Chernobyl Disaster: Difference between revisions

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(This is getting book-like, isn't it? A good editor might help.)
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Everybody knows about Chernobyl. Everybody knows either one of two things. The accident was caused by gross incompetence. Or the accident was caused by a gross design error. Or the accident was caused by both. Yes, that's three things - but this isn't the Spanish Inquisition.
Everybody knows about Chernobyl. Everybody knows either one of two things. The accident was caused by gross incompetence. Or the accident was caused by a gross design error. Or the accident was caused by both. Yes, that's three things - but this isn't the Spanish Inquisition.


In the intervening decades, reality itself has been distorted by the competing narratives, as stories and villains are created by those with their own vested interests. Whether those interests are selling books, making a mini-series or just not being the final resting place for the big finger of blame.
In the intervening decades, reality itself has been consumed by competing narratives, as stories and villains are created by those with their own vested interests. Whether those interests are selling books, making a mini-series, promoting the safety of nuclear power, hiding the culpability of the system, or just not being the final resting place for the big finger of blame - the result is the same. The Truth, such as it is and what there is of it, is unrecogniseable from the fiction.


This is one possible narrative. There are no villains in Chernobyl. There are just people who went to work one evening, working as the system required of them, and the reactor, working as physics required of it.
The truth then, is complicated.


To figure out why an RBMK reactor can explode, first we have to understand how an RBMK reactor works. It's not actually that complicated. A uranium atom splits - small particles called neutrons fly out from the atomic shrapnel and they each find another uranium atom. When they collide with it, they break it apart too, letting more neutrons find more Uranium atoms to break in a chain reaction. Out of each split we get energy. Once split, the fragments snap apart as the energy holding them together is released - like cutting an elastic band. These fragments explode away, run into the atoms next to them at high speed and all that speed is turned into heat. Heat is used to boil water. This steam turns a turbine. This turbine turns an electric generator and, eventually you get electric power out of it.
To figure out why an RBMK reactor can explode, first we have to understand how an RBMK reactor works. It's not actually that complicated. A uranium atom splits - small particles called neutrons fly out from the atomic shrapnel and they each find another uranium atom. When they collide with it, they break it apart too, letting more neutrons find more Uranium atoms to break in a chain reaction. Out of each split we get energy. Once split, the fragments snap apart as the energy holding them together is released - like cutting an elastic band. These fragments explode away, run into the atoms next to them at high speed and all that speed is turned into heat. Heat is used to boil water. This steam turns a turbine. This turbine turns an electric generator and, eventually you get electric power out of it.
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This test is important enough that Deputy-Chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov chooses to supervise it personally. Dyatlov was not well liked - by all accounts he was an abrasive man and very strict about professionalism. He had friends outside work - those who had come with him from his previous posting - but not many.
This test is important enough that Deputy-Chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov chooses to supervise it personally. Dyatlov was not well liked - by all accounts he was an abrasive man and very strict about professionalism. He had friends outside work - those who had come with him from his previous posting - but not many.


He was a man who dedicated himself to his work by day - and at night indulged in Soviet culture and art. He was the son of a Siberian river lamplighter, who now lit the lamps across all of Ukraine. He was feared for his harsh treatment of his subordinates - regularly dressing-down those who found themselves beneath his gaze.. He was respected for his knowledge and experience - knowing every micrometre of the reactor and every corner of its workings.
He was a man who dedicated himself to his work by day - and at night indulged in Soviet culture and art. He was the son of a Siberian river lamplighter, who now lit the lamps across all of Ukraine. He had worked with reactors for the Soviet Navy, he was the victim of an unreported accident - receiving nearly 200 rads. His son had died shortly afterwards.

He was feared for his harsh treatment of his subordinates - regularly dressing-down those who found themselves beneath his gaze. He was respected for his knowledge and experience - knowing every micrometre of the reactor and every corner of its workings.


Even he found somthing deeply unknowable about the core of Reactor 4.
Even he found somthing deeply unknowable about the core of Reactor 4.
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At 1:40:03, Dyatlov orders the test be begun.
At 1:40:03, Dyatlov orders the test be begun.


Kirchenbaum closes the throttle valve to the turbine. The turbine begins to coast. The generator is disconnected and switched over to directly supply half of the cooling pumps. For safety reasons, half of the pumps are left running at full power using grid electricity. Normally, the reactor would have shut itself down as soon as the throttle valve closed. But the automatic shutdown has been disabled. The reactor continues to operate at 200MW of power.
The datalogger is turned on. Kirchenbaum closes the throttle valve to the turbine. The turbine begins to coast. The generator is disconnected and switched over to directly supply half of the cooling pumps. For safety reasons, half of the pumps are left running at full power using grid electricity. Normally, the reactor would have shut itself down as soon as the throttle valve closed. But the automatic shutdown has been disabled. The reactor continues to operate at 200MW of power.


As the generator slows, so do the pumps. Less and less water moves through the reactor. More and more steam is generated. The positive void coefficient begins to take effect The reactor control system automatically compensates for this using the few rods it still has. Power level remains constant throughout the test.
As the generator slows, so do the pumps. Less and less water moves through the reactor. More and more steam is generated. The positive void coefficient begins to take effect The reactor control system automatically compensates for this using the few rods it still has. Power level remains constant throughout the test.
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For forty seconds, everything proceeds as normal. Everything looks normal.
For forty seconds, everything proceeds as normal. Everything looks normal.


The test is on the way to being succesful succesful. The stalling generator is able to maintain the pumps for long enough for the diesel generators to start.
The test is succesful. The stalling generator is able to maintain the pumps for long enough for the diesel generators to start.


There is no moment of forboding. There is no sense of impending doom.
There is no moment of forboding. There is no sense of impending doom.


With the test almost completed, Akimov calmly instructructs Toptunov to smother the reactor. There is a button on the reactor operator's control panel, hidden behind a wax-sealed guard labelled AZ-5. AZ-5, in this case, being translated as Emergency Protection System 5. It is one of a number of emergency power reduction modes and shutdown modes available to the reactor engineer. This button immediately forces all control rods to be inserted into the reactor at once to shut the reactor down as fast as possible.
With the test completed, Akimov calmly instructructs Toptunov to smother the reactor. There is a button on the reactor operator's control panel, hidden behind a wax-sealed guard labelled AZ-5. AZ-5, in this case, being translated as Emergency Protection System 5. It is one of a number of emergency power reduction and shutdown modes available to the reactor engineer. This button immediately forces all control rods to be inserted into the reactor at once to shut the reactor down as fast as possible.


This should terminate the reaction.
This should terminate the reaction.
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At 1:23:40, Toptunov puts his finger on the button and holds it. It has to be held in place, or else the rods will stop moving.
At 1:23:40, Toptunov puts his finger on the button and holds it. It has to be held in place, or else the rods will stop moving.


The control rods begin to move into the reactor core, sliding down their channels. The graphite displacers push forward, pushing water out of the reactor ahead of them. This water, which aborbs neutrons, is replaced by graphite, which moderates neutrons. Reactivity is added to the bottom of reactor, even as it is being removed from the top.
The control rods begin to move into the reactor core, sliding down their channels. The can move at a speed of 0.5 metres per second. It will take thirteen to fourteen seconds for the control rods to move the full height of the reactor.

The graphite displacers push forward, pushing water out of the reactor ahead of them. This water, which aborbs neutrons, is replaced by graphite, which moderates neutrons. Reactivity is added to the bottom of reactor, even as it is being removed from the top.


If multiple control rods are moving together, enough reactivity could be added to momentarily cause an overall increase in power.
If multiple control rods are moving together, enough reactivity could be added to momentarily cause an overall increase in power.
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This is not what happens.
This is not what happens.


For the first second, power drops as it should. The boron shaft of the control-rods proper enteres the top core. The reaction at the top of the core is quenched. The control rods can move at a speed of 0.5 metres per second. It takes thirteen to fourteen seconds for the control rods to move the full height of the reactor.
For the first second, power drops as it should. The boron shaft of the control-rod proper enteres the top of the core. The reaction at the top of the core is quenched. The loss of power from the top of the reactor, counterbalances the increase from the bottom.

This changes in a moment.


Power begins to rise - it rises far faster than it should. Steam forms. Reactivity increases. Heat increases. More steam forms. The control rods keep moving. The control room is filled a sound not unlike the moan of a massive engine coasting downhill, resonating through the entire structure of the building.
Power begins to rise - it rises far faster than it should. Steam forms. Reactivity increases. Heat increases. More steam forms. The control rods keep moving. The control room is filled a sound not unlike the moan of a massive engine coasting downhill, resonating through the entire structure of the building. Whatever is happening in the reactor hall is not seen by human eyes. Anyone in a position to see the lid of the reactor, would not have had time to leave the room.


The rate of increase in power triggers an alarm on Toptunov's panel. The power level has jumped to 500MW
The rate of increase in power triggers an alarm on Toptunov's panel. Three seconds after AZ-5 has been pushed, the power level has doubled to 500MW


The time is 1:23:43.
The time is 1:23:43.


The control rods have travelled less than two meters. The graphite displacer tips are situated in the bottom of the core.
The control rods have travelled less than two meters. The graphite displacer tips are situated in the bottom of the core. There is no more water in the bottom of the control rods channels.


In a small section of the core - either through a unique combination of fresher fuel, an imbalance in the control rods, or slightly less poisoning, or a large steam void - the reactivity added by the control rod tips passes that one dollar mark for one brief instant. It becomes Prompt Critical. Instead of taking seconds or minutes to increase, the reaction is now only limited by the time it takes for each neutron to find the next atom.
In a small section of the core - either through a unique combination of fresher fuel, an imbalance in the control rods, or slightly less poisoning, or a large steam void - the reactivity added by the control rod tips passes that one dollar mark for one brief instant. It becomes Prompt Critical. Instead of taking seconds or minutes to increase, the reaction is now only limited by the few microseconds it takes for each neutron to find the next atom.


In one moment, the reactor power is 500 Megawatts. The next, it exceeds 22000MW - eight times it's normal operating limit. It is drawn by the datalogger as a vertical line on the graph, running straight off the top. For one brief instant, Chernobyl Reactor 4 has become a nuclear bomb.
In one moment, the reactor power is 500 Megawatts. The next, it exceeds 22000MW - eight times it's normal operating limit. It is drawn by the datalogger as a vertical line on the graph, running straight off the top. Power continues to accelerate. For one brief instant, Chernobyl Reactor 4 has become a nuclear bomb.


What happens next can only be guessed at.
What happens next can only be guessed at.
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For a two more seconds, the coolant pumps continue to run normally, picking up speed. There is still water enough in the remains of the cooling circuit to keep them supplied, even if they are now pumping water into an open reactor pit.
For a two more seconds, the coolant pumps continue to run normally, picking up speed. There is still water enough in the remains of the cooling circuit to keep them supplied, even if they are now pumping water into an open reactor pit.


All of this water pours across superheated steel and graphite. It doesn't even boil - the sheer heat of the graphite cracks it apart, splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, filling the open reactor core. A spark from any one of a hundred broken cables lights this off in one massive explosion - more powerful than the first
All of this water pours across superheated steel and graphite. It doesn't even boil - the sheer heat of the graphite cracks it apart, splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, filling the open reactor core. A spark from any one of a hundred broken cables lights this off in one massive explosion - more powerful than the first.


The second explosion blows the building clean open, collapsing one of the pump rooms, killing technician Valery Khodemchuk instantly. The core of the reactor is ejected skywards, fragments of burning graphite lighting spot fires across the remaining roof of the building. Radioactive fuel rods fall onto the turbine hall below. The remnants of the graphite in the reactor ignite, burning like the devils own barbeque, spewing hot radiation high into the atmosphere.
The second explosion blows the building clean open, collapsing the souther pump room. The core of the reactor is ejected skywards in a fountain of radioactive debris. Fragments of burning graphite light spot fires across the remaining roof of the building. Radioactive fuel rods fall onto the turbine hall below. Finally, the remnants of the graphite in the reactor ignite, burning like the devils own barbeque, spewing hot radiation high into the atmosphere.


The radiation from the reactor core is so powerful, it is ionising the air itself splitting the molecules of the atmosphere apart. A bright laser-beam of blue light reaches like a searchlight to the heavens, marking the birth of a new and terrible Godzilla.
The radiation from the reactor core is so powerful, it is splitting the molecules of the atmosphere apart, ionising the atmosphere. A bright laser-beam of blue light reaches like a searchlight to the heavens, marking the birth of a new and terrible Godzilla.


That is how an RBMK reactor explodes.
That is how an RBMK reactor explodes.
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--
--


Or more simply, the accident was inevitable.
More simply, the accident was inevitable.


"The Operating Procedures permitted operating conditions similar to those prevailing at Chernobyl Unit 4 on 26 April 1986 and they might have occurred without any intervention on the part of the personnel. We only need to assume a perfectly possible situation in which triggering of EPS-3 occurswhen the reactor is operating initially at rated power with an ORM of26 manual control rods. Under these conditions, approximately one hour after triggering of EPS-3 the ORM could have fallen to less than 15 manual control rods at a reactor power of 200-300 MW(th), and any further action, whether automatic or remote, to shut down the reactor could have led to a similar repetition of the events of 26 April 1986." - [https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub913e_web.pdf INSAG 7 The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1]
"The Operating Procedures permitted operating conditions similar to those prevailing at Chernobyl Unit 4 on 26 April 1986 and they might have occurred without any intervention on the part of the personnel. We only need to assume a perfectly possible situation in which triggering of EPS-3 occurswhen the reactor is operating initially at rated power with an ORM of26 manual control rods. Under these conditions, approximately one hour after triggering of EPS-3 the ORM could have fallen to less than 15 manual control rods at a reactor power of 200-300 MW(th), and any further action, whether automatic or remote, to shut down the reactor could have led to a similar repetition of the events of 26 April 1986." - [https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub913e_web.pdf INSAG 7 The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1]
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== The Crucial First Moments After the Explosion ==
== The Crucial First Moments After the Explosion ==


At a guard post opposite reactor four, Yekaterina Ivanenko of the Pripyat city police department witnesses the explosion. She remains at her post for the entire night, until overcome by radiation. She will die within a month.
⚫
The explosion is logged as two sharp shocks in the reactor 4 logbook.


Petr Tolsiakatov is fishing in the reactor cooling ponds. The warm water always atttracts the biggest fish. He stays all night to watch the fire. Fortunately, the wind is blowing away from him.
⚫
In the control room of Reactor 4, there is no 'Core Exploded' light. There is no information at all. Power has been lost. Indicators for the control rods show they've stopped less than a third of the way into the reactor. The indicators have frozen at the moment of explosion. There is no way for the men in control room four to know that the control rods have been torn free of the remnants of the reactor. Naturally, the reactor has to be intact. It's out of control. It has to be recovered to prevent a catastrophe.

Klavdia Luzganova of the Pripyat City police stands guard over the half-finished spent fuel building. She remains at her post all night, less than 200 metres from the burning reactor. She will succumb to radiation sickness on the final day of July.

A mobile laboratory is parked inside the turbine hall. The two men inside are employees of the turbine manufacturer, monitoring the turbine for unwanted vibrations. Graphite and burning nuclear fuel rain down upon them. Georgi Popov, and Volodomyr Savenkov will be fatally irradiated as they try to understand what has happened, and do their best to help.

At the moment of the explosion, Valery Khodemchuk is in the pump room. He will never leave. In room 604, Vladimir Shashenok is monitoring the reactor and steam turbine, conducting tests on the turbine itself. A pressure wave from the reactor ruptures every guage and manometer, flooding the monitoring room with superheated steam and shards of broken glass. He will not regain consciousness.

In a small control room close to the reactor hall Antaloy Kurguz is attending to his duties, and those of his colleague Oleg Genrikh - who is napping in a windowless room nearby. There are three open doors between him and Reactor 4. Before he can close the door, superheated steam floods the room, severely burning him. His actions save his colleague Oleg from the same fate. Both men make their way out of the ruins. Anatoly Kurguz will succumb to his injuries within three weeks.

Inside the de-arator corridor outside the control room, Reactor section foreman Valeri Perevozchenko witnesses debris rain down from the destruction of Reactor 4. He runs to the control room.

⚫
The explosion is dutifuly logged as two sharp shocks in the reactor 4 logbook by Dyatlov.

⚫
In the control room of Reactor 4, there is no 'Core Exploded' light. There is no information at all. There is only chaos, and a thousand indicator lights flashing in unison, reporting failures of systems that are no longer present. Indicators for the control rods show they've stopped less than a third of the way into the reactor. The indicators have frozen at the moment of explosion. There is no way for the men in control room four to know that the control rods have been torn free of the remnants of the reactor. Naturally, the reactor has to be intact. It's out of control. It has to be recovered to prevent a catastrophe.


This is what the men in room start doing.
This is what the men in room start doing.
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The first communication from outside the room is a call from the Turbine Hall. The building's on fire. Chernobyl's own military fire brigade start moving immediately. The call goes from them, to Pripyat, and then to surrounding areas. It is not clear quite how bad the fire is - only that there's been some form of explosion between the third and fourth blocks.
The first communication from outside the room is a call from the Turbine Hall. The building's on fire. Chernobyl's own military fire brigade start moving immediately. The call goes from them, to Pripyat, and then to surrounding areas. It is not clear quite how bad the fire is - only that there's been some form of explosion between the third and fourth blocks.


Nobody understands that it's the reactor itself that has exploded. Nobody thinks they're being asked to put out an open reactor fire. It takes moments for the station's own firefighters to arrive. Some have no idea what they're facing. Others don't expect to survive the night. The air around them tastes of metal, the taste of radiation itself.
Nobody understands that it's the reactor itself that has exploded. Nobody thinks they're being asked to put out an open reactor fire. It takes moments for the station's own firefighters to arrive. Some have no idea what they're facing. Others, recognising that they are working amongst things that look suspiciously like fuel channels, don't expect to survive the night. The air around them tastes of metal, the taste of radiation itself.


They get about doing what they do best - putting the fire out.
They get about doing what they do best - putting the fire out. Within two hours, nearly two hundred firefighters from the surrounding area will be tackling the fire.


In the control room, more reports of damage come in from around the building.
In the control room, more reports of damage come in from around the building.
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A higher ranged meter is locked away in a safe where the ordinary workers can't get at it.
A higher ranged meter is locked away in a safe where the ordinary workers can't get at it.


Elsewhere in Unit 04, Aleksandr Yuvchenko is in his office at the moment of the explosion. He crawls from the rubble, clawing his way forward through milky-white clouds of steam. He meets Yuri Tregub coming from the control room, and sets about making his way to the pump room. On their way they meet Viktor Degtyarenko who has been half scalded by steam. Viktor asks them to search for Valery Khodemchuk in the pump room.
Elsewhere in Unit 04, Aleksandr Yuvchenko is in his office at the moment of the explosion. He crawls from the rubble, clawing his way forward through milky-white clouds of steam. He meets Yuri Tregub coming from the control room, and thye set about making their way to the pump room. On their way they meet Viktor Degtyarenko who has been half scalded by steam - but still insists he's OK. Viktor asks them to search for Valery Khodemchuk in the pump room.


Aleksandr enters the pump room to find nothing but rubble and stars. Above him, he can see the blue laser glow from the reactor. It is immediately obvious that something dreadful has happened - far more than a water hammer or hydraulic blast.
Aleksandr enters the pump room to find nothing but rubble and stars. Above him, he can see the blue laser glow from the reactor. It is immediately obvious that something dreadful has happened - far more than a water hammer or hydraulic blast. He is saved from certain death by Yuri Tregub.


They both return to the building, where they meet Valery Perevoschenko, Aleksandr Kudryavtsev and Viktor Proskuryakov. Yuvchenko goes with the three to the reactor hall. A strong man - he agrees to hold the damaged door open while Perevoschenko, Kudryatsev and Proskuryakov crawl through the doorway, dissapearring into dense clouds of smoke and dust.
They both return to the building, where they meet Valery Perevoschenko, Aleksandr Kudryavtsev and Viktor Proskuryakov - in their way to the reactor hall. Aleksandr informs them that there is no reactor anymore - nevertheless, they insist. They have a job to do, and things may look different from above the reactor. Yuvchenko goes with the three to the reactor hall. One entrance is blocked, and the lift that his normally used has collapsed. One door remains. A strong man - he agrees to hold the damaged door open while Perevoschenko, Kudryatsev and Proskuryakov crawl through the doorway. Three men dissapearr into dense clouds of smoke and dust.


Little do they know, they are breathing pulverised graphite and reactor fuel.
Little do they know, they are breathing pulverised graphite and reactor fuel.
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Somewhere beyond, lurking in the rubble, is the maw of hell itself. Graphite in the core burns a hot red beneath the tangled gorgon's hair of broken control rods and fuel channels torn free from the reactor. The spent fuel pools have been filled with graphite thrown from the reactor which is glowing like a demonic barbecue. Radiation levels are unimaginable. The very air itself is being chemically torn apart by force of radiative energy.
Somewhere beyond, lurking in the rubble, is the maw of hell itself. Graphite in the core burns a hot red beneath the tangled gorgon's hair of broken control rods and fuel channels torn free from the reactor. The spent fuel pools have been filled with graphite thrown from the reactor which is glowing like a demonic barbecue. Radiation levels are unimaginable. The very air itself is being chemically torn apart by force of radiative energy.


The two men return after a few moments.
The three men return to Aleksandr Yuvchenko after a few moments.


Yuvchenko tries to clamber through the door, to see what they saw with his own eyes.
Yuvchenko asks what they saw. He's told there's nothing there. Yuvchenko insists on taking a look, Kudryatsev and Proskuryakov insiste there's nothing there to see. Both men save his life.


Perovoschenko insists. There is nothing there to see.
⚫
Yuvchenko, who held the door, would receive radiation burns to his body from the dust on the door. He survives until 2008. Viktor Degtyarenko, Valery Perevoschenko, Aleksandr Kudryatsev and Viktor Proskuryakov will die within a month. Kudryatsev and Proskurakov suffer radiation burns to 90% of their bodies. Valery Khodemchuk is still entombed beneath the rubble of the pump room, having never been found.


⚫
Aleksandr Yuvchenko, who held the door, would receive radiation burns to his body from the dust on the door itself. He will spend a year in hospital. and will survive until 2008. Viktor Degtyarenko, Valery Perevoschenko, Aleksandr Kudryatsev and Viktor Proskuryakov will die within a month. Proskurakov's hand, where he shone his torch around a corner into the reactor hall proper, is severely burned by radiation.
⚫
In the turbine hall,Reactor debris - broken fuel channels and pieces of hot nuclear fuel, have fallen onto the machinery. A single piece of reactor fuel has lodged on a transformer beside a turbine. It is radiating at at least Ten Thousand Roentgen an hour - a lethal dose in less than a minute. Still, engineers work to keep the fires from causing an even bigger disaster. The turbine is lubricated by tons of flammable oil. The generator is cooled by hydrogen gas. The release of either of these could make a terrible situation far worse. A fire spreading inside the turbine hall could threaten the other three reactors.

⚫
In the turbine hall, reactor debris - broken fuel channels and pieces of hot nuclear fuel, have fallen onto the machinery. A single piece of hot reactor fuel has lodged on a transformer beside beside turbine 7. It is radiating at at least Ten Thousand Roentgen an hour - a lethal dose to a human being in less than a minute. Still, engineers work to keep the fires from causing an even bigger disaster. The turbines are lubricated by tons of flammable oil. The generators are cooled by hydrogen gas. The release of either of these could make a terrible situation far worse. A fire spreading inside the turbine hall could threaten the other three reactors and their safety systems.


The turbine workers slog through water contaminated by reactor debris to shut down the turbines. They are lethally irradiated. Viktor Lopatyuk, Vyacheslav Brazhnik, Anatoly Baranov, Aleksandr Lelechenko, Oleksandr Novyk and Kostyantyn H. Perchuk will die within a month.
The turbine workers slog through water contaminated by reactor debris to shut down the turbines. They are lethally irradiated. Viktor Lopatyuk, Vyacheslav Brazhnik, Anatoly Baranov, Aleksandr Lelechenko, Oleksandr Novyk and Kostyantyn H. Perchuk will die within a month.


Outside, Firefighters clamber over chunks of reactor and graphite so radioactive they are glowing. They climb the rubble pile that is the pump room, making their way to the roof of the building above the reactor.
Outside, Firefighters clamber over chunks of reactor fuel and graphite so hot and radioactive they are glowing. They climb the rubble pile that is the pump room, making their way to the roof of the building above the reactor, tackling the burning fragments of the core itself.


Major Leonid Telyatnikov - head of Chernobyl's own firefighting unit - will survive until 2004 despite climbing to the roof of the building multiple times. He is listed as an official casualty of the disaster nevertheless. Most of those who went onto the roof will die within two weeks. These are Vasily Ignatenko, Viktor Kibenok, Vladimir Pravik, Vladimir Tishura, Nikolai Titenok and Nikolai Vashchuk.
Major Leonid Telyatnikov - head of Chernobyl's own firefighting unit - will survive until 2004 despite climbing to the roof of the building multiple times. He is listed as an official casualty of the disaster nevertheless. Most of those who went onto the roof will die within two weeks. These are Vasily Ignatenko, Viktor Kibenok, Vladimir Pravik, Vladimir Tishura, Nikolai Titenok and Nikolai Vashchuk.


The majority of the firefighters live to tell their story. Including a truck driver who managed to pick up a chunk of irradiated graphite wondering what the fuck it was.
The majority of firefighters live to tell their story. Including one truck driver who managed to pick up a chunk of irradiated graphite wondering what the fuck it was.


By 5am, the fires are under control.
By 5am, the fires are under control.
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Nuclear reactors do not explode.
Nuclear reactors do not explode.


Akimov orders an engineer to manually open the emergency cooling system valves which had been closed prior to the test - this will take hours. He then leads Leonid Toptunov to the ruined feedwater rooms near to the reactor core. They wade through water contaminated with dust from fuel and shattered graphite, spending hours beneath the core manually opening valves to try and flood water into the reactor they still believe to be intact. This is, in fact, futile. Any water which makes it to the reactor is instantly vapourised, fuelling the fire.
Akimov orders an engineer to manually open the emergency cooling system valves which had been closed prior to the test - this will take hours. He then leads Leonid Toptunov to the ruined feedwater rooms near to the reactor core. They wade through water contaminated with dust from fuel and shattered graphite, spending hours beneath the core manually opening valves to try and flood water into the reactor they still believe to be intact. This is, in fact, futile. Any water which makes it to the reactor is instantly vapourised, only serving to fuel the fire. The rest, floods the galleries beneath the reactor.


Ivan Orlov, Leonid Toptunov and Aleksandr Akimov will die within three weeks. Akimov is so irradiated, the skin on his legs detaches like a loose sock while he is in hospital. To his final day, he insists he has made no mistakes.
Ivan Orlov, Leonid Toptunov and Aleksandr Akimov will die within three weeks. Akimov is so irradiated, the skin on his legs detaches like a loose sock while he is in hospital. To his final day, he insists he has made no mistakes.


Dyatlov tours the station perimeter with Tregub, surveying the ruins. It's clear that something catastrophic has happened - far more catastrophic that a burst steam line or an explosion in the de-aerators. Tregub compares what they are witnessing to Hiroshima. Dyatlov admits that not even is his nightmares could he have imagined. The facade that the reactor is intact begins to crack, but it is not yet broken.
Dyatlov tours the station perimeter with Tregub, surveying the ruins. It's clear that something catastrophic has happened - far more catastrophic that a burst steam line or an explosion in the de-aerators. Tregub compares what they are witnessing to Hiroshima. Dyatlov admits that not even is his nightmares could he have imagined something like this. The facade that the reactor is intact begins to crack, but it is not yet broken.


Station Director Bryukhanov is woken by the one phone call no director wants to receive. His personal driver brings him to the burning station, along with Chief-Engineer Fomin. Deep below ground in the station civil defense bunker. the do not understand that the reactor has been destroyed, Dyatlov and Tregub report to the bunker, detailing their findings. Bryukhanov and Fomin need confirmation.
Station Director Bryukhanov is woken by the one phone call no director wants to receive. His personal driver brings him to the burning station, along with Chief-Engineer Fomin. Already, he knows he's going to prison, but he sets about trying to save the situation anyway. Deep below ground in the cocooning station civil defense bunker. they do not understand that the reactor has been destroyed, Dyatlov and Tregub report to the bunker, detailing their findings.


Nuclear reactors do not explode. Something else must've happened.
Nuclear reactors do not explode. Something else must've happened. Bryukhanov and Fomin need confirmation.


Dyatlov is overcome by radiation before he can provide it. He will survive until 1995. He lives long enough to write a book explaining his side of events.
Dyatlov is overcome by radiation before he can provide it. He will survive until 1995. He lives long enough to write a book explaining his understanding of events.


Anatoly Sitnikov Deputy Chief Operational Engineer from the now arriving dasyshift - and friend of Dyatlov - is ordered to take the measurements in his place.
Anatoly Sitnikov Deputy Chief Operational Engineer from the now arriving dasyshift - and friend of Dyatlov - is ordered to take the measurements in his place.
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Instead, he peers down into the still burning core itself. In daylight, the full horror is visible.
Instead, he peers down into the still burning core itself. In daylight, the full horror is visible.


The lid is off. The entire graphite stack is burning. The world is facing a catastrophe unlike any other in history. He reports this to his superiors.
The lid is off. The entire graphite stack is burning. A Global nuclear catastrophe is happening in the Soviet Union. He reports this to his superiors.


Anatoly Sitnikov receives 1500 rads - certain death two times over. He will die on the 30th of May. For the entire time that he can speak, he refuses to blame anyone for what happened.
Anatoly Sitnikov receives 1500 rads - certain death two times over. He will die on the 30th of May. For the entire time that he can speak, he refuses to blame anyone for what happened.


[https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/208405 Sometime after mid-day Bryukhanov reports to Moscow 1000uR/sec as the maximum radiation dose in the vicinity of the plant.]
[https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/208405 Sometime after mid-day Bryukhanov reports to Moscow 1000uR/sec as the maximum radiation dose in the vicinity of the plant.]


The reactor continues to burn.
The reactor, unconcerned by, or uninformed of, the requirement to conform to Bryukhanov's report, continues to burn.


== The Initial Post-Disaster Measures ==
== The Initial Post-Disaster Measures ==
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April 26th, 1986 is a beautiful spring morning.
April 26th, 1986 is a beautiful spring morning.


The State Apparatus of the Soviet Union begins to grind into work. It is made of Bureaucrats and Punch-clock officers. It is made of apparatchiks whose sole concern is the desperate maintenance of their own petty fiefdoms in the apparattus. It is made of the true believers doing everything they can to make this new society work.
The State Apparatus of the Soviet Union begins to grind into work. It is made of Bureaucrats and Punch-clock officers. It is made of apparatchiks whose sole concern is the desperate maintenance of their own petty fiefdoms and priviliges in the apparattus. It is made of the true believers doing everything they can to make this new society work.


Sometimes these are the one person.
Sometimes these are the one person.
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Legasov, Scherbina and the Commission make the long journey to Kiev in Ukraine, then on to Pripyat. By the time they arrive, it's late evening and the sun has already begun to set. The sky is burning orange - but above the reactor it has turned a sickly purple.
Legasov, Scherbina and the Commission make the long journey to Kiev in Ukraine, then on to Pripyat. By the time they arrive, it's late evening and the sun has already begun to set. The sky is burning orange - but above the reactor it has turned a sickly purple.


Legasov muses that the big distinguisher between a nuclear power plant and a regular one is that nothing should be coming out of a nuclear power plant.
Legasov muses that the big distinguisher between a nuclear power plant and a regular one is that nothing should be coming out of a nuclear power plant.

The first meeting with the city council does not go well. Requests to evacuate are denied. Boris Scherbina insists that the council is overreacting.


The commission overflies the reactor the next morning. It is immediately clear that, what has happened, involved more than a hydrogen tank explosion. Not only is the entire roof blown off - but it's possible to look straight down into the burning reactor core. Only distance saves the men in the helicopter from the fate of the power plant workers of the night before. Steaming fragments of the reactor are visible. Radiation levels are measured at hideous levels.
The commission overflies the reactor the next morning. It is immediately clear that, what has happened, involved more than a hydrogen tank explosion. Not only is the entire roof blown off - but it's possible to look straight down into the burning reactor core. Only distance saves the men in the helicopter from the fate of the power plant workers of the night before. Steaming fragments of the reactor are visible. Radiation levels are measured at hideous levels.
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