation - receipts, shipments, procedures, operation manuals, balance checkbooks, even telephone books - are _destroyed_ (literally shredded or burned). Can you imagine how a few crates of uranium might go _missing_ in all of this? When the Soviet Union collapsed, they still had their armies deployed throughout the Union. These forces had to get pulled in a hurry, along with any officials; any and all documentation was destroyed on the spot or taken. They covered their tracks as best they could, turned tail and _ran._ It took Poland _15 years_ to fully transition from Planned Economy to the free market, and we _still_ don't have a full accounting of what went down, who did what, and so on. In some countries, it was even worse. There was another incident in Georgia, this time near their capital, Tbilisi - the Soviets handed over an old military base, but _"failed to mention" it was used as a radiological response training site_ and had radiation sources buried and/or left behind! Several people got injured with unrecognised and misdiagnosed burns until someone figured out they were radiation burns... And then, you have the _other_ Soviet-era RTGs left behind. They sure loved their RTGs - uranium was abundant, the technology didn't need to be efficient, and they were needed _yesterday..._ The "nuclear lighthouses" were very much real, and some of those sources are still unaccounted for. They've long since exceeded their designed lifetimes (several times over, in fact) without seeing maintenance, and they were deployed in remote areas (not even "rural" but more "subpolar" regions) where you don't have significant settlements. Sometimes someone stumbles upon one, and the chances that they might know what the radiation symbol even looks like - much less what it means - are low.

Let me clarify a few things.. remember the term was ORPHAN SOURCES.. now a lot of developed countries use radioactive material for things like the fire sensor/alarm in your house is radioactive. If you have a broken fire alarm/sensor.. most people just throw them in the garbage.. THAT is now an orphan source.. (and yes some one even tried doing their own build of a home made nuclear device using collected radioactive sources from fire sensor systems at their local dumps). Orphan Source becomes a correct, but misleading term. You need to look up what the IAEA defines as an 'orphan source' to see that it covers a lot of things, that are really safe unless collected into large sums.

That incident at Lia, Georgia seems minor compared to what the Soviets did in Semipalatinsk in north-eastern Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk from 1949 until 1989 with little regard for their effect on the local people or environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities and has only come to light since the test site closed in 1991. According to estimates from Kazakh experts, 1.5 million people were exposed to fallout over the years. Continuing generations of citizens are still suffering the effects of radiation-caused mortality and morbidity. The Soviets have a very poor reputation of handling both military and civilian "orphan sources".

That's so messed up. Never even heard of this. So glad you're on this!

I glad others are enjoying the experience he is giving us for free! Much love to you!

I have only one word for this: unbelievable... Love your content :)

Here from Kyle's channel and I felt myself age when you said 2003 that was like 20 years ago

2 other accidents worth reviewing are David Hahn. Built nuclear reactor in back yard and 3 mile island. Great Channel. Cheers

wow, so crazy. I did read about some medical equipment sources being lost and found the hard way, like in this case. thank you for sharing.

Isn't that one of the things "The Martian" came across and/or used?

RTGs are not meant to be heaters. They use the heat of radioactive elements to power a thermoelectric generator, for example using the peltier effect but instead of creating a cold and hot surface by applying a voltage, you just attach a hot and a cold object (a heat sink and the radioactive element) to create a voltage. RTGs are used for remote systems that require reliable power but not very much of it. For example some space probes like voyager use them because solar power is unavailable that far out in space. Also one of the rovers on mars uses an RTG. They're very reliable because they don't require moving parts. They usually use plutonium.

I was just about to take a walk in one of the beautiful Siberian forests... Holy macaroni

Those men when they first saw those RTBs: "A gift from heaven" The men once they got hospitalised: "The devils work".

This is exactly the problem. When you have a well funded, well regulated society it might be okay but societies decline and fall apart. Checks and balances can disappear overnight. It eventually happens to every society.

OMG! 300 orphant sources of radiation! That's just mindbogeling....

4:20 The heaters could never become critical as the isotope used (Sr90) is not fissile

I absolutely love you and your videos so much!

@YourFriendlyNuclearPhysicist

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!!☢️👩🏽‍🔬

RTG's saved money in the longer term, and they saved a lot of time and manpower. They got placed in a lot of places because their reactors made it as a waste byproduct, as I recall, and it had to have SOMETHING done with it anyway...so they shielded it up, put it in an encasement and 'power system', and then lugged them out to wildly-remote places to keep them warm and powered for years and years at a time. The devices looked like a half-collapsed transformer, or a partly-stripped fridge at the best of times, and their mass made it clear to ignorant scrap-seekers that there WAS obviously a lot of valuable metal in there somewhere! Linking an image I've seen before of the RTG's just 'sitting out in the weather', because once they were too weak to use, well, what else can you do with them?! Which was why so many were still around; when the Soviet Union collapsed, they lost a lot of paperwork AND even what they had kept track of...what could they do? They were wildly-isolated devices MEANT to run for years and years, and when you had no money for 'quick jaunts' to 40 different sites along the Siberian coast, well...there we are. And there THEY were, too. network.bellona.org/content/uploads/sites/3/2015/11/rtg.jpg Thankfully, they THINK they have rediscovered almost all of the RTG's that can be found. By which I mean, "Most of the RTG's they couldn't find, they DID find bits and pieces of among scrapyards nearby", and I think one or two were "Strongly suspected to still be present in the area they were thought to be in, but had been unable to be located during searches". bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2015-11-foreign-funds-have-almost-entirely-rid-russia-of-orphaned-radioactive-power-generators And...yes, the way we cavalierly mishandle invisible-sources-of-death and don't even most of the time TELL our civilian population is a big part of why I think the common citizen is so nervous about radiation. Plus it being 'invisible danger' doesn't help reassure folks or anything. 😕

I think the problem with orphaned sources after the collapse of the Soviet Union was the lack of accountability. Those who knew that those sources were there (mostly Soviet officials) didn't care anymore and those who cared (the new Georgian officials) never knew. This was not only a problem with radiological sources but also tons of other things like all kinds of weaponry, art and other valuables from collections and museums and effevtively large portions of the soviet republics economy and infrastructure that were snatched up by what is now known as Oligarchs in often less than legal and certainly immoral ways.

How have you not heard of RTGs?

@ElladaEllada

Жыл бұрын

Like this: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@robertmonroe9728

Жыл бұрын

Also surprised. I immediately understood it is rtg, ruzzian РИТЭГ, has Sr90

This was such a crazy video that I just watched it for the second time.

looking forward to your follow up on this one :)

It would be very nice to have a joint video with you and Kyle Hill!

@kylehill

Жыл бұрын

I'd be down

@pressaltf4forfreevbucks179

Жыл бұрын

@@kylehill 😏 Ok im sorry

@davidhenry5128

Жыл бұрын

"I'd be down" means what? Interested, or not?

@dr4d1s

Жыл бұрын

@@davidhenry5128 It means he would like to do a collaboration with her. Q: "Hey man, do you want to make a video with me about Nuclear Physics?", A: "Sure, I would be down for that."

Elina, you have to remember the politics at the time when the Soviet Union fell.

Wake up sees Elina uploaded Day improves significantly

I don’t think you understand how big of a political and administrational chaos the sudden fall of the Soviet Union had brought. Many projects and sites like this were abandoned overnight. And they were left like this for long periods of time. The fall of the Soviet Union wasn’t an organized secession, countries basically just popped into existence. It took them 3 years to manage unattended nuclear weapons in silos in the territories of new countries that were previously a part of the USSR. With things like that on their minds, no one remembered about a couple of generators for some isolated radio towers in the middle of nowhere. The people who were qualified to manage things like that were no longer overseeing them. No one knew who was supposed to take care of such things, so no one did anything - at least until more important issues were sorted out. Some of those things were cleaned up, while others were forgotten about in the turmoil. Then someone remembered that 8 of those RTGs were unaccounted for. There are radioactive devices missing, but at this point no one knows where they are or what happened to them. Now it’s not like I was there or anything, but I think that’s more or less what had happened. Also sorry for any mistakes, I’m not an English native speaker

Love your work, Elina. 🙂

Kyle has a lot of these videos about nuclear incidents if you're wanting more videos to review

i enjoy your videos. thank you!

thank you for being so honest.

"only in the Soviet Union"... Actually, no, I'm pretty sure RTGs are used to power the Voyager probes, and possibly others... But being space probes it obviously doesn't have the human risk once it's out of Earth orbit, probably the launch was the biggest risk. I remember reading a story about two guys in Mexico (iirc) that disassembled an abandoned Cobalt radiation machine (medical) with similar outcomes.

Speaking of topic of relatively unknown nuclear accident, I've got recommendation of video "The most radioactive man in history" or something like that made by Peaked Interest. This is the video I know and it reminded me of this and I think this should be also the video to react.

"What were these people thinking about these heaters" -- we're talking about people who were living in such poor conditions, they had to gather firewood. If I were to guess, these were likely former Collective Farm (all of which essentially bankrupted the moment USSR died) workers, or otherwise poor rural folk who have never in their lives seen beyond their immediate geographical area (or beyond the mandatory 6 years of schooling, for that matter). The temperatures they were facing (extrapolating from Tbilisi in Dec 2001) were likely below 35 °F. It wasn't really a question of "we should probably not touch it" - rather, it was "dude, we either huddle up with these, or risk freezing something off". You're looking at it from the educated Westerner's perspective - how could they have even entertained the idea that this was safe, right? But most people living in terrible conditions since birth (and probably for generations; the Soviet solution to unrest and unhappiness was _generational alcoholism_ after all), on the edge of poverty or worse, with no basic education (how much reading do you need to run a 50yo tractor through a field?)... they don't bother themselves with what is for them "such useless crap". Intellectuals in the Soviet Union were often ridiculed (for not getting their hands dirty), or even suspected of being subversives. In all cases, nearly without fail, they were bullied by the "working class". My grandfather had to explain himself at a militia station a few times under suspicion of _espionage,_ because he had "weird codes" in his letters/on his postcards. Yes, 40 people in the chain of command, and not one of 'em ever played chess by mail (or imagined someone might want to, or why). These were (and to some extent - still are!) hard-working, generational "working class", honest, _dumb_ people. You may not be aware of this, but any sort of enterpreneurial farmer that, say, banded people together to share produce and stuff? These people, no matter how much good they did, were propagandised as "slavers" and "greedy" (because often, they had more wealth than others in the area)... and if you reported someone like that to the local militia (and your word was usually good enough, the "inspectors" would go through everything until they found the evidence they needed...), their entire family was forcibly evicted, not allowed to take _anything,_ and either shipped out to the tundra or outright _executed_ for being "enemies of the state and the working class". Look "kulak" up (the pejorative term for such a successful farm/land owner). That this sort of enterpreneurship usually coincided with having some sort of education... well... The Soviets were _fully aware_ that their primary enemy was _the people_ - and intelligent people at that. Hundreds of thousands of professors, educators, doctors, historical leaders, politicians, any sort of aristocracy... were shipped out into concentration camps (gulags) and worked to death during the Soviet regime. The stupider the people, the easier it is to control them. Just so that we're clear: this was _an occupation by an enemy force._ A rose by any other name, and so on.

Actually after end of USSR many gowerment departments was closed, so sometimes important information just lost. RTGs just dumped without control and mental scrapers turn them a part. P.S. the are Karamatorsk nuclear disaster nasty story.... 300 is probably mostly smoke detectors.

@KarinaMilne

Жыл бұрын

This

Elina is the best teacher cause they wouldn't teach any of this in schools like they should

I'm glad you're watching Kyle Hill. He is a good one in the sciences community. Love your videos. Thanks!

Kyle,I watched your video before subscribing to Elinas channel and I am Preety sure she wasn’t bad intentioned when analyzing and reacting to your video,she is a physicist and for us the viewers is good to see and hear a different perspective from someone else as well!!Elinas channel,yours and radioactive Drew are the most go to channels for me when it comes to info about the mighty ATOM!

Honestly if I see a metal cylinder in the snowy weather and there's no snow around the damn thing I'm backing TF out of there real quick

Thank you for your insightful reactions! Seeing your outrage at the irresponsibility being portrayed in these videos convinced me to subscribe.I agree that nuclear can be beneficial, but only if we handle it with the utmost care and respect it deserves.

A radioactive geological marker was lost in a sand quarry. Subsequently, it became a part of a concrete wall in an apartment building. Subsequently, one family died of "some illness", another family lost several members to "some illness". Eventually the building was evacuated and dismantled. Yep, it was in soviet union, yep, my relative (aunt's husband) worked in that quarry, yep, everybody knew about the marker being lost, yep, nobody cared (as long as nobody would be held responsible, which nobody was)

From someone who watched both videos, THANK YOU to you and Kyle, for making us all viser on this important topic. No doubt though, that fission power is the future. Fusion has at this point, more or less prooven itself useless.

You sould react to some "Planly difficult" channel content ! He did this one too, as well as meny other radiological accedents including meany orphan sources and reactor meltdowns. My favorite so far was abaut Vinca unshealded reactor!😂

As a former nuclear operator on submarines, I just despair at humanity more and more every day.

@captainz9

Жыл бұрын

There's been much debate about burying nuclear waste and how to mark it... I mean will whoever is still around 1000 years from now recognize the radioactive symbol? A skull & crossbones?

@danilooliveira6580

Жыл бұрын

@@captainz9 just burry it deep enough in a geologically stable zone. if however shows up in the future after a hypothetical complete societal collapse can dig them up and open them, they will probably also have the technology to know what radiation is.

@extantsanity

Жыл бұрын

@@captainz9 The radioactive symbol I get, but skull and crossbones is pretty universal. If we're talking about an alien species with different anatomy, I don't think we have to worry about them not understanding basic physics on a foreign planet. Burying hasn't been much of a debate, either. Dirt offers excellent shielding for (literally) dirt cheap, whereas putting it into space usually isn't a viable option and can lead to much more serious catastrophes. I believe there's another video on this channel reacting to a video talking about the concerns of putting nuclear debris in space. My despair is mostly at the egregious handling of material above ground by people who should know better (also: _everyone_ should know better).

I LOVE YOUR ACCENT ! AND NOT ONLY INTELLIGENT , ALSO VERY BEAUTIFUL. THAT'S WHAT I CALL A TRIPLE THREAT !!

Did you know......Strontium is named after a village, tiny village, on the west coast of Scotland called Strontian.

Ay good choice i love this video, it's also a great example of how the government and companies would rather hide their mistakes and let innocent people suffer from them than to even say something, specially when it's such a dangerous mistake, only because they probally would rather let people die than allow their mistakes be brought to light.

First of all, I'm super happy that I discovered your channel, I'm currently binging it and the following question might be irrelevant if you've already covered such a topic, but I'll ask anyway. I'm not sure if it's too far off the main theme of your channel, but I would find it really interesting to compare like actual, concrete figures on the costs, efficiency and most importantly the Co2 Emissions of nuclear energy in comparison to renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy. Because considering the fact that renewable energy obviously also has to be "collected" somehow and those collectors, be it wind turbines or solar panels also have to be produced, often requiring quite an energy intensive process, complex logistics and supply chains and much more, all resulting in still pretty substantial costs and Co2 emissions along the way, until the renewable energy can be collected/transformed into electricity and such for a while until they require repairs, spare parts or have to be replaced and recycled completely. Not to speak about the environmental impact of plastering wide areas with solar panels or wind parks. This of course is also the case for nuclear energy, even on a much larger scale, but considering the enormous and pretty steady output of a NPP I would really like to know how much of a difference there is in respect to all these tangible and intangible costs and if renewable energy is really that much environmentally friendly compared to nuclear energy when adding up all the indirect costs that often get overlooked. I know that this would be quite a complex thing to break down and evaluate, but looking at your videos and qualifications I would consider you to be the right choice and Im sure many of your viewers would be interested in it too! All the best from Germany, slava Ukraini!

To say these items weren't even on the radar of Duma during the COLLAPSE of the entire nation is an understatement. You need to quit the 20/20 attitude imho. Was it bad sure but the chaos that was going on especially in the satellite states can't be understated.

After the break up of the soviet union, the KGB ponder the idea of leaving the unions massive stocks of Nuclear loaded ICBMs (the world ending ones) in most of the countries that broke away. their idea was that the round up would be costly for the west and or causes some to fall in the hands of less ideal individuals like terrorists or dictators. luckily the KGB didn't follow through with that plan.

OMG, her face when he said they used Strontium to power uncrewed lighthouses

Would be interesting to get more information on RTGs and the current level of improvements in this area of technology?

It is important to note that even smoke detectors utilize radioactive elements, so a renovation of a home or industrial building could result in multiple orphan sources due to improper disposal of items like smoke detectors, old luminous dials, and thermostats. Just like mercury, lead, and asbestos- radioactive materials are found in more items than most people are aware of.

I too am speechless! 😳

Yeah, you come upon a metal cylinder in the forest which is too hot2touch for no apparent reason, so you decide to strap it to your back?

Curious you haven't heard of them. Maybe as RPS? Same thing. This is obviously a rather expensive and dangerous niche application but they are still in use today. For example spacecraft that are heading for the outer regions of the solar system where solar power isn't really an option quite regularly have one. They don't deliver much power but otherwise they are reliable and predictable. Of course you're not supposed to lose EIGHT of those. But that's the Russians. On the other hand we lost 3 nuclear warheads and we only know where one of those actually is ... roughly.

@elvinhaak

Жыл бұрын

For this things a really cheap application actually, especially in that time. Just put some of that material in, transport the thing to its place of work and leave it there for many years to come without maintenance.

horrifying information, thank you for sharing your thoughts

RTG's are incredible and very useful inventions. Whilst the USSR did love a bit of nuclear energy, they put these things everywhere. They're great sources of power for incredibly remote regions where the logistics of constantly supplying them with power lines or fueling diesel generators is impractical. When you over look the fact they literally a block of Plutonium. They're most commonly used in space, because the safety issues of radiation and access to nuclear material kinda doesn't exist out there. RTG's power the Mars rovers and various satellites, particularly deep space ones that receive little solar energy like the Voyager probes. are powered by RTG's

How many are only here because Kyle gave Elina free advertising?

Great video. It’s a crazy story and also a tragedy. I think you might have misunderstood that these things were originally electricity generators for these very rural construction projects. Anyway keep up the great work of teaching people that nuclear energy is safe if you respect it.

Do not be surprised. It was Soviet union, now ruzzia - both are crazy

I saw the soviet union dissolving in the news back then - i am not surpised that a lot of nucular stuff was just abandoned. Pretty likely, that these RTGs where actually stored behind locked doors and maybe even guarded. But the state buerocracy basically ceased to exist for some months and state-employed personel had to find other sources of income lest they and their families starve to death. So maybe, that RTGs got displaced by looters (maybe they even died from doing so). Normal people in rural areas also had no idea about the danger of radiation sources because they where never exposed to any information about them. When they find a convenient heat source, they are happy to use it.

Imagine how chaotic the fall of the USSR was that that kind of stuff was happening

@paulmichaelfreedman8334

Жыл бұрын

It wasn't just during the fall. It's always been like that in Russia, and it isn't much different today. What one gets when fear keeps men in check, not reward.

Please more on this subject. Awesome info as always but please go deeper into this. Scary stuff.

16:56 Elina, you should have a look at this Goiânia Accident and react to it. it was massive, the largest in Brazil, maybe in the whole South America.

We also need to remember that RTG Generators are safe when not messed with. If its in a secure area and It is used for its intended purpose they are safe to use.

I also found one orphan nuclear source myself, colleagues of mine found one too (they were way too weak to make a good story tho..) this is happening 2013 in EU So I believe that it is not really hard to lose a nuclear source - everyone working with them tries to avoid them and lock them somewhere and there are people who are just dishonest and could lie about an accident so they don't get in trouble, leaving the job or simply dying later on. The more we use nuclear, the higher the garbage we will leave, simply because we are human beings. Before someone hijacking my statement for nefarious purposes: the amount of harmful nuclear waste from orphan sources is one of the least of our health hazards in modern times.

A gamma camera used to radiograph pipe welds was stolen out of the back of a truck here in Houston just last week while the crew were in a restaurant eating lunch. Still haven't heard whether it was ever found.