Uranium: Twisting the Dragon's Tail

Did you know that after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster at reactor number four, the other reactors on that site were not shut down permanently? In fact, they were kept running, producing electricity by workers who were brought in by train every day to work on those other reactors, the last of which was shut down around the year 2000. That is just one of the many surprising facts I found out while shooting a documentary for TV, which is called Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail.

Now, while we were shooting this documentary, I would take out my little camera and shoot small pieces while they were setting up the big camera. This is James.

Hello.

But that has allowed me to make some YouTube videos for you, including the most radioactive places on earth. I will have a few more of those videos coming out very soon.

But what I wanted to show you was the trailer for this documentary. I want you guys to check out this trailer. Let me know what you think, and I will put at the end of the trailer the dates that this documentary will be aired in your area. It will be played in the US and Australia and in Europe. So stay tuned to the end of this trailer to check out when it will be on in your neck of the woods.

So thank you guys so much for watching this YouTube channel, because without it, I never would have got the job hosting this TV documentary. I really hope you enjoy it. We put so much work into it and it looks amazing. So check it out. Here it is.

Legends say there is a world beneath this one where a dragon lies sleeping. They say: Be careful how you wake the dragon.

Around the turn of the 20th century, uranium is almost unknown. It is basically worthless. But then, in 40 years, just a single generation, it becomes the most desirable and terrifying rock on earth. This is uranium.

And as a physicist, I am fascinated by its unique scientific properties. But even more so by how this one rock has shaped the entire modern world. Uranium changes everything. Uranium makes the modern world. Uranium is a dream: clean, limitless power. Or a nightmare of a silent and poisoned earth.

Oh, it is hot. It is hot here. It is really hot.

It’s overloaded.

Come with me on a journey to find the most desirable...

This is a nuclear reactor.

And the most hated rock on earth.

It is just that fear. If it blows, what is going to happen to it?

How did we unleash the elemental force within uranium? What happened when we woke the dragon?

This is the story of how a rock changed the world.