Comments by "Mikko Rantalainen" (@MikkoRantalainen) on "Chernobyl Episode 2 - Please Remain Calm - Nuclear Engineer Reacts" video.

  1. There's a question about this at Physics Stackexchange question 480113. According to the answers there, the physically correct total energy is more like something between from 0.2 to 4 kilotonnes TNT equivalent (because all the water has already been converted to steam with that amount of energy). So the megatonne claim was exaccerated about 1000x (or up to 500000x). However, the scene may accurately Vassili Nesterenko, a nuclear physicist that worked in Chernobyl aftermatch, actually said in the meeting because of his (mis)understanding of the situation.
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  2. I think the idea behind dropping sand was that if the reactor core is hot enough, it will melt the sand and create glass surface which would be hopefully gas-tight.
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