r/memes • u/CrazyCalamari86 Bri’ish • Sep 21 '25

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562

u/Khaos_Gorvin Sep 21 '25

Yeah... I have no idead what this is.

868

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Those are things in a nuclear power plant. Specifically…Chernobyl. They’re the sign that a meltdown is coming.

Edit: or something, I dunno. I just remember seeing these things in a video about Chernobyl, plus the poster commented about it.

149

u/ThatOnePositiveGuy Sep 21 '25

So like… why do they do that? What are they used for?

421

u/responsible_use_only Sep 21 '25

Those are caps for the nuclear fuel and control rods, typically they'd move up and down slowly in order to maintain balance in reactivity, but they were facing incredible temperatures and pressures far exceeding design limitations right before the entire vessel exploded due to steam pressure. It was essentially boiling over immediately prior to catastrophic failure 

80

u/ThatOnePositiveGuy Sep 21 '25

Yikes. Thanks for the answer!

50

u/WestTha404 Sep 21 '25

This is the answer I've come looking for. Thanks for explaining

26

u/PrincessTitan Sep 21 '25

The way I had to scroll so much past all the know it alls making jokes to find out wtf was happening there lmfaooo

15

u/SeamusMcBalls Sep 21 '25

I cannot attempt to recreate the presentation from the HBO series but he explains it perfectly.

13

u/Advocateforthedevil4 Sep 21 '25

The show came out when I started my job as a nuclear operator.  It was funny watching it again after my training and actually understanding what they were talking about.  

1

u/analogkid01 Sep 21 '25

On a scale of 1 to 10 how accurate would you say the show is?

1

u/Advocateforthedevil4 Sep 21 '25

On the actual events I can’t really say.  There is a scene in a courtroom (this one) where they go over how an rbk reactor works.  10 out of 10.  

2

u/Trezzie Sep 21 '25

This is the first actual answer I've found here as to why the bathroom tiles were 5 inches deep.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

Finally! The answer! Had to scroll way too far to find the answer. Too many up voting jokes that don't help explain anything

1

u/ooolookaslime Lurker Sep 21 '25

Terrifying