Inside a Nuclear Reactor

These videos are made by Brady Haran - check out his "Unmade Podcast" here: bit.ly/UnmadePlaylist

That Cherenkov blue glow is absolutely stunning. The engineering and science behind these reactors is masterful

“A basket of radioactive rabbits is lowered into the cask” I never thought I’d ever read something like that.

"...not trying to make electricity like, say, Chernobyl reactor..." That's one heck of an example, professor.

Humanity’s rejection of Nuclear power was a massive mistake, and the environment has payed dearly for it as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our electricity

Thank you for letting Dr Bryan just explain it all without interruption, something very rare on TV documentaries these days.

I went to the Nottingham open day and met the professor last month he is an amazing and funny guy

14:00 Imagine being new there and the dude is like, "Theres 5 rabbits loose in the reactor right now"

This tour was outstanding. Dr. Bryan was such a great tour guide.

The guest presenter is a good story teller/explainer

9:58 Dr. Chris Bryan: You can't really trap neutrons Neutron Star: Hold my warped space-time

I thought "I wonder what a nuclear reactor looks like" and I'm here, the Internet is truly amazing

Can hardly believe it... The Brits came to Oak Ridge and got a grand tour of the HFIR. Studied this thing for years with its cold, hot, fast and slow neutrons. Crazy design and this is the only video I've seen of the reactor so thanks you guys and girls for making this. Rare treat.

One of your best vids ever. I bet that lab was mega-top-secret in the past.

In 1966 Glenn Seaborg brought a 10kW reactor to display in Dublin and I took a day off school to visit it. It was accommodated in a large inflatable "igloo" with an airlock and I remember looking through 4m of water to see the blue glow of the Cerenkov radiation. I didn't have a camera, unfortunately. Seaborg was interviewed by a TV reporter who only asked questions about the Cold War which Seaborg tried to answer, preferring science questions which were not forthcoming! He was a co-discoverer of several trans-uranic elements including plutonium and lived to 86 years.

The camera man's way of asking questions and general commentary brings me back to this video at least twice a year.

6:22 - when the camera gets close, the sound starts to crackle, made my heart stop for a second.

always a great day when periodic videos uploads

When talking about nuclear reactors, the majority of people are mostly fascinated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation, but, in my opinion, the snowy like interference you see on videos is far more fascinating. Especially when you consider how each pixel flash is an invisible, high energy, charged particle hitting the camera lense at almost the speed of light. If, somehow, humans had the ability to see these charged particles with either our eyes, or a special camera, you would see a shower of energy coming from the reactor core. The fact that we're not able to see the actual particles themselves, but instead just the effect they have on video, makes it, in my opinion, far more fascinating than the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation.

10:03 “You can’t trap a neutron.” Challenge accepted. <grabs flashlight and butterfly net>