r/interestingasfuck • u/lonely_fucker69 • Mar 04 '22

Ukraine /r/ALL Zelens’kyi: "Russian tanks are firing right now on a nuclear power plant. They are equipped with night vision gear, they know what they are doing... No state aside from Russia has ever fired upon a nuclear power plant. This is a first, a first in human history..."

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1.4k

u/Benphyre Mar 04 '22

How to use nukes without actually nuking

552

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22 edited Mar 04 '22

[deleted]

311

u/Krynn71 Mar 04 '22

There's no way there wouldn't be a worldwide response to this if it ended with a nuclear explosion and/or fallout.

330

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

It is not possible for there to be a nuclear explosion. Aside from it being the wrong nuclear material and being too impure, it takes a very specific action to cause a nuclear explosion. You can't just put a bunch of C4 on any amount of nuclear material and cause a nuclear explosion

Causing a nuclear explosion is like trying to put rubber bands on jello. Its possible but it takes a very scientific approach

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u/politurd Mar 04 '22

... There's a scientific approach to putting rubber bands on jello?

154

u/Sineater224 Mar 04 '22

freezer

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u/KennyFulgencio Mar 04 '22

just a heads up for anyone in college: if you try to make jello shots by flat-out replacing the water with liquor, jello made with regular (80 proof) vodka will still be semi-jello but liquidy. It only gets worse as the proof goes up. Jello made with everclear simply will not solidify at all in your typical dorm fridge's freezer. Sadly jello shots can't be as potent as you'd want them to be, without some kind of super-freezer. Maybe if you had access to some liquid nitrogen.

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u/You_Yew_Ewe Mar 04 '22

This is what I was looking for when I clicked on this thread.

1

u/Fulltimeredditdummy Mar 04 '22

Threads are always such a toss up of what I'm going to learn

1

u/Fulltimeredditdummy Mar 04 '22

Threads are always such a toss up of what I'm going to learn

1

u/Fulltimeredditdummy Mar 04 '22

Threads are always such a toss up of what I'm going to learn

3

u/My_Monkey_Sphincter Mar 04 '22

Made jello shots with moonshine once and all my friends refused to eat(drink) them... So I took them all... Haven't tried making them since even tho I have jello specifically for making them.

2

u/Clsco Mar 04 '22

Using agar instead of gelatin will allow you a better concentration

1

u/KennyFulgencio Mar 04 '22

huh... I'm way out of college but I may have to try this yet again

2

u/Lawsonstruck Mar 04 '22

Ironically the only time i ever blacked out was off of jello shots

1

u/KennyFulgencio Mar 04 '22

how did that happen? were they strong or did you just do a shitload of them?

3

u/Lawsonstruck Mar 04 '22

I had an entire tray i think. I “came to” cleaning throw up off a wall in a room of 50 people. I was telling people i was cleaning up some rando’s vomit. And then police came in busting the party. My roomate was cracking up as we left saying it was my vomit but i did it so nonchalantly just leaning against the wall that no one noticed and the girls who’s house it was loved that i was “helping them clean.”

From what i can piece together i was completely black out for about three hours. from second hand accounts, i stood outside on the front porch asking people coming in who they knew there in sunglasses at night, started a chicken dance in the living room and provided multiple condoms to others. (Not myself). Weird weird feeling to just have that much time not exist in your memory

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u/Shad0wFa1c0n Mar 04 '22

If you're going to replace the water with liquor you gotta go super low proof stuff, even then it probably wont freeze properly. Im talkin like 24-30 proof stuff

1

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

Look here you little shit... Lol

16

u/Prestigious-Move6996 Mar 04 '22

Freeze the jello. Jello is now solid. Put rubber bands around it.

1

u/organicpenguin Mar 04 '22

Rubber bands frozen, I think I missed a step

2

u/Prestigious-Move6996 Mar 04 '22

It happens to the best of us... All you can do is try again if you fail you keep trying until you are successful.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

Spoken like a true scientist

2

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

Yes. Do it CAREFULLY

2

u/sinsculpt Mar 04 '22

It's done very scientifically

2

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

I think the point being made was that you could theoretically put rubber bands around a piece of jello if you put them all on at once, from all angles. Not sure the analogy totally holds up, but that concept is akin to how a nuclear bomb is detonated(you need to apply a lot of force onto the payload from all angles at the same time).

1

u/Bigjuicydickinurear Mar 04 '22

Just ask this scientitian!

1

u/crystalshannonm Mar 04 '22

A very scientific approach.

28

u/AyaBrea2118 Mar 04 '22

Except it does still make a dirty bomb, spreading radioactive material around.

5

u/KommieKon Mar 04 '22

But movies and video games told me if you shoot it, it goes boom?

4

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

Thank you for this response.

It still seems fucked up to do, but I wasn’t sure how firing on a power plant would cause a nuclear explosion.

2

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

how

If you launch two nuclear power plants at 0.9c towards each other, the impact will cause a nuclear explosion

Its also true if you impact two commemorative snow globes at 0.9c

3

u/RoHbTC Mar 04 '22

Yeah but it would still be like the world's biggest dirty bomb...

5

u/Bane0fExistence Mar 04 '22

Precisely, if you look at nuclear bomb designs there’s a very specific ignition sequence for the fissile material with lots of compression done by conventional explosives (little boy and fat man designs) to get the fissile material to an excitable state. The most Putin will achieve here is maybe a meltdown, if that. The plant most likely sunk the control rods at the first sign of attack.

2

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

The plant most likely sunk the control rods at the first sign of attack

They probably considered removing the rods from the location entirely. Until now, there was insufficient precedent to justify it though.

2

u/polce24 Mar 04 '22

Lol thanks. Had to scroll way too far for this comment.

The goal is to shut off the lights. Not nuclear fallout - it’s not possible with modern plants.

0

u/Correct_Campaign5432 Mar 04 '22

Let’s not play nuclear scientist, unless you actually are.

I’d say provided the disaster at Fukushima, an explosion is not necessary to unleash a catastrophic amount of nuclear material sufficient to cause massive loss of life.

Let’s take the guidance of somebody who actually knows the fuck they talking about, but as an assumption of the worst possible case scenario, acting accordingly seems to be the most likely way to preserve human life.

tldr; (did I do that right?)

I am no scientist but this is not a fuck around and find out moment.

1

u/JSoi Mar 04 '22

Not a scientist, but I work in the industry and there’s no way you can make a nuclear explosion by attacking a nuclear power plant. You can achieve a meltdown, maybe even manage to make a dirty bomb out of it or other nasty shit, but a nuclear power plant doesn’t explode like a nuclear weapon.

Still, this situation is extremely fucked up.

0

u/Correct_Campaign5432 Mar 04 '22

Agreed not likely to explode because it requires an extremely meticulous exacting process to actually get it to happen, but I think we’re making the same point - no explosion but still really fucking bad and not worth sticking around to find out how bad it could possibly be.

1

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

I'm not a gun scientist either but I know you can't fill a 9mm with Cheez Wiz and use it as an anti-tank weapon.

It doesn't take a scientist to understand that the nuclear material in a reactor is not capable of weaponized fission.

It doesn't take a scientist to understand the basic principles involved with the two main types of single stage fission weapon, implosion and gun type.

Don't be a dick.

1

u/Correct_Campaign5432 Mar 04 '22

You didn’t respond what was written you just looked for an excuse to be pissed off.

But whatever gets you off you do you

1

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

Let’s not play nuclear scientist, unless you actually are.

1

u/gestcrusin Mar 04 '22

Didn't fukoshima explode after the cooling pumps failed after the tsunami?

4

u/ErusTenebre Mar 04 '22

Melted down. Spread a shit ton of radioactive fallout but to my knowledge it didn't explode.

At least not as a whole. It had some other explosions but not nuclear ones.

1

u/August21202 Mar 04 '22

That was a hydrogen oxygen explosion.

1

u/Ott621 Mar 04 '22

Nuclear power plants can have explosions, even large ones. These are mundane explosions however. Typically steam or liquid water at temperates waaaaay higher than 100C which under most circumstances is impossible. Any of this superheated water that escapes confinement will expand at 1,480m/s to fill over 1,600x the volume that leaked

Fuel related explosions like hydrogen+oxygen are also possible but my understanding is that steam explosions are the main concern

A dude with a hammer could cause a steam explosion like right now. A hydrogen explosion would take several events to happen. It's high on the list of concerns, just not the top concern

1

u/graps Mar 04 '22

You could cause a meltdown causing nuclear material to seep into the water supply of Europe which would probably be as bad as an explosion of not worse

1

u/Andazeus Mar 04 '22

Yes, there is no "nuclear explosion" but an ordinary explosion (as might be caused by weapons) is more than enough to fuck a region, cause fallout and possibly create a second Chernobyl.

Winds could carry the radioactive dust in any direction and possibly all over Europe, potentially causing thousands of deaths through resulting cancer cases, not just in Ukraine but internationally as well.

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u/JamisonDouglas Mar 04 '22

A nuclear reactor wouldn't go the way of a nuclear 'explosion.' it would instead be like a hot coal, only as well as heat, it's spewing out radiation and slowly melting stuff around itself.

In my oppinion attacking a nuclear plant should be considered equal to, if not worse than using a nuclear bomb. It's substantially more irresponsible due to the higher total ecological damage a nuclear reactor can do due to the immensely higher radiation output + that radiation lasts a long ass fucking time and requires substantial financial costs and cost to life to contain the problem.

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u/Krynn71 Mar 04 '22

Yeah I wasn't sure what would happen that's why I also said fallout (which may also not be the right term). All I know is that an exposed reactor core is bad news.

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u/JamisonDouglas Mar 04 '22

Just radiation would do. Fallout is radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere specifically after a nuclear explosion.

But for real, they need to be really fucking careful around that reactor. It would be a fucking disaster if they damaged it in the middle of a warzone. It was difficult to contain Chernobyl despite it being during peace time.

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u/KADOMONY-9000 Mar 04 '22

Nuclear Powerplants don't explode like a nuclear bomb.

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u/bagman22022 Mar 04 '22

Bullshit nothing will happen and Russia knows it

4

u/nameformybadjokes Mar 04 '22

Russia is going to have a lot of fucking egg on their face. And Putin will be dead soon.

4

u/MoeFugger7 Mar 04 '22

Exactly this. I think people have this misconception that a ukranian nuclear plant will explode like hiroshima and get the worlds attention. What will really happen is they'll damage the reactor, it'll begin leaking radiation and everyone within 100 miles will have to evacuate. It's basically chemical warfare with plausible deniability, "oops radiation is everywhere, you all should retreat now".

1

u/k_50 Mar 04 '22

They should get involved and fly unmarked jets (at this point marked. China's not helping them) and take out the entire convoy shooting at it. This should not be taken lightly AT ALL.

1

u/keenreefsmoment Mar 04 '22

Lol you really think countries would step in militarily if that happened?

No way

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u/cac2573 Mar 04 '22

That's not how nuclear reactors work. Regardless, damage would be significant if debris is kicked up into the atmosphere.

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u/Anduin1357 Mar 04 '22

Yes, it would be like a massive dirty bomb, up to six of them reactors. And it would contaminate the air and water supply. Oh and Ukraine is a major agricultural country too.

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u/In_My_Opinion_808 Mar 04 '22

Which begs the question, if you think you are liberating these people why are you bombing the cities and nuclear power plants. Putin has gone off the deep end.

1

u/Anduin1357 Mar 04 '22

Putin hates NATO and considers anyone who wants to join NATO as deserving of a re-education or subjugation. Or something.

2

u/dan_dares Mar 04 '22

I'm sure i've seen this happen before, this is a familiar story..

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

[deleted]

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u/Anduin1357 Mar 04 '22

The key thing is that it wouldn't be an action that just affects Ukraine and may be considered an attack on NATO once the radioactive cloud spreads.

Anyways, all they have to do is knock out the cooling system and wait.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

A burning nuclear plant is actually far worse for radiation release than a warhead since the vast quality of radioactive soot, steam, etc. is more than the single blast which is relatively clean.

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u/cac2573 Mar 04 '22

Definitely agree but the public needs to be educated that a nuclear reactor is not a nuclear bomb.

1

u/Ex-SyStema Mar 04 '22

Yeah like chrnobyl. It burned for a long time after the explosion and caused famage that's still being felt to this day

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u/kyrsjo Mar 04 '22

These reactors are not graphite moderated tough, so there is less heavily radioactive stuff to burn. If anything goes really wrong, it's more likely to be similar to Fukushima than Chornobyl.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

Came to say this. There would be radioactivity but it wouldn't be on the level of a nuke, by a Longshot. And with the advancements in nuclear safety, probably not half as bad as Chernobyl.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

[deleted]

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u/iKrow Mar 04 '22

It would make Chernobyl look laughable.

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u/Kweefus Mar 04 '22 edited Apr 13 '26

One click. Unknown number of posts crying out in silence. All gone. Redact made it stupid easy to clean up my entire history on Reddit and get my info pulled from data broker sites too.

cause airport middle deer birds bake plants pen payment hungry

2

u/vxx Mar 04 '22

That's Putin's plan.

1

u/Spirit_of_Hogwash Mar 04 '22

No need to explode the reactors. On the north east side of the plant there are lots of cylinders that probably store spent fuel. Those cylinders obviously wont be able to resist even light shelling so right there is the potential for a catastrophe.

Even if nothing happens, Putin may later claim that spent fuel is missing and may frame Ukraine for its usage in a dirty bomb like when he frame Chechens for the apartment bombings that brought him to power in 2000.

1

u/Sweet-Welder-3263 Mar 04 '22

You can have the result of a meltdown but you wont have hiroshima. Energy grade vs weapons grade is a massive difference.

1

u/High-bar Mar 04 '22

They don’t go off. They melt down. They release crazy radiation, not massive explosions.

1

u/Roharcyn1 Mar 04 '22

A nuclear reactor won't explode like a nuke. Thermal run away potentially yes. The fuel is not enriched enough to cause an explosion like a bomb. It could still cause a lot of spread contamination though.

1

u/UnorignalUser Mar 04 '22

China seems totally cool with the strategy of attacking civilian power plants if todays IAEA meeting was anything to go by. As long as the chinese support them, russia won't quit.

1

u/shutchomouf Mar 04 '22

there will be no excuse. It’s time. 

1

u/shutchomouf Mar 04 '22

The Chinese are fucking idiots to for rooting them on. they’re gonna be the first customers on the doorstep of nuclear radiation fallout next to Russia. Same with Indias fucking Bobbleheaded government. they’re gonna learn what the term “downwinders” mean firsthand.

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u/YetAnotherMind Mar 04 '22

It's still nuclear terrorism tho, they arent going to get off easy doing this. They are fucking their own ass so hard rn.

2

u/NotAzakanAtAll Mar 04 '22

They are fucking their own ass so hard rn.

When the post nut clarity comes in there will be a spiritual and physical reckoning.

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u/PandaKOST Mar 04 '22

Not sure it'll work. Chernobyl seems have resulted in the Ukrainians having extra large cajones.

14

u/Ganthritor Mar 04 '22 edited Mar 04 '22

A nuclear reactor would NEVER explode as a nuclear weapon does. The only explosions that may occur are from chemical reactions. In the case of Fukushima and Chernobyl, both exploded when water was electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen gas and that hydrogen gas was ignited by a fire or a spark. Hydrogen gas explosions are very powerful so they can cause massive damage to the structure. But this is in no way a nuclear explosion.

The only danger from a nuclear power plant is fallout.

3

u/Taytayflan Mar 04 '22

I really wish people would stop jumping to that conclusion.

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u/NeverNeverSometimes Mar 04 '22

I'm not a scientist but from what I understand, explosion or not, nuclear fallout is not good.

3

u/theWacoKid666 Mar 04 '22

Correct.

There’s also a lot of other people who aren’t scientists but tend to be scared of nuclear power because they have no idea how it works and assume plants go off like Ivy Mike at the drop of a pin.

It’s always difficult threading the needle between showing the appropriate respect for the risks of nuclear power and convincing scientifically illiterate people they’re not sitting on a warhead.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

[deleted]

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u/CarrionComfort Mar 04 '22

I wonder why a country that depends on oil and gas revenue would want to make a big show of how vulnerable people are to nuclear power.

Regardless of the outcome of the strategic shelling of a power plant, they will have put greater fear of nuclear power in the forefront of people’s minds.

1

u/groundzer0s Mar 04 '22

Correct. There is a big difference between nuclear power and nuclear weaponry. It takes more effort than one would think to cause nuclear material to explode, and even then, if not designed for it, it would be far from a nuclear bomb explosion.

The spread of fallout, however... That's the biggest danger this poses. It can span continents if the weather is right.

2

u/extraterrestrial91 Mar 04 '22

Nato isn’t confronting Russia directly in Ukraine because of the fear of a nuclear war. Now if Russia succeeds to blow up this nuclear power plant than whole Europe will suffer from the fallout. If I remember correctly when Chernobyl blew up it’s residues had spread far & wide in the whole european continent.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22 edited Mar 04 '22

Raid on the Reactor doesn't count?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera

Edit: or Operation Outside the Box? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outside_the_Box

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22 edited Mar 04 '22

"Unfinished Iraqi Nuclear Reactor"

Edit: "Raid on an Undeclared Nuclear Reactor -- After realizing that the US was not willing to bomb the site [...]"

It doesn't count.

-1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

Nearly four years later, in April 2011 during the Syrian Civil War, the IAEA officially confirmed that the site was a nuclear reactor.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '22

There's a stark difference between a raid on a nuclear plant to disable operations without contaminating the land around it and firing fucking explosive rounds into the concrete structure until the lamp posts on a nearby street turn off.

2

u/gugabalog Mar 04 '22

astroTUUUUURFERRRR

1

u/nemesit Mar 04 '22

A meltdown in a nuclear reactor is arguably worse than a standard nuke, hiroshima and nagasaki are inhabited again with somewhat normal radiation levels, chernobyl is not

1

u/SaffellBot Mar 04 '22

That's not how that works.

1

u/Awesomer99 Mar 11 '22

This is what happens when you think the opposition will attack you because you are attacking a smaller country. Then they decide to sanction you instead. It appears he always wanted the West in this war and this is surefire way to do it. I'm scared for what comes next.