For everyone that is just watching me for the very first time . I am from a neighboring country, Romania and I have to say that these tragic events made me so so so mad

Don't worry about reading comments to explain how it went wrong, the show does a fantastic job of it in the final episode.

"Injustice makes me mad" Ooooh boy. Buckle up.

I'm from former Yugoslavia. I was 2 years old when this happened. The way I hear it, we got a pretty strong doze of this stuff because the wind brought it our way. Of course my parents didn't know about it until it was too late to do anything. Strangely, no one in my family ever died of cancer. Hope I'm not the first one.

13:05 The affected area was more than half Europe. The first country which detected an anomaly of the levels of radiation on its air was Sweden.

To be fair, it wasn't a simple matter of denial or wishful thinking, at the time they really couldn't figure out how an RBMK reactor core could possibly explode. The higher-ups simply doubled down on that fact as it became more and more apparent that something grave had indeed happened.

I was a preteen in Denmark when this happened. People were saying: what if the wind turns our direction? It was very scary. At that age I was thinking of nuclear war all the time, thinking it would happen soon, so I know all about radiation poisoning and fallout. As I grew older, I forgot about these things, but when I watched the first episode of this show, it all came back to me and had a litteral panic attack. All those repressed fears coming back hit me so hard.

Dyatlov, the control room chief with the bad attitude, walked out to the hall after the explosion and saw graphite pieces from the reactor core on the roof and he still denied it exploded. he was not ignorant he was criminal that's why Lagosov (sp) said he deserved death on the tapes.

In the early 90s, in Argentina there were cases of powdered milk contaminated with very low amounts of radiation. It was imported from various places in Europe and manufactured in 1986/1987. The magnitude of this event was impressive.

Biss, i was 13 in 86, and i also only had the "big picture" on this. I was aware it was serious, i remember the news, but i was too far away to really be worried at the time, and it was the 80's... all i creed about at that time was music... Watching this series was a huge eye opener to me too, i never in my wildest dreams imagined it was THIS bad, and how disastrous it could have been for the whole of Europe... Great to see you react to this.

Biss, everything will be explained until the end of the show. Though not all details are historical or scientifically 100% correct, it's still a great overall explanation.

Currently reading the book Midnight at Chernobyl. At one point, the temperature coming off the reactor fire was the same as the surface of the sun. The amount of radiation coming out of the accident site first looked like a strong skylight, then turned into a boreolis effect from the radiation ionizing the air.

Seeing someone with understanding of the soviet system and way of thinking react to this is a very different experience. Thank you for this Bliss.

I was in high school when this happened. I knew it was bad, but I didn't know how close it came to being apocalyptic until I watched this series. Probably the best miniseries ever made. Absolutely riveting.

Radiation was up in Sweden and Finland abnormally high, Satelites (!) had shown the massive temperature output around Prypjat.

They knew a lot about the effects of radiation on the human body. They have had two "living laboratories", Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to find out. Also, in the United States, Quaker (the cereal brand), MIT and DoD (Departement of Defense) conducted experiments on children that lived in state institutions, where Quaker supplied those institutions with cereals doped with radioactive elements so they could understand how the human body metabolized radiation. Many countries have had such daunting and horrifying experiments.

This miniseries will affect her forever!!!😢😢😢

Appropriate viewing for October, scariest series I've ever watched.

The Firefighter's gear is still in the basement of that hospital in real life. The radiation coming off of the gear is still at a deadly level even today.

5:35 Yep, that's the original audio of the call to the Fire Service

Soon as those Firefighters stepped out of those trucks, they were deadmen. The Amount of Radiation that was around them and what they were breathing in…

This show should be mandatory to High school students. Not just for the history of it, but the message of "the price of lies". It is a hard show to watch at times, but that really only serves to drive the point home. EDIT, at 5:19 he is looking out the broken window and sees Graphite on the ground. Knowing this holds to the "a nucellar disaster is not possible in the Soviet Union."

If I were making my top 50 list of favorite television episodes, all 5 episodes of this series would be on it.

This is gonna be a wild ride. o_O

Effects of radiation were known perfectly well in 1986. Especially by anyone working in the industry.

I remember this happening when I was a teenager and it took days for the Soviets to even admit to the outside world something was happening. I would be interesting in hearing what your Mom and Dad remember of the incident and what (if anything) they were told about it living in a soviet block country in the general vacinity of Ukraine.

As others have said, the effects of radiation were known perfectly well in 1986. Basically the US extensively studied and published the effects it has on human (Japanese) bodies for decades after WW2.

They explain everything very well. Just keep watching! :)

I love your reaction Bisscute💓💓, this miniseries is great, impeccable production, excellent acting performances and a magnificent way of telling the story that effectively as a viewer awakens feelings in you such as anger, frustration and sadness and in the following chapters it remains constant.👍👍👍

Great reaction Biss. This series is certainly worth watching! I look forward to the rest of the series! ❤💛

I'm very happy to see you react to this series. One of the best I've ever seen. I enjoy it when you see excellent history here.

Great reaction and you ask many great questions! They will all be answered during the show because it is such a great show, too! So scary because it's a real story.

Speaking of the movie "Oppenheimer," I am reading the book American Prometheus now, the book from which the movie was made. The book is a great read, and very interesting.

I remember seeing this on the news as a young teen and being very nervous, even though I live in the US. It's interesting to have your perspective. Great reaction!

the coal Miners and the people that told the truth are the real heroes. R.I.P. to All the liquidators

At the end of the series, they do a very moment for moment recap of how everything happened. This is an excellent series. Features some excellent acting from the two main guys

No point commenting on the details of what happened, you will learn all of this in excruciating detail as you watch the series. This is the most powerful television dramatisation I have ever seen, bar none - it is truly brilliant. Gives me no pleasure to say it but you will be crying like a baby before the end. I know I did... Get tissues Biss! 😭

Great reaction, I'm looking forward to these!!

Thanks for reacting to this, the series does a pretty good job at explaining what happened and how, especially in the last episode! Definitely a sad show when you think that these were real people who truly went through the tragedy... and I want to guess that at the very least the workers were aware of the effects better than anyone else. But for the general population or the firefighters, I bet they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Oh and for the Cherenkov effect being beautiful, this would not be the last person saying this, it has happened multiple times in other radiation incidents... you can look videos of it on here, it does look absolutely mesmerizing on video so I can't imagine what it must be like in person but like all things in nature, vivid colors usually mean danger.

Thanks for reacting to this!

18:15 '....in pieces!' And just like that, Biss is smarter than all the plant managers depicted in the show. Bright girl!

Your answer to "How does an RBMK reactor explode?" was the best one I have ever heard... IN PIECES.

So excited you're doing this!

Valery Khodemchuk was in the pump room when the core exploded he was vaporized instantly he was the first to die because of the Chernobyl disaster

I appreciate your perspective on everything. You are wise far beyond your years.

The worst part about this show is how insanely accurate it is. So much of what you see is exactly how it happened. If anything there are less workers in the show being exposed to radiation. You'll see the best and worst of humanity on full display in this one. The 5th episode is easier than episode 3 and 4. Good luck and thanks for watching ❤

Hi Bisscute -- Scott Manley has made an excellent video explaining the explosion. Yes, the series does explain it, but his explanation is MUCH more in depth. Anyway, you might want to consider reacting to the video after you finish the series.

There's a trial in the last episode that clears a lot about the reasons this happened. But Biscuit, you have to know that the scenes with the firefighter are no joke, just a warning 💔

Glad you're watching this. It's one of my all time favorite shows. They knew at the time the effects of radiation on the living.

This is such a brutal series, but it’s so well done. It’s always very interesting to see someone’s point of view who lived or grew up near this occurred.

Absolutely superb series. While some details aren't perfectly accurate, the overall accuracy is solid. The fact that the producers not only said what they changed for dramatic effect, but also made a very watchable commentary about what was changed shows their commitment to both entertainment and the truth. I suspect you'll like each subsequent episode more than the previous. Your pronunciations of Chernobyl and Pripyat sound fine to me; it's how I've always said it as a native English speaker.

As a firefighter irl we have respond to these calls like it doesn't matter if you are off duty or on duty or middle of the night or day we're up for least 4hours to 8hrs or longer hrs its what we do its our calling to help ppl and save lives and properties

I was stationed in W. Germany at this time. We detected radiation from fallout there. It was crazy.

As others have said, they do a fantastic job explaining what happened, don't bother looking it up - it's a brilliant explanation.

Great reaction. And they will explain everything sooner or later

This series was very well done, but hard to watch. I was 18 when it happened, and because there wasn’t a 24 hour news cycle then, we had to rely on what little we got from the evening news. I could tell your level of anger and frustration was growing. I can’t wait to watch the rest of this with you and get the perspective of an Eastern European.

Episode five for the breakdown of why it all happened. Episode four is a tear-jerker. It always surprises me when American reviewers have little knowledge of this event when they watch it. Even here in the UK, we were aware of the situation and there were repercussions afterward to the food supply. Think of it, even today it's in the middle of a war zone.

Globally people knew plenty about the effects of radiation on the body - we grew up in the shadow of nuclear war with the horrible example of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But people didn't understand what had happened at Chernobyl.

Episode 2 of Chernobyl is probably my favourite single episode ever of any series. It's when scientists and politicians learn about the true extent of the explosion and what it can lead to. Horrifying.

Facts The plastic barrier in the hospital is actually to protect the patient from the visitor. Radiation destroys your immune system so radiation victims are vulnerable to secondary infection you can catch from visitors. Any radioactive Particles / Dust on a victim are washed off, however anything they breathe in will continue doing internal damage to them but not visitors. They use the word "Tips" about the Control Rods however it's actually about half of the Rod. The Steam pushed the water level way down inside the Reactor, the Rods then went down and pushed the last of the Water out. At that point you have all the Water out, all the Rods in the Acceleration half, and even the Zenon burned away. That's full throttle with No brakes! Modern Western Reactors have a Negative Coefficient, more heat, more steam REDUCES reaction, so it's self limiting, the opposite of the RBMK. And the reactors are inside a "containment" building so if you get a release of radiation it's contained inside the building. Radiation, comes in different flavours / energies. Some stopped by even just thin material, more energetic will go through concrete. To protect yourself:- Minimum exposure time. As much "stuff" between you and the source. As far away as possible. So close to high level for even a fraction of a second can be fatal. However get further away and the dose you get drops dramatically (Inverse Square Law) Or have a wall of Lead (ie alot of stuff) between you and the source and you might be perfectly safe.

Looking forward to revisiting this series with you.

Glad to see you watching it - it's an excellent series. But be forewarned, some of it is very rough, and progressively so. It is not for the faint of heart.

Hey, I always appreciate having someone who's closer to history, so to speak, offer their thoughts on it, so thank you for having a look at this series. I'll try and answer questions others haven't already answered and offer such thoughts as I can. I ramble a lot, but I'll try and keep things to a minimum. Most of my knowledge comes from the excellent book Midnight at Chernobyl, which others have mentioned as well. Knowledge of radiation in the USSR in 1986 was very uneven, as I understand it. Some people were extremely well versed in it, like most of the high-level staff at the nuclear plant. The vast majority of people, though, knew next to nothing, and some were deliberately misinformed as to its danger, being told it was mostly harmless. People regularly went fishing in the plant's cooling pond. Dyatlov, for example, had twenty-five years experience working in the nuclear industry and had an excellent command of the science. He also, however, was unwilling to give up on or change his conclusions once he'd decided something, as is portrayed here. As others have mentioned, yes, that is the original audio from the emergency call. Your intuition about the fire's danger is quite correct. It was threatening to spread all along the roof of the reactor building thanks to the flammable tar that they'd used to seal the roof and might well have caused structural damage. But the firefighters put it out. When they first showed up, one of them asked the shift leader what the debris was. He answered 'Lads, that's the guts of the reactor. If we're still alive tomorrow, we'll live forever. But first we're going to put out that fire.' Also, it's hard to get a sense of scale, but the reactor building is twenty stories high. They ran those hoses all the way up. The initial reaction was almost entirely denial. Brukhanov ignored any and all evidence that contradicted what he wanted to think and Fomin was actually stuck in a corner in shock repeating 'What happened?' over and over again.

Hello. You may remember that I wrote that I am Hungarian. I was 18 years old when the Chernobyl reactor exploded. Here, too, people were considered stupid. It's not a big deal, but wash the vegetables well with water. The story is shocking, my heart and soul also felt the depressing atmosphere. I look forward to the next parts.

The show explain everything in the last episode, you dont need to look anything up. Its a great show, the acting is phenomenal. Cant wait for your next reaction 💗

Congrats on 50k subs 🎉

The power plant was 3 Kl from Pripyat and 9 Kl from Chernobyl. The wife of the firefighter we follow was vomiting. draw your own conclusions. all will be explained in time.

Looking forward to watching your whole watching the series. Love your Romanian accent ^_^

Thank you so much for reacting to this series. I.was 13 when this happened. This will take you on an emotional roller coaster

Absolutely love your pronunciation. Just stick with what makes you comfortable. :). Great first video. You have gained a new follower!

they'll explain in detail in the final episode but briefly, without spoilers, soviet nuclear power plant engineering cut corners.

I’d strongly recommend, especially as a reactor, to listen to the accompanying podcast, after each episode. It’s a very rich experience

The series is historically accurate. The main thing which they use filmmakers license is with radiation. if your at a place a nuclear bomb explodes you are vaporized by the heat, not radiation. Radiation poisoning works slowly over, days, weeks, months, years depending on your dose. Once a persons cloths are removed and body washed you cannot get radiation nor sick from them. Well with exception of their blood. So this is the main point they use in the series for dramatic effect. Yes you will die from a strong exposure but over days, not hours. In the Soviet Union much was know about radiation but the whole program classified as Secret by the KGB, so very few people understood it. Only Moscow Hospital #6 was equipped to treat radiation exposure and the Doctor at Pripyat who asked about iodine pills must have some work with radiation. The series gets progressively worse (more emotional) with each episode. Be prepared to cry Biss. You will not find out what happened until the last episode when all is explained. The upcoming episodes are how they deal with the emergency situation. In the next Episode be sure to listen to all of Professor Yuliana report to the Central Committee, to be truly terrorized.

This a really good series...one of the best ever made...but the producers did not get everything correct. Some things were changed intentionally for the purposes of storytelling, and the makers of the series put in a series of notes at the end of the last episode of the series explaining some of them...they also put out a podcast for each episode that discusses some of the things that were not fully correct. However, I do recommend you check out the History vs Hollywood article on Chernobyl when you are done watching the whole series, so you can find out about the other things that the producers got wrong that they do not admit to. Definitely wait until you are done with the series so you do not spoil anything for yourself.

All will explained in the series do not get any spoilers.

This is definitely not an easy series to watch, but they do a very good job showing the dark side of the disaster, as well as the good that people did in order to prevent an even worse outcome. It will certainly make you angry, frustrated, but sad as well, and even glad that the people who did the difficult work, were there to help.

Wonderful reaction thank you.

Your reactions are so charming! I like your vibe. Also, we are the same age! ^^

You need to watch the whole series as it slowly shows the horror & explains along the way but all comes together & full explanation in final episode… A fantastic series

Love seeing a reaction to this show with a personal perspective. Always wanted to learn more Romanian language, love the history of your country. Mulțumesc!

The english version of Cernobîl is basicallly pronounced the same, only the accent falls on the O, instead of the î. But yeah, don't worry about it

As someone, who's been told stories about the accident through their childhood, I have a very similar attitude towards the show - it's very visceral, touching and just crazy what it cost to fix it. Also hey, nice to see another strong year 96' 😅 Have a good one, Biss!

You will get more details as the Episodes go along, with a very thorough explanation in the final episode.

"Women are very intuitive. Listen to them." True. And often that is good advice. But most men have an inherent sense of duty to act in the face of danger. Particularly when their job requires them to protect the public & their brothers in arms. Even if they knew the details of the situation, I suspect most would have gone anyway.

WOW

I remember when this was going on, it was on the nightly news , this was before 24 hour news channels so we didn’t get much information here in the states, this series is horrifying, thanks

They're having a hard time believing the core exploded because based on their understanding of that type of reactor, it shouldn't be able to. And the reactor incident at Chernobyl was a design flaw, that you don't find in western reactors. This happened a pretty long time ago and once it did, everybody involved with reactor design and operation redoubled safety protocols. This show gets some technical stuff wrong and of course uses some artistic license, but it's super good at portraying the seriousness of what they were dealing with and the sacrifice involved to get it under control. Don't worry about an explanation of what happened, you're going to get one in the show.

8:05 All explained fantastically well in the final episode.

They might not have known all bad stuff that can happen when exposed to radiation but they knew a lot.They knew back in the 50's and they certainly knew in the 80's. The russians built an inherently unsafe reactor with the RBMK design. Then they decided to make a test and the test was to shut off all safeties that existed and then it went boom.

There is no "Easy" version of what happened, but they do a very good job of explaining the sequence that lead to the catastrophe, even if they could have been a lot better about the explanation of how radiation works and its effects. I definitely recommend reading more about how the radiation effects atoms and DNA and different types of radioactive isotopes that are/were present. Also, someone should mention that once a person that has been radiated has been stripped and cleaned, they don't emit radiation and aren't dangerous to touch. Their DNA and cells have however (in the case of many of these people) are already damaged beyond the ability to be repaired (treated/cured).

Ich war 11 Jahre alt als es passiert ist 😢 Ich habe noch nie so viel Angst gehabt

The Scientist that opened the door and had burns on his back, he lived until the 2000s I believe 2009

Getting close to Halloween and she starts a very scary show. Kameraden approves.

“Please feel free to correct.” We don’t need to correct you. This show will do the correcting and in a very harsh way! In fact, you mentioned that you will be doing some homework at the end of your reaction. DON’T!!!! While you can still enjoy the show knowing the events, it’s better to go in with a blank mind. But the emotions you will feel from this show will be strong!!! Note: I was around when the reactor exploded and even studied the reactor and how it exploded and yet this show STILL shocked me.

I had a feeling you were Romanian, judging by your accent, and now I have the confirmation. Great reaction!

The 'safe' time limit on that roof was about 30 seconds or less. After that the dose of radiation was 100% lethal.

Good luck. This series always makes me cry.

Sooooo do we need to start a Kickstarter for the tissues Biss is gonna need?

This show makes me proud of the human race. Mistakes and malice and idiocy will always occur, but the goodness of mankind has always triumphed in the end. Despite our flaws, we come together eventually to make the world a better place.

Bravo! Mă bucur ca ai ales această miniserie! O să îți placă cu siguranță. 👍 😊