The Pile Fuel Storage Pond divers - Sellafield Ltd

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Komentáře • 126

  • @blip_bloop
    @blip_bloop Před 4 měsíci +21

    Nothing but respect for people undertake this kind of difficult and necessary work

  • @jooch_exe
    @jooch_exe Před rokem +61

    If only Sellafield would have this kind of transparency back in the day. This is equally impressive as a walk on the moon.

  • @Boga217
    @Boga217 Před 3 měsíci +11

    Bet that divers making some of the best money you can.

  • @MajorT0m
    @MajorT0m Před rokem +26

    Very cool. Could you do a video explaining and exploring the layout of that old region of the site please? I find the old Windscale buildings fascinating, it's what inspired my interest in nuclear physics when I was a child. Please do a video of the derelict facility before you demolish it all, it's an important, unique and fascinating piece of history.
    I'd urbex it myself if I could, but I don't think the guards would take kindly to it!

    • @streaky81
      @streaky81 Před rokem +6

      I doubt you'll see that, there's security implications to that sort of thing. I could be wrong, but I suspect they wouldn't do a video of that type. You can see it on Google Maps but it's not the same. As for urbex - I'd say so, that's civil nuclear constabulary, they don't mess around. Agreed on hopefully somebody is keeping a record though, even if they don't release it for a long time.

    • @MajorT0m
      @MajorT0m Před rokem +5

      Hard to imagine those lovely old 1950s control rooms and switchgear and little old school details all being torn to bits and thrown in the skip.

  • @dtrain1634
    @dtrain1634 Před 3 měsíci +6

    Wow! A job I would not like to do 😮
    Credit to the professionalism of the team!

  • @derekp2674
    @derekp2674 Před 11 měsíci +9

    Really interesting video, thanks for sharing.

  • @neilmckay8649
    @neilmckay8649 Před rokem +17

    I started my working career in a UK nuclear power station. A concern I have for decommissioning in the future are those facilities in developing countries with different working cultures.

    • @irbycomputers
      @irbycomputers Před rokem +3

      @Wicked Nems Subpar? A bit uncalled for.

    • @jimrudolph1582
      @jimrudolph1582 Před rokem +2

      He who throws stones... ​@@Wicked_Nems

    • @matthewdowning6009
      @matthewdowning6009 Před 10 měsíci +3

      There aren’t really any developing countries with facilities like this.
      The U.K. has reprocessed more nuclear fuel than any other country, including the US. Most early U.K. nuclear power reactors were really plutonium factories that also made electricity as a byproduct. The Windscale piles didn’t even generate electricity, they just made Plutonium for nuclear weapons. Nobody considered the clean up from facilities like this when they were created. The nuclear arms race the main driver and the environmental impact wasn’t fully understood.

    • @emag7837
      @emag7837 Před 10 měsíci +1

      @@nothingissekret hanford site ...

    • @deeremeyer1749
      @deeremeyer1749 Před 10 měsíci

      @@matthewdowning6009 You're proud of that "world record" in "reprocessing"? ROFLMAO. Proud of the "air-cooled" part of that "reprocessing" too?
      Plutonium AND electricity? Using "air cooling? DO TELL! Those shitpiles made Chernobyl look "safe". Only the "air cooling" and the lack of actual reactor cores and control rods made them "meltdown-proof", lol.
      Given the HUGE "MUFs" - Material Unaccounted For - those plutonium "breeders" and all other "legacy facilities" in the British "nuclear industry" WOULD have had IF any material had ever been "accounted for" to begin with and the major "catching up" the limeys had to do in order to be "trusted" with "imported" nuclear materials and how key a "world record" in "reprocessing" was to making the books "balance" and the fact that the limeys would have plutonium "reserves" by the tons IF any of those "breeders" would have been remotely "successful" at "reprocessing" reactor-grade uranium into "weapons grade" plutonium AND the "nuclear engineers" would have been "water cooling" the FUEL and "air cooling" the depleted uranium "nuclear waste" instead of the other way around it goes without saying that the "world record" for "reprocessing" like MOST limey "accomplishments" and "achievements" is far more probable to be ON PAPER ONLY AND "SCIENCE FANTASY" IN THE REAL WORLD.

  • @sibre72
    @sibre72 Před 3 měsíci +2

    ...and what did they do with the waste? how radioactive was the pond? how many more ponds need decontaminating? what is Carl's surname, and why wasn't it included? This video prompts more questions than it answers.

    • @BigDickMark
      @BigDickMark Před 3 měsíci

      It's just Carl. No surname. Like Cher or Madonna.

  • @jeanwonnacott2718
    @jeanwonnacott2718 Před 5 měsíci +1

    They are crazy!! Talk about courage..😊😊.

  • @philldear3346
    @philldear3346 Před 3 měsíci +2

    Apparently the chap who dived into the pond in the 1950s is still alive and living in Seascale He is a very elderly gentleman

  • @kopterflug-inspection
    @kopterflug-inspection Před 4 měsíci

    Amazing Underwater Works!

  • @buggerlugz6753
    @buggerlugz6753 Před 3 měsíci

    Bet the waters always nice and warm.... :)

  • @petergibbons607
    @petergibbons607 Před 4 měsíci +4

    why are they spraying water on the diver as he enters?

    • @Boga217
      @Boga217 Před 3 měsíci +2

      Right...I was kinda like hmmmm weird

  • @scuba_steve73
    @scuba_steve73 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Doesnt even have dry gloves, just builders latex coated work gloves. The power of water to protect from radiation. Wow.

  • @xiamaramu1538
    @xiamaramu1538 Před 10 měsíci +1

    after Sellafield is shut down, will the people who worked there move to jobs at the nuclear waste dump where that might be build?

    • @LuxAudio389
      @LuxAudio389 Před 9 měsíci

      LMAO. Yes they're Nuclear Gypsy's. As far as where it may be built-Not Australia. They don't want that BS on their continent. Maybe the executives at Shellafield want it.

  • @radiationfreelakeland9660

    “clean and green energy” Orwellian double-think

  • @magmajctaz1405
    @magmajctaz1405 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Is the sludge actually nuclear waste? I thought spent fuel was still in rod form. Or is this sludge just the normal accumulation of dust and debris that typically collects on surfaces?

    • @jonasghafur4940
      @jonasghafur4940 Před 3 měsíci +3

      It’s the latter. Nuclear fuel varies in form, but in most cases is constructed from small, cylindrical pellets of solid fuel. In general, it stays in this form, but due to the vast particle flux those materials are expose to inside the reactor, all materials erode over time. Some materials also form new, often unstable isotopes in this extreme of an environment. Thus, it’s inevitable that some fraction, a tiny one nonetheless, will somehow escape containment. But just being able to send humans down there is a testament to the success of containment overall.

    • @christopherleubner6633
      @christopherleubner6633 Před 3 měsíci

      The sludge is probably from years of accumulated debris. The fuel assemblies are made of zirconium and won't corrode. This fuel pool looks like it hadn't seen actual use in literally years 😮

    • @jonasghafur4940
      @jonasghafur4940 Před 3 měsíci +2

      @@christopherleubner6633 not in this case. The windscale reactor was the first of its kind in Britain and primarily intended as a breeding reactor, its construction is VERY unlike later designs. The fuel rods were only encapsulated in Aluminium. Even more shockingly, they even reduced the thickness of the aluminum layer somewhere in the window of operation. Unthinkable today, a true testament of the work that got this site to the point of allowing human divers in ANY way.

    • @jmackmcneill
      @jmackmcneill Před 3 měsíci

      Yes, the sludge is nuclear waste, No, it is not **serious** nuclear waste.
      The concern is that in all the low level sludge there could be hidden a chunk of high level stuff... that is what the BBQ tongs and bucket are for.

  • @Chiavaccio
    @Chiavaccio Před rokem +1

    Great!!👏👏👏👏

  • @mwethereld
    @mwethereld Před 3 měsíci

    @4:55 the counts are tiny! ive had more outside on a beach, and hundreds more on a flight! a HUGE testament to the Nuclear Safety Systems and controls they have in place!

  • @martintimothy1915
    @martintimothy1915 Před 2 měsíci

    Very fancy scaffolding ..

  • @user-zi8wh3wv2q
    @user-zi8wh3wv2q Před 3 měsíci

    Ryan is getting a sunburn from the camera lights

  • @user-mu8mr6rk8c
    @user-mu8mr6rk8c Před 3 měsíci

    What I've seen is clearly a task of robots! In Germany unbelievable!!!

  • @siberx4
    @siberx4 Před 3 měsíci +1

    It's a fascinating point that the water provides strong shielding from the remaining radioactivity compared to air; in hindsight this is obvious, but I had not previously considered it.
    I wonder if there are other scenarios where deliberately flooding a radiation-affected area would make it easier to get either robotic or human workers in the space to remediate. Obviously the tricky part is ensuring the water stays contained in spaces that may not have been designed for it (unlike these ponds) but perhaps is a worthwhile design consideration for future plants; ensure they're encased in a watertight tub so that they can be flooded if necessary both for cooling and to ease access.

    • @BrodyLuv2
      @BrodyLuv2 Před 2 měsíci

      You have no idea what you are talking about mate.

  • @wildweasel3001
    @wildweasel3001 Před rokem

    Transparency+1

  • @DoItWithPaulie
    @DoItWithPaulie Před 10 měsíci

    I wonder what the divers hourly rate is??

    • @psychosis7325
      @psychosis7325 Před 10 měsíci +2

      Unsure about these guys, I would assume not a lot at this stage, but I know blokes in oil that have retired after a single dive. Is trillions of dollars in energy so being the one person capable of doing stuff at a certain level you can ask for as much as you want to a certain extent.

  • @MGSHM1
    @MGSHM1 Před 6 dny

    Commercials in your vids?

  • @user-bn7ws2gi2j
    @user-bn7ws2gi2j Před 7 měsíci

    Believe that they are making a new housing estate on the site when it's demolished in a few years time..Believe that the house prices are going to be high on this site

  • @johnnorth9355
    @johnnorth9355 Před 5 měsíci +6

    The waste does not disappear and has to be stored again somewhere. Future generations take note.

    • @Thesupermachine2000
      @Thesupermachine2000 Před 3 měsíci

      They are to busy writing down issues that were caused by global warming.

    • @oBCHANo
      @oBCHANo Před 3 měsíci

      All of the significant nuclear waste the world has produced so far is like 30 meters cubed, it's practically nothing and is easily dealt with, or at least it could be if it weren't for inbred luddites holding back the construction of nuclear waste sites.

  • @TheWtfnonamez
    @TheWtfnonamez Před 3 měsíci +7

    I read about this in the Grasmere Gazette.
    That fella's name is Farouk, and he only started there as a minimum wage cleaner about two weeks previous.
    Pretty tight of them to chuck him in the pond to sweep up. They could have just got him a broom with a longer handle.

  • @MrSlartybartfast42
    @MrSlartybartfast42 Před 3 měsíci

    so a dose per dive of 0.1mSV means up to 100 dives per year
    0.1 mSv = 1 chest x-ray = 10 days exposure to (average) background radiation
    ALARP at work!

  • @fenixfp40
    @fenixfp40 Před rokem +1

    Good luck with that🤔

  • @dickoon
    @dickoon Před 11 měsíci

    Some top quality smog monster accents there. Keep up the good work, proud of you.

  • @JamesWilson-yr3ep
    @JamesWilson-yr3ep Před rokem +5

    I'm still waiting for electricity so cheap that it wouldn't need to be metered
    (Which represents unfulfilled promises by politicians, not Sellafield workers of course)

    • @matthewdowning6009
      @matthewdowning6009 Před 10 měsíci +2

      If enough time was spent perfecting a power reactor design and then that design was stuck to and made over and over with only a few design tweaks. And everyone didn’t try to stop them being built whenever anyone tried, and they were paid for by the state and operated by private companies… then the electricity might well be too cheap to meter.
      These pond have absolutely nothing to do with electricity generation though!

    • @aaroncosier735
      @aaroncosier735 Před 8 měsíci

      @@matthewdowning6009
      Nah, not even in a best case. Nuclear works, but there are upper limits on how well. It costs a lot, especially when contractors are not penalised for exceeding budget.
      In the US and most other nations they *are* paid for by the state, and operated by "private" companies and that has produced some of the biggest construction and operating cost blowouts on record.
      *these* ponds may have nothing to do with electricity generation. Civilian nuclear generation has much bigger ponds, globally, and none are a fine example of anything except constipation and an unwillingness to face the true costs.

    • @handyandy6050
      @handyandy6050 Před 4 měsíci

      Percentage tax on "zero" not very lucrative for the government!

    • @theairstig9164
      @theairstig9164 Před 3 měsíci

      It was not a promise by anyone. Read the original quote

  • @HappyBear376
    @HappyBear376 Před 8 měsíci

    I'd enjoy that.

  • @cascadianrangers728
    @cascadianrangers728 Před 6 měsíci +1

    So they can build a whole separate training rig, but they cant afford to pump enough light into the contaminated pond to refract and give the divers enough light to see what they're doing?

    • @ptonpc
      @ptonpc Před 5 měsíci +5

      Every use high beams while driving in fog? Just dumping more light into a contaminated fluid, with stuff floating in it, will merely succeed in blinding said diver.
      Do you honestly think people smart enough to plan all this and build the infrastructure necessary to do so, would not consider lights if they would have been any use?

    • @tetrabromobisphenol
      @tetrabromobisphenol Před 3 měsíci

      They don't need more light, what they need is better filtration. The fact that the water is turbid is absolutely ridiculous given their budget.

  • @dimitrisc8749
    @dimitrisc8749 Před 8 měsíci +1

    My god, I wouldn't even want to sleep in the same bed with these divers...

    • @aaroncosier735
      @aaroncosier735 Před 8 měsíci +4

      The Drysuit prevents any physical contamination, and they seem to be getting acceptably low levels of radiation. Obviously they get a very thorough wash down and radiation scan before opening the suit.
      More concerning is the fact that they are needed. Storing spent fuel materials long term has greatly exceeded any design capacity, and the facilities were not designed with easy cleanup of disintegrating fuel assemblies in mind. It's great that they are doing it, but overall it's lousy that things were permitted to get this bad in the first place.

  • @MHLivestreams
    @MHLivestreams Před 10 měsíci

    Homer Simpson strikes again. I prefer to keep my genes intact. Lunacy.

  • @ChrisBigBad
    @ChrisBigBad Před rokem +5

    Why IS there sludge? Shouldn't everything be squeaky clean and nothing have bits crumbling off of it?

    • @CA-Premium
      @CA-Premium Před rokem +6

      Why is there sludge? Because they threw all sorts of stuff into the pond without recording what it was. It then decayed and ended up as sludge, i think a lot of it was cladding of fuel from magnox fuel.

    • @ChrisBigBad
      @ChrisBigBad Před rokem

      @@CA-Premium Yes, of course. As you do. Very safe all this.
      I see a pattern... Germany (where I live) has made a super fool of themselves with their plans, experiments and everything else around the final disposal of all every kind of nuclear waste. Putting sites up for selection just to spite the GDR against the scientists decisions. Just throwing barrels down a black hole and whatnot.
      While I do think that nuclear is a nice bridge technology to get rid of fossil, and - yes - so far only one reactor affecting Europe has exploded, we should get rid of this mess as fast as possible. Cannot trust us greedy, clumsy, stupid humans with dangers like THIS.
      Ah, went on a bit of a rant there. :D
      Thanks

    • @jooch_exe
      @jooch_exe Před rokem +3

      Some fuel or part of the assemblies oxidize in water, turning into sludge.

    • @Tuberuser187
      @Tuberuser187 Před 11 měsíci +5

      With the dates (they mentioned the last time divers entered was before the other facilities where completed) and descriptions it sounds like they are working on the oldest part of the site, "Windscale" where they had a air cooled graphite pile with ducts/channels passing though it, Uranium filled Aluminium canisters where pushed into the ducts/channels to react over time and form Plutonium and Tritium. Fresh canisters where added and this pushed the "cooked" canisters out of the back and into a pool to keep cool, prevent radiation leaks and reduce the risk of unplanned criticality and eventually removed and opened so the material could be extracted, in theory... It never worked quite right, sometimes canisters got wedged and stuck, burst, missed the pool and landed in the air ducts and a whole series of failures which culminated in one of the two piles catching fire which led to the total shutdown of that facility.
      They basically just left it all there rather than go to the time and expense of cleaning it up, burst and oxidized canisters the lot and it all basically sat there oxidizing and breaking down for decades until decommissioning started.

    • @rubensano4860
      @rubensano4860 Před 11 měsíci

      Magnesium tends to oxidise in water.

  • @lukea666
    @lukea666 Před 2 měsíci

    Pump the water out.

  • @bobeyes3284
    @bobeyes3284 Před 3 měsíci

    I don't care how much those guys get paid, its not enough.

  • @bishopdredd5349
    @bishopdredd5349 Před 3 měsíci

    Guess it’s own own fault we’re having to clean our own dirty mess,

  • @paulharrison6417
    @paulharrison6417 Před 3 měsíci

    those guys are amazing but there will be several thousand people getting paid on the back of this for doing next to nothing because its sellafield!

  • @Forbidaxe
    @Forbidaxe Před 3 měsíci +2

    One day, power will come from a ZeroPointModule like that from the TV show Stargate, wouldn't that be great, no waste or worry, just power.

  • @tetrabromobisphenol
    @tetrabromobisphenol Před 3 měsíci

    1:40 he's not, uh, vacuuming up spent fuel that leaked. No way. There's no way a human would try that, too dangerous... 4:31 talking about multiple Sieverts...Holy Sh...yep, they are vacuuming up spent fuel! My word the people who ran Sellafield in the past were criminally irresponsible!

  • @johncharley9791
    @johncharley9791 Před 10 měsíci

    And this is the problem, accountability by government and contractor responsibilities, the whole plant should have had a full and efficient not to mention effective safety case plan for step down decommissioning.

    • @imchris5000
      @imchris5000 Před 3 měsíci

      the plan was to reproccess the waste to get the plutonium out for nuclear weapons but now people are against plutonium production so this waste just sits instead of being filtered to get all the very valuable elements out

    • @johncharley9791
      @johncharley9791 Před 3 měsíci

      @@imchris5000
      At some point, someone will take advantage of this and utilise these resources, but for what, remains to be seen.

    • @imchris5000
      @imchris5000 Před 3 měsíci

      @@johncharley9791 they are used mostly in the medical industry in cancer treatments. its part of why cancer treatment is so expensive there is only a limited amount of these elements available russia is the only country reprocessing waste to sell its individual elements

    • @jmackmcneill
      @jmackmcneill Před 3 měsíci

      Yes, and people during the Black Death should have washed their hands more. Hindsight is so useful.

    • @johncharley9791
      @johncharley9791 Před 3 měsíci

      @@jmackmcneill
      That would have been a good idea. But we live in more educated times.

  • @cymbala6208
    @cymbala6208 Před rokem +2

    I believe that you really try to make that job as safe as possible. But it will always stay a risky job with abnormal exposure to radiation. And regarding exposure of one single person, you can hardly prove a connection between exposure and possible consequences as for example cancer... It's a dilemma, and I know that someone has to do all that cleaning, unfortunately. I consider it a silent and hidden battle against the "ghosts of the past"...

    • @derekp2674
      @derekp2674 Před 11 měsíci +2

      As mentioned in the video, the annual radiation dose limit for UK classified radiation workers is 20 milli-Sieverts (mSv) while the typical dose per dive was around 0.1 mSv.
      Naturally occurring sources of radiation provide an an annual average radiation dose of about 2 mSv to the members of the UK population, but that can vary according to where people live and other factors, including dose uptake during airline flights. So, for projects like this, the benefits of the work must significantly outweigh the risks from radiation exposures - or regulatory approval for the work will not be granted.

    • @cymbala6208
      @cymbala6208 Před 11 měsíci

      ​@derekp2674 yes, it's the same dose limit per year here in Germany (20mSv). Those 0.1 mSv per dive can be roughly compared to an x-ray of the chest. Well, that's not much, but over time it will sum up. And I guess, the divers are not old men, but younger people.

  • @airsoftwwbde
    @airsoftwwbde Před 10 měsíci +3

    Why not use a Robotic arm for this type of work?
    Seams strange letting humans do this work, i assume it was just cheaper sending a human than building a robotic arm that then does the work slower (but saver) than the human.

    • @Tgspartnership
      @Tgspartnership Před 9 měsíci +1

      humans are incredibly dextrous

    • @aaroncosier735
      @aaroncosier735 Před 8 měsíci +1

      They said they had been using robots, but there were limitations on what they could do. They removed as much material as possible to minimise exposure risks for the human divers.

    • @ptonpc
      @ptonpc Před 5 měsíci

      Listen to what they say.

  • @soton5teve
    @soton5teve Před rokem

    You need those spray machines that you spray the flasks with at 'Thorp' Sellafield, not a guy with a hose

    • @owensmith7530
      @owensmith7530 Před rokem +7

      It makes no sense to me why they're spraying the diver with water as they climb down into the pond. Surely there's only any value as they climb out? Any water you add to the pond becomes contaminated so you don't want to be adding to that needlessly.

  • @final3119
    @final3119 Před 3 měsíci

    lol cumbria

  • @jimmydcricket5893
    @jimmydcricket5893 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Nuclear is safe energy😂

    • @wispa1a
      @wispa1a Před 10 měsíci

      "could be"
      Modern nuclear is

    • @LuxAudio389
      @LuxAudio389 Před 9 měsíci +1

      Nuclear energy is cheap too. Until you have to clean it up. 😂

    • @wispa1a
      @wispa1a Před 9 měsíci

      @@LuxAudio389 TBH that was on the USSR for not building containment like most others do around a reactor.

    • @oBCHANo
      @oBCHANo Před 3 měsíci

      Yep, it is.

  • @RogierYou
    @RogierYou Před 3 měsíci

    They paid $35 hr

    • @BigDickMark
      @BigDickMark Před 3 měsíci

      But they get a pizza party once year.

    • @AggrarFarmer
      @AggrarFarmer Před měsícem

      thats a joke only 35$ and get cancer later.

  • @Linuxhippy2
    @Linuxhippy2 Před 9 měsíci +2

    this video is a great example, why nuclear power will never ever be as cost effective as it was once thought to be.

  • @magneticnorth6917
    @magneticnorth6917 Před 5 měsíci

    if the diver gets cancer at some point after such dive he can sue you for millions. Oh wait, he probably signed an affidavit... didn't he? it is inherently reckless to risk human lives like that, his suit is not even top grade protection. some jobs are for robots only

  • @phitzwellthundercock3894
    @phitzwellthundercock3894 Před 10 měsíci

    That’s right folks safety first! 🤦‍♂️

  • @richardfife8192
    @richardfife8192 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Yes this is where a part of your tax goes. Biggest blag and over costing you could ever imagine.

    • @krashd
      @krashd Před 8 měsíci

      I imagine you prefer just abandoning it and leaving it to fall further into disrepair then? No? Then shut up.

    • @aaroncosier735
      @aaroncosier735 Před 8 měsíci +1

      What corners would you cut to make it cheaper? Who will insure you?