Home
Creators
Search Recent Missing Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Refueling a NUCLEAR REACTOR - Smarter Every Day 311 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-03 18:06:05
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Thank you so much for supporting Smarter Every Day on Patreon! As mentioned towards the end of this video we're about to do the Patreon Sticker team this year so I'm excited to share that with you!

Here we continue our Nuclear Power Deep Dive with an incredible look into how a nuclear power plant is refueled. This video is a dream come true, and there's so much to learn here.... but there's more to come! We'll look into exactly what's happening in the reactor and go into great detail about everything is controlled.

Thank you for your support! It lets me focus on making these videos exactly how I want! You give me freedom in a huge way, and I genuinely think you've made me a better father. Thank you so much!

Regards,

Destin

Files

Refueling a NUCLEAR REACTOR - Smarter Every Day 311

You can try AnyDesk for free. It's good. https://anydesk.com/smarter http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Get Email Updates: https://www.smartereveryday.com/email Sticker Team!: http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Click here if you're interested in subscribing: http://bit.ly/Subscribe2SED ⇊ Click below for more links! ⇊ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GET SMARTER SECTION Learn more about the the Browns Ferry Plant at the Tennessee Valley Authority: https://www.tva.com/energy/our-power-system/nuclear/browns-ferry-nuclear-plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Valley_Authority Here's a link to an article about my visit: https://www.tva.com/the-powerhouse/stories/inside-browns-ferry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tweet Ideas to me at: http://twitter.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SmarterEveryDay Smarter Every Day on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day On Instagram http://www.instagram.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day SubReddit http://www.reddit.com/r/smartereveryday Ambiance, audio and musicy things by: Gordon McGladdery https://www.ashellinthepit.com/ http://ashellinthepit.bandcamp.com/ If you feel like this video was worth your time and added value to your life, please SHARE THE VIDEO! If you REALLY liked it, feel free to pitch a few dollars Smarter Every Day by becoming a Patron. http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Warm Regards, Destin

Comments

Gregory Laborde

Yes! “I don’t know.” Richard Feynman said this was the _key_ to finding out.

Travis Macie

Great video! Gotta love the 70's mint green. The inside of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant had a lot of that color! This brought back a lot of memories. Very familiar views, familiar people. It really is a culture. Did you get an education on how Browns Ferry heavily contributed to all Nuke plants being required to have trained firefighting staff on site 24/7? If not, its worth asking. The 3 part communication is key in a place where things can go very bad, very quickly! You'll find that many plant staff, especially operators, come from a Navy background. Many of their habits follow them, for good reason! Sadly, V.Y. will be 99% decommissioned by the end of the year, all that will be left is the spent fuel casks and security to protect them.

Jeramy Olson

Wow wow wow My son who is now 14 years old has been watching your videos with me his entire life, ok since as long as I can recall. I just remember wanting to find content he would enjoy watching and learn things. You have done that and so much more. Thank you because this series is by far one of the best ever. I say that and then think about the submarine series and then the Telescope with your dad and then the high speed camera videos, or let’s not forget the baseball cannon. We still have our baseball and you keep raising the bar. Thank You and Also huge thanks to TVI for the access and trust wow

Olie Bosley

Destin, I just wanted to say thanks for making your videos. They may not be as frequent or as wild as other YouTubers but the quality and subject access is by far the best. So thank you, all the way from a little town in the UK.

Dale E

The thing that always amazes me is generating large amounts of power still always comes down to boiling water to spin a generator. Dunno if it's due to reliance on AC or if we've just not found anything matching the efficiency and/or cost effectiveness. Obviously renewables tend to be different, but they're nothing close to the same scale. Fearing nuclear because people don't understand it I think is true, but I also think people seem to be looking for a perfect solution. Bring up any power source and you usually get flaws in it pointed out, rather than considering if it's better than what we have now, while we look for even better alternatives.

Rick Corbitt

Absolutely fascinating! Thank you Destin and TVA (and Bill) for allowing this to happen.

Nigel

What an incredible video. I appreciate the hard work you do Destin.

Adam Schindler

The questions that we are going to have to ask are: "What do we want and what can we do?" In other words, what goal should we prioritize? Safety had to be first, but we're getting better at that with a lot of hard lessons. So what's next? I would argue that an ongoing fixation on safety alone is the wrong answer, because 1) U235 is highly finite and 2) actinide waste should not be ignored as a hazard because it is slow and mostly affects our great grandchildren. Put another way, a free neutron is, by mass, the most valuable substance on earth; how we utilize and even sustain the finite supply of them to both utilize otherwise inert rocks and to render the waste products safer for future generations should take a place alongside safety as chief goals. I am not sold on any individual Gen IV concept, but the ideas floating around before TMI were lofty, achievable, and legitimate. I worry that controlled, net-energy fusion is a pipe dream, and that our fixation on DT fusion rather than the (potential) treasure trove of 232Th and 238U is a function of wishful thinking rather than sound math and reasoned engineering. Before TMI and The China Syndrome, people envisioned a world where power was "too cheap to meter", and I believe that further development of fission, alongside a whole host of renewables, can make that dream a reality. Thanks so much Destin.

Colorado Bart

This is one of the coolest videos on your channel, and you have a LOT of really cool videos on your channel. Well done, and thank you for what you do.

John Kennedy

When we went through the secondary containment, I recalled “Do not step on the drains” from the prior videos. Great video!

john luff

Fascinating story! I'm curious about the size of the BF staff. If refueling happens only for short periods, what does the staff do when they are not involved in refueling?

Andrew K

Thanks Destin! One of my favorite things is watching professionals act professionally and this video has that and then some. I appreciate you demystifying nuclear power!

Andrew Staker

Destin this has to be in the top 10 videos ever posted on YouTube. Absolutely outstanding. One thing that is super curious is how they are able to seal off the storage pool from the reactor when operating at 1000 psi. That’s a huge area to contain 1000 psi. Unbelievable video!

Emma S

Wonderful video! I work in the power industry in the transmission side, and we interface with a nuclear plant as well as many other types of generation. It's so cool to see another component to the work that I do every day. It is an honor to be able to support your work.

João Pedro Gomes

Chem eng student here, graduating soon (PhD)👋 This nuclear series is exactly the kind of content that makes me want to go into the industry. If anyone in nuclear is hiring/mentoring or can point me to entry-level roles for chem engs (process/safety/waste etc), I’d love to connect. Keep doing what you love Destin!!

GreyWolf83

Another great video, very informative. One thing I love about your videos Destin is how personable with all the workers and how you treat them with respect no matter the role. One thing they don't teach in engineering school is how to work well with a crew and not come off as a smart jerk. Always nice to see you joking around with the crew, reminds me of many of the teams I've worked in testing over the years. Always great to see another one of your videos drop.

Don Rude

Destin! The weight of this situation is impressive. I was an hour in before I realized how much time had passed. The rarity of you being there is not lost. So cool! Love your work brother. Amazing.

Alex Pete

Watching this video on a TV powered by the nuclear plant the video is about feels surreal. I've waited a long time for this video and I'm so happy it happened. Thank you so much for the hard work and dedication Destin. Can't wait for the rest of the series!

J

Destin, This video is incredible. It's a culmination of so many years of building trust and skill and a team of people around you. One little thing out of many I learned that blew me away was the bowtie shape of the turbines! I always assumed that the steam was injected on one end and flowed out the other, but the center injection to balance the side loads on the bearings is such an elegant solution to a problem I never even considered. I am absolutely eating up this series, and I can't wait for the long cut second channel video to drop!

Clifton Ballad

My Dad worked for a nuclear lab, I've heard all about all of the limits and how strict they are and now I'm seeing it... The stuff that's out in the wild that a person can buy would cause the entire radiological team to defecate a fully grown feline. Dad had a clock that had glow in the dark numerals which glowed thanks to radium. I've seen one at a local diner... He also mentioned how the state capital buildings are made with granite and the uranium in them would have involved Allll of the permits to be around at work, and yet hundreds of people are around them all day every day....

Barron B

I had this realization that many of those people for the first time actually have footage they can show their families of what they do at work everyday. It’s wonderful how helpful everyone was as weird and unique of an experience as it was not just for you but them. This is so awesome.

Amy Tobol

When they lifted the spent rod out of the reactor and carried it to the pool, it looked like the Cherenkov glow got brighter and brighter. When the rod was seated, you could see it still glowing brighter in it's socket, but the glow started fading.

Alex

The best thing about nuclear power is... All the waste is managed, compared to other power sources

Jude Bracey Lane

This video got me to sign up for the patreon, absolute gold, purely sublime. cheers.

Daniel Williams

I just joined and wanted to show my support after many years of watching. I live on Anglesey in the UK and not far from a nuclear power plant. Really interesting series, thank you very much.

smartereveryday

It was an honor to be able to capture their hard work in a way that can be shared.

smartereveryday

One of the things they said to us is to not set your dosimeter down on a granite countertop at home.

smartereveryday

It was interesting how the closer I got to the reactor the more serious I could feel the room getting. Fascinating.

smartereveryday

There's an incredible amount of instrumentation they're constantly working on, among other things.

smartereveryday

Thank you for supporting here on Patreon! You make it possible.

George Reese

Are you coming to the iron bowl

Michael Garrety

Been watching for years but this is one of those videos that compelled my financial support. I was unexpectedly fascinated by how they handled multi-layer access management. Not something I had considered previously (I just assumed you made it through initial security and you were good). Naive in retrospect but that's what videos like these are for.

Alex Pete

*Hugh Freeze quietly slips away into the background.

Andreas Haurum Gynning

Destin this video is amazing i love how close we thrue you are getting her a reactor activity being refoulde I really love this series as well as the series in the nuclear sub, I am looking forward to the rest of this series and the videos on the 2 channel i will be watching out for them. Do you have a time frame for the long video Nov or Dec?

Fred S

Absolutely great video. Will recommend it to friends. I have many good comments but have to compose my thoughts so I don’t just overwhelm you.😀. Will add more later.

Kevin Reardon

I'd rather watch the video thinking I was along there with you then actually be there with you. I have been trained in nuclear physics and I tested stupid so I stayed away.

Malcom Mal Reynolds

I just joined after watching this! It was incredible that they allowed you to be there on the bridge and film it!

Marty S

Most likely due to the different depths of water that the light was passing through.

adcurtin

Is the water running through the turbine irradiated? or are there multiple water / steam loops?

Marty S

Hi Destin, I am a retired nuclear engineer and watched your video with great interest. Although there was nothing technical that I was not already familiar with, it was good to see everything together under one roof. I also enjoy your childlike (not childish!) curiosity about everything you were shown. The questions you asked were very appropriate, and I'm sure that many viewers would have had the same questions in your place. Bill Ball was the perfect escort on your tour: patient, knowledgeable, and humble. Thanks for deciding to do a Nuclear Power Deep Dive! It is high time that the public learn what nuclear power is really all about. There will come a time when we have no choice but to rely much more heavily on nuclear power, and that is a good thing. I'm looking forward to your video on waste management (and the rest)! All of your videos have been technically spot-on, which I cannot say for all of the other videos on YouTube (even the good ones). Keep up the great work! ~Marty

Sean Higgins

very well. done nice job Destin

Larry J Seltzer

Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this series and this video in particular. I have so many questions, but I'll ask only this one for now. The reactor was built in the 60's. Back then, they didn't have such sophisticated cameras. How did they do all this?

Wouter

The steam is in a separate loop, otherwise they wouldn't be able to go to the turbine like they did at the end.

JDP

Nope, in this case the steam is going directly through the turbine. That's how a boiling water reactor (BWR) works. A pressurized water reactor (PWR) has separate loops. The steam in a BWR is not nearly as dangerous as anything near the reactor, so it's not that heavily shielded and protected.

JDP

This video made me a Patreon. I've been subscribed to No Dumb Questions for years, but this is the type of content that people need to see. Nuclear has a really unfair reputation and is by far our best source of energy. I'm in the power plant simulation industry, but I never realized how many procedures and safety protocols there are when working at a nuclear plant!

Jason Rapp

Fantastic work. Its amazing the quality of information you're able to get out with little help. Imagine if the schooling system or education departments would follow your lead. Thanks for all the deep dive videos and content that keeps my 39 y.o. brain going!

Dave Martin

This look into the inner workings off the reactor was phenomenal! Like you mentioned in the video before you came down from the bridge; you run out of things to be scared of. I think if more people could see that a) people are walking around in slightly more protective gear than scrubs in the highest contamination area and b) they aren't Homer Simpson. Everyone takes their jobs extremely seriously because they have to. Trust me when I say I will be using your video as a teaching element for people that need some help realizing that nuclear is one of the more viable power solutions available to our civilization. Thank you!

Paul G

Thats the most fascinating video I've ever watched and i'm in my 50's! Also, those TVA employees must be paid extremely well, judging how smart they are.

maxmfs

Probably one of your best ones yet. What a great time. Your joy was palpable. Keep up the good work.

Malcom Mal Reynolds

As another member mentioned, I will say the same: this video made me a Patreon. I have been watching Smarter Every Day for years and it is time to help support your content. As my wife says: subject whiplash (changing the subject). Destin, what are the odds of you being able to do a Smarter Every Day episode from the ISS? Think about it. You could do it. Seriously!

Manu

Fantastic Work Destin - really enjoyed the detailed peak into nuclear technology!

Evan Moon

Who’s the guy?

tim middendorf

I have WANTED TO DO what you GOT TO DO! Since it is unlikely I'll ever get access, THANKS for filming it! Very cool vid and, me too: this video made me a Patreon.

Vincent

Really great video Destin! I've been watching your videos for years and the trust you get is a direct result of your humble approach and ability to make everyone you encounter feel special. Really great to see how that trust gives you access to places few people get to see. I have a question on the rpm of the turbines: He said they have an rpm of 1800, I think. But why wouldn't they try to get an rpm of 3600 so they can directly feed into the grid without loosing energy on the conversion?

David Martin

Awesome video. I love your channel! Your content just keeps getting better and better over the years. FYI, my first major science project in high school was nuclear reaction . You’re visiting some incredible places and doing some of the best interviews out there. I know how much work that takes, and it really shows in the level of professionalism and quality of your videos, as well as the thoughtful scripts you include with them. Keep it up, you’re doing an amazing job educating the public (and me!) on science topics.

Josh Ashby

Sitting in a refueling outage in VA from the Chemistry office watching this was my peak nerd moment of the year. Fascinating to see how similar everything is in a different station owned by a different company. WELL DONE by all folks involved Destin.

Justine Feng

Destin, what phenomenal work you put on the internet! My husband and I admire you. I love that you are making videos and content the way you want, and I am honoured to be a patreon. Your life long learning always inspires me to have the same curiosity and attempt to instill that same curiosity in my kids. Thank you for being a wonderful presence here on the internet. PS: As an audiologist I noted your lack of hearing protection use during one part of the video… smart enough to understand nuclear power but questions hearing protection! (Clearly a joke haha).

Joe A Powell

How do the Navy nuclear submarine power plants work compared with the huge land based plant that you videos? Another great video. Every Congressman needs to see this and support “distributed” nuclear energy - new smaller standardized smaller plants like the French have done.

Christian g. B.

Like French have done? Put of our view from Germany, we cut nuclear after the Fokushima Event, as any of this events would make our densely populated country, especially in those premier regions would make Germany so miserable ... I think our physics doctor and cancelor wasn't so stupid after all to cancel nuclear power in Germany and use the much cheaper solar( at least per cost of energy) besides... You see, I'm pretty much aligned with the green view besides my personal affection for the physics around it. I rather hope for the fusion power and ITER ... ... My mumbled thoughts are kind of messy here, but I'm happy that I make the patreon today 😝😬

Zach and Eva

There was mentioned another video with more footage I can't see to find it does anyone know where it is?