Reactor Hall of Unit 2, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Update 24 Jan. 2017: still photos are posted at
We visit the Unit 2 reactor hall (central hall) at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in November of 2016. My video editing skills are minimal and I am slow, so for better material please visit the channel of my nuclear companion Bionerd23:
The RBMK is notable for its circular reactor lid where the control rod drive mechanisms reside and where loading and unloading of fuel occurs by means of a massive crane-mounted machine. In essence, the hall is a heavy-walled hot cell designed to shield potentially high radiation levels while fuel operations are underway. The hall also contains the short-term spent fuel storage basins, fresh fuel storage, a fuel transfer hatch to ground level, and access panels into the upper steamwater communication lines linking the reactor channels to the steam separators on either side. Unit 2 at Chernobyl has been shut down since a fire in 1991 damaged its generators and feedwater system. The reactor is defueled and dry, as are its spent fuel basins.
Some highlights of this video tour:
0:31 The reactor building elevator threatens to malfunction and we take the stairs instead.
3:03 Entrance to the anteroom of the Central Hall on the +20.2m level, where we put on additional PPE clothing.
5:02 Central Hall shielding maze
7:20 Gamma radiation above pressure tubes on reactor face is about 3.3 mR/h.
10:10 Fuel element stringers in the spent fuel pool are locally contaminated and spicy, with one measurement showing 2 R/h.
14:16 Discussion of the division of reactor channels between fuel and the protection and control (SUZ) system, noting that one SUZ channel has been repurposed for neutron transmutation of silicon. The RBMK was particularly good for this, and it occurred in Units 2 and 3 at Chernobyl.
14:58 Ascend the scaffolding to the refueling machine operator's compartment and look out the leaded glass window.
Poland | Wikipedia audio article
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Poland
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SUMMARY
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Poland (Polish: Polska [ˈpɔlska] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska [ʐɛt͡ʂpɔˈspɔlita ˈpɔlska] ( listen)), is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, covering an area of 312,696 square kilometres (120,733 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With a population of approximately 38.5 million people, Poland is the sixth most populous member state of the European Union. Poland's capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin.
The establishment of the Polish state can be traced back to A.D. 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of the realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (about 1 million km2) and most populous countries of 16th- and 17th-century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first written national constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.
More than a century after the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Germany, followed by the Soviet Union invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. More than six million Polish citizens perished in the war. In 1947, the Polish People's Republic was established as a satellite state under Soviet influence. In the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1989, most notably through the emergence of the Solidarity movement, the sovereign state of Poland reestablished itself as a presidential democratic republic.
Poland is a developed market and regional power. It has the eighth largest and one of the most dynamic economies in the European Union, simultaneously achieving a very high rank on the Human Development Index. Additionally, the Polish Stock Exchange in Warsaw is the largest and most important in Central Europe. Poland is a developed country, which maintains a high-income economy along with very high standards of living, life quality, safety, education and economic freedom. Poland has a developed school educational system. The country provides free university education, state-funded social security and a universal health care system for all citizens. Poland has 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 14 of which are cultural. Poland is a member state of the European Union, the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative, and the Visegrád Group.