# Why didn't Chernobyl engineers don protective gear to inspect the reactor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818 "2019-05-11T04:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/42 "2019-05-14T04:49:35Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Actually, I just had a dental x-ray, the the technician used a battery-operated, hand-held x-ray generator. The new, digital sensors must be really sensitive! And/or the new, lithium-ion batteries are really powerful! ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/43 "2019-05-14T06:14:02Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > So basically there is no such thing as a suit that will protect you from the kind of radiation that would be caused by a nuclear meltdown? You would basically have to be in a lead box? \*During \* a meltdown? Forget about the gamma radiation, a mere 5-10cm of lead will attenuate that down to safe levels. You need to worry about the neutron flux, shielding against that requires not only different materials, but which materials work best vary depending on the source/energy of the neutrons. To shield against what an active meltdown emits, you would need about 2 meters of water, _then_ 5cm of lead. Just having the water, or just having the lead, will not stop very much. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/44 "2019-05-14T06:43:13Z")
Oil will protect you better than water, right? That’s why handling rooms for handling materials removed from a reactor (and doing the chemistry to separate out plutonium, etc) use these remote waldos that can take the radiation and oil windows. It would be possible to build some kind of vehicle, where the vehicle is on treads, powered by a towed cable, and an operator is onboard in a shielded cab, viewing the world through oil filled windows. They’d use the same waldos they use in fuel handling rooms, maybe scaled up, which evidently protect their electronics so they won’t fry like robots will. To be fair, this doesn’t solve getting up a set of stairs to the roof or into confined spaces. What you need are robots able to do all this but with protected electronics so they can survive. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/45 "2019-05-14T10:39:37Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I think it’s called denial. > > Denial that the accident was that serious. Denial that they were probably going to die. I wasn’t surprised that they were in denial. I was surprised that what had happened wasn’t obvious. That they couldn’t tell just by looking at their pannels or whatever. That they could believe it was some entirely different and minor incident after the reactor’s core had blown out. That they had to send someone on a roof, hours later, to realize what had really happened. I was amazed that it was _possible_ to be in denial. For instance, if it had been a leak or something, them thinking “Oh, it’s just a minor leak, nothing to be worried about” when in reality it was a huge leak with potentially terrible consequences would have seemed normal. But that they couldn’t tell from the control room (and not even after sending some people to investigate, in fact) that the reactor had been destroyed seems incredible. Wouldn’t you expect this kind of thing to be readily noticeable? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/46 "2019-05-14T10:46:19Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I recall one article about the disaster which mentioned the “bridge of death”. There was a bridge in the nearby town with a good view of the reactor building. When things went haywire, quite a few people went out onto th bridge to watch the spectacle. They were quite a few hundred meters (a kilometer or more?) from the reactor, but I think they were in the downwind path. The cloud of radioactive fine particles and smoke went up and across Poland and Scandinavia sickening field workers in Poland and setting off radiation alarms in Sweden (setting off a serious concern there until the people monitoring realized the alarms were stronger outside the plant than in it…) They show the bridge scene in the series. That everybody is going to die hence is a spoiler :mad:. From the series (don’t know if it’s accurate), the reactor looks like it’s much farther than 1 km. I’d guess 4 or 5. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/47 "2019-05-14T10:48:51Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > But that they couldn’t tell from the control room (and not even after sending some people to investigate, in fact) that the reactor had been destroyed seems incredible. Wouldn’t you expect this kind of thing to be readily noticeable? When they started noticing chunks of the reactor’s graphite structure lying around on the ground yeah, they started realizing “oh yeah, we’re fucked” but since it was the middle of the night it was hard to see the stuff. Sure, looking back it’s obvious but history is full of catastrophes where people spent amazing amounts of time denying the emergency and/or its extent. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/48 "2019-05-14T11:34:14Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > When they started noticing chunks of the reactor’s graphite structure lying around on the ground yeah, they started realizing “oh yeah, we’re fucked” but since it was the middle of the night it was hard to see the stuff. > . Well, that they needed to see the chunk of graphite is unbelievable. I mean, if your car runs out of oil, you’re warned, but when your reactor’s core explodes, nothing? Not a even a flashing light with “you’re all fucked” on it? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/49 "2019-05-14T11:59:09Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > So basically there is no such thing as a suit that will protect you from the kind of radiation that would be caused by a nuclear meltdown? You would basically have to be in a lead box? Gold would do just as well. Try selling that to those tasteful people like the third world dictators who fancy gold [taps](https://www.tapsuk.com/gold-taps-c1996), golden [toilets](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/25/politics/guggenheim-white-house-van-gogh-toilet/index.html), gold [guns](https://thechive.com/2012/07/08/saddam-husseins-gold-gun-collection/) and golden [cutlery](https://www.classiccrockery.co.uk/catalogue/gold-cutlery/). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/50 "2019-05-14T12:17:24Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > […] > > To be fair, this doesn’t solve getting up a set of stairs to the roof or into confined spaces. > > What you need are robots able to do all this but with protected electronics so they can survive. Can you tame Daleks? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/51 "2019-05-14T13:30:29Z")
Denial was a serious problem for the Soviet system. Although all institutions are conservative in releasing information in an emergency, the Soviets took it to a whole new level. First, “causing a panic” will end a career, even if it later turns out to be the correct action. If the situation turns out to be not as bad as first thought, then you most likely get jail time, too. SOVIET-style jail time. On top of all this is the ideological dimension. Even from Lenin’s day, reporting bad news in the press was bad because it was seen as criticism of the government. Lenin himself said that the press existed for the purpose of championing the government. So no matter how bad things got, no one was going to rock the boat out of sheer cultural pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/52 "2019-05-14T13:37:46Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Well, that they needed to see the chunk of graphite is unbelievable. I mean, if your car runs out of oil, you’re warned, but when your reactor’s core explodes, nothing? Not a even a flashing light with “you’re all fucked” on it? I’ve known a number of people who have car dashboards lit up like Christmas with blinking lights who nonetheless tried to continue driving said vehicle. Sure, there were all sorts of warning signs. People ignored them, because they couldn’t believe it was _that bad_. That is the very essence of denial. ---
**Author:** ![Pascal666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eada6e/32.png) [@Pascal666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pascal666)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/53 "2019-05-15T04:09:05Z")
> [@TimfromNapa](#): > > Dentists and technicians still leave the room while you are x-rayed. That has not changed in this universe - the one where Spock is clean-shaven. I went to the dentist today. She took five x-rays without leaving the room. She used a handheld emitter. The receiver in my mouth was hooked up to a computer. Perhaps your dentist still uses the old film method? [https://www.google.com/search?q=are+handheld+x+ray+machines+safe](https://www.google.com/search?q=are+handheld+x+ray+machines+safe) ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/54 "2019-05-15T04:24:50Z")
> [@MarvinKitFox](#): > > \*During \* a meltdown? > > Forget about the gamma radiation, a mere 5-10cm of lead will attenuate that down to safe levels. > > You need to worry about the neutron flux, shielding against that requires not only different materials, but which materials work best vary depending on the source/energy of the neutrons. To shield against what an active meltdown emits, you would need about 2 meters of water, _then_ 5cm of lead. Just having the water, or just having the lead, will not stop very much. Not that anyone is likely to be exposed to these levels of radiation without training, but NO. 10 cm of lead will stop a percentage of gamma radiation, but if the source is intense enough that bit of lead won’t save you. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818/55 "2019-05-15T04:34:38Z")
Edit window ate my emendation… > [@AK84](#): > > Gamma needs 5 cm or 2 inches of lead to be safely blocked. > Make a suit which has 2 inches of lead behind it. Good luck. > [@MarvinKitFox](#): > > \*During \* a meltdown? > > Forget about the gamma radiation, a mere 5-10cm of lead will attenuate that down to safe levels. > > You need to worry about the neutron flux, shielding against that requires not only different materials, but which materials work best vary depending on the source/energy of the neutrons. To shield against what an active meltdown emits, you would need about 2 meters of water, _then_ 5cm of lead. Just having the water, or just having the lead, will not stop very much. Not that anyone is likely to be exposed to these levels of radiation without training, but NO. 10 cm of lead will stop a percentage of gamma radiation, but if the source is intense enough that bit of lead won’t reduce it enough to save you. I haven’t watched this show, but the accident was analyzed thoroughly in the aftermath for lessons learned. Alarms were probably disabled or ignored, because the reactor was foolishly being run in an abnormal mode for testing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-chernobyl-engineers-don-protective-gear-to-inspect-the-reactor/833818.md?page=2)