Thanks to everyone who suggested Zwentendorf to me over the years! Given recent news, if anyone has suggestions for places in rural Britain that I can drive to and that won't need me to interview anyone in-person, do let me know...

"the powerplant didn't split any atoms but people families and political parties" damn.

Holding a vote AFTER you've done something is the most bureaucratic thing I've ever heard.

A nuclear power plant with solar panels. Imagine an archaeologist finding this years in the future trying to explain the findings

Opening it up as a filming location was a smart move. This situation sounds super convenient for anyone making movies that need to film scenes at a nuclear power plant.

"Let's build a nuclear power plant and ask later if we want it." Austria 100

Other KZfaqrs = Read Wikipedia for five minutes to make a 20-minute video. Tom Scott = Goes on location to another country to make a 5-minute video.

Humanity’s rejection of Nuclear power was a massive mistake, and the environment has payed dearly for it as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our electricity

The Philippines also has a Nuclear Powerplant that never went online, even if its already 100% finished. It was built by Westinghouse and is named Bataan Nuclear Powerplant. Same with Austria, the Nuclear Powerplant has a significant place in the Philippine Political arena and Filipinos still has some kind of fear of what might happen. The supposed opening of the Nuclear Powerplant was in 1986, and 1986 was the year Chernobyl exploded and the year Philippines was thrown into a deep political turmoil, so yes, its still there standing, maintained, but not used.

Sad short story: "For Sale: Fully-functional nuclear reactor. Never used. "

Wait, I can rent a nuclear power plant to host my parties?!

This winter, there will be a bit of a rethink.

Seeing the insides of power plants, specifically the room with the computers and buttons, is both terrifying and oddly relaxing.

I'll give you 3 toilet rolls and half a bag of pasta for it

I really respect this channel for letting the people they interview talk. They don't cut in, they don't talk over them. It's so rare

What a sad story also for environment. This case demonstrates perfectly why it makes no sense to ask public to make decisions in complex matters.

Classic to have a big, shiny red button turn the entire facility on.

In Austria we call such a case an "Austrian Solution" - We spend a big amount of money just to change our mind

i don't think it'd be a Conspiracy Theory that oil companies would spend a boatload of money to suppress alternatives. they've been well documented doing the same in other countries like america and the uk.

It's definitely a bit unfortunate how the story behind the plant turned out, but it's really cool to see that they're making the most out of the unique circumstances.

It's really sad how nuclear power still has such a stigma when it can be so safe and efficient. It would actually be plausible to get away from fossil fuels with it.

There's a damn music festival inside a nuclear power station?! How do I get tickets?!

Well, if Valve ever change their mind about allowing a Half Life movie, they've got half the sets right there.

This video is really hilarious to watch as Austria's electricity prices are currently at 75c/kwh

great vid! I visited the place recently. One of the people I was here with was my cousin's friend's friend, who is a nuclear physicist, so we were greatly entertained during the whole visit. The history behind the construction and referendum is really fascinating, and the design of the reactor itself was also really revolutionary at the time.

As an engineer that is a cathedral

The Austrian employee in the video was extremely well spoken

We also have one in the Philippines. A nuclear power plant that was never turned on. It's called Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Fascinating, a little sad, but glad to see it got some use. Nuclear fission (if properly respected) is possibly the best way out of the climate crisis, as other sources currently cannot compete for raw power output. Hopefully this place, even though it is outdated, can continue to teach about how it all works and about how to respect it in a safe and controlled environment :)

As an Austrian, this power plant has a significant meaning to my country's political landscape and is still very much present in our collective consciousness. Cool to see it getting some attention from the English speaking KZfaq world.

Hey, isn't this the guy who threw two drums and a cymbal off a cliff 10 years ago?

That's a hell of a lot of electricity to let go to waste.

750 MWe of power that could offset milions of tonnes of coal each year. So much CO2 not released, air pollutants not released, toxic, slightly radioactive coal ash piles, not created. So sad, that people cannot comprehend the risks involved and risk calculation, especially for what they already have, like coal power plants...

You forgot to mention, that the Austrians had to build a *coal-fired* power plant 4km away to saturate the electricity needs when the referendum concluded. Ironically this power plant has produced more radiation than Zwentendorf ever would.

Fun fact from someone from Austria: We still (on occasion) refer to a project that is very expensive/time consuming without getting much out of it as a "Zwentendorf-Projekt". ;)

"Hallo! Our nuclear power plant runs on solar energy! Guten Tag!"

1 hour of content into 5 minutes. You are truly doing God's work Tom!

I am an Austrian and I am happy that you shared this strange story with the rest of the world

Bet it generated a few million whats? when they said it wasn't gonna be turned on.

Time to get it up and running

Austria holds the world record: The safest nuclear power plant.

Take note KZfaqrs. What could’ve been a 12 min video of unnecessary rambling became a 5 min diamond. Learn it. Practice it. Apply it. Edit: Thank you for likes guys. I realize that I need to take my advice too.

Sting is doing communications work on the side for EVN Group. Sweet!

Yet another great video, Tom!!! This place is on my bucket list for sure.

what a kickass location to make a concert. Like, "Oh hey mom, I'm going to a concert at the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant, love you byeeee!!!"

Tom: "It's not like you can just flat pack it and ship it over the border to somewhere that does want it" IKEA: challenge accepted

What I find crazier is that they built the entire thing, can power 1.8 million households, everything is ready, yet more than 50% of people still decided - yea, nah, I don't want that free power

Wow....so thrilling this combo of nuclear power and the 70s. That controlroom with their terminals...thrilling!!!!

This is a solar powered nuclear power plant. I feel like there's a joke here somewhere

you could sell it as "unused" on ebay...

This is so cool! Great content

So stoked to go for a tour in the future!

I wish people would stop hating on nuclear. It is so misguided.

You should really go to “Kerni’s Wasser-Wunderland” in Germany near the Dutch border. It’s also a new, never used reactor, only that they built a theme park inside of it. The cooling tower was turned into a giant chairoplane.

Now needed more than ever before.

I have been there multiple times at the music festival and its cool standing next to this building with thousands of people

This is a perfect arguement for better science education.

Look, if Factorio taught me anything, it's that you either fill every spare tile you have with solar Or go nuclear Trying to get enough coal to fire 1.4k boilers is just a fool's errand.

Amazing site and amazing video! And congratulation for your storytelling!

cool ! nice to see you doing stuff in Austria! greetings from vienna "

To replace that one 750 megawatt nuclear plant with PV solar panels would require roughly 19 square kilometres of land area -- and every night it would produce zero megawatts.

As it stands, nuclear fission is the both cleanest and safest method of generating base load.

One thing I miss about the Park Bench is the behind-the-scenes look at places that you go. It would have been great to see more of the plant and get a deeper dive on it!

Fascinating. You’re a great presenter!

'Get out of here, Stalker!' Issue people with gas masks and laser guns and split them into teams to find 'artifacts'. I would pay for that game.

Q: What do you do with a never used nuclear power plant? A: Turn it on

Great Video Tom Scott***

Thank you for such an interesting story!

This video makes me kinda sad, thousands of engineers built something awesome, but nobody ever used it.

I feel like Tom Scott is gonna be one of those people that just perpetually look 30

Tom, not sure "A lot of countries are phasing out nuclear" Nuclear energy production has increased since 2012 though it had been dropping before then. It is true that the total number of plants has stayed the same but many plants have received life-extensions and 50 are under construction. It would be great if you could go into detail about different types of nuclear plants from the oldest designs to the newest.

enjoyed it tom.......thanx m8............

I really liked Stefan. Calm, relaxing voice and very interesting points.

a six word story: for sale nuclear plant never used -Earnest Hemingway probably

been there, done that :) it was a really nice tour back then. and i wanna do it again

we have one in france too, EPR in normandy, 10-15 years project that's still not finished

Imagine being a worker who put years of his working life into it, then it never got switched on. I'd be gutted 😭.

0:53 I thought the red button was to stop the reactor.. glad I dont work there

Might be worth a recount today!

That reactor looks awesome

In the Philippines, we also have a mothballed nuclear power plant called the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. It was a PWR constructed by Westinghouse in the late 70s by the Marcos regime and was finished in 1986 after years of problems with construction and overpricing. Marcos was then removed from power in February of that year, and the Chernobyl incident happened only a few months later, so the succeeding administration decided to mothball the power plant. Unfortunately, the government owed Westinghouse a huge debt and it was only paid off in 2007. In recent years, the government is trying to see if the power plant can still be revived, with not much info on that so far. But for the meantime, it's a tourist attraction that they hold plant tours at.

In Kalkar, Germany, they made an amusement park out of an unused nuclear power plant.

I want to do the same things as Mr. Scott here. It'd be so cool to see all these places.

They need to turn it on

"This power plant doesn't split atoms, but people, families, and political parties." Nice.

Damn those are some good shots. Looking up into the fuel rod casings and down into the cooling pool... and below.

I find it crazy that in an age where we are reliant more and more on electricity, we are turning our backs on nuclear energy. Modern nuclear plants are safe, clean, and even their waste be be re-used. And of course they do not rely on the weather or the time of day. And when it comes to the environment, you only have to travel out into the countryside to see mess that wind and solar farms are making of the landscapes. I can't even imagine just how big a solar farm would have to be to produce the same amount of energy that even this old 750 megawatt would have produced. And of course the solar farm only produces electric during the day. Here in the UK we are banning the sale of any new petrol or diesel powered cars from 2030 onwards, along with banning the fitting of anymore gas central heating systems to homes. Our electricity usage is going to double over the next decade or two. So much more of our countryside is going to be ruined to meet the demand using solar and wind. The system is crazy, try building a small home in the middle of the countryside and you will be refused permission because your building will be a blight on the scenery. But energy firms are granted permission to build turbines over hundreds of acres of land, whilst covering another thousand or two acres with solar panels. We should be embracing nuclear power, not turning our backs on it.

People: We want clean and cheap energy! Let's stop this powerplant going live!

Funny enough, Austrians take nuclear energy from Czechia's power plants.

Gosh, imagine a government calling a referendum on a controversial subject, losing the referendum and then having to implement the result. What were you thinking Austria, we in the UK would never do anything so silly...

AKW Lubmin unit block 6 near Greifswald in eastern Germany (next to northstream landing site) is also a Museum because it never went into service.

I thought this'd be another story about a unique location being left to rot, but I'm actually pleased that such a building has managed to stay relevant to the modern age despite never achieving its intended purpose.

When you buy a game but never launch it

"We installed a solar power plant." For a plant designed to supply over a million people with power that solar farm is a bit pathetic. Looks like enough for 20-30 people.

There is also such a nucler power plant in Kalkar in germany. It was newer put into service and is now a theme park, but small parts of it are preserved as a museum.

I'll be in Austria in a few months! I'll see if I can fit a visit in the schedule.

One argument against the conspiracy theory: When my country (Slovakia) was entering EU, Austria had special stipulations about our nuclear reactors as well (overhauling to new standards etc.),as one our power plants is near their border. So it is more probable it was environmental concerns (however much one believes in nuclear being a environmental problem, but thats a completely separate topic)

I'm expecting him to say "Get to da choppaah!" any second...

Never thought there would be a nuclear power plant for sale.... but here we are! Great video as always Tom! What I wouldn't give to visit that relic of modern history...

It's so cool, love to see it