In 1969, the U.S. was flipping the switch on three new nuclear reactors a year—fast, efficient, and powering millions of homes. Then, almost overnight, the industry collapsed, not because of accidents like Three Mile Island, but because of a single rule that changed everything. This video uncovers the little-known story of how fear, regulation, and economics killed America’s nuclear momentum. And why small modular reactors might finally bring it back.
**Chapters:**
00:00 We Suddenly Stopped
01:05 The Radiation Scare
02:45 Your Daily Radiation
04:25 The Actual Result of the Meltdowns
05:54 Linear No-Threshold
07:47 Nuclear Plant Economics
11:09 The Energy Tradeoff
15:55 Small Modular Reactors
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Producer: Phil Andrews (the guy in the videos and the comments)
Video Editor: Steve Thompson
Motion Graphics: Seth Laupus
Director of Production Services: Sam Wolf
Thumbnail: Tom Grillo
Franchise Content Producer: Tariq Abdellatif
Chief Content Officer: Devin Emery
** Sources **
The Gordian Knot – https://gordianknotbook.com/download/why-nuclear-power-has-been-a-flop/
Galen Winsor – https://vimeo.com/518893048
Seabrook Delay Hearing – https://youtu.be/_QjEHvwwtGo?si=yNtSwKHF9GIB52a3&t=1421
NRC says LNT might not be the best model – https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/08/17/2021-17475/linear-no-threshold-model-and-standards-for-protection-against-radiation
Cronkite Plutonium – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/etc/script.html
Linear No-Threshold – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_no-threshold_model
Proposed Rule Making, NRC Appendix 1 Part 50 – https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1406/ML14066A030.pdf
UN Fukushima Effects – https://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/news/content/a-decade-after-the-fukushima-accident_-radiation-linked-increases-in-cancer-rates-not-expected-to-be-seen.html
31 Comments
04:58 "Still today, only 50 sure deaths have been recorded from Chernobyl"… This is the moment when Google will be hit with the question of “how many people died from Chernobyl” with the number undoubtedly displaying something in the thousands.
There are sure deaths and there are statistical deaths. Sure deaths we can see the cause and effect immediately, a car accident caused a fatality. Statistical deaths are usually quoted something like “Pollution kills 200,000 people in the US each year”. That pollution number does not come from looking at death certificates.They’re statistical estimates.
That type of number is what you see quoted for Chernobyl. It's a statistical estimate that looks at the group of people the model thinks might be affected and says based on the amount of radiation that went into the air… since any increase in radiation, according to Linear No Threshold, has to increase deaths… X number of life years will be lost spread out over the whole group.
Look at the number of life years lost, number of people in the group and you get to the thousands of deaths often quoted. But that’s a misleading number for a variety of reasons, chief of all is because the number of life years lost per person, not even lost, but might be lost, for the widely cited models wasn’t years at all, it was around 60 days.
Models built on the reasoning laid out in the Everest and Denver example, put that number, at the absolute highest conservative estimate at virtually zero for everyone but those that were onsite when it happened, responders, or clean up crews.
Referring to members of the Manhattan Project "They all died in old age, of a natural causes". Well, I agree nuclear is the way to save the environment, but that's just a flat out lie.
Google "demon core". People died from radiation exposure on the Manhattan project. Multiple times.
The UK is also trying to get SMR's working.
Nice doc; however your discussion of thyroid/parathyroid cancer from Chernobyl is rather light. Regards.
The part about subs is what I've been arguing for years. We have subs that live in the harshest terrestrial environment, deep saltwater, carrying dozens of nuclear warheads, operate flawlessly. Literally never lost one.
“They all died in old age of natural causes”
How about the two that died from the “demon core”?
There isn’t enough mineable uranium to supply the world with energy for more then 100 years, when you convert to thorium or go fusion I’ll jump on the nuclear bandwagon. Every energy source has its issues, so when they run out of uranium it takes 70 years to decommission a nuclear plant.
The non irradiated Pu or U is not lethal but emits a nonlethal alpha particle. A single sheet of notebook paper will will stop it.
BUT, when Pu or U is irradiated it emits neutrons and beta particles and TREMENDOUS energy. These things are what kills and destroys.
Radiation is life…
Solar deaths would be far higher if taking into account falls from heights
Not credible, considering how many died of plutonium.
I invested in Uranium stock last month. Nuclear is going to be promoted because Meta,amazon,nividia,microsoft,google and many more all want nuclear and they control advertising.
There is some good points but you downplay it to much i think.
We dumped Nuclear waste in the ocean etc, there is an island in nearby england where children had extremely high chance of cancer because of nuclear waste.
Solar, windmill is much cheaper to build, i dont like windmills either i prefer Hydro power which is a lot in my country and more is coming.
nuclear is not a endless resource of power.
ITER project research project will find ways for us humans to replace all energy production with Fusion far in the future.
Human stupidity and recklessness cannot be ignored. A fool can make a bad decision under some kind of stress and booom! the reactor explodes just as in Chernobyl. It is not the technology itself but the human factor that can sause disasters. If you can produce the energy in a safer manner go for it. And do not tell me radioactive radiation is harmless.
This is to educate and raise awareness of a terrorist organization that is using people to drive people into homelessness. They can call a phone number and destroy anyone's life for any reason. Be vigilant# they are robbing people of their constitutional rights, human rights, and civil rights.
I AM A VICTIM OF THIS GROUP. THE PEOPLE THAT HOLD MY CONTRACT ARE MANDY OF OKLAHOMA AREA Last known address was 20 W. Blanch st. Edmond, Oklahoma in 2018. Her and her daughter are ruining people's lives for prophet. Mandy purchased her home with funds from terrorist group. BE WARNED THIS IS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE IN AMERICA I've been to 6 states and they will continue to harass and torture you where ever you go. They have support from police and court systems and is funded ( by thier own admission) with tax dollars. If you are aware of this group and we're tricked into thinking your doing Americans and America a service you are wrong. Stop and assist me in exposing this travesty of justice and the attack on our constitutional rights. Do it today! Here are the states I've been to. HAWAII, CALIFORNIA, NAVADA, UTAH, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS This terrorist organization is present in these states for sure. No one believes me. They continue to torture me and I've left the country.
Funny how remote Soviet outposts have been powered/heated by depleted uranium generators since the Cold War but we in the us can’t figure out how to make electricity cheap for the consumer.
You haven't even talked about recycling nuclear waste. France is doing it. That makes 98% less waste compared to non recycling
I’ve heard people argue that Solar is better because we just need to make better batteries to store the power.
But Solar legitimately cannot power the world, nuclear can,
Green Peace activist were a disaster, they were imbecile even in their own field, after all they kick out the founder of the group, the only non-activist on the group. It was hijack by a bunch of derange individual that used literal fearmongering to incapacitated any further nuclear development. What a shame! Losing progress because a bunch of idiots that most likely couldn't even finish off a science project during their younger years.
people disliking nuclear energy think with feelings instead of thoughts
Whats stopping energy companies from using modified solar tech to harvest localised radiation
Or using the tech in the analog sensors, would beable to turn radioactive decay into mechanical energy.
The modern world is the death of progress for humanity.
So – China is building coal and natg powerplants at an amazing pace. They're not restricted by US bureaucratic nonsense. Why isn't China building nuclear instead? If they were doing it, we'd wake up and start doing it again. We seem to be waiting on some Fusion miracle that's still very distant because of other shenanigans – they could have it in a few years if they had appropriate funding, but that's a different video for you to make. Also, there's the question of thorium reactors that has never been properly developed, which cannot melt down, use fuel so abundant we throw it away, etc. But the China question though… why aren't they going for it?
Genuine question. What about the "Demon Core" and the deaths linked?
what about physical and cybersecurity concerns about nuclear plants?
its a finite resource though thought you would have explained that
Not sure i believe guy.
So, put your money where your mouth is, will you eat some plutonium?
There's a difference between "radiation" and "radioactivity." No one breaths more Cesium-137 climbing Everest.
I agree that nuclear is a viable option and the employees are paid very well and requires a higher education level for success and development meaning more jobs for scientists and higher education levels .
As long as US politics are dominated by private industry nothing will change unless there’s literally no other option
Let me lie some more to you about the cost of nuclear power: A comprehensive assessment (for 1986–2015) estimates total economic damage at ≈ US $235 billion for the Chernobyl Disaster— including cleanup, resettlement, lost industrial/agricultural output, health/social costs, land and environmental loss.
That's a quarter of a Trillion Dollars lost…