Who Shuts Down 400 Nuclear Reactors If We All Vanish?
Animated Short, 0:42. Published 2026-11-09.
Who shuts down 400 nuclear reactors if every human vanishes? They shut themselves off in seconds, but the heat keeps going.
Real facts: about 400 power reactors run worldwide (IAEA). They shut down automatically when power is lost, but the fuel keeps making "decay heat", so pumps must keep cooling it. Backup diesel generators are required to carry about 7 days of fuel (US NRC Regulatory Guide 1.137). After that, cooling pools slowly boil away.
Full story, from day 1 to a billion years: https://youtu.be/BL8JkXh7lSU
Transcript
Every person on Earth just vanished. But four hundred nuclear reactors are still running. And nobody is left to turn them off. Good news: they turn themselves off. Control rods drop in, in seconds. Bad news: off isn't cold. The fuel keeps making heat, like a stove you just switched off. So pumps have to keep pushing water.
And the power grid is already dying. Backup diesel generators roar to life. They carry about a week of fuel. Day seven. One by one, they cough, and stop. Now the water around the old fuel starts to slowly boil away. So who turns off four hundred reactors? Nobody. They turn themselves off. The heat doesn't.
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Unfold Animated. Funny cartoons that make you smarter. No AI images, no AI video. Real facts, checked.