Not so fun fact: There actually was a radioactive energy drink in the 30’s called Radithor and a golfer named Eben Byers drank so much of it that he had to be buried in a lead coffin.

The moral of the story is that we should be storing spent fuel in public swimming pools. The water will be warm, the radiation would kill the germs and you can sell any excess water as an energy drink.

Legend has it that length of tubing is still down there... waiting for its next victim.

What kind of supervisor is like, “Yeah, just pick up that unidentified object in the radioactive pool.”

3:45 "Sudden Acute Lead Poisoning"

Love that these older what-ifs are getting animated. remember reading this one in highschool.

That last line is probably my favorite set of sentences ever. “In _our_ reactor? …You’d die pretty quickly, before reaching the water, from gunshot wounds.”

Ok, lethal radiation at the bottom, gun shots at the top. Noted. But given the relative low depth bullets from a handgun can penetrate into water and still harm you, there is a Goldilocks zone in those pools where I am basically invincible and god like, living forever!

I appreciate the bit at the beginning about how long you could swim in a regular non nuclear pool. It gives a good starting point. I like these videos.

As a reactor safety tech in training, I've actually heard that last line before. They take the "no touchy" rule rather seriously. :D

Ah yes. The gunshot wound is far more dangerous than the pool. "Stand down, do not (possibly) kill yourself, or we will shoot you"

No mention of seeing the cool blue glow from all the Cherenkov radiation! A friend worked at Penn State’s research nuclear reactor and he shared photos of the pool there, and it looked positively eerie with that glow.

I asked the Dresden NPP in Illinois to swim in their spent fuel pool to prove a point, but the water was too clean for me. I am dirtier than fuel pool water.

This "What If?" has one of my favourite closing lines ever. Someone who knows what they're talking about being all like, "Hey yeah, it's fun to discuss the theory around this but _absolutely do not_ try this in real life."

So... backyard swimming pools are just shy of deep enough to rent out as spent rod storage. Darn.

I worked at a nuclear power plant over twenty years ago as a contractor on a y2K project. Security was intense. There was an area called 'hurricane alley' near the low level waste disposal area where winds got funneled to be very strong. One of my coworkers got knocked off his feet and blown into the no-go area. Security was on him in an instant and we had to make do without him for over a day. He was pretty shaken up when he got back.

whoever made the decision to make all the foley with mouth sounds deserves an award. It's delightful every time!

Production quality on these is wonderful, glad you're making them

So happy that xkcd is making videos, reading what if? 2 and absolutely loving it!

Somehow, until this particular video, I didn't realise that these were from the first What If? book and thought they were ones that were considered for the books but didn't make the cut. Now that I know, I am eagerly waiting for the animated version of the literal half full (50%water 50% vacuum) glass What If?

Now that's one hell of a swim!

Starting to relax and then: "At least in theory", stress-levels rising faster than a meltdown

3:51 The real danger of getting close to a nuclear reactor, not the radioactive material safely contained at the bottom of the pool, but the large number of armed guards (who are arguably both more dangerous and more lethal)

I work in a nuclear plant and do routine maintenance of radiation monitors around the spent fuel pool. The water is so heavily borated, that if you fell in, you would just float there, like in the Dead Sea. They still make us wear life jackets though 😂. Nobody would shoot you (at least not at my plant) But you would be in a heap of trouble. The water is very pretty though 😂

Makes me wonder, how much did cosmic radiation have an effect on evolution once land-based fauna started emerging from the oceans, which largely shielded life from said radiation.

When I was 5 I was strangely into nuclear science, for some reason. I had heard similar information to this video from somewhere and was inspired to write a short story during school writing class. In it, a unicorn visited a boy and offered to take him anywhere. The small boy asked to swim in a nuclear waste pool (knowing safe), the unicorn took him there but the boy accidentally touched the bottom and immediately died.

Ending is the best

--Counterpoint: You would die before you ever got to the pool. The bullets from the guards firearms would get you.-- Aww, that was at the end of the video. Variations of that joke has been around amongst us nerds for a few decades now,

I toured a part of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant with a boy scout troop. This was one of the questions. Your friend's response was one of the answers. The other popular question was "would it give me super powers?"

I used to work at nuclear power plant and can confirm. The nuclear facility is also Very heavily armed. Also the rods are larger than I thought they would be

2:50 I'd never heard of that incident so I looked it up. Absorbed dose was estimated at 7500 mSv to the hand, for an effective (whole-body) dose of 28mSv, at the upper end of CT scans. This is in significant excess of statutory limits (500mSv/year for hands, 20mSv/year whole body) and was reported as such, however there was no sign of acute radiation syndrome and there were no expectations of long-term consequences. The piece of tubing was measured at activity of 1.8 TBq, and a contact dose rate of 100Sv/h. As the video notes, stored closer to the body (without the shielding provided by water), as well as closer to major organs this would almost certainly have been a fatal incident. According to the report, the diver had not been briefed on handling unidentified material ("don't"). An important note because it's not clear from the video: the diver was in the transfer pool, which does not contain spent fuel. The diver *was* instructed to not move past the gates and into the spent fuel pools, and did not. Because there was no separate written removal order, radiation protection (RP) technicians were not involved. Regulatory corrective actions following that incident: - radiation detector alarms were moved to the headset (as the video notes, they were previously from the device itself, dampened by water and ancillary noises) - additional dosimeter points were added to the dive suit - job briefing was improved around location during job (including downtimes) and unidentified objects - a formal procedure was put in place for loose material collection, including requirement to use a tool for all interactions with unidentified objects - RP tech supervision for all dives

Dude. Your radiation chart is amazing. One of my professors in undergrad showed it to us after Fukushima over a decade ago. I am so happy I just discovered your channel!

These videos are genuinely a 10/10

I hate that took this long for xkcd to start a brilliant youtube series and the fact that there aren’t 1000s of videos for me to binge makes me want to cry. I need a time machine to the future so I can watch all the great things that are going to come out on this channel. Such a great episode!! I had no idea you could swim in a nuclear pool. Is water a better shield than solids like lead at shielding radiation?

"Before reaching the water, from gunshot wounds." I actually lol'd.

Imagine being going through the series of events -notice object in pool and alert staff and be told it’s been there for years - be sent to retrieve said object from pool - retrieve the object only to be told to immediately drop it -you don’t get the object you wanted everyone about and now your hand is mush.

Moral of the story : "It's not my job" can literally save your life. Instead of asking "what's this tube, should I bring it up", think "do MY job and clock out". 😂😂

Getting the book What If? and thus being introduced to xkcd was quite a Christmas gift. This is amazing.

So what I'm hearing is spent fuel rods can be used to keep your pool warm as long as they're placed deep enough.

Well, I stood in the actual reactor core of a nuclear power plant 44 years ago and I’m still here. Of course, it was a nuclear power plant that was under construction at the time and was nowhere near having radioactive fuel rods in it. I don’t think the fuel rods were put in place until about 1987 or 1988. But it was amazingly cool to be able to go into the actual reactor core, along with the rest of the facility. Benefits of having a dad who worked for the power company, which I also worked for a few year later. And I used to have to do site visits to the nuclear power plant during the construction of the electrical substations, since I worked in Substation Engineering. Back before I abandoned a career as an engineer and became a professional photographer and then a professional musician. Now I work in opera, which is so far removed from working at a nuclear power plant that I can’t even remember how my brain understood the engineering…

To be clear, we've found several great options for where to put spent fuel casks, but ignorant public backlash and government red tape keep them from being able to be used. The main solution is to teach people about radiation, so they don't think radioactivity equals chernobyl and nothing else.

I remember laughing at the ending line for minutes on end when reading the book :)

2:12 BONK! ATOMIC PUNCH MENTIONED RAHHHHHHHHHHHH

hehheh I remember Kyle Hill answering this question a while back, and I was wondering if this video would have the same punchline. I was not disappointed X-D

1:46 I feel like drinking the water in Illinois is more dangerous!

I once worked in a research reactor and I had the change to dive in the pool to film some repair maneuvers. That was awesome! One thing you don't mention in your video: the water is borated to be more efficient against radiations, that is very irritating to your skin. So keep a full body suit!

I don't know what temperature it becomes an issue, but you cannot swim in water at body temperature. You overheat very quickly because you have nowhere to lose your body heat to. There was an episode of a Dutch science quiz where they tried it and as I remember it, the person came out of the pool like they'd just swam a marathon after 10-15 meters.

I've barely started the video and I'm already dying from laughter from the little "ERR ERR ERR ERR ERR woOoOooOOooOOo" 😂

On the subject of radiation, there was another radioactive product called the Radioendoctrinator which was sheets of paper soaked in radium salt. Men were encouraged to put it under their crotch at night and “radiate as directed.” It even came with a jock strap to ensure you got the full dose. The inventor, William J.A. Bailey died of bladder cancer in 1949, and he also invented Radithor.

Am I the only one amazed by the power of water ? Sounds like magic or similar, it’s crazy that it can protects us from deadly radiations

I've read your "What If" book and I loved it. I was so excited when I realized it's actually you by recognizing this story. Browsing this channel is gonna be so much fun. Keep up the good work!!

For those who are interested, read on about Andreev Bay nuclear accident (1982). There were two seamen who dove into the water pool containing used reactor fuel assemblies during the clean up attempt (one of them accidentally fell into the water and the other dove in to rescue).

Casually calling your friend who happens to work at a research nuclear reactor is a goal I aspire to in my life

The last part reminds me of a line from the preshow to a motion simulator ride at the Kennedy Space Center. "Within 400 feet of the pad, the flames and heat from the engines will kill you. Within 800 feet, the sound will kill you. Within 4,000 feet, the snakes and alligators might kill you."

this is one of my favorites because of the twist at the end.

I love the punchline of this one!! Also it's really fascinating how much water protects from radiation!

goodness this was a good one, both from the book and here. Would be nice if these videos were slightly longer format. However, I'm sure the length/format is how Randall/his producer/marketing team wants them. Thanks for doing these, they have helped me share with others stories and ideas that come from the book.

I love the homemade sound effects :D

Water is just a chad element man, it’s so useful for like everything.

😂3:40 that ending was perfect Amazing work 🎉🎉🎉

So theoretically, you can design heated pulls based on used radiative rods and be completely safe dont steal!

Back in the early 2000s I worked at a university that had its own research reactor. I used to walk by it going to and from my office every day, many days the door was open to the reactor (not even kidding). I wondered about it at the time and decided it must be OK, surely they knew what they were doing. A year or two after I left I saw an article on the news that the NRC was threatening to shut it down and revoke their license because an inspector had found "a door to the reactor standing open and unattended". So...I guess it _wasn't_ OK.

This was my favorite part of the book

cool to see what if topics i remember reading over and over when i was younger be animated now

that's a pretty good answer there at the end.

Top 3 tips for swimming in a nuclear storage pool : 1. when swimming in a nuclear storage pool don't touch the nuclear fuel 2.when swimming in a nuclear storage pool don't dive to the bottom 3. Don't swim in a nuclear storage pool.

I knew the punch line and still waited for it, I'm so glad you are making these and can't wait for more

I love that you put the disclaimer from the books at the start of the video

The sound effects really bring it all together. Thank you, my dude!

Sir! SIR! Put. The floaties. Down!

You probably won’t see this, but I’m so happy you started positing these videos. I remember getting the first What If? for Christmas back in middle school and being instantly hooked. I’m in college now, yet I still remember mole of moles question like it was yesterday. It’s the perfect mix between science and absurdity.

That was the first question I asked during a reactor tour many years ago 😅 And yes, the answer I got was about the same: I'd be perfectly safe swimming on the surface, but if I swam to the bottom I'd be dead in 10-20 minutes...

That gun wound would be still safer as if they used lead bullets it would protect a small part of your body from radiation 😂

I’d love to know, is there a speed at which a million successive raindrops would be counted as one to deliver enough force and break a roof? Or is that not how inertia works

Yep. The danger is not the pool. It's the security.

Oh man. Only just discovered today that there's an XKCD KZfaq channel. I grew up reading XKCD web comics, so this is a pretty special find. Love these videos. This is awesome!

I remember the original comic. Very nice

I love this channel

I remembered the ending of this one from the book, hilarious XD

Have they since built a radiation alarm that can be heard over the sound of dive bubbles? Sounds like there's an oversight there worth fixing.

You had me at disclaimer

The density of good points in these videos is amazing!

i loved these books

Nuka Cola wasn't such an unrealistic idea from the makers of Fallout, after all.

I can't believe that water is this good at shielding you from radiation. Turns out the stuff that is incredibly readily available all around us is so good at absorbing radiation that 7cm are enough to halve the energy. It's utterly insane

FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for someone to answer this question for at least the last amount of time.

Seems like they should have a warning light in the scuba mask aswell 🤔🤔 2:38

3:30 lol

This was the story that got me into XKCD! Love this

Bravo! I especially liked the part at the very end. (Here, take a few rewatches!) #FeedTheAlgorithm

Mm thorsty

I love these videos, your book, and your webcomic. I also find the little sound effects you add (presumably by mouth) extremely entertaining.

This is one of my favourite What Ifs, so cool to see it animated! Very interesting how results may not be what you expect sometimes.

never clicked on a youtube video faster

Why does water stops radiation so well?

Thanks for answering my question Randall !

Thank you for making these, they are great

This one, just like all other XKCD media, is golden. But also a very simple question to answer, even for someone without knowledge on the subjects. If they keep it in open pools of water, chances are that the water is what's keeping them from irradiating everything around them. And we all know how anal and people are how many layers of redundancy is needed around nuclear stuff. If a pool of water is all it takes, that water is most likely doing an incredible job at keeping radiation at bay. (And not Michael Bay... No explosions) As for long term storage, there IS a solution. It's just that stupid people refuse to accept ANY solution. Finland has chambers dug deep in bedrock for long term storage. This is many many times better than those pools. The long term solution is to just put it far enough below ground to where it's completely harmless to humans. We already do this with other types of waste, mainly human bodies. There's a reason it's 6 feet (2 meters) below ground. It's the accepted safe depth to prevent decomposing corpses from spreading disease and other nasties. It's so easy to accept this for corpses... But storing nuclear waste a few hundreds of meters below ground? NU UUUUH! It's NUCLEAR and therefore it's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. Meanwhile, people sit in congested traffic every day complaining about nuclear waste... While they ingest way more toxins than any amount of nuclear disasters have ever produced. ... While i am at it... Coal power plants have killed orders of magnitude more people than nuclear power ever has. Yet, the stupids of the world demands nuclear be shut down and the only viable alternative is coal and oil power to meet the demands. Those against nuclear power are actually doing more harm than good with their activism and protests.

🙅🏽‍♂️ Dying of radiation poisoning 💁🏽‍♂️ Dying of instantaneous lead poisoning

The last lines are my favourite from the original article, and the kind I like to share. Thank you for posting this one!