Review/Analysis Of Zero Hour Movie: Disaster at Chernobyl - Discovery Channel (2004) Movie; examines the 60 critical minutes leading up to the explosion at the Chernobyl power station and aftermath, effect on clean up workers, nuclear plant workers

Review/Analysis Of Zero Hour Movie: Disaster at Chernobyl - Discovery Channel (2004) Movie; examines the 60 critical minutes leading up to the explosion at the Chernobyl power station and aftermath, effect on clean up workers, nuclear plant workers

DISCOVERY CHANNEL MOVIE; ZERO HOUR

Zero Hour: Disaster at Chernobyl Discovery Channel (2004)
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ITEXGdht3y8 45 min.

"The explosion at Chernobyl was ten times worse than that at Hiroshima and was due to a combination of human error and imperfect technology. Using a real-time split-screen format reminiscent of the hit series, 24, this program examines the 60 critical minutes leading up to the explosion at the power station on 26th April 1986.

Each minute unfolds narrating the events from the perspectives of key characters involved including Chernobyl's deputy chief engineer and his staff in the control room as well as innocent bystanders, the wife of one of Chernobyl's workers and two fishermen working in Chernobyl's warm waste waters. With an extraordinary combination of drama and state of the art CGI graphics, Disaster at Chernobyl climaxes with the reconstructon of the final seconds leading to the disaster, the explosion itself and its terrifying aftermath.

Narrated by: David Morrissey 

Producer: Tom Lasica 

Director: Renny Bartlett 

Executive Producers: Dan Korn & Andre Barro 

Producer: Simon Berthon 

Executive Producers for Discovery Networks Europa: 

Bettina Hatami and Susie Worster 

2004 Discovery Communications, LLC."
Source; description under video

MOVIE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

AGRP comment; The movie description above is at least in part a minimization. How can a single nuclear bomb with only 10 pounds of nuclear material which blows up in the air, be compared to 50 TONS of highly radioactive fuel being blown into the air and spreading around the globe from Chernobyl, according to this movie? That 50 tons does not include the 500 tons of radioactive graphite that also was ejected and burned. 

There are 2,000 pounds in a ton, so 50 tons equals 100,000 pounds, which equals 10,000 nuclear bombs at 10 pounds of uranium each. Only 2,400 nuclear bombs have been tested in open air since the beginning of the atomic age. 

And that figure of Chernobyl being equal to 10,000 nuclear bombs still does not include the burned and radioactive 500 tons of burned radioactive graphite and other materials dumped on the reactor. Saying Chernobyl was only 10 times worse than Hiroshima or Nagasaki, makes it seem like Chernobyl could be compared to just 10 nuclear bombs going off, which is a patently ridiculous comparison and minimization that is neither logical, nor scientific, nor common sense. 

40 - 60 MILLION Deaths Due To Global Open Air Nuclear Weapons Testing 1945 to 2003
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/04/40-60-million-deaths-due-to-global-open.html

In reality, Chernobyl had severe and far reaching effects, because of the sheer quantities of radioactive man made elements released, which dwarfed any number of nuclear bombs by comparison. Even 2,000 nuclear bombs times 10 pounds each does not compare to the sheer volume of poisonous heavy metal, radioactive materials released, which equals AT LEAST 10,000 to 50,000 nuclear bombs at 10 pounds of radioactive material each.Yes, they were invisible, so no one can see the effects, or smell the danger, but that amount of radioactive poison went up in the air and traveled around the world. 

From Infinity Room, Plutonium Bombs, 25,000 Warheads, Nuclear Armageddon, To Millions Of Years Of Radiation Contamination; via @AGreenRoad
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2013/12/from-infinity-room-plutonium-bombs.html

The control room dynamics of what actually happened between individuals on that fateful night seem to be accurate. But after this point, the pro nuclear propaganda starts in again, by claiming that there were only a few casualties and no ongoing deaths after the first acute radiation deaths.

44: min; They say that 32 control room workers died from radiation, as did all of the firefighters and two nearby fishermen who were watching the fire from close range. They mention that workers reported smelling and tasting metal in the air, which is a common report for those getting high doses of radiation from a nuclear accident. But pro nuclear apologists say that it is impossible to taste or smell radioactive elements. 

AGRP: The evidence presented by millions of victims of low dose radiation poisoning says otherwise. If you hear of a radiation accident and then taste or smell metal, get under cover, run away and get some air filters going as soon as possible, put on a radiation mask if possible, and do not believe anyone who says there is no radiation and you are just making things up in your head. Take protective anti radiation actions, and evacuate from that area, going upwind as fast and as far away as you can, no matter what the authorities are saying to do. 

The narrator mentions that Pripyat was a 100% Chernobyl plant worker and their families town. Pripyat started to be evacuated starting about 24 hours after the initial two explosions. 

40: It took a week to completely evacuate the 135,000 plus people who lived there, which means that many people were exposed to very high levels of radiation for up to a week, which they acknowledge in the movie by pointing at the radiation burns in the film, which show up as bright flashes of light. They don't admit what the VERY HIGH radiation levels were, but they had to be very high for this to happen.   Then the narrator talks about the establishment of a 30 mile exclusion zone, which meant many more people were also evacuated later on down the road, but this is totally glossed over and not talked about. 

AGRP; Bus drivers coming in were also exposed to this high radiation amount, as were the 600,000 people pressed into service to go right up to the reactor and help clean up the disaster site, so that the other 3 reactors could keep on working. Of course, no mention is made of the workers who were in the other 3 reactors at the site, nor what happens to them, as they are forced to keep coming to work in a highly radiation contaminated zone, even during this disaster and then afterwards, from where ever they were evacuated to. The 600,000 decontamination workers were sacrificed to keep the other 3 nuclear reactors working. Other sources have said the total number was actually closer to 1 million workers.

Chernobyl Coverup Of Multiple Explosions, Denial Of 1.5 Million Heavy Metal Radioactive Poison Casualties; Russian Academy Of Sciences, UN, PSR, IPPNW Plus Forced Suicide Fuel Rod Cleanup, Nuclear Controversies Movie

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2016/03/chernobyl-coverup-of-multiple.html

3 Million Children Require Treatment Because Of Chernobyl, Many Will Die Prematurely - 7 Million Total Victims - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, 1.5 Million Death Total Still Rising, 7000 Percent Rise In Background Radiation Due To Fukushima

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/04/3-million-children-require-treatment.html

The radioactive plume that came out of the out of control explosion and nuclear fire afterwards went all around the world and touched all countries at least to some extent. So what the net impact of 10,000 nuclear bombs worth of radioactive material going around the world? 

The radioactive cloud of 1000 man made invisible poisons that come out of a nuclear reactor in the movie stop at just a few countries and avoid others, which is not what happens in reality.

This map from Times Books is a closer too real life example of how Chernobyl radiation went around the world, but still does not show it completely accurately. 

41: Chernobyl was the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. In other words, the only reason that the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded and melted down, was because of the Communist system political and systemic faults, and the explosion plus melt out had NOTHING to do with nuclear industry anything. 

AGRP: What they do not discuss in detail is the financial losses generated by a nuclear accident like this bankrupt ANY country that it happens in, if it is dealt with properly. In Japan, they are trying to do it on the cheap, with a minimum of workers and not dealing with the melted out coriums, so the situation there is getting worse and worse. Meanwhile Japan and the nuclear industry keep claiming it was no big deal and it is in cold shutdown. 

The fault was not inherent in the Soviet Communist system as they claim in the movie, (after all, Communist China seems to be doing very well) but in the overwhelming costs and consequences imposed on a country as a result of a nuclear disaster such as Chernobyl. 

Any country, no matter what type of system or ism or religion it has, will fail financially eventually, just like the Soviet Union did, and just like the individual countries are that are the worst affected by the radiation, even up to today, such as Belarus. 

Gorbachev; Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Was Real Cause Of The Collapse of Soviet Union; via A Green Road
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2012/12/gorbachev-chernobyl-nuclear-accident.html

42: One worker who lived to tell his tale reports that his skin turned black and peeled off like paper when sheets were lifted off of him. He had numerous skin transplants, and his health was permanently affected in a number of negative ways. He cannot touch chemicals or do heavy labor (chronic exhaustion is a common effect of radiation poisoning). His blood will not coagulate and his skin will not heal if broken or damaged. He has numerous other problems which he chose not to identify. 

The sleeping chief nuclear engineer and loyal Communist political leader featured in the film, who set up that 'safety test', was sentenced to ten years of hard labor in a Siberian prison camp, but due to insanity, was released early. They say he goes in and out of sanity today. 

AGRP: Wouldn't this mental illness and the health problems suffered by other individuals who did not die immediately be directly attributed to the nuclear accident? How about the people forced to leave their property and not getting compensated, and then suffering as a result of becoming a 'radiation refugee? None of these millions of these and millions of other radiation victims are counted as a radiation victim or as a casualty, because mental, social, financial and emotional problems brought about directly as a result of a nuclear accident do not count for anything in the pro nuclear industry 'official' record keeping book of consequences. In other words, human suffering caused by radiation or a nuclear accident is not worth anything, and will not be counted. That is part of the 'rules' created by the pro nuclear industry 'experts'. 

44: The supervising nuclear engineer on duty that night who absorbed approximately 500 Rems (a theoretical fatal dose of radiation) says that it was not his fault either. The supervisors blames the Atomic energy nuclear authorities higher up. They had set him up with false information and assurances of safety, by claiming something like this accident could never happen or that the odds were millions to one, because this 'new' reactor design was SO SAFE. (#4 was the newest and BEST nuclear reactor design at that time.) He says that the nuclear reactor should never have been started. He said that not having the 'correct documentation' available when and where it was needed made the explosions inevitable.  

AGRP: Of course, before every nuclear accident, the nuclear 'experts' always say that no accident can ever happen and issue statements of safety and personal guarantees, without exception. The pro nuclear industry experts and the supervisors/workers inside the plants always minimize or avoid talking about the engineering and design flaws or weaknesses in reactors, sites, or risks associated with nuclear technology in general, because their paycheck depends on this 'support' of the nuclear industry in general. 

Catch 22 - Nuclear High Technology Plus Safety Assurances Offer Only Lies, False Promises, Empty Guarantees And Deceptions, Lying Liars Can Only Lie More And Bigger - Auguries of Innocence Poetry

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2016/04/catch-22-nuclear-high-technology-plus.html

There is no amount of documentation that is ever enough, because even if and when everyone does everything 'right' as the above individuals swore to their deathbeds, they did do that, everything can and will still go horribly wrong with nuclear power plants. Because there is no perfect safety plan, no perfect documentation, no perfect safety system, no perfect engineering or design, nuclear accidents will continue to happen. Individuals working inside of Fukushima, TMI, Chernobyl and many other nuclear plants which then melted down despite them doing their best, proves this. 

List Of All 70+ Global Nuclear Reactor Melt Downs, Plus Lists Of Hundreds Of Other Radiation Accidents, Spills, Attacks, Resulting in Numerous Nuclear Sacrifice Zones, Huge Increases In Background Radiation And Millions of Deaths

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/04/list-of-all-27-global-nuclear-reactor.html

Dr. Alexey Yablokov - Radiation Standards Differ Between Nations; 30 to 1,200 Bq/Kg, Huge Differences Testing Internal Cesium Radiation Contamination In Children Chernobyl, Fukushima

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2012/04/radiation-safety-standards-for-food.html

42: the narrator claims that the 'scientific consensus' number of cancers will be only 10,000 in Russia alone TOTAL, and only 25,000 cancers in all other countries total, over a 70 period. "As yet, the only proven rise in disease is in thyroid cancer of children (with no number given or attached to this). 

AGRP: There are so many problems with this assertion and claim it is hard to know where to start. First, the term, 'scientific consensus' is defined so narrowly in this movie as to be meaningless. What is the definition of science, and what is the definition of consensus? 

Science in in a general sense is an open process, repeatable by anyone, and provable anywhere and anytime both inside the industry and outside of it, correct? TRUE science is based on sound research, with a provable hypothesis that is then supported by evidence and facts, no matter who is doing the research. That is not what is being pointed at when they make the claims above. 

Consensus in it's most general definition means that everyone both inside and outside the nuclear industry agrees on what is being written down or spoken. That is not what is being claimed in the above statement. 

Neither of these things is true with the assertions or claims being made in terms of the number of cancers, diseases, and/or deaths, unless one very narrowly defines science and consensus as being limited to only pro nuclear industry 'experts, who are staffing the same agencies such as IAEA (a nuclear industry marketing organization), UNSCEAR, WHO (held captive by IAEA), and peer reviewed journals who will only approve and publish those studies that agree with the very narrow and arbitrary, but not truly scientific views held by these organizations.

There is actually no consensus around the number of deaths and cancers caused, because there very two very divergent views on this subject of how many diseases and deaths are caused by low dose radiation, as detailed in the following links, by numerous 'experts' not approved to be published in the US peer reviewed journals, and who are not part of the small 'insider' pro nuclear industry group. There are numerous examples of deception, lies, denials, cover ups, and manipulations of research and numbers of all kinds within the nuclear industry and associated organizations. 

ICRP [International Commission on Radiological Protection] Caught Manipulating And 'Faking' Scientific Data, Promotes Hormesis Theory

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/05/icrp-international-commission-on.html

WHO, IAEA, ICRP, NCRP, And UNSCEAR Are All Staffed/Advised/Controlled By The Same Very Small Group of 100 Pro Nuclear Industry Promoters, 2014 UNSCEAR Report Labeled Criminal By Many Groups

https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/04/iaea-icrp-and-unscear-are-all-staffed.html

44: The death toll from Chernobyl according to the narrator was 2 fishermen, 30 nuclear plant workers and firefighters,  (and no other deaths, from any cause, ever). 

AGRP: In other words, what is left unsaid but inferred, is that ONLY the thyroid cancers mentioned above that are the DIRECT and immediate result of the Chernobyl accident will NOT result in ANY deaths, beyond the 30 or so counted as the direct result of acute radiation sickness, with a fairly quick death as a result.

No child died of or will die of thyroid cancer, so no more deaths can be counted beyond those initial few deaths. The pro nuclear industry belief system (which is not supported by global science or medical research) is that no other types of cancers, DNA damage or deaths are caused by nuclear reactor meltdowns, such as from low dose radiation for example.  

No other deaths are counted by the pro nuclear industry folks, no matter what the original cause. In other words, if you don't die quickly as a direct result of a nuclear accident and from measurable ACUTE HUGE DOSES of radiation on the order of 500 Rems or more, your death will not count, even if you get some other cancer besides thyroid cancer somewhere down the road due to the nuclear accident and from lower doses of radiation, and then die as a result of that cancer, DNA damage, or some other disease caused by low dose radiation. 

IPPNW - Global Health Effects And Number Of Deaths Caused By Chernobyl Nuclear Planet Meltdown - 69 Million Victims
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2016/04/ippnw-global-health-effects-and-number.html

The pro nuclear industry arbitrary and very narrow definition is not supported by science and medical research, as shown by the linked to article above. But to understand how and why the IPPNW came up with this number, you have to understand how low dose radiation, hot particles and incubation times for cancer works. Learn about this from the links below.  

End

Review/Analysis Of Zero Hour Movie: Disaster at Chernobyl - Discovery Channel (2004) Movie; examines the 60 critical minutes leading up to the explosion at the Chernobyl power station and aftermath, effect on clean up workers, nuclear plant workers

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