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What is the cost of lies?

Who is to blame?

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't look right.

We taste metal.

I think there's graphite on the ground.

You didn't see graphite.

You didn't because it's not there!

We seal off the city. Contain
the spread of misinformation.

Secretary Gorbachev has
appointed a committee

to manage the accident. You're on it.

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You work too hard.

- Where is everyone?
- Oh, 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 En...

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 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 wait?

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-There's graphite on the ground.

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

- Of what importance...?
- 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, uh, 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 the 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!
- Oh my God.

Please take her, please take her.

Please take her, please.

Please! Please!

Please take her!

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.

- Oh. 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.

Oh, 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, if we fly...
- Don't you use my name!

...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.

Pikarov!

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... 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. 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-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...

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.

Ah.

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!

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 is 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.

_

_

_

_

_

_

I have ten 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, um...

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... I don't have an exact number.

You don't need an exact number
to know if it'll 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,

and now you make yours.

And go into that water.

Because it must be done.

Ananenko.

Bezpalov.

Baranov.

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