Comments by "James H Gornall" (@jamesgornall5731) on "The Atomic Age" channel.

  1.  @malachiXX  in the real world we do this all the time every day due to pressure from above, most of the time things go well and most of the time if they dont then the consequences are not too bad anyway and may encourage better procedures in the future. This, sadly was just one of those situations where things did go wrong and the consequences really did matter. If Dyatlov had calmly explained to his superiors that the additional energy demands during the day had put the reactor into a position where it was not suitable for the test to be carried out, likely he would have been chewed out and it might, maybe have cost him that promotion at that time. If, however he would have explained further that the test could be undertaken the following week, for instance, his superiors would have been able to tell their superiors something positive and with some florid language made the entire thing look like a triumph. This was a box-ticking exercise with non trivial consequences which were known, Dyatlov was a fool and a careerist whom his comrades should have placed under arrest and abandoned the test, being able to show why the test would have been so destructive (they knew the potential consequences, even thinking of scramming the reactor inducates the engineers were quite aware of what might happen). Dyatlov ought to have been executed, if the outside world had been kept in the dark that is certainly what would have happened, and for once it would have been the correct decision. Careerism is a common, insidious evil which everyone should be aware of enough to do the right, as opposed to the expedient thing.
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  2.  @urgon6321  perhaps we could get a handle on those carbon dioxide emissions by building more RBMK style reactors (the fixed ones), cheaper and easier to fuel/replace might encourage more of us to use nuclear energy rather than waste time and focus on other, terrible methods each of which have their own list of cons. I know why some people have such a negative view of nuclear energy there isn't much I can do about that but I can at least point out that coal and gas plants directly and indirectly kill human beings as well. This is not a trivial point.
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  3.  @valeshia385  cheap design, not cheap labour, the Soviet nuclear workers were treated far better than any regular mechanical workers, irrespective of trade. They had problems but they were NOT stupid, we will always make products with design defects including those which result in vehicle fires every day
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