All language subtitles for Chernobyl.S01E02.(NKIRI.COM).srt - eng(2)

You work too hard.

Where is everyone?

They refused to come in.

Why?

It's Saturday.

Why did you come in?

I work too hard.

It's boiling in here.

Eight milliroentgen. A leak?

No.

It would've gone off before.
It's coming from outside.

The Americans?

Iodine-131.

It's not military.
It's uranium decay, U-235.

Reactor fuel?

Ignalina. Maybe, uh,
240 kilometers away.

Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk
with the Institute of Nuclear...

Looking for...

- All right, stay calm.
- Don't tell me to stay calm.

They're at four. It's not them.

Who's the next closest?

It's Chernobyl, but that's not
possible. They're 400 kilometers away.

That's too far
for eight milliroentgen.

They'd have to be split open.

Maybe they know something.

- Iodine.
- Could it be a waste dump?

No.

We'd be seeing other isotopes.

Nuclear test? Uh...

New kind of bomb?

We'd have heard. That's what
half our people work on here.

Something with the space program
like a satellite or...

No one's answering the phone.

Get everyone started on an IV.

We don't have enough.

- All the children, then.
- But we don't have enough!

As many as you can!

- Where's the old man?
- He's set up a burn ward in 16.

What are you doing? What is that?

Milk. It's milk.
Much better than water.

No, no, no. Stop. Stop!

What are you doing?

These are radiation burns!

Their clothes are contaminated!

Help me!

Get it all off.

We're taking it down to the basement.

He was a firefighter from Chernobyl.

Can you stop pushing, please?

We have our orders!

- Disperse!
- Hey, there! Get him!

Why are you
keeping us out here?

Professor Legasov?

Oh, no, not yet.

They're finishing up some other
business. It'll be a few more minutes.

Can I get you some tea?

No, I'm fine. Thank you.

Would you care to read
Deputy Chairman Shcherbina's report

while you're waiting?

Certainly. Thank you.

All right, Professor.
They're ready.

Professor Legasov?

You have my support.

Thank you all
for your duty to this commission.

We will begin with
Deputy Chairman Shcherbina's briefing,

and then, we will discuss
next steps if necessary.

Thank you,
comrade General Secretary.

I'm pleased to report that
the situation in Chernobyl is stable.

Military and civilian patrols
have secured the region,

and Colonel General Pikalov,

who commands troops specializing
in chemical hazards,

has been dispatched to the plant.

In terms of radiation,

plant director Bryukhanov
reports no more than 3.6 roentgen.

I'm told it's the equivalent
of a chest X-ray.

So if you're overdue for a check-up...

- And foreign press?
- Totally unaware.

KGB First Deputy Chairman
Charkov assures me

that we have successfully
protected our security interests.

Good. Very good.

Well, it seems like
it's well in hand, so...

If there's nothing else,
meeting adjourned.

No!

Pardon me?

Uh, we can't adjourn.

This is Professor Legasov
of the Kurchatov Institute.

Professor, if you have any concerns,

feel free to address them
with me later.

I can't. I am sorry. I'm so sorry.

Page three, the section on casualties.
Uh...

"A fireman was severely
burned on his hand

"by a chunk of smooth, black mineral

"on the ground,
outside the reactor building."

Smooth, black mineral, graphite.

There's graphite on the ground.

Well, there was a tank explosion.
There's debris.

Of what importance that could be...

There's only one place in the entire
facility where you will find graphite.

Inside the core.

If there's graphite
on the ground outside,

it means it wasn't
a control system tank that exploded.

It was the reactor core. It's open!

Um...

Comrade Shcherbina?

Comrade General Secretary,
I can assure you

that Professor Legasov is mistaken.

Bryukhanov reports that
the reactor core is intact.

- And as for the radiation...
- Yes, 3.6 roentgen,

which, by the way, is not
the equivalent of one chest X-ray,

but rather 400 chest X-rays.

That number's been bothering me
for a different reason, though.

It's also the maximum reading
on low-limit dosimeters.

They gave us the number they had.

I think the true number
is much, much higher.

If I'm right, this fireman
was holding the equivalent

of four million chest X-rays
in his hand.

Professor Legasov, there's no place
for alarmist hysteria...

It's not alarmist if it's a fact!

Well, I don't hear any facts at all.

All I hear is a man I don't know

engaging in conjecture
in direct contradiction

to what has been reported
by party officials.

I'm, uh... I apologize.

I didn't mean, uh...

Please, may I express my concern

as calmly and as respectfully as I...

- Professor Legasov...
- Boris.

I will allow it.

Um...

An RBMK reactor

uses uranium-235 as fuel.

Every atom of U-235 is like a bullet

traveling at nearly
the speed of light,

penetrating everything in its path,

woods, metal, concrete, flesh.

Every gram of U-235 holds

over a billion trillion
of these bullets.

That's in one gram.

Now, Chernobyl holds
over three million grams,

and right now, it is on fire.

Winds will carry radioactive particles
across the entire continent,

rain will bring them down on us.

That's three million
billion trillion bullets

in the...
In the air we breathe,

the water we drink, the food we eat.

Most of these bullets
will not stop firing for 100 years.

Some of them, not for 50,000 years.

Yes, and this concern

stems entirely from
the description of a rock?

Yes.

Hmm.

Comrade Shcherbina...

I want you to go to Chernobyl.

You take a look at the reactor,
you personally,

and you report directly back to me.

A wise decision,
comrade General Secretary...

And take Professor Legasov with you.

Uh...

Forgive me, comrade
General Secretary, but I...

Do you know how
a nuclear reactor works?

- No.
- No.

Well, then how will you know
what you're looking at?

Meeting adjourned.

How does a nuclear reactor work?

- What?
- It's a simple question.

It's hardly a simple answer.

Of course, you presume
I'm too stupid to understand.

So I'll restate.
Tell me how a nuclear reactor works,

or I'll have one of these soldiers
throw you out of the helicopter.

A nuclear reactor makes
electricity with steam.

The steam turns a turbine
which generates electricity.

Where a typical power plant

makes steam by burning coal,

a nuclear plant...

In a nuclear plant,
we use something called fission.

We take an unstable element
like uranium-235,

which has too many neutrons.

- A neutron is, uh...
- The bullet.

Yes, the bullet.

So, bullets are flying off
of uranium.

Now,

if we put enough uranium atoms
close together,

the bullets from one atom
will eventually strike another atom.

The force of this impact
splits that atom apart,

releasing a tremendous
amount of energy, fission.

- And the graphite?
- Ah... Yes.

The neutrons are actually traveling
so fast, we call this "flux."

It's relatively unlikely
that the uranium atoms

will ever hit one another.

In RBMK reactors, we surround
the fuel rods with graphite

to moderate, slow down,
the neutron flux.

Good.

I know how a nuclear reactor works.

Now I don't need you.

Can you help me?
I need to find my husband.

No. Not now.

- Mikhail!
- Lyudmilla.

Take her.

Take her away from here, please.

Get away from them!
You want to get sick? Go!

Please take her, please take her.

Please take her, please.

Please! Please!

Please take her!

Um...

Excuse me,
I am Vasily Ignatenko's wife.

He's a fireman. Ignatenko.

Ignatenko, Sixth Paramilitary
Fire and Rescue Unit.

I need to find him. Please.

Ignatenko...

He's being transported
by helicopter to Moscow.

Hospital number six.

Why, is he all right? Can I see him?

You want to see him? Go to Moscow.

But they're not letting us leave here.

Tell them Major Burov allows it.

When are they taking him?

Now.

We're approaching the power plant.

What have they done?

Can you see inside?

I don't have to.

Look. That's graphite on the roof.

The whole building's been blown open.

The core's exposed!

I can't see how you can
tell that from here.

For God's sakes. Look at that glow!

That's radiation ionizing the air!

Well, if we can't see, we don't know.

Get us directly over the building!

- Boris...
- Don't use my name!

If we fly directly over an open
reactor, we'll be dead within a week!

Dead!

Sir?

Get us over that building,
or I'll have you shot!

If you fly directly over that core,
I promise you,

by tomorrow morning,
you'll be begging for that bullet.

Perhaps if you came back another day.

Just wonderful.

Deputy Secretary Garanin.

Ulana Khomyuk of the Byelorussian
Institute for Nuclear Energy.

What a pleasure.

- Let me introduce...
- I'm here about Chernobyl.

Such a lovely time.

- Visit again, soon.
- I will. Thank you.

I must tell you,
this is why no one likes scientists.

When we have a disease to cure,
where are they?

In a lab, noses in their books,
and so Grandma dies.

But when there isn't a problem,
they're everywhere, spreading fear.

I know about Chernobyl.

Oh?

I know that the core is either
partially or completely exposed.

- Whatever that means.
- And that if you don't immediately

issue iodine tablets
and then evacuate this city,

hundreds of thousands of people
are going to get cancer,

and God knows how many more will die.

Yes, very good.

There has been
an accident at Chernobyl,

but I've been assured
there is no problem.

I'm telling you that there is.

I prefer my opinion to yours.

I'm a nuclear physicist.

Before you were Deputy Secretary,
you worked in a shoe factory.

Yes, I worked in a shoe factory.

And now, I'm in charge.

"To the workers of the world."

Stable iodine will keep your thyroid
from absorbing radioactive iodine.

Take one a day
for as long as they last.

And go east.

Get as far from Minsk as you can.

It's overkill.

Pikalov's showing off
to make us look bad.

It doesn't matter how it looks.

Shcherbina is a pure bureaucrat,

as stupid as he is pigheaded.

We'll tell him the truth
in the simplest terms possible.

We'll be fine.

Pikalov!

Comrade Shcherbina,
Chief Engineer Fomin,

Colonel General Pikalov and I
are honored at your arrival.

Deeply, deeply honored.

Naturally, we regret
the circumstances of your visit,

but, as you can see,
we are making excellent progress

in containing the damage.

We have begun our own inquiry
into the cause of the accident,

and I have a list of individuals

who we believe are accountable.

Professor Legasov, I understand

you've been saying dangerous things.

Very dangerous things.

Apparently, our reactor core exploded.

Please, tell me how
an RBMK reactor core explodes.

I'm not prepared to explain it
at this time.

As I presumed, he has no answer.

It's disgraceful, really.

To spread disinformation
at a time like this.

Why did I see graphite on the roof?

Graphite is only found in the core,

where it's used as
a neutron flux moderator.

Correct?

Fomin, why did the Deputy Chairman
see graphite on the roof?

Well, that can't be.

Comrade Shcherbina,
my apologies, but graphite...

That's not possible.

Perhaps you saw burnt concrete.

Now there you made a mistake,

because I may not know much
about nuclear reactors,

but I know a lot about concrete.

- Comrade, I assure you...
- I understand.

You think Legasov is wrong?

How shall we prove it?

Our high-range dosimeter just arrived.

We could cover one of our trucks
with lead shielding,

mount the dosimeter on the front.

Have one of your men
get as close to the fire as he can.

Give him every bit
of protection you have.

But understand that even with
lead shielding, it may not be enough.

Then I'll do it myself.

Good.

He's back.

It's not three roentgen.

It's 15,000.

Comrade Shcherbina...

What does that number mean?

It means the core is open.

It means the fire
we're watching with our own eyes

is giving off nearly
twice the radiation

released by the bomb in Hiroshima.

And that's every single hour.

Hour after hour,
20 hours since the explosion,

so 40 bombs' worth by now.

Forty-eight more tomorrow.

And it will not stop.
Not in a week, not in a month.

It will burn and spread its poison

until the entire continent is dead.

Please escort Comrades
Bryukhanov and Fomin

to the local party headquarters.

- Thank you for your service.
- Comrade...

You're excused.

Dyatlov was in charge.

It was Dyatlov!

- Tell me how to put it out.
- We'll use helicopters.

We'll drop water on it
like a forest fire.

No, no, no. You don't understand.
This isn't a fire.

This is a fissioning reactor core
burning at over 2,000 degrees.

The heat will instantly
vaporize the water...

How do we put it out?

You are dealing with something

that has never occurred
on this planet before.

Boron.

Boron and sand.

Well, that'll create problems
of its own,

but I don't see any other way.

Of course, it's going to take
thousands of drops,

because you can't fly the helicopters
directly over the core,

so most of it is going to miss.

- How much sand and boron?
- Well, I can't be...

- For God's sake, roughly!
- Five thousand tons.

And obviously, we're going to need
to evacuate an enormous area...

Never mind that. Focus on the fire.

I am focusing on the fire.

The wind,
it's carrying all that smoke.

All that radiation.

At least evacuate Pripyat.
It's three kilometers away.

- That's my decision to make.
- Then make it.

- I've been told not to.
- Is it or is not your decision?

I'm in charge here!

This will go much easier
if you talk to me

about the things you do understand

and not about the things
you do not understand.

Where are you going?

I'm going to get you
5,000 tons of sand and boron.

There's a hotel.

I'd prefer one of those.

Superstitious?

Moscow?

Are you here because of the fire?

Anything we should be worried about?

No.

We're in position.
Approaching drop.

Clear to proceed.

Copy.
We'll go one by one in rotation.

Remind them about the perimeter.

They cannot fly
directly over the fire.

A minimum of a ten-meter perimeter.

Ten-meter perimeter. Copy.

Lead One, per pre-flight,
maintain minimum ten-meter perimeter.

Copy that.

Forty meters, 35, 30...

No, no, no.

They're too close.

If they can't get over the fire,
how are they supposed...

The wind will have to carry it.

Tell them,
they cannot go over the core.

Lead One is too close.

I repeat, they are too close.

Copy.

Lead One,
you are inside the perimeter.

Did not copy.
Signal's breaking up.

Lead One?

Do you copy?

Lead One, do you copy?

Lead One, come in.

Do you copy, Lead One?

Lead One!

Sir?
What do I tell the others?

Is there any other way, Legasov?

Send the next one in.

Tell them to approach from the west.

Lead Two,
approach from the west.

Kurchatov Institute Laboratory Four.

Marina Gruzinskaya,
it's Ulana Khomyuk from Minsk.

Oh, yes.

How nice of you to phone.
It's been too long.

It has.

I was actually calling
about our friend.

- You know, the one in the country.
- Oh, yes, of course.

I wanted to see how he's doing.
It's so hot there right now.

Yes, it's extremely hot,

but his nephews are flying down,

and they always bring cool weather.

Oh, which nephews?

Simka, who's 14,
and little Boris, who's five.

Well, that's wonderful.

Though children can
make you even hotter

when they're crawling all over you.

Maybe I should visit them.

No, they don't want visitors.

I'm sorry, um,
I have to get back to work.

It's very busy right now. Goodbye.

They're dropping sand
and boron on the fire.

It's what I would do.

Yes, I'm sure it is.

Where are you going?

Chernobyl.

It's been smooth. Twenty drops.

What?

There are 50,000 people
in this city.

Professor Ilyin,
who's also on the commission,

says the radiation isn't
high enough to evacuate.

Ilyin isn't a physicist.

Well, he's a medical doctor.
If he says it's safe, it's safe.

- Not if they stay here.
- We're staying here.

Yes, we are, and we'll be dead
in five years.

I'm sorry, I...

I'm sorry.

Shcherbina.

Thank you.

A nuclear plant in Sweden
has detected radiation

and identified it
as a byproduct of our fuel.

The Americans took satellite photos.

The reactor building,
the smoke, the fire.

The whole world knows.

The wind has been blowing
toward Germany.

They're not letting
children play outside

in Frankfurt.

Want a smoke?

There has been a nuclear
accident in the Soviet Union

and the Soviets
have admitted that it happened.

The Soviet version is this,

One of the atomic reactors

at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Plant
near the city of Kiev was damaged,

and there is speculation in Moscow

that people were injured
and may have died.

The Soviets may have been fairly quick
to acknowledge the accident

because evidence in the form
of mild nuclear radiation

had already reached beyond
the Soviet borders to Scandinavia.

I said turn around.
This is a restricted zone.

I'm from the Byelorussian
Institute for Nuclear Energy.

Do you have permission?

Listen to me, I need to speak
to someone urgently.

Turn around right now,

or I'll arrest you.

If you arrest me, you should take me
to the highest possible authority.

We have to start
a radiological survey.

Sector by sector, on foot,
dosimeters in hand.

Are you all right?

Of course.

Comrades... The guards arrested
this woman at the south checkpoint.

I'd have put her in a cell...

But he thought you should
know that I know.

I know that
your reactor core is exposed.

I know the graphite's on fire,
the fuel is melting,

and you're dropping
sand and boron on it,

which you probably thought was
smart, but you've made a mistake.

Ulana Yuriyvna Khomyuk,
Chief Physicist,

Byelorussian Institute
for Nuclear Energy.

And you are
Valery Alexeyevich Legasov?

Smothering the core
will put the fire out,

but the temperature will
eventually increase...

Believe me,
I'm perfectly aware.

But I estimate at least a month

before it melts through
the lower concrete pad,

- which gives us time...
- No.

You don't have a month.
You have approximately two days.

Yes,

the fuel would take a month

to reach the concrete pad here.

But first...

it's going to burn through
the biological shield here by Tuesday.

And when it does,

it's going to hit these tanks,
bubbler pools, reservoirs...

Reservoirs for the ECS.
I understand your concern,

but I confirmed it
with plant personnel.

- The tanks are nearly empty.
- No, they were nearly empty.

Each of these points here, here,

and here all drain
to the bubbler pools.

I'm guessing that every pipe
in the building ruptured.

And then there are those fire engines
that I saw on the way in.

The fire hoses are still connected.

They've been gushing water
into the structure this whole time.

The tanks are full.

The tanks are full.

From the Council of
Ministers of the USSR.

An accident has occurred
at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station.

One of the nuclear reactors
has been damaged.

Measures are being taken to address
the consequences of the accident.

Victims are receiving assistance.

A government commission
has been formed.

I have 10 minutes,
then I'm back on the phone

apologizing to our friends,

apologizing to our enemies.

Our power comes
from the perception of our power.

Do you understand
the damage this has done?

Do you understand what's at stake?

Boris.

Professor Legasov
will deliver our briefing.

There is some good news.

The air drops are working
to douse the fire.

There's been a reduction
in radionuclide emissions,

but the fire will not be extinguished
for at least another two weeks.

There is also an additional problem.

Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold

simply because it is not on fire.

In fact, the temperature
will likely rise

as a result of the blanket of sand
we've dropped.

The uranium will melt the sand,

creating a kind of lava

which will begin to melt down
through the shield below.

You have made lava?

I anticipated this.

I believed there was time to reinforce
this lower concrete pad

before the lava reached the Earth
and contaminated the groundwater.

But as it turned out, I was
worried about the wrong thing.

Uh...

It was my understanding
that these large water tanks

under the reactor
were essentially empty.

This is Ulana Khomyuk
of the Byelorussian Institute.

Thanks to her insight,
we are now aware

that the tanks are, in fact, full.

Of water.
Why is that a problem, Professor?

When the lava enters these tanks,

it will instantly
superheat and vaporize

approximately 7,000
cubic meters of water,

causing a significant
thermal explosion.

How significant?

We estimate
between two and four megatons.

Everything within
a 30-kilometer radius

will be completely destroyed,

including the three remaining
reactors at Chernobyl.

The entirety of the radioactive
material in all of the cores

will be ejected at force

and dispersed by a massive shock wave,

which will extend

approximately 200 kilometers

and likely be fatal
to the entire population of Kiev

as well as a portion of Minsk.

The release of radiation
will be severe

and will impact

all of Soviet Ukraine,
Latvia, Lithuania,

Byelorussia, as well as Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary,

Romania, and most of East Germany.

What do you mean "impact?"

For much of the area,
a nearly permanent disruption

of the food and water supply,

a steep increase in the rates
of cancer and birth defects.

I don't know how many deaths
there will be, but many.

For Byelorussia and the Ukraine,

"impact" means
completely uninhabitable

for a minimum of 100 years.

There are more than 50 million people

living in Byelorussia and Ukraine.

Sixty, yes.

And how long before this happens?

Approximately 48 to 72 hours.

But we may have a solution.

We can pump the water from the tanks.

Unfortunately, the tanks are
sealed shut by a sluice gate,

and the gate can only be opened

manually from within
the duct system itself.

So, we need to find
three plant workers

who know the facility well enough
to enter the basement,

here, find their way through
all these duct ways,

get to the sluice gate valve here,

and give us the access we need
to pump out the tanks.

Of course, we will need
your permission.

My permission for what?

Uh, the water in these ducts,

the level of
radioactive contamination...

They'll likely be dead in a week.

We're asking for your permission
to kill three men.

Well...

Comrade Legasov,

all victories inevitably
come at a cost.

And open the sluice gate valve, here.

The valve will be difficult
to operate, so we'll need three men

who will need to know
the basement layout.

And, of course, any volunteers
will be rewarded.

A yearly stipend of 400 rubles.

And, uh, for those of you working
in reactors one and two, promotions.

Why are reactors one and
two still operating at all?

My friend was a security guard
that night, and, uh, she's now dying.

And we've all heard about the firemen.

And now you want us to swim
underneath a burning reactor?

Do you even know
how contaminated it is?

I don't have an exact number.

You don't need an exact number
to know if it will kill us.

But you can't even tell us that.

Why should we do this?
For what, 400 rubles?

You'll do it because it must be done.

You'll do it because nobody else can.

And if you don't, millions will die.

If you tell me that's not enough,
I won't believe you.

This is what has always
set our people apart.

A thousand years of sacrifice
in our veins.

And every generation
must know its own suffering.

I spit on the people who did this,

and I curse the price I have to pay.

But I'm making my peace with it,
now you make yours.

And go into that water.

Because it must be done.

Ananenko.

Bezpalov.

Baranov.