Exploring SKALA: Chernobyl Reactor Control Computer

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Күн бұрын

In this episode of Computers of Chornobyl series, we will talk about the mighty SKALA system, that controlled the RBMK reactors.
This is the first-ever documentary about its design, architecture, operation, and software. It also tells the story of how it was preserved for posterity and reveals, what is common between it... and a control computer of Apollo spacecrafts.
It took us nearly half a year to collect the information and technical details about SKALA vintage computer, and what we uncovered has completely reshaped our understanding of how the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant operated. We sincerely hope you will enjoy it and learn as much as we have!
What you will find in this episode:
00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - How we saved SKALA
02:16 - This is why a special computer is needed to control a reactor
03:00 - A brief history of SKALA creation
04:00 - What is inside?
05:00 - This is what we discovered in archives
06:58 - Architecture and principles of operation
07:58 - A quick look to software of SKALA
09:00 - DREG and PRIZMA programs. Multi-machine mode.
11:15 - Control panels of DIVT engineer. Request devices.
12:49 - Reactor control room controls - mnemonic displays, selsyns, loggers
17:55 - The truth about the last signals of reactor 4.
19:55 - How DREG program worked.
21:14 - DIIS-2000 - SKALA’s sister computer system
22:33 - Outro
Get our limited-edition SKALA poster: / 91648436
Support our research work and projects:
Patreon: / thechernobylfamily
Donate: www.buymeacoffee.com/chernoby...

Пікірлер: 1 400

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

SKALA POSTERS ARE NOW AVAILABLE! Order here: kzfaq.infoUgkxzxTC5WABX-371XwLcHOEMcyNVBioXVA6

@SaraMorgan-ym6ue 6 ай бұрын

but it lets the reactor explode so um no not in a million years.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@ChernobylFamily 6 ай бұрын

To be accurate, the machine had nothing to do with the explosion at all.

@SaraMorgan-ym6ue 6 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily oh yes it did

@ChernobylFamily 6 ай бұрын

@SaraMorgan-ym6ue proofs? IAEA has a different opinion. Read INSAG-7 report. Sorry: I prefer to operate with the expert-level data to make conclusions; and operation of the computer system was reconstructed up to each second. There were no flaws in it; the flaws were in totally different things. ;)

@andrewhillis9544 Ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily SO Was The CHERNOBYL DISASTER Caused By COMPUTER Or HUMAN FAILURE Or A COMBINATION Of BOTH ? ? ?🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

@michaeljones6256 10 ай бұрын

The computer resource limitations you discussed are not only in the Chernobyl Skala system but also in the USA 3 mile island reactor installation. It was noted that the priority data output from the computer was lagging very far behind during the melt down emergency. I am thankful for the chance to see this equipment which may have been lost to the scrap yard without your intervention.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for those details!

@gabbyn978 10 ай бұрын

I guess, the measurement reports came in so fast that the computer could not handle it in real time. Real Time operation was a big thing in the 1980ies; and not many computers could do it. Seeing it from today, these 'high tech' machines were slugs, but there was no better technology available, because it had not yet been developed. Don't assume that a Commondore 64 could have been able to do it. A memory of 64 kilobyte of RAM would be nice; but processing the reports of 1661 channels in real time was beyond its capacity. Also, all of the east European countries were suffering from a boycott, they could not order western computers, as they were categorized as potentially useable for weaponry; so they had to construct their own computers. They even had to develop their own systems. If you think of that... they sent their Soiuz rockets into space with that technology.

@andrewallen9993 10 ай бұрын

The computers of the age like the HP 2100 using the Real Time Environment software could process the data fast enough but the Teletype HMI device couldn't keep up so the output was stored in memory to be slowly printed out by the teletypes.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

@@gabbyn978 check the part of the video closer to the end; this is what I meant - signals of SUZ were bufferized and there is a chance at some point during 10-15 seconds after reactor 4 explosion that buffer got an overflow. We will make a separate episode on this.

@elkiton 10 ай бұрын

Hi, I was a tech salesman with DEC in the seventies. One of my clients took me on a tour of a UK powerplant. I was intrigued by the use of Deva drum storage devices, they being long out of fashion, and a couple of minicomputers from a competitor which seemed a strange configuration. Getting the gen on them it seemed they were used for some tests in the installation and test phase, but we're so good at monitoring the operation they were left embedded in the final installation and could not be removed once the plant went live. One guy had a single job, sourcing spares and keeping the drums operational.... After that tour I swore I would not go within 20 miles of that plant, and never did.

@Skaldewolf 9 ай бұрын

all these hand-soldered elements, the ton of wire-wrapping and these wonderful ferrite-core memory-elements. The amount of work that must have gone into this system is staggering.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

And imagine to manage this... or UPGRADE this, when they had to connect DIIS...

@thiagozanolomainente76 10 ай бұрын

This video is amazing and deserves a million views🎉

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Frankly, it took us three weeks of drawing, animating and editing non-stop, so really, really hope for this!

@samjanssens1509 10 ай бұрын

no, atleast 2 million, more than the fake vid

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

@@samjanssens1509 thank you. In fact, as more people watch, as more it motivates us for new epic stuff to make. Greetings from Ukraine!

@minty_Joe 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily Outstanding job on the videos. Thank you so much! I hope all is well and safe during these difficult times. God bless you and peace be with you. Love from United States of America! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! 💙💛🌻💪☮

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glory to heroes!

@ayitsyaboi 10 ай бұрын

This is insanely cool, thank you. Even with my understanding of computers and programming it still blows my mind that people figured all of this out with the limited technology they had. Both hardware and software.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@jeremyphilipjohnpenrice462 9 ай бұрын

This is truely the salient point as to why the unmonitored unmoderated section brlow thd fuel rods reach where the Reactors core started thd runnaway condition which were initiated with ghe pushing of the AZ5 button. For thise 8 seconds every was completely unmonitored to the actual conditions which caused the massive nuclear explosion. Jeremy Penrice. Electrical & Instrumentation Engineer.

@mrcontroversy222 9 ай бұрын

im building a decent sized shope...i have a room for my pc gaming...one wall will be OLD monitors and computer interfaces! jesus i made need a video of the shit ive collected

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

DO IT!

@jhoughjr1 10 ай бұрын

This is a viral historical treasure to preserve as much as possible.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@keeganplayz1875 9 ай бұрын

It's incredible how modern computers barely take up space, but 37 years ago they took up an entire room! SKALA was very powerful for It's time!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Especially if we pay attention to the fact it is a highly specialized machine, so not a computer in a general meaning.

@paulbrown3302 7 ай бұрын

MS DOS had already released for PCs by this time computers were desktop

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

....and what is wrong ?

@BlackEpyon 2 ай бұрын

Actually, SKALA would have been well behind the technological curve by the time of the reactor #4 accident. Massive wire-wrapped TTL-based mainframes like this developed in the 60's were being phased out of service by the 80's, as the smaller and more power efficient MOS and CMOS based integrated circuits were becoming more and more reliable. At least in the west.

@lucasrem 2 ай бұрын

@@BlackEpyon Soviets were able to develop good systems for their industry and power plants. Not able to develop consumer system only.

@JB52520 10 ай бұрын

Wow, that system has a strong creepy vibe to it (in a good way). The control rooms were part of the computers. The operators were integral parts of the system, enclosed within it, their minds filled with codes. It must have been an overwhelming experience.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

It was. People who worked with this, told us, all this felt like a city, it was very special.

@vladislavstanimirovic9650 7 ай бұрын

I remember visiting my father's workplace, an analog telephone exchange that had a similar computer room, although much, much smaller, but similar in a way of having the tape reels, teletypes etc. Usually, around such machinery various stickers were placed with sort of short "reminders", and one of them said, "Remember, you are the brain of the machine". Your comment reminded me of that, it unlocked a 30yr old memory. 😁

@therandomytchannel4318 5 ай бұрын

Akimov and everyone else in the room probably had to get special education to run these systems hey 🎉

@ChernobylFamily 5 ай бұрын

@therandomytchannel4318 not probably, but definitely. As far I remember, it required 8 years of study.

@DreamGrandDragon 10 ай бұрын

I’ve been following the Chernobyl for disaster for years. Thank you for giving me more insight on how this system and how everything works. Always has been a curious fascination. I’m glad I found this channel.❤

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Much more to come!

@Meshuggah27 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for this video. My mind is absolutely melted. I am a Sysadmin, and the tech back then was insane! I cannot imagine the amount of engineering that had to go into this.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

You are so welcome!

@lincolnfirmo8221 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for your dedication and work in sharing this precious information with the world! Greetings from Brazil.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad that you liked!

@vladimus9749 10 ай бұрын

Seriously. I've always wondered what role the computer had in the disaster. Never been able to find much until now.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

So happy it was helpful!

@alexhajnal107 10 ай бұрын

@@vladimus9749 Seems like it did its job very well. Without the telemetry it recorded it would have been much harder to determine exactly what happened and why.

@johnnyzippo7109 9 ай бұрын

I clicked subscribe , was surprised I wasn’t already , having watched several of your offerings multiple times . Thank you again , I will join the Patreon at end of month.

@mikebailey783 10 ай бұрын

This is brilliant; one of the most captivating documentaries I've seen in a while. Superb use of archive photography, and great to see such effort put into the illustrations. And thank you for going into such detail on the various processes and conventions involved.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@alexhajnal107 10 ай бұрын

_"thank you for going into such detail"_ The more detail the better! It's one thing to see what a machine does but it's much more interesting to learn how it does it.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Very right

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

After many questions received, we will make a series of Patreon posts with more details and bonus materials about SKALA and control room systems - you are welcome to join us! Link is in the description of the video.

@MegaWatt_Lab 10 ай бұрын

А буде українська озвучка відео?

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

@@MegaWatt_Lab та от багато хто просить, але ми поки не знаємо, як це зробити по часовитратам. Це фактично означає зробити повністю нове відео кожного разу, ледь вдається поки це робити.

@TheSonicfrog 8 ай бұрын

Well done! I have an affinity for old computers, when I was in the US Navy aboard the USS Jason AR8 (a repair ship) circa 1974 I was responsible for operating a Univac AN/UYK 5V computer, used primarily for tracking parts and work hours. Not a single IC anywhere, everything was transistor/diode logic, with about 4096 18-words of ferrite core memory. I/O was four tape drives, a teletype for a console, a huge chain driven printer, and an even bigger card reader/punch. Surprisingly, the system had a COBOL compiler, and I wrote a small program to accept punch cards and print out a list of everyone serving aboard.

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing this!

@jakemeyer8188 9 ай бұрын

My wife grew up in Slavutych. Her mom was one of those engineers at Chornobyl, but she got there in 1988; 2 years after the accident. She worked with the remaining operational reactors (obviously). I myself am OBSESSED with retro computing such as this, and especially the reactor computers of the era. I'm dying to create my own replica reactor control room... Edit: if it wasn't clear, this video is AWESOME. MASSIVE thank you for this!!!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Based on what you told, we believe you will like what will come next...) Thank you!

@williamrekow7513 9 ай бұрын

I hope the people there are well, or that they have gotten somewhere safe.

@bassybossy 10 ай бұрын

Amazing view of the system and thank you for saving and explaining it. The disaster is an incredibly personal story for many that the hardware and software underlying it all is often overlooked. Looking forward for more on this!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! There is much to tell, and we will work on this...!

@KeritechElectronics 10 ай бұрын

You're going full-on CuriousMarc here! What a magnificent system and video. And the comparison with the AGC DSKY is on spot here. Same thought crossed my mind. Speaking of the DSKY... just look at all these electroluminescent displays - another feature these systems had in common.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Well, frankly we don't follow CuriousMarc, but we believe he does some cool stuff :) as for displays... they are breathtaking in action, and they arr so huge...

@senilyDeluxe 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily You sure you aren't CuriousMarc's long lost twin brother? :-)

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Bhahaha that start to sound like an Indian movie :)

@mikolasstrajt3874 10 ай бұрын

CuriousMarc literally repairs Apollo computers with his friends. This is very similar thing.

@BlackEpyon 2 ай бұрын

CuriousMarc and his group have gotten into restoration of some Soviet-era space hardware, and he's familiar with operating and restoring big TTL-based mainframes like the IBM System 360, 308x series, etc, so there's a lot of collaboration potential.

@phildem414 10 ай бұрын

Great video! I was searching for info about SKALA for years. Here in france, Tchernobyl was a tragedy that marked everybody. The RBMK reactors are prety well known and understood but cold war, USSR computers remain misterious. I went to the science museum in London ans they a stunning BESMM6, impressive machine for sure.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

BESM6 was THE machine...)

@PonczekORIGINAL 10 ай бұрын

You can't imagine how long i've been waiting for any sort of documentary on SKALA. Thank you!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad ypu enjoyed it!

@MarkMcCluney 10 ай бұрын

That array of analogue gauges is extraordinary. Thanks for showing us Alex, this is a fabulous documentary, so fascinating and just brilliantly presented. Thanks to both of you for all the effort you put into this channel.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! We are thinking to get a couple of selsyns to make a demonstration of them in action by recreating one of those meters.

@waywardtraveler9896 3 ай бұрын

I’ve watched hundreds of videos on Chernobyl and never heard of this. Great job very informative

@ChernobylFamily 3 ай бұрын

Thank you! Check our newer episodes as well!

@ZakHooiTM 10 ай бұрын

This is beyond cool, always wondered what computer system was behind chernobyl. Will there be any chance that the Tapes and drives that still exist to be read it and archived? Maybe some day the SKALA architecture / system can be reverse engineered and be emulated with the original software Proud to be a patreon member for this channel

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

They stand and do exist. Well, will suggest that idea.

@TheErilaz 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamilyMaybe it could be posted on github?

@jasonmurawski5877 9 ай бұрын

They may be standard 8 track tapes. They look like rebranded IBM compatible equipment, and in that case the computer history museum has an IBM 1404 that can read the tapes and send it to a modern computer

@JCarey1988 9 ай бұрын

I second the request for reading and preserving any tapes!@@ChernobylFamily

@revsnowfox5798 8 ай бұрын

Eh, it was an industrial control system, I doubt there's much value in extracting the raw numbers from those tapes. The same kind of applies the emulating the SKALA, it's not an ordinary "retrocomputer", it's an automation and control system for a nuclear power plant, how do you emulate it?

@robertwatsonbath 10 ай бұрын

This is really interesting! So SKALA was much more than a computer solving complex reactivity equations but also an enormous real-time data acquisition system too - measuring and logging everything as well as looking for anomalies from "normal" operations?

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Yes, it is a very good and correct definition you proposed. Actually, it comes from the meaning of its name - "the system of control and automatization".

@AmauryJacquot 10 ай бұрын

and they did all that with 20kB of ram... current systems are so much bloated...

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

200, as those 20 were is in octal system.

@filipmecir262 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily Still crazy - PLC I use for home automation has 20 MB RAM... Thanks for this video.

@GuyFromJupiter 10 ай бұрын

Like modern day SCADA

@teatimee 10 ай бұрын

This was really fascinating and well made. I hope that lots of other people get to see your work.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! We hope for this very much.

@NickFizzard 10 ай бұрын

This video HAS to blow up. The immense amount of knowledge, research, and incredible amount of skill to apply here has absolutely paid off. This is HISTORY you're making, man!! You earned another subscription! 😄👍❤️🇺🇦

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Well, it took quite a time to make it, it is true :)

@bobbysenterprises3220 10 ай бұрын

First video I've seen of yours. This was absolutely mind blowing. Thank you. I would love more on these details you eluded to.very well done and nicely paced with great footage and explanations

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

We are very happy that you liked...! Wait for more!

@Takyodor2 10 ай бұрын

I had no idea that I needed this in my life, but now I'm hooked! Super interesting information, and very well put together, thank you for making this (and saving the computer).

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad that you liked! There will be much, much more content like this - and in meanwhile, check our previous episodes!

@keith_5584 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for commissioning and documenting this for us. Seems very well sculpted for an early age computer!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for coming!

@F3Aer 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for the making of this video: it is incredibly interesting. Also, discovering, analizing and showing pics and video from that time demands a lot of time and work. Again, thank you very much for doing this!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! More to come!

@eduardocarvalho1547 10 ай бұрын

Thanks! I've been waiting for a detailed video about the Skala computer for years. I hope in the future you make more videos about Skala and also the other less known auxiliary systems of the NPP.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

More to come!

@AndrewRump 10 ай бұрын

The most amazing KZfaq video I have seen in a very long time. A fantastic find and definitely something that needs to be stored for eternity - and your explanations just gave me so much new information about Chernobyl. keep up the great work.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@BartManNL 9 ай бұрын

I recently stumbled onto this channel and can only say it is AMAZING! Thank you for making these videos!

@SuperBicycleRepairMan 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the detailed and considered look at the RBMK control system. Plus all the work that you have put in. All the best with your future projects :).

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Much appreciated! Check previous episodes!

@0xbenedikt 10 ай бұрын

Fascinating. I never really looked much into this and didn't expect that they actually had such a complex DAQ and control system. I thought this was all done by hand with manual gauges and some discrete analog electronics.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

So much still to discover. We personally, although knew it is far more than a computer, did not expect it is THAT big in its role.

@alexhajnal107 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily And all that in 20k words. A lot of people today don't realize just how much one can do with that. I'm really interested in learning more about the V-3M's architecture (CPU, buses, etc.); maybe a follow-up video? Edit: That's 20k addresses of 24-bit words. Still impressive though.

@monad_tcp 10 ай бұрын

@@alexhajnal107 "A lot of people today don't realize just how much one can do with that." Its basically driving hardware, nowadays everything is emulated by software, and we have 50 years of layers on top of layers to make things super complex and use a lot of ram. That machine had none of that, just bare assembly code, you don't even need to have code to display things, there's actual physical display devices. The amount of things you can do with very little RAM when the hardware itself does the heavy lifting is amazing.

@monad_tcp 10 ай бұрын

I'm surprised that it did had a kernel/user division.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

I'll just add a correction, those are 20 octal KB, so roughly 200 in binary. It used 24-bit words.

@SmokinGoodd420 10 ай бұрын

History should never be forgotten. Saw this on YT main page recommends . Well done !

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Check our previous episodes, and if you have a possibility, join us on Patreon - there is 10x more interesting stuff on Chernobyl and its amazing tech.

@anomalousbob9361 7 ай бұрын

This video is perhaps one of the greatest documenting videos I've seen on old computers! I genuinely loved every single moment; congratulations for such a beautiful production!

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! A continuation is coming soon!

@costindan6180 10 ай бұрын

Greetings from Romania, amazing video, you pieced together so much info about this system… great work, we’re all grateful. Thank you!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@JapanPop 10 ай бұрын

I wish I could give 100 likes. It was so touching to hear about Mrs. Pripyat feelings. You impress me in keeping on making good videos like this during more conflict. Ukrainian people must be very tough. Your people have overcome so much in the past 100 years.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

After all, our research is a piece of that "normal" that keeps us sane.

@ClassicalRips 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for making this video! For decades I ran in to the same issue that you did, no resources I could find ever described the SKALA system at all; documenting industrial control systems like this is very important to retro computing history and is a very overlooked sector for computer historians!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad we could help! But, we are going to continue.

@djdomi6583 10 ай бұрын

Excellent video! I was always interested in SKALA and how it worked. Thanks for the video! :)

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars 9 ай бұрын

What a FASCINATING video! This is an area of the subject that really doesn't get the attention it deserves. You explain it well for an old tart like me who doesn't really understand computers. However, when you mentioned the request system I also started thinking about Apollo. I do hope you do more of these. Thanks for sharing your hard work!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! There will be much more here, stay tuned!

@flaviotrash9693 10 ай бұрын

I has been waiting a video like this. Thanks

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad that you liked! There will be much more about this equipment in the future...)

@yagomg7790 9 ай бұрын

I remember reading about SKALA a few years ago (when my chernobyl obssesion). I was bummed by the low amount of information about the computer. This video really made my day if not my week.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

We are so happy to hear this...! Stay tuned, more to come!

@AnthonyFrancisJones 7 ай бұрын

Brilliant! Thanks so much for making this!

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

Get ready for a continuation next weeks!

@FancyP24 10 ай бұрын

This is such a niche interest for so many people, and you just filled a void of knowledge that I didn't even know I had. Thank you for these videos, amazing graphics and explanations!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

We are really happy it was interesting :)

@SebastianGalletto 10 ай бұрын

Another amazing video from you. It is great as a piece of Chornobyl history, and also as computer history.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for these motivating words! Seriously, it is very important for us.

@ATTomMan 10 ай бұрын

Thank you guys, incredible stuff, such rare info. Had no clue, why there such small number of subscribers on this channel. Thank you for so detailed review of many types of equipment. Truly rare things you have access to. I`ll use some references from cannel, for props modelling, in future METRO game series. Greetings from Kyiv.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Happy to hear that..)

@tedbear4243 Ай бұрын

Hello from Australia. Thank you for the time and hard work you put into this, it was extremely interesting and I'm looking forward to more. Best regards.

@ChernobylFamily Ай бұрын

Thank you! Check our other videos!

@user-um6rt7zz3h 5 ай бұрын

I am an electronics engineer and it was very interesting to learn about this control and data processing system. There is nothing on the Russian-language KZfaq about this system. Yes. You're right. Regarding the fact that the parameter time was output to the printer after processing. In one of the videos I heard from one of the panel board engineers, the time of changing the parameter and its subsequent indication.......... I was shocked...... 18 seconds!!!!!! So, really, the processing time after receiving the change signal and its indication (printing) is huge. 18 seconds is an eternity for a reactor.

@ChernobylFamily 5 ай бұрын

We've asked a few engineers; this thing with 18 seconds was not a common thing. It was slow, but not that slow.

@GenerationAI2024 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for this in depth info on this beautiful computer. Just love those old proprietary computers :)

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

We are really happy you liked it!

@klaas-janrozema5396 10 ай бұрын

Amazing content. Thank you very much for this unique and almost forgotten story. For me as a computer engineer it is mind blowing what they did with available computer hardware back then. The Chernobyl story is engraved in our collective memory, we'll never forget.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@tamahagane1700 9 ай бұрын

Absolutely stunning. Thank you for helping save this piece of history.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for your warm words!

@ScarlettStunningSpace 9 ай бұрын

It's so cool they decided to save it. I've always wanted an explanation of infrastructure like this because most of it is very vague and doesn't get into how it really works. This video deserves so many more views!!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thank you! Hoping for this!

@techn1kal1ty 10 ай бұрын

So they were essentially dual-core, each core having 20K cache and 8K shared RAM, with ECC? Controlling VMs via machine code, with hand-punched, punch-tape BIOS? These computers may be light-years behind modern specs and functionality, but way ahead of modern computers in charisma.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

20K octal 24-bit words even...)

@moebius2k103 8 ай бұрын

Very cool video, it's obvious that a great deal of research went into this. Well done.

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

Thank you! This year will be a continuation :)

@OstlerDev 10 ай бұрын

It is amazing to see this system preserved, THANK YOU for your work!! I found it highly interesting!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

I just want to underscore, that although our word had a weight, and likely was the final drop, the preservation is the decision of the amazing collective of the power plant. Those guys are awesome:) Thank you for your words! It is highly motivating!

@youtubasoarus 9 ай бұрын

Awesome video! Love to see how these old machines worked. The complexity is mind boggling. Thank you for making this and your hard work to research it.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Get ready for much, much more!

@youtubasoarus 9 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily I can't wait! This is fascinating and exciting!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

For now, check previous episodes, some are pretty special :)

@florianlacrampe4361 10 ай бұрын

Really amazing work ! Thank you for all ! SKALA design is very elegant :) Best greets from France

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Merci!

@allanren0116 8 ай бұрын

Very very awesome and informative video. Thank you for persuading them to keep the original machine and making this awesome video.

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

We are glad that you liked! In a month or so will be epic continuation, so stay tuned!

@lucasrem 9 ай бұрын

Great Video ! I was asking Russian friends for years to do this, but everyone did say, then i will be arrested as a spy. But there are people that did restore the SKALA systems, and specially the SKALA at Chernobyl ! Great uploads.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Here in Ukraine things are far easier...)

@AlyaraArati 7 ай бұрын

I think this is the first video of yours which I've seen. Bravo! There's a ton of stuff about computers that I don't understand, but this is fascinating nonetheless! My friend has been educating me about Unit 4, and I have to say, it's very interesting!

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

Unisual computers are just a part of the great story of Chornobyl - as unique conditions required unique solutions. Thank you! There is much that will come here, and about Unit IV as well :)

@allancopland1768 9 ай бұрын

Excellent video.Very many thanks for posting this.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Glad that you liked! More to come!

@johnnyzippo7109 10 ай бұрын

Thank you and your associates so much ! I have been waiting for this video , this documentation of this computer mainframe for a very , very long time ! Bravo ! Simply Bravo !

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

You are very welcome! Subscribe!

@germancaperarojas4023 10 ай бұрын

Man. What a gem! Greetings from the other part of the world. This is amazing. What a nice retrocomputer dive into how the USSR created their first main frames and control systems.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Greetings from Ukraine! Check our previous videos and stay tuned for new :)

@telumatramenti7250 9 ай бұрын

"Skala" (plural: "Skaly" - stress on A)means more in Russian than "rock". Original semantics of the word aside modern use specifically denotes the upper part of tall mountains that is bare rock. The word is never used to refer to individual rocks, for example - a boulder that needs to be moved when clearing a road or a rock you could pick up with your hands. The word's frequent poetic use is possibly the main reason why they decided to stick with that abbreviation. I can see that NASA's taste for abbreviations was certainly shared by the Soviet programmers. This is certainly a very unusual, high value educational video. I thought SKALA was forever lost to history by now. My first ambient music track "Deus Ex Machina" was dedicated to this ancient apparatus ☺The scifi part of me envisions a future museum of computers where all of world's important and iconic historical computers, with "Enigma" and Turing's computer which cracked it, Apollo's computers, 1980-s Soviet ЭВМ and so on. And of course, - this amazing beast.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing! Do you have a link to your track?

@mikolajkaraczyn6382 8 ай бұрын

Hi, really great video! Thanks for sharing with us this unique and rare informations. I would like to see continuation about this topic :)

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

This year it will come;) stay tuned :)

@mikolajkaraczyn6382 8 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily great, I will (un)patiently wait for it! I'll check other your videos :)

@DreamHeaven 9 ай бұрын

Indeed very interesting video. Thanks for your work ! Deserves much bigger exposure

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thank you very much! More to come!

@nojbik 10 ай бұрын

Good job again Alex.Some people thinks that USSR computers were piece of crap, but in fakt they were working well and reliable for their purpose. Thank You for all Your reviews

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

They were a piece of crap with some brilliant exceptions :)

@vitalyl1327 9 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily have you seen ЦВК, by any chance?

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Mmm... i am afraid I need a hint

@vitalyl1327 9 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily another Soviet computer from that era, slightly newer than SKALA (1970, AFAIR), built using ferrite core memory and discrete ICs. It's still deployed in the S-300 complexes. Was quite a fascinating design for its time - very RISC-like architecture with quite a deep pipeline, SMP with hot-swap for CPUs, also extensive self-testing features like in SKALA. It's sad that only military, nuclear and aerospace applications got unique Soviet designs while civilians had to cope with poorly copied western computers...

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

@vitalyl1327 unfortunately, this one I did not have a chance to see, but it sounds impressive.

@bradmiley 10 ай бұрын

Дякую за це фантастичне відео. Я був зачарований Чорнобилем з часів катастрофи, яка сталася, коли мені було 16 років, і здачі важливих іспитів. Я знав, що радіація досягла моєї країни, і що чудове весняне повітря, яким я дихав, також було (трохи) радіоактивним. I am from the UK, and have always wanted to visit the reactor, Pripyat, and the DUGA installation, but im disabled now, and I dont think I could handle all the walking!! I send you Blessings and Love from the Northern UK, to you and your family. Stay safe!. Slava Ukraine! 🇺🇦 ❤️

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, my friend, it is so valuable for us! Take care and get ready for new videos that will tell even more secret stories! Glory to heroes!

@bradmiley 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily Thank *you*! That was an awesome video - truly. I have never seen SKALA, only heard about it. Your video explained in great detail this mysterious system. It's almost unbelievable, a computer so tiny (memory/processor speed) could run a complex nuclear reactor. But they can only do what *humans* tell them, and the experiments conducted in late April 1986 pushed *everything* beyond their limits. A friend of mine, in 2007, made a music album (with a few videos) about the disaster, and gave everything (documents, recording diaries, video and music masters) to a Chernobyl children's charity. It was released at the date and time of the disaster in 2007 - the idea was, anyone born then would have reached the age of 21 (a milestone in some European/Western countries). He gave them full permission to do whatever they wanted with the album. I think there are a couple of music videos on KZfaq to this day. Sorry for rambling! I was gifted a copy of the album so I tend to think of it, the music in my mind, when I talk about April 1986. Stay well my friend, love from Northern UK ❤️🇺🇦❤️🇺🇦 Героям слава. Слава Захисникам. Слава Народу. Слава Україні!! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing all this. It is... so touching.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Do you have a link to or a name of the album?

@Trottelheimer 8 ай бұрын

Thank you for this fascinating insight into the control systems of the reactors! As a computer enthusiast and professional since the early 80s, and with an interest in the history of computers, this was right up my street - subscribed 👍

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

thank you! wait for continuation...)

@iwanjones7334 10 ай бұрын

As usual, a fascinating account of how SKALA worked. I can't thank you enough for this amazing video.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Our pleasure!

@patrykx4577 10 ай бұрын

I also read almost anything what i could find avout chernobyl disaster. And cannot find any info about skala system in english speaking intetnet. Thanks a lot for this excellent presentation

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

So glad you liked it!

@neil4306 10 ай бұрын

Great video. Thank you

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank YOU!

@sheep1ewe 10 ай бұрын

Thank You a lot for making those videos! Yes of course we want everyting!!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you, dear friend!

@rgarito 10 ай бұрын

Been waiting for this video... And you did not disappoint! Excellent!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

@enoladeveu3653 10 ай бұрын

Wonderful video! Thank you very much. I've been waiting for it for a long time. 20K RAM, no CRT no keyboard, writing programs in machine language. That’s it. That's what real men do.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Well said!

@joshflugel 9 ай бұрын

Magnificent video for the tech geek community. Mad respect for the scientists and engineer that created these machines in those old days.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thank you! And if you would only hear with what respect they still talk about it!

@Kevlux86 10 ай бұрын

Great video! Great visuals, explanations, added graphics too. Looking forward to seeing your next one!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much!

@snip3rm00n 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for documenting this beautiful and incredibly important piece of computing history!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

@DKTAz00 10 ай бұрын

Very very cool, amazing how much space these things used to take up

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@leopiipponen7693 10 ай бұрын

Very intresting video complexity computer systems :)

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad that you liked!

@MarkLynskey 7 ай бұрын

Great Video, the sheer engineering that went into this is amazing, especially the monitoring system.

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

Glad you liked it! More to come!

@raulegido 10 ай бұрын

This video is awesome and very informative. I really appreciate the time you took to make this as easy understandable as possible about a so complex subject. You earned a subscriber. Keep up the good work!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful! Check our previous episodes..)

@raulegido 10 ай бұрын

I will. Thank you@@ChernobylFamily

@mikefochtman7164 10 ай бұрын

Very interesting. I worked in US BWRs from the mid 80's. They had data gathering systems that tracked the power levels throughout the core. Like the RBMK, during refueling individual bundles were shuffled based on their previous exposure 'burn up'. Before this time, some plants just recorded the data on tapes and sent them to a vendor that would read/ analyze and project future thermal performance and 'fuel shuffles'. Yeah, those old 'band printers' were not particularly fast. Ours were 300 lpm (lines per minute) but the alarm typer was a simple dot matrix that was much slower.

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing all these details.

@gregrudd6983 9 ай бұрын

The move over to DEC VAX's for near real-time would have been a huge step forward.

@RyderUwU 10 ай бұрын

I'd be cool to have a dump of all the alarm sounds and such, it's hard to find but honestly I find them cool. I'm kinda building a game around managing a reactor and this stuff always inspires me

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

....planned!

@RyderUwU 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily hell yeah!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

We are going to buy a bunch of actual selsyns - exactly that type that is at the NPP, and do something cool, just saying:)

@RyderUwU 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily ooh already can't wait for the showcase if that's planned for it as well. If you don't have the hardware to test them who knows you could use an Arduino or maybe the KZfaqr curiousmarc knows something

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Curiousmarc, curiousmarc, curiousmarc...))) we have a few research institutes in contact, just saying;))))

@RealEngineer 10 ай бұрын

Great video! 🎉 Thank you for making this!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

You are so welcome!

@straightup7up Ай бұрын

Superb production, very interesting and informative!

@ChernobylFamily Ай бұрын

Thank you! Check our other episodes!

@Silanael 10 ай бұрын

I was always wondered if that kind of signal CRT display actually existed or not. Thanks for clarifying that! Also, if you have any technical documents of SKALA, I'd be most interested in adding them to a Chernobyl-archive I'm building. Thanks for the great video!

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

With all wish, there are no and I'm afraid won't be so far.

@krisztiangyarmati2144 9 ай бұрын

Hello! I would really like a more detailed summary of the SKALA system, looking at the implementation of the connections, the communication between the individual units, and the software implementation. Go to these, or to any of them :) I really liked your video, thank you!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thank you! We will make this as soon as we will be able - due to wаr it is not really possible, but hopefully things will change.

@ColoradoDualSport 9 ай бұрын

This is absolutely fascinating! As an IT professional that started in the late 1990s it's amazing what they were able to do with such limited hardware resources. Thank you for doing the research and presenting this so well. Great work!

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for more!

@tararose5650 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! This was fascinating!

@ChernobylFamily 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! Check our previous episodes as well...)

@YourHoss 10 ай бұрын

This is awesome, totally delivered on what I’ve been looking for from this channel! It would be awesome to preserve the software and maybe with the documentation someone could build an emulator for the machine code to run SKALA and let it live again. Let it be the core of a Chernobyl simulator and see how the computer would respond to different inputs and situations in the reactor. I’ve seen another Chernobyl reactor simulator before but I highly doubt it’s running the real skala code.

@alexhajnal107 10 ай бұрын

The V-3M is an industrial variant of the M4-3M. This is a fully indigenous design using only locally-produced components. It uses 24-bit data and 30-bit program words (Harvard architecture). For more info search for "M4-3M control computer"; the computer-museum (ru) site has a nice overview of the design. ( Looks like my two previous posts were auto-deleted for containing a link. Don't even include a site name lest your post be banished. )

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Well, documentation for this is a half a ton of books, but at some point some pieces of it really can have a use. For now we are thinking to rebuild some parts, which can be interactive, e.g. a request device.

@fi11222 9 ай бұрын

Very cool documentary. Thanks a lot. Maybe you could think about a part 2 including more info about the H/W architecture of the SKALA and its monitor/OS. You made a comparison with the AGC. Did the SKALA also have a prioritization of tasks like the AGC did? Some remarks you made that measurements might be delayed waiting for a "processor window" seem to indicate that it did. How exactly did this task scheduler work?

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

A continuation will come, though that will take a lot of time in the current conditions. I'll check on your questions with engineers and come back.

@iangrimshaw1 9 ай бұрын

A really fascinating video, well done. Subscribed and thank you.

@ChernobylFamily 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the sub! Check our previous episodes, we have a few documentaries and other interesting Chernobyl things as well.

@iangrimshaw1 9 ай бұрын

Diving as we 'speak'. @@ChernobylFamily

@Jappmannen 8 ай бұрын

As a former instrumentation engineer at a ASEA ATOM BWR reactor this is impressing as hell! Especially if you think about that the computer must handle over 1600 analog channels at the same time (probably even more if you count in such parameters like steam and feedwater temperatures, steam pressure, feedwater flow and probably some data from the turbine). And then I haven't even mentioned that RBMK reactors have that possitive feedback loops which means that the control rods must be actively controlled all the same time in order for the reactor to maintain a consistent power level.

@ChernobylFamily 8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@dasiro 10 ай бұрын

Designing these systems must've been so complicated back in the days with the tech they had both software and hardware. I wonder which was more complicated: a nuclear control room or a lunar mission control room, as they were relatively from the same era

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Both were different versions of Hell for their engineers, what can I say...)

@rearspeaker6364 10 ай бұрын

the nuclear one, for sure- every single fuel rod had multiple sensors around its location, and with soo many.

@syproful 10 ай бұрын

I’d say the space missions. One reason. Distance. Meaning analog needed to be converted to digital and then RF modulation. Also the latency and dark zones. But I think the nuclear plant needed A LOT more of responsibility and watchdog systems for redundancy routines.

@chicago_race_engines7538 9 ай бұрын

@@syprofulall this could now be controlled via a single plc now.

@AjinkyaMahajan 10 ай бұрын

Wolderful. Thanks for a great video !! I whish there were english documentation of skala Computer manuals and architecture so it can subsequently be emulated on an an FPGA !! Cheers

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Well, we have serious doubts it is possible to emulate is on FPGA, as it was octal-based, not binary, and was heavy dependent on analog devices. BUT, we plan to recreate some devices that were parts of it - in action!

@_DSch 10 ай бұрын

@@ChernobylFamily with enough engineering time (and people wanting to volunteer for that) it should be possible to make an emulator for the software, but that would require knowledge of the inner workings and extensive documentation (like for example how the processor works exactly)

@ChernobylFamily 10 ай бұрын

We will suggest the idea. The obstacle is the dаmn wаr.