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The Insane Story of Japan’s Chernobyl

fern | January 11, 2026



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The story of how one man contained a nuclear disaster with a small team.

Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JRlVz3z5sSEjbcrLqIHZ42t9ZHMoqVNZkBnlUuqh36A/edit?tab=t.0

Music:

Epidemic Sound

Riverworn – Seeing Clearly
Guy Copeland – All Exits Closed
Fredrik Ekstrom – This Is Not The End 3
Out To The World – Luxx; Out There
Christian Andersen – Not What It Seems; Presumed Innocent; Corner Cube
Alec Slayne – Stimuli; Defying Gravity
Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen – Intergalactic Pioneer; Cloak; Neurosis; Intergalactic Pioneer; The Stakeout
Hampus Naeselius – Rise From the Shadows
Lennon Hutton – DOX; Abandoned Village
Ruiqi Zhao – Shallow; Behind the Shadow
Wendel Scherer – Deserted Island
Blackout Memories – Nightmares Ahead
Dream Cave – Extraterrestrial
Lennon Hutton – Orcus
August Wilhelmsson – Your Memories 1
Blue Saga – Strings
Jay Varton – Silent Castle
John Utah – Five Minutes Out
Magnus Ludvigsson – Unsolved Issues
Experia – Borderline Dilemma
Mindme – Rich (Instrumental Version)
Jharee – Off the Porch

Artlist

Roie Shpigler – Five Sense Prison
Max H – Investigation

_____

Armchair documentaries, almost weekly

Written by fern

Comments

This post currently has 26 comments.

  1. @LeviJungkind

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    sigh… its annoying if they started when they were told to, reactor unit #1 would not have blown up, so more radiation got released then if they just followed orders from their higher ups.

  2. @johnlee4780

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    I salute those who worked so diligently in face of disaster ready to sacrifice themselves for greater good. I will not in a million years sacrifice myself to wipe someone ass just because they practice negligence in their job. They decide to be greedy, practice negligence, and so they should be the one out there dying in the field.

  3. @NOVESKERED

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    The Japanese are the most shameless and irresponsible group of people in the world. They have consistently delayed addressing the problems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and have shown complete irresponsibility after the disaster. They only know how to conceal and deceive. The so-called "Fukushima 50" heroes were completely fabricated, a group of undocumented workers. Comparing the Fukushima nuclear disaster to the Chernobyl disaster is a complete insult to the Soviet Union; the Japanese don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the Soviets. They only know how to spread their responsibility and the consequences of their disaster to the rest of the world. Remember this: your words cannot change any facts. The Fukushima nuclear disaster affects all countries in the Pacific Rim, and these Japanese bastards have harmed people, including yourself.

  4. @nm1402

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Yoshida will be engraved in my mind. For the acts and his courage to take actions even in that situation, where anyone would fold. I may not be japanese citizen but his act really courage me.

  5. @nikolaiborbe

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Great video, very misleading how you presents the dangers of the nuclear reactor failure though. No one died during the incident, and at most one death has been linked to the accident. Nuclear is safe, it's scary, but safe. Making videos like these without noting this increases the fear of nuclear power, something that does not help anyone. E.g. in Norway, the average person is exposed to as much radiation every day as the people living in the forest right next to the power plant in Fukushima during the accident. Today, the radiation exposure is 1/4 of that in Norway. Should we evacuate Norway? Do we see increase in cancer risks in Norway?

  6. @manusachdev5025

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Yosida n Dyatlov are such different leaders. Despite this Chernobyl with just 1 reactor explosion was sososo diff from fukishima. Respect to YOSHIDA n the entire team. Hats off to them

  7. @Aren6

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Capitalism is like a rabid dog — it cant help itself from doing damage to people's wellbeing by its very nature. Tepco being a partly private company demonstrates the problem here that led to this disaster; cost cutting, insufficient safety, prioritising cost and profits, etc. Projects like Nuclear plants should never be run by anything other than responsible public sector entities.

  8. @ChanTeng-z4e

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Nucleaur power is a far more reliable source of power. There are always going to be pros and cons. But, our current system is worse. The pros of nucleur plants far outwayd any other

  9. @shawnchew767

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    I would like to comment on this video’s notion that TEPCO “didn’t know what they were doing” with the water contaminated with radioactive material. This statement is false. TEPCO has a strict water treatment plan to filter out any radioactive contamination. Contaminated water was initially stored in thick concrete containers which effectively shielded radiation. Then capacity of the land available for storage long the water became too high, and TEPCO started to treat the water according to strict standards to ensure all of the radioactive material was removed from the water. The water released into the ocean has little more than background level of radiation, which is the radiation levels that you and me experience everyday just by living and breathing

  10. @justv7536

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    This nuclear disaster was really not that bad, and was never going to be. The Ocean is right there. It's so immense that it would and does dilute radioactive material. The real disaster was always the earthquake, people are just very obsessed with the buzzword "radiation," and I'm sick of it. Chernobyl was found to have killed around 70 people. Fukushima didn't lead to any noticeable increase in cancerous growths, there was actually a decrease in cancerous growths in the area compared to the average Japanese person. A very minor one, but that is not an increase.

    People really need to stop overreacting.

  11. @Barry-the_bruiser

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    0:30 I understand that nuclear power plants are built by the sea for plenty of access to water for cooling but on the other hand Ig you know your in a country that is prone to earth quakes then why build it by the sea

  12. @HonuFlight

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    Fukushima was an ill conceived design from day one. If you're on an island that is prone to earthquakes you shouldn't be building a nuclear power plant right on the coast. I know you need a cooling source, but you can build miles inland and pipe water to and from the ocean. Whoever signed the building permit F'ed up BIG TIME.

  13. @Mukukuish

    January 11, 2026 at 5:28 am

    I'm sorry…so why was this (and the other mentioned) nuclear plant built BY THE ocean in a country, where earth quakes are part of their lives? Even me, who's living in the middle of Europe, without seashore know, that tsunamis can be heavily triggered by the earthquakes. So why not to build such a plant to higher ground/farther from the ocean? I'm actually curious. Even with proper security measurements (that were missing in Fukushima) you don't want to risk much.

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