# 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible "3.6 Roentgen, Not Great, Not Terrible" is a catchphrase from HBO's 2019 Chernobyl miniseries, spoken by character Anatoly Dyatlov after a dosimeter reading during the reactor disaster. The line hit meme status within days of the show's May 6, 2019 premiere and is still used online to mock people downplaying obviously bad situations. ## Overview The meme is a one-liner delivered by Anatoly Dyatlov (played by British actor Paul Ritter) in the first episode of HBO's Chernobyl miniseries[1]. When his staff reports a dosimeter reading of 3.6 roentgen during the reactor explosion, Dyatlov shrugs and says "not great, not terrible," unaware that 3.6 was the meter's maximum reading and the real exposure was thousands of times higher[4]. Internet users adopted the phrase as a reaction to disasters, understatement, and any situation where someone is visibly downplaying a catastrophe. It circulates as image macros of Ritter's face, screencap reaction GIFs, and text captions layered onto unrelated bad news[2]. ## How It Spread On May 21, 2019, a Redditor posted the "3.6 roentgens" quote to r/ChernobylTV paired with Game of Thrones' High Sparrow character, pulling over 2,400 upvotes[2]. The same day, Twitter user @kalebprime shared a Dyatlov meme with the line, hitting about 30 likes[3]. Three days later, Redditor Jacknerik posted a This Is Fine crossover edit that also cleared 2,000 upvotes[2]. The catchphrase kept popping up over the following years. On August 12, 2022, a since-deleted Redditor posted a Chernobyl power plant snow globe to r/dankmemes with the quote as an image macro, drawing over 3,000 upvotes[5]. On February 18, 2025, Redditor LemurDaddy's "Rate My Gaming Setup" edit featuring characters from the series and the catchphrase hit over 13,000 upvotes on r/HistoryMemes[6]. The line got a fresh boost in August 2025 during the viral Radioactive Walmart Shrimp story, when the Facebook page Domestically Dysfunctional posted a photoshopped image of a glowing green toilet with a caption referencing the quote, pulling over 10,000 reactions and 3,500 shares in five days[7]. ## How to Use The format is typically a still of Paul Ritter as Dyatlov paired with the "3.6 roentgens, not great, not terrible" caption, layered over an obviously terrible situation the poster is pretending to shrug off. Common conventions include reaction image macros, GIF replies dropped into chats when someone brushes off real danger, and mashups pairing Dyatlov with other disaster or denial characters like the This Is Fine dog[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible? It is a catchphrase and reaction meme based on a line spoken by character Anatoly Dyatlov in the first episode of HBO's 2019 Chernobyl miniseries, used online to mock understatement in the face of disaster[4]. ### Where did 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible come from? The line aired on May 6, 2019, in the pilot of the HBO Chernobyl miniseries, and the earliest known meme edit was posted to 4chan's /tv/ board on May 8, 2019[1][4]. ### What does 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible mean? In the show, 3.6 roentgen was the maximum reading the dosimeter could display, not the true radiation level, so Dyatlov's "not great, not terrible" reply is a dismissive misread of a catastrophic event[4]. ### How do you use 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible? People typically pair a Paul Ritter Dyatlov still with the caption and drop it over an image of an obviously terrible situation someone is downplaying, from bad gaming setups to real disasters[6][2]. ### Is 36 Roentgen Not Great Not Terrible still popular? Yes, the catchphrase kept getting recycled through 2022 dankmemes posts, a 13,000-upvote r/HistoryMemes edit in February 2025, and a Facebook edit during the August 2025 Radioactive Walmart Shrimp story[5][6][7]. ## References 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_(miniseries)]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ChernobylTV/]() 3. [https://twitter.com/kalebprime]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/36-roentgen-not-great-not-terrible]() 5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/]() 6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/]() 7. [https://www.facebook.com/DomesticallyDysfunctional/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/36-roentgen-not-great-not-terrible Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library