(solemn music)
- This is Randy Santel.
- Good morning!
- (laughs) Randy, what
is the agenda today?
- Today we are going to
Pripyat and Chernobyl.
We're going to get a
tour of both and just,
it's gonna be awesome.
- That's awesome, how'd
this all come about?
- Well, my friend Lucas contacted me,
he's been watching our
videos for a long time.
He is a radiation specialist from Chicago,
and he has invited us, and
he's giving us a private tour.
- So is this like a perk
of being Randy Santel in your travels?
- It's not too bad.
- Yeah, this is a very unique experience,
so that's why we're bringing you
a different flavor behind the scenes.
And we're actually tying this together
with a food challenge later, right?
- Yeah we're doing a challenge tonight,
it's about 35 minutes away.
- Yep.
- So.
- I'm looking forward to that too.
- It's gonna be Ukrainian
food as well, so.
It's gonna be yummy, I
don't know the name of it.
- I will say being with you,
it's never a dull moment.
You have to understand,
Randy is always going,
so, it's crazy, it's great,
it really is, always going.
So, we're looking forward to--
- What's not going is
the city we're going to,
because it hasn't been
inhabited for like 33 years.
Since 1986.
(Todd laughs)
- Look at him, he's a wealth of knowledge.
- I am, I read a lot
of leather-bound books.
- (laughs) All right, all right.
So, I guess we have a
30-minute train ride,
and then we're going to two
distinct different places,
and one of them is the Power Plant.
Nobody ever gets to do that.
Again, a perk of being with Randy Santel.
So, sit back, relax, enjoy this video,
because we don't know what to expect.
- It's gonna be cool, I've seen
a lot of the YouTube videos
from travelers who have gone here,
but seeing it ourselves is gonna be
our own little story in itself.
- It is, so--
- And I'm glad Todd is here with us.
- (laughs) Telling a different side.
The other thing is,
Epidemic Sound down below,
if you watched the other
one, they're helping us
with some of those soundtracks
and stuff on this trip
for these types of videos.
So, there's a link in the description
to help Randy do other
things, so just click that
if you ever want a 30-day trial.
So other than that, we're
out, let's go have some fun.
- Let's do it!
(gentle music)
- So.
- Only workers
get on this bus.
- Only workers.
We have like this,
- Todd, Chris and Randy.
- behind the stage,
behind the scenes thing.
Look at this train!
This is crazy.
(gentle music)
- I am very, very excited today.
This is going to be a very special video.
I've been doing food
challenges since 2010.
We've got over 1.6 million subscribers
since I started back then
between Facebook and YouTube.
And I've been able to, thankfully,
have a lot of awesome experiences
that I would not have had otherwise,
from back when I was doing construction.
So, who I'm with here, is my friend Lucas.
You're actually from Chicago, right?
Yes.
He has actually, for the last five years,
been working in Chernobyl
at the Power Plant,
and he lives here in Ukraine now.
Along with doing a few
Ukrainian food challenges,
he has invited us on a
tour of where he works,
so what are we gonna be doing today?
- So, today we're gonna head
into the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,
we're gonna talk about the
history and the region.
We're gonna talk about
the history of operations,
and then we're gonna go visit
Pripyat in the afternoon,
which is the city formerly
where the workers lived.
- It's gonna be an awesome experience,
and we just wanna take you guys along
to be kind of a part of all this,
'cause it's a really
unique, awesome experience
that not many people get to do.
So, today, we're gonna
be seeing a lot of sites,
and happy to have you
following and watching with us.
(gentle piano music)
(gentle electronic music)
(people chattering)
- So, right now Randy and I
are walking with the workers,
they're all going to work.
- We just got off the train.
- And we're going to CFF van,
which is Lucas' company, and then--
- Non-profit.
- Non-profit, we'll go over later,
but it's kind of exciting.
- Hey Todd, look you can
make $250 a month here.
Sick, sick, that's more than YouTube.
(gentle electronic music)
- All right, here's the
briefing here, you ready?
This is what you expect
when you come to Chernobyl.
- So, there's a couple of rules
to keep you safe in Chernobyl.
It's all about administrative control.
So the main thing is,
not to get contamination
on your bodies, not to get
contamination on your clothes,
not to inhale or ingest it in any way.
So we have some simple
administrational control.
Don't rub up against things,
don't wipe things with your hands,
don't lean against the wall
and hold the building up.
Keeps your bags up off the ground.
If you need to take your bag off,
have someone else hold it
for you, take your stuff out.
Anything that you put on the ground
can potentially be contaminated.
If it gets contaminated, you
leave it here in the zone.
So, the next thing is,
we're about to head
into an industrial area,
we're heading into an active work zone.
This is also a place where in the past
people have received lethal exposure.
So this is a kind of serious
place that we're walking into.
When we're in Pripyat,
it's a different mentality,
but here's an active work zone,
so let's just kind of keep that in mind
as we're going through.
We're trying to stay out of the way.
- It's not a museum.
- It's not a museum, this is still
an active industrial area.
- This is a tour of death.
(Randy laughs)
This is the tour of death.
- And we all have long
sleeves and pants on.
- Yeah so this is one of the--
- I got this specially for Chernobyl,
because I don't fit in normal clothes.
- So we have long sleeves and clothes on
to prevent whatever
contamination in the environment
from getting on our clothes.
If your shirt gets contaminated,
you have to leave your shirt behind.
That's one thing.
If your skin gets contaminated,
and they have to scrub it
off, that's a different thing.
So, that's part of the rules
for being here in the zone.
So, we're headed into
the administration block,
there's eight different levels of security
up to the military police, secret police,
so they're always being watched here.
There's cameras everywhere.
So what we're going to do is
be as good of guests as we can.
We're gonna head into these areas,
and get to see something that
not many people get to see.
One of the places that
we're going to visit today
is Valery Khodemchuck's memorial.
Valery Khodemchuck died on
the night of the accident.
He died in the explosion itself,
they never recovered his body,
and so there's a memorial for him
inside of the power plant.
- Cool.
- So we're gonna go see that.
- All right, so let's go
get this party started.
- Let's go do it.
And it's also our friend
Sandra's first time here.
- Aw, isn't that neat.
We call her the spy, aka the spy.
- She's got three passports.
(all laughing)
- That's a secret.
- All different pictures.
(all laughing)
- All right, let's go.
(gentle electronic music)
- This side faces out,
this is your dosimeter,
this is how they're gonna track
your radiation dose throughout the day.
This one goes on your neck,
that side goes out like this.
- Radioactive!
- When it was constructed,
so this is unit four,
and unit three, they're
built back to back.
And in fact, they have many
shared components between the two.
So this was an advanced
RBMK reactor design.
At the time of the accident,
you can see the reactor
building was destroyed.
This is the reactor vessel itself.
So, over the next eight months,
they put together the
original Object Shelter,
which is primarily steel and concrete.
They pushed all of the debris back in,
and then sealed everything off.
This structure, like I said,
was built in eight months,
and it also relies heavily
on the remaining walls
of the reactor building
itself, of course, for support.
So they noticed in like the late 1990s,
that the western wall was
starting to, 30 years.
So then, in the early 2000s,
we approved the design for the arch.
Then, when it was completed
in November of 2016.
It was pushed by
hydraulic engines in place
over the Object Shelter.
So now, today, this is what we have.
So the object shelter is
underneath the largest moveable,
man-made moveable structure
that was ever built.
It's large enough you can
put the Roman Colosseum
or the Statue of Liberty underneath it.
(somber piano music)
- Okay, you can't see me,
'cause I'm in a secret corridor.
There's Randy back there.
- [Randy] I'm dying.
- We're going to get our suits on.
Randy's dying, long walk.
(somber piano music)
(upbeat electronic music)
- You're gonna sit down on this side,
take your shoes off,
and when you come back,
don't wear these on this
side of the clean line.
- So this is the clean, this is the clean?
We're entering a golden corridor,
this is the post thing, so
this is basically all gold.
So it's easier to clean.
Randy looks great, doesn't he?
- Oh, yeah.
- It's gonna get dark.
We're going to, it's getting dark.
(gentle electronic music)
- [Randy] Switchyard control room.
- So the switchyard is still operating,
the switchyard is still how we communicate
throughout the region, so in here--
- So the power that you
guys use in the hotel
is still being pushed--
- From here?
- From here.
- [Todd] It's like they still
have the same stuff from.
It's super quiet in here.
- [Man] Screen for 30 exact--
(buzzer goes off)
(workers chattering)
(man speaks in Ukrainian)
- [Todd] And you can still see (mumbles).
(man speaking Russian)
(somber music)
Uh-oh, are we in trouble?
- No, I just missed you.
I wanna be on camera.
- He likes being on camera, don't ya?
- Well, I feel pretty today.
- (laughs) How's that button?
- It's rough.
- It's a rough button. (laughs)
- Been through a lot.
- On the night of the
accident, for example,
they had to get the SKALA reports,
but it takes 30 seconds for the computer
to do the printout, and then
you have to run it from here
to the control room,
give it to the operators,
they can review all of the data
that's coming out over
the last time period.
So this is a incredible
room, because this is,
you know a piece of 1970s computer.
- [Randy] Wow.
- [Todd] Oh my gosh.
(gentle electronic music)
- [Lucas] This is the
brain of the Power Plant.
Does all of the computing, prints out.
But this is kind of like the memory tape,
and it would record every
parameter that was coming.
(man speaking Ukrainian)
- This is pretty cool.
- No, I don't speak Ukrainian.
No idea.
- Right now, we are in
the whole computer room
for all of Chernobyl
that got all of the data
for all of the computers running.
It's pretty cool.
All these are like 1970s computers.
Way before me.
(man speaking Russian)
And I also have no idea what is going on,
'cause this is all way over my head.
(gentle electronic music)
I know your father!
Hey, guys, right now we are
in the Chernobyl control room,
that just controls everything.
And, actually, right
here is kind of where,
this was the button that was pushed
that kinda triggered the whole big blast,
but keep in mind while you're
looking at all this stuff,
that we're doing on this inside tour,
only about 100 people per
year from all over the world
get to actually take this tour.
So, our friend Lucas has a big hookup,
which is much appreciated,
this is really cool
that we're able to do this.
- In the center, you have
the control rod indicators,
so these tell you how far
in each control rod goes.
Each number corresponds to a
penetration in the reactor.
So when you go to the reactor,
around the edge of the
reactor has all the numbers,
and you just match them up based on this.
And then, this tells you the numbers
for each of the control rods,
and the farther you push
in the control rods,
the less neutrons that are
being produced, the less power.
The more that they're pulled out,
the more neutron
multiplication is happening.
Moving through the control room,
you have your control
operators panel right here,
so this he can individually select
which of the control rods.
Right here you have the AZ-5 button,
this is the SCRAM button,
this is the automatic stop.
You hit that button,
all of the control rods
from the bottom and
all of the control rods
from the top of the reactor come in.
So this was the final operator action
that took place before the
explosion on the night of 1986.
Some people blame that for the explosion,
however Dyatlov wrote
very, very eloquently
about how the reactor was already
in an unstable state
before this ever happened.
However, this was the
final action that was taken
on the night Akimov gave the order.
The button was pushed, and they attempted
to SCRAM the reactor.
And that means to bring
everything to a full stop.
- [Randy] This is the metal
piece, so that's the top.
- [Todd] All right, so what's going on?
- Well, wait a minute.
- You're like my dad.
- [Randy] I don't think I'm
old enough to be your dad.
- [Todd] What about
these, what do you think?
- [Randy] It's like you're swimming.
And then put your, and
then form that, yeah, okay.
And now we're protected.
(Todd laughs)
And then gloves.
- [Todd] Oh, we have.
How am I going to film with the gloves?
- [Randy] (sighs) How do
people live with the radiation,
sometimes you just can't.
(both laughing)
Right?
- [Lucas] So guys, we're
gonna exit out now,
we're gonna exit out,
we're gonna go around,
but this is an area
where it's very important
not to touch any of the pipes,
there's a lot of dust in the
air, the dust is contaminated.
So just make sure that we stay in the--
- This is the part where we die?
Randy the latency, remember latency.
- [Randy] Latency.
- Latency.
(suspenseful electronic music)
- Okay, we're going into now
what is one of the most sacred
parts of the power plant,
especially for the workers, so.
- [Randy] Sure.
(feet shuffling)
- So, this is the Valery
Khodemchuk memorial.
Khodemchuk was a main
circulating pump operator.
He was working on the
night of the accident.
He was killed by the explosion itself,
and his body was unable to be recovered.
And it still, this is the memorial,
it's as close as we can predict
where his body likely lies, on
the other side of this wall.
Quite a few other operators
went back down that night
to try and find him.
At the time of the accident
he was only 35 years old, he was married.
But this memorial is
bigger than Khodemchuk,
it's also a memorial
for all of the workers
who were working that night
who didn't abandon their shift,
who continued working
throughout the night,
even though they understood that something
was terrible happening to them,
everyone else that was working.
One of the most interesting
aspects of this memorial
is his hands.
His hands are actually his wife's hands.
When the artist was
creating this memorial,
he was trying to find something that would
really tie it back, so he went
and found Khodemchuk's widow,
and these are casts of her
hands in his hands clays.
- [Randy] Wow.
- And this is one of the most
revered parts of the plant.
(somber electronic music)
- [Randy] Oh my gosh.
- [Lucas] These are four on this side.
If you go down that
hallway, on the other side,
there would be another four.
So there's eight different
kinds of reactors.
During operation, three would be running,
one would be on reserve,
so if one of the other ones broke down,
then they would flip on that fourth one.
(gentle electronic music)
Arms up, now when it says control, touch.
(machine beeps)
Control, touch.
There you go.
- [Randy] Pass, I dominated.
- [Todd] You dominated, you won before--
- So once I cross over this barrier,
that means I'm safe, right?
- Yeah, you're clean.
- Riding dirty.
(Todd laughs)
(gentle electronic music)
- [Todd] So we're here,
and we walked this whole
thing to here, to those pumps.
That's the danger zone.
That's no bueno.
That's where we were.
- We survived Chernobyl.
- [Randy] Well, I mean, latency.
- [Todd] With latency, yeah.
- [Randy] No, no, I'm straight.
- [Todd] Thank you to Lucas for taking us.
Lucas is the man.
(gentle electronic music)
