u/maksimkak

Putzmeister Post, a special 50th anniversary issue: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z6kOb45yoRuoDRdCPxVjig1PnME2RILS scroll down to the bottom of page 39.

Putzmeister is a German manufacturer of concrete pumps and other quipment. In 1986, Putzmeister 52Z's were used in the construction of the Sarcophagus, pumping a total of 400,000 m^(3) of concrete to entomb reactor number 4, setting a world record at the time for volume pumping.

>In the early summer of 1986, the department responsible in the Soviet foreign trade ministry and Putzmeister sign a contract for the delivery of ten M 52-5 truck-mounted concrete pumps with 5-arm large booms, the truck-mounted concrete pumps with the longest reach available at the time, with “special equipment”. The extras include two adjustable video cameras per machine, mounted on the rear left-hand supporting leg and on the tip of the boom. These are intended for observing the filling of the hopper and the actual concreting work from a distance. Moreover, it has to be guaranteed that the truck-mounted concrete pumps can even be operated from a distance of up to 800 m via remote control and by cable radio control. Also, control and observation of the machines should also be possible from the cab - a monitor is fitted in place of the passenger's seat. The special equipment on four of the machines also includes a lead hood (weight approximately 4 t) to protect the cab from radiation. When the lead casing is attached, the driver can only get into the cab via a hatch specially cut into the roof. Four small, slitted windows provide front and side visibility. Here too, radiation protection is provided by lead glazing; the sensitive video camera optics are similarly protected.

There's an interesting anecdote: Despite meetings arranged a long time in advance, in the early summer of 1986 the Putzmeister sales representative was not received in Moscow by his Soviet contact. Appointments rearranged for the days that followed were repeatedly cancelled, so that the Putzmeister employee finally abandoned his visit to Moscow. During the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, he leafed through the current edition of the German magazine "Der Spiegel". And then it became clear to him why he had been put off several times by his Soviet counterpart: in a detailed article, the Hamburg news magazine reported on the radiation protection equipment on the Putzmeister concrete pumps, two of which had just crossed the border between West and East Germany heading east. According to the article, the heavy lead covers had been transported on a separate flat bed truck. The destination of the freight was presumed to be Chernobyl...

The pumps were later decontaminated and apparently stayed in use in the USSR. One book says:

>By the end of December 1986, the decontamination of 11 concrete pumps—comprising the Warlington, Putzmeister, and Daifos models—was completed. The economic benefit derived from this work amounted to 5.3 million rubles in 1986 prices.

So we usually think of Orcs as evil, murderous creatures, and likewise, that Men would only want to kill them. But realms like Mordor and Angmar were inhabited by both races, albeit in the service of Sauron and the Witch-king, respectively, and the men themselves are described as evil. Isengard under Saruman had Men and Orcs as well, even producing half-orcs as offspring.

What do you think the atmosphere / vibe between Orcs and Men was like in those societies? I suppose they lived in their own separate enclaves or settlements, not mixing much. Can't imagine them having a get-together over a BBQ and some drinks. I also wonder what the day-to-day life in Angmar was like. After all, it existed for over 600 years. That's around 25 generations of Men. I suppose most of them were just locals who came to be under the Witch-king's rule.

How about a proper Chernobyl-related post, for a change? :-p

September 10, 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the start of operation of the “wet” type spent nuclear fuel (SNF) storage facility - ISF-1.

The storage facility was built in 1986 and provided temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel using the technology adopted at that time: fuel assemblies are immersed in water, which is constantly circulated and cooled.

During the operation of the Chernobyl NPP in 1977–2000, more than 21 thousand fuel assemblies were accumulated at the three power units of the plant. After the end of the operation of the power units, the spent nuclear fuel was placed in the ISF-1. The final unloading of fuel from the power units of the Chernobyl NPP was completed in June 2016.

However, this storage method has its drawbacks. In addition, ISF-1 was designed as a temporary storage facility and is not designed for long-term safe storage, and its operation requires constant energy supply. The systems for circulating and cooling water in the fuel aging pools, ventilation, special water treatment, radiation control and automation operate around the clock. All this requires uninterrupted power supply.

In the conditions of a full-scale war and russian attacks on the energy infrastructure, dependence on electricity supply has become an obvious risk factor. In the event of a complete power outage at the Chernobyl NPP site, the critically important equipment of the SNF-1 is switched to power from stationary emergency diesel generators.

A modern solution is to store spent fuel in “dry” type storage facilities, where an active cooling system is not required to remove harmful heat from the fuel — the heat is removed due to natural air circulation.

This is the principle by which the ISF-2 of the Chernobyl NPP operates, the construction of which was completed by the American company Holtec. In 2020, the storage facility received a license for operation.

As of September 10, 2026, 7,107 fuel assemblies have already been moved to ISF-2 - about 33% of the total.

Article: https://chnpp.gov.ua/en/infocenter/news/6622-3-of-the-fuel-assemblies-accumulated-during-the-operation-of-the-chornobyl-npp-have-already-been-moved-from-the-wet-spent-fuel-storage-facility

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I found this an interesting rabbit hole to go down into (inspired by a recent thread about the Grey Company being only 30-strong). There's bits and bobs of information scattered across different Tolkien texts, but I think we can build some sort of picture, although some questions still remain.

In short, while Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry, Theoden, and some of his men are on their way to Helm's Deep (The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 2 "The Passing of the Grey Company"), they are unexpectedly joined by Halbarad and 30 Rangers of the North, sent to aid Aragorn and accompanied by Elladan and Elrohil. Halbarad thought Aragorn himself summoned them, but he says he didn't, and that's where the rabbit hole begins.

Elrohil meanwhile passes a message from his father Elrond to Aragorn: "The days are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead." And when Aragorn notices Halbarad carrying something that looks like a close-furled standard, Halbarad tells him that it's a gift to Aragorn from the Lady of Rivendell. So, we have a Rivendell connection here already. A bit later on, when discussing these strange newcomers, Gimli explains to Merry and Legolas what he heard: "Word came to Rivendell, they say: Aragorn has need of his kindred. Let the Dúnedain ride to him in Rohan! But whence this message came they are now in doubt." Gimli suggests it was Gandalf, but Legolas is certain it was Galadriel: "Did she not speak through Gandalf of the ride of the Grey Company from the North?"

And that takes us back to the scene in The Two Towers that the reader might have forgotten about:

Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas meet Gandalf the White in Fangorn, and decide to go to Edoras to speak to Theoden. When Gandalf describes to them what happened after he fell in battle with the Balrog, he mentions that he comes from Lothlorien with messages for them. For Aragorn, the message is:

>Where now are the Dúnedain, Elessar, Elessar? Why do thy kinsfolk wander afar? Near is the hour when the Lost should come forth, And the Grey Company ride from the North. But dark is the path appointed for thee: The Dead watch the road that leads to the Sea.

While Legolas and Gimli discuss the messages passed to them, Aragorn is strangely silent regarding his. The impression is that it went straight over his head. No wonder he was surprised to see the Rangers! But yeah, I think we can establish now quite clearly that, as some point in time, Galadriel sent a messenger to Rivendell to let them know that Aragorn needed help from his fellow Rangers, but also sent that cryptic message to Aragorn through Gandalf (she loves her cryptic messages so).

One matter still remain unsolved - how did Arwen's standard get to Halbarad? And were Elladan and Elrohil the messengers and the bearers of the sandard? Some fans certainly seem to think so. But I can't find anything relating to that in the texts. Maybe you can help me with this. Two things I'd personally dismiss: that the Grey Company came straight from Rivendell (Rangers aren't normally stationed there), and that Arwen herself went to find Halbarad and brought the standard with her.

Revisiting Frodo and Sam's journey through Mordor, and this scene has struck me. (emphasis mine)

>They came to the path and found that it was broad, paved with broken rubble and beaten ash. Frodo clambered on to it, and then moved as if by some compulsion he turned slowly to face the East. Far off the shadows of Sauron hung; but torn by some gust of wind out of the world, or else moved by some great disquiet within, the mantling clouds swirled, and for a moment drew aside; and then he saw, rising black, blacker and darker than the vast shades amid which it stood, the cruel pinnacles and iron crown of the topmost tower of Barad-dûr. One moment only it stared out, but as from some great window immeasurably high there stabbed northward a flame of red, the flicker of a piercing Eye; and then the shadows were furled again and the terrible vision was removed. The Eye was not turned to them: it was gazing north to where the Captains of the West stood at bay, and thither all its malice was now bent, as the Power moved to strike its deadly blow; but Frodo at that dreadful glimpse fell as one stricken mortally. His hand sought the chain about his neck.

We often see people maintain that the Eye of Sauron is something proverbial, and that he wasn't a "lighthouse" or a giant eye atop the tower, like depicted in PJ's movies. Of course, he wasn't, but this passage clearly describes a beam of light shooting out of the tower towards north. Some people asked if this was Sauron using his palantir, but I don't think the palantiri work that way. Also, I think Sauron wasn't simply looking northward, he was directing his will towards his forces that met Captains of the West. As soon as his gaze was distracted by Frodo putting on the One Ring, Sauron's force immediately felt it.

BTW, does anyone know if anyone painted this scene? I think it would look very cool.

This is something from the History of Middle-earth that captured my attention. When Tolkien began writing the Lord of the Rings, it was literally a sequel to The Hobbit, and he had no idea where the plot will take him. Bilbo is obviously involved, but otherwise there's a bunch of characters and plot ideas that have little to do with the plot we eventually got.

Duscussing "The Tale That is Brewing" stage, Christopher mentions a note his father made (emphasis mine):

>But there are some jottings from this time, written on two sides of a single sheet of paper, that do give some inkling of what was 'brewing'. The first of these reads: Bilbo goes off with 3 Took nephews: Odo, Frodo, and Drogo [changed to Odo, Drogo, and Frodo]. He has only a small bag of money. They walk all night - East. Adventures: troll-like: witch-house on way to Rivendell. Elrond again [added: (by advice of Gandalf?)]. A tale in Elrond's house.

^(The Return of the Shadow Part One, Chapter II, “From Hobbiton to the Woody End.”)

Christopher doesn't elaborate on this note. Witches are mentioned in Tolkien's Middle-earth works, and discussed by him in his "On Fairy-Stories" lecture.

So, we could make up our own story about this witch-house and the adventure Bilbo and his Hobbit companions could have had. I think you'll agree that, here, we see the "common fantasy tropes" being carried over from The Hobbit.

Share your thoughts ^_^

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During the last field expedition, scientists from the Chernobyl Biosphere Reserve once again encountered a herd of feral cows, which currently consists of 12 individuals. The encounter brought a surprise as there was no leader among the group, a bull named Riabko. Two other males took his place, who have so far been staying on the sidelines.

Scientists suspect that the herd may have undergone changes in the hierarchy, and the returning bulls may have pushed out the weaker leader, which shows how dynamic the herds are and the competition between males.

However, the role of the mature individuals remains unchanged and is key to the survival of the entire herd. In the group of feral bulls, they detect dangers more quickly and effectively protect the herds. Experienced bulls indicate the routes of foraging and choose safe places to rest.

Now scientists must determine what is happening to Riabko and which of the males will take on the role of leader of the Chernobyl herd.

Source: Chernobyl Radioecological Biosphere Reserve (photos - Oleksandra Muzichenko)

Thanks to Napromieniowani.pl

>Being originally shot in yet alive Pripyat by Mikhail Nazarenko, this movie passed changes after the Chernobyl disaster, becoming one of the invaluable pieces of the heritage of Pripyat. Recovered from original damaged 16 mm movie reels by our team.

Love this footage, I wish someone would restore it (scratches, colour correction, etc.)

Inspired by the recent discussions about Thror's map, I wanted to look into in-universe maps and cartography in Middle-earth. Discussions normally revolve around Tolkien's and Christopher's maps included in the books, as well as fan-made ones, but there's hardly any mention of the actual maps peoples of Middle-earth had and used. So let's have a look at what we can gather :)

First Age seems to be completely devoid of maps. At least, there's absolutely no mention of them, in either published or unpublished works. That doesn't mean they didn't exist, of course. We are given very detailed descriptions of the geography, and, for example, the streets, squares, and markets of Gondolin; all that knowledge might have come from maps. Or maybe it didn't. There's a tenuous possiblity that the maps included in Rúmil's Ambarkana ("The Shape of the World") were drawn by him (or by Elves before him), but there's no real evidence to support this, either. We are tempted to believe that the Dwarves might have had maps, as they had extensive underground dwellings, as well as extensive trade routes. But still, no maps mentioned. Instead, the extensive geographical lore seems to have been kept in memory, recorded in books or scrolls, and conveyed orally.

Second Age is where maps and charts definitely appear for the first time. Christopher's footnote in The Unfinished Tales mentions "accurate charts of Númenor" made by the Guild of Venturers but which perished in the Downfall. It's mentioned in the Unfinished Tales that Numenoreans kept records of their exploratory voyages, and while maps or charts are not mentioned in that context, it's logical to assume that at least coastal maps or charts were made.

The biggest piece of evidence of maps comes from the "Description of the Island of Númenor" (Unfinished Tales):

>The account of the Island of Numenor that here follows is derived from descriptions and simple maps that were long preserved in the archives of the Kings of Gondor. These represent indeed but a small part of all that was once written, for many natural histories and geographies were composed by learned men in Numenor; but these, like nearly all else of the arts and sciences of Numenor at its high tide, disappeared in the Downfall.

It mentions that such maps and records were also kept in Imladris. Knowing what we know about Numenoreans and their voyages. they were in an ideal position to become Middle-earth's first cartographers. But, to be pedantic, the "accurate charts of Númenor" and the "simple maps" are the only ones that are mentioned.

Third Age is full of maps, for a change. Of Bilbo it is told that "he loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favorite walks marked on it in red ink." There's the famous Thror's Map, which was actually made by Thror, and which was probably copied by Bilbo for his own keeping. As Bilbo and the Dwarves are travelling through the Wilderland, they note that "old maps are no use: things have changed for the worse and the road is unguarded." Tolkien's own note to The Hobbit mentions dwarf-maps, saying that it was usual for them to have East at the top.

Maps were made in the Shire, as well. We read that Frodo "began to feel restless, and the old paths seemed too well-trodden. He looked at maps, and wondered what lay beyond their edges: maps made in the Shire showed mostly white spaces beyond its borders."

There's an interesting part in "The Hunt For Gollum" in the Unfinished Tales: the Nazgul learn that Saruman had been lying to them when they capture one of his Dunleding servants sent to spy on the Shire. That servant had charts prepared by Saruman which clearly depicted and described the Shire.

In the house of Elrond there were storied and figured maps and books of lore, which Aragorn and Gandalf studied ahead of the Fellowship's journey, and "the many maps in Elrond's house" are mentioned in a discussion between Gandalf and Pippin. Pippin did have a look at them, but didn't remember them. Maps conveyed nothing to Sam's mind. In The Return of the King, we learn that before Frodo set out from Rivendell, he was shown a map of Mordor that was made before the Enemy came back there. He only had a vague memory of it by the time he and Sam were getting closer to it.

That's all I have. HoME doesn't really offer anything besides what's been mentioned. If I missed anything, let me know :)

This is part of a letter from Anatoly Dyatlov to Leonid Toptunov's parents. Faintly, the text on the other side of the sheet can be seen, please help me decipher it. Here's the original image, but reversed horizontally, so that the background text is the right way round. I can tell that it starts with "У кого жи..."

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Thanks for your help.

The video has (US English) audio track you can switch to.

Paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/10/8/562

The main finding was that the resulting distribution showed a spatially non-uniform radiation field: the main damage zone had relatively low equivalent gamma dose rates, whereas the highest values, up to 1092 μSv/h, were recorded over areas of the NSC closest to the Shelter Object.

Sainbury's website lists Stamford Street Cottage Pie microwavable meal (and all others from the same line) at 99p. But in my local Sainsbury's, it's £2.69. What gives? https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/stamford-street-co-cottage-pie-ready-meal-for-1-400g

Collection or delivery cost minimum of £4, so unless I order a whole bunch of them, I'm not saving any money.

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Looks like some kind of a folding crane. What is it used for?

Inspired by a recent thread concerning the chronology of Typhon outbreak, I had my chatty friend pull up all of the incident/log entries that are mentioned on Talos I, and put them in chronological order. We start with the Vorona-1 incident (Typhon are encountered for the first time) and the Kletka Program:

10 May 1960 — #0215-051060 — Weaver formation observed; early Typhon research.

1 April 1963 — #0648-040163 — Mimic reproduction through a living organism observed.

28 December 1964 — #1824-122864 — Cystoid research by Louis Sullivan.

2 January 1965 — #2042-010265 — Cystoid Nest research.

5 May 1965 — #2057-050565 — Coral research.

24 May 1965 — #2042-052465 — Greater Mimic (specimen 14) research.

14 April 1977 — #1621-041477 — Phantom research.

14 March 2033 — #1405-031433 — Telepath incident; following the incident, Telepath creation/containment was prohibited and Psychoscopes became mandatory in Psychotronics.

14 March 2033 — #1546-031433 — Trevor Young is mind-controlled by a Telepath and attempts to break Typhon containment; he opens a Mimic containment cell and is subsequently subdued and quarantined.

4 January 2035 — #1008-010435 — Eradicator Auto-Turret testing.

17 January 2035 — #1546-011735 — Carlos Popinga reports unexplained rewiring/tampering of the Arboretum airlock electronics.

18 January 2035 — #1258-011835 — Patricia Wang reports a corrupted Engineering Operator; notes that it is "just like the last four cases."

That was the last log/report before Morgan witnesses the full outbreak in Feb 2035.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Great River" chapter, Aragorn says:

>Do you not know, Boromir, or do you choose to forget the North Stair, and the high seat upon Amon Hen, that were made in the days of the great kings? I at least have a mind to stand in that high place again, before I decide my further course. There, maybe, we shall see some sign that will guide us.

What kind of sign was Aragorn hoping to see? When Frodo got there, he saw a great many things that were very far away, but this was undoubtedly enhanced by the power of the One Ring he was wearing at that moment. Aragorn didn't have the Ring, but he wasn't an ordinary man, either. He was a Dunadan, a direct descendant of the Kings of Numenor. So I guess he would have had some of that original power or ability that allowed those who built the Seat of Seeing see further, and see more, than ordinary human sight.

But when Aragorn does get there, while searching for Frodo, it's a bit anticlimatic:

>Aragorn hesitated. He desired to go to the high seat himself, hoping to see there something that would guide him in his perplexities; but time was pressing. Suddenly he leaped forward, and ran to the summit, across the great flag-stones, and up the steps. Then sitting in the high seat he looked out. But the sun seemed darkened, and the world dim and remote. He turned from the North back again to North, and saw nothing save the distant hills, unless it were that far away he could see again a great bird like an eagle high in the air, descending slowly in wide circles down towards the earth.

And then his attention was drawn to cries of Orcs and the Horn of Boromir calling for help.

Looking at various images of the Chernobyl Power Plant, I couldn't help but notice these large tanks just outside the Unit 3, standing right next to the unit's Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) building.

CGI scene from \"Inseparable\" movie

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I've not seen them being mentioned on this subreddit or anywhere else before, and there's no matching set of tanks on the Unit 4's side. With a bit of research, I found out what they are, and what they were used for. And they have a bit of a story to tell...

These are clean condensate tanks, designed to hold up to 1000 cubic meters of water each. Despite the use of the term "condensate", they have nothing to do with condensate produced by the turbines, and instead hold purified water for use by the power plant. In the event of an emergency, though, such as rupture of a large-diameter pipe in the main cooling circuit, emergency pumps would pump this water into the reactor, as part of the Emergency Core Cooling System.

Water levels were always maintained in these tanks. Holding up to the maximum of 3000 cubic meters of water, the regulations demanded to keep a constant level of at least 2000. Thing is, these tanks were shared between Units 3 and 4. Which lead to a situation when the disaster happened.

Right after the explosion, emergency pumps kicked in, sending that water into what the operators thought was still a relatively intact reactor #4, but in reality it was going nowhere and just flooding the lower levels. Yuri Bagdasarov, the Unit 3 shift supervisor, recalls:

>Here is what happened next. The reserve supply of water for reactor cooling during an emergency began to dwindle. This supply came from the clean condensate tanks, from which Unit 4 had begun drawing water at a high rate. At a certain point, the level dropped to a critical mark. I called the plant shift supervisor [Boris Rogozhkin] and said, "I’m shutting down the unit!" He in turn called the power grid dispatcher, who said, "No! We’ve just lost the output of one unit, and you want to shut down a second one? You can't!" But I could see the situation was catastrophic. Someone had to take the responsibility. So, I gave the order to shut down the unit. We didn't perform an emergency shutdown; instead, we gradually reduced power in normal operating mode. At the very end, we scrammed the reactor using the AZ-5 button - the same one used regularly in the past. By five in the morning, the unit had been completely shut down.

At 8am, the morning shift took over, including the Unit 4 shift supervisor Viktor Smagin. He recalls:

>By nine in the morning, the emergency feedwater pump that had been running finally stopped - thank God for that. The flooding of the lower levels had ceased. The water in the deaerators had run out. I was on the phone the whole time, maintaining contact with Fomin and Bryukhanov. They were in touch with Moscow. Reports were going to Moscow: "We are feeding water into the reactor!" Orders were coming back: "Do not stop the water supply!" But the water had actually run out... I reported to Fomin that the water was gone. He panicked, shouting, "Feed the water in!" But where was I supposed to get it from? Fomin frantically searched for a solution. Finally, he came up with an idea. He sent Leonid Konstantinovich Vodolazhko - the deputy chief engineer for new units - and Babichev (the unit shift supervisor from whom I had taken over the shift) to organize the transfer of water into the clean condensate tanks (three vessels, each with a capacity of 1,000 cubic meters) so it could then be pumped back into the reactor using the emergency pumps. Fortunately, this desperate scheme of Fomin’s did not succeed...

Some time later, when miners began digging the tunnel under the reactor in May 1986, it was reported to Nikolai Steinberg (Deputy Chief Engineer at the time) that there was a heightened radiation situation in the area, and he went there to investigate. The entrance into the miners' tunnel was located at the eastern end of the Unit 3, not far from the tanks. Steinberg recalls:

>We had discussed possible measures to reduce the dose rate in the excavation pit and the gallery and were about to leave when something near the clean condensate tanks caught my eye. Without turning off the instrument, I walked toward them. The needle swung sharply to the right and kept moving. Lying behind the tanks were chunks of graphite and various metal parts - fragments of the exploded reactor's core. We decided on the spot to build a protective wall out of foundation blocks and carried out the work that same day, which helped slightly reduce the radiation exposure for the miners.

There you go, the story of the three unassuming tanks that bore witness to the largest nuclear disaster in history. Since the Unit 3 was eventually restarted, and operated until the year 2000, I assume these tanks continued serving their purpose, until the Unit was shut down for the last time.