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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:11,759 SIRENS BLARE 2 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,800 1:23 am... 3 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,760 ...the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is rocked by an explosion. 4 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,319 The nuclear reactor itself is physically destroyed. 5 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:28,040 There is complete shock in the control room. 6 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:36,359 Radiation shoots upwards, 7 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:38,520 creating a purple column of light. 8 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,039 The greatest-ever nuclear accident, 9 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,799 it will have far-reaching consequences that will change 10 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:49,080 the course of history. 11 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,680 But for 48 hours, the world knows nothing. 12 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,040 The Soviet government covers it up... 13 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,280 ...and the locals are locked in a contaminated city. 14 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,839 This is a police state. 15 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,879 The KGB swings into action. 16 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,039 The phone lines are cut and roadblocks erected. 17 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,280 No-one's allowed in or out. 18 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,439 By the time the radioactive winds reach Sweden, 19 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,119 the people in Pripyat still don't know anything about 20 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:23,360 the danger they're in. 21 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,479 This is the untold story of the people living 22 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,080 in the shadow of Chernobyl... 23 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,440 ...the first responders battling the blaze... 24 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:57,679 ...and the forgotten heroes who risked everything 25 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,440 to prevent an even bigger global catastrophe. 26 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,639 Over 48 hours leading up to the evacuation of Pripyat, 27 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:17,999 an unprecedented disaster unfolds, 28 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,360 exposing one of the deadliest cover-ups in history. 29 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,399 They don't know that nothing will be the same ever again. 30 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,400 Their world has changed forever. 31 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,559 The survivors of the Chernobyl disaster 32 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,600 have returned to their former hometown of Pripyat. 33 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,320 Some of them for the first time in 40 years. 34 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,480 Atomgrad comes from the Russian word for 'atomic city'. 35 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,879 {\an8}It is literally that, a city built next or near 36 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,840 {\an8}a nuclear power station. 37 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,759 Pripyat is a town built to house the employees 38 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,360 and the construction workers who work at the plant. 39 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,039 It's a city that owes its life 40 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,840 and death to the Chernobyl nuclear power station. 41 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,719 This ghost town lies at the heart of a vast 42 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,319 radioactive exclusion zone 43 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,320 that covers more than 2,500 square kilometres. 44 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,200 It was once a thriving community of 50,000 people. 45 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,920 But they left under a cloud of deception. 46 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,439 They've returned to tell their own stories 47 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,079 and relive the city's final days 48 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,200 in the wake of the worst nuclear disaster in history... 49 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,720 ...a 48-hour period that truly changed the world. 50 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,039 By late afternoon, people are clocking off for work, 51 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:43,759 getting ready for the weekend. 52 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,479 And it's a big one, it's the weekend before the May Day holiday, 53 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,280 which is a huge deal in the Soviet Union. 54 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,639 Pripyat, it's a kind of exemplary socialist city. 55 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:19,960 Very modern. 56 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,119 Very nicely laid out, with lots of open spaces, 57 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,400 green spaces, parks, playgrounds. 58 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,159 It's surrounded by a very nice countryside, 59 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:35,560 there are lovely woods. 60 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:40,240 There is the River Pripyat. 61 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,039 So the nice surroundings also match 62 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,599 nice facilities in the city. 63 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:21,960 There are two stadiums. 64 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:24,600 There are two swimming pools. 65 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:30,240 So its population can enjoy these kind of gifts of the state. 66 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,679 They are rewarded for the important work that they do 67 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,240 for the nuclear industry. 68 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,039 Chernobyl's construction is part of a Soviet drive 69 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:48,920 to harness nuclear energy... 70 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,359 ...to both meet surging electricity demand 71 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,280 and catch up with the West. 72 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:07,279 Science is the front line of the Cold War 73 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,680 ideological battle between the Soviet Union and the United States. 74 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,919 And nuclear science is the absolute 75 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,400 darling of the Soviet government and Soviet leadership. 76 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,799 Section by section, it was going to be brought online, 77 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:52,959 reactor by reactor, 78 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,479 to start powering Kyiv 79 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,800 and the entire region. 80 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,239 Each reactor can generate 1,000MW of electricity, 81 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,240 which is enough to power more than a million modern homes. 82 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,839 By 1986, Reactor 4 is online, and work 83 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:18,720 is already under way on Reactors 5 and 6. 84 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,079 If the plans are realised, this will become the biggest 85 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:26,840 nuclear complex in the world. 86 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,639 People thought of atomic science 87 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,800 as related to atomic weapons. 88 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,319 And once the Soviet Union 89 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:50,879 had its atomic weapons, there was a need for a rebranding. 90 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:55,040 So the Soviet Union starts to use the term... 91 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,440 ..."the peaceful atom". 92 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:09,279 You can see the dichotomy 93 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,719 in nuclear technology 94 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,599 when you look at one of the tallest buildings in Pripyat, 95 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,839 which talks about, "May the atom be a worker and not a soldier," 96 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,679 and it reflects the enthusiasm 97 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:23,479 for the peaceful applications 98 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,560 of atomic energy. 99 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,599 One of the great cities of the Soviet empire 100 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,399 would soon be fuelled entirely 101 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,800 by peaceful nuclear power. 102 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,079 Senior operator of Reactor 4 103 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,400 Aleksandr Zelentsov is at home preparing for work. 104 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,399 But at 9.00pm, he receives a phone call from his colleague 105 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,360 Valery Khodemchuk, asking to take the night shift. 106 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,240 So Aleksandr will now clock on in the morning. 107 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,759 Piotr, who also had a late shift change, 108 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,040 is enjoying his unexpected night off. 109 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,039 He invites friends back to his apartment 110 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,599 opposite the fire station, where they continue 111 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,680 drinking vodka and Soviet champagne. 112 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:25,919 As Aleksandr's opposite number, 113 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,760 Valery Khodemchuk, prepares for the midnight shift... 114 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,599 ...a call comes into the plant. 115 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,679 A delayed safety test is finally given the go-ahead. 116 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:38,920 It's now nine hours overdue. 117 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,359 The question that this test was supposed to check 118 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,599 or to give answers to was 119 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,600 what if there is an electricity cut, a power failure? 120 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,919 With regard to this specific safety test, 121 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,679 to see if the turbine could freewheel 122 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,599 and provide enough power to the reactor 123 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,359 that it would keep the cooling water circulating 124 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:12,159 for long enough for the emergency generators to start, 125 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:14,600 that's a perfectly reasonable test to do. 126 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,559 They had, however, made three previous attempts 127 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,679 {\an8}to do this test, which had been either unsuccessful 128 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:26,079 {\an8}or inconclusive. 129 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,280 {\an8}So, this was their fourth bite at the cherry. 130 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,119 In charge is a senior manager desperate to finally 131 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:34,840 get the test signed off. 132 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:40,599 Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov 133 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:45,759 sees the promise of promotion ahead. 134 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,120 All he's got to do is run this experiment. 135 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,639 The reactor has now been running at reduced power 136 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:59,040 for most of the day, and a shift change is imminent. 137 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:05,080 Dyatlov decides he will press ahead once the night shift arrives. 138 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,999 The day shift, the A team, 139 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,760 they clock off at the end of the workday on Friday. 140 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,599 The next team that comes on at midnight 141 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,079 has not been prepared at all for what's in store for them. 142 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:24,560 They had not been briefed. 143 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,120 Piloting the reactor is a 25-year-old engineer. 144 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:39,880 He's been in the job for just two months. 145 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,079 Dyatlov is a bully, he's unpleasant. 146 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,720 He's putting these inexperienced staff under pressure. 147 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,159 Without realising, the young engineer mistakenly allows 148 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,639 the computer to bring reactor power down to near zero. 149 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:01,760 WARNING SIRENS WAIL 150 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,159 At 12.30, the power output 151 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,280 from number 4 Reactor is dropping. 152 00:17:12,360 --> 00:17:14,160 There are alarms going off... 153 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,000 ...there are lights flashing. 154 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,399 If you run a reactor like that at low power, 155 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,879 then some of the product of 156 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,639 the nuclear reaction will build up in it, 157 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,079 in particular, a thing called Xenon, 158 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,400 which will, in the jargon, poison the reactor. 159 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:44,999 Dyatlov insists they pull out the graphite control rods 160 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,000 to help speed up the reaction and increase power. 161 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,159 Two of the operators initially refuse, 162 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,160 concerned that the reactor is dangerously unstable. 163 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:02,840 But when Dyatlov threatens them, they back down. 164 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,959 Control rods essentially are the throttle 165 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,239 that try and keep the power steady. 166 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,559 So, you need more power, you pull the control rods out. 167 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,759 And they reach the point where a lot of the control rods 168 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,919 are fully out of the reactor, 169 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,160 and they're still not seeing the power going up. 170 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,879 Eventually, by 1am, 171 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,280 they managed to raise the power to 200MW. 172 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:41,719 It's nowhere near the minimum 720MW stipulated for the test, 173 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,240 but Dyatlov is adamant it's good enough. 174 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:51,360 They cut the power and let the turbines freewheel for 36 seconds. 175 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,559 When they think they've concluded the test, 176 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:08,720 they press this AZ5 button, which shuts the reactor down. 177 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,359 But the readings begin to confuse the scientists. 178 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:15,959 SIRENS WAIL 179 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,039 The reactor starts heating up, 180 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,960 and the reaction starts speeding up. 181 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,399 The men hear a deep thud and are nearly thrown off their feet 182 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,360 as an explosion rocks the building. 183 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,199 Outside the complex, Sergei is still fishing 184 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,240 in the power plant's cooling pond. 185 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,960 He's one of the very few to witness the immediate aftermath. 186 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:49,720 EXPLOSION 187 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,200 A strange purple beam of light illuminates the night sky. 188 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:22,919 SIRENS AND ALARMS BLARE 189 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,039 The scientists in the control room are baffled. 190 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,479 They've hit the emergency shutdown button - 191 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,800 in their minds, the ultimate fail-safe. 192 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,240 Sergei and his colleagues cycle over to take a closer look. 193 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,600 What they see sends shivers down their spines. 194 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,400 CLOCK TICKS 195 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:15,200 THUNDER RUMBLES 196 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,840 At 1.23am on Saturday, the 26th of April 1986... 197 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,679 ...engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine 198 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,920 feel the shudder of two explosions. 199 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:39,119 There is complete shock in the control room. 200 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:41,839 They don't understand - what has just happened? 201 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,599 Is it an earthquake or an enemy attack? 202 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,440 A nuclear war may have started. 203 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,559 They're constantly working 204 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,679 on the premise that a reactor 205 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:54,960 cannot explode. 206 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:02,479 Soviet propaganda, supported by the USSR's top atomic scientists, 207 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,119 has long reinforced the idea that these reactors 208 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,040 are the most reliable in the world. 209 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,160 But the unthinkable has happened. 210 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,959 {\an8}The nuclear reactor itself is physically destroyed, 211 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:19,879 {\an8}so it's broken up. 212 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,560 {\an8}The lid has been blown off. 213 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,839 The temperature in the core approaches a level 214 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,039 similar to the surface of the sun 215 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,720 before blowing the 1,000-tonne lid and the roof clean off. 216 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,959 You've got some extremely radioactive material 217 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,679 which is completely uncontained 218 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:41,920 and on fire. 219 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,560 The fire station in Pripyat is immediately alerted. 220 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:03,800 At 1.28am, the phones start ringing off the hook. 221 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:06,640 PHONE RINGS 222 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:21,799 Men of the third watch look over to see 223 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,600 a mushroom-shaped cloud filling the moonlit sky. 224 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:34,920 With Piotr off duty, his friend Volodymyr Pravik is in charge. 225 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:38,400 SIRENS WAIL 226 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,639 They scramble into the fire trucks and head out. 227 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,400 It's only two minutes by road. 228 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,879 Lieutenant Pravik immediately 229 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,879 radios signal number three, which is the highest alert 230 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,679 which will bring all the fire brigades 231 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,840 in the entire Kyiv region to the power plant. 232 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,119 But he doesn't wait for them to arrive. 233 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:10,200 He and his crew go into this burning inferno without waiting. 234 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,439 And they find soon that they're battling 235 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,959 against something that is quite different. 236 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,240 Their bodies begin to tell them that this is no ordinary fire. 237 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,399 Men begin vomiting, a symptom of radiation sickness. 238 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,479 One of the team goes blind. 239 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,639 Their hands and feet begin to scald 240 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,280 and burn from touching chunks of graphite spat out of the core. 241 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,319 Back in Pripyat, Piotr turns in 242 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,680 after a night of drinking with friends. 243 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,159 Piotr arrives around 2.30am. 244 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,840 He's ordered straight up onto the roof of the complex. 245 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,319 And he goes onto the roof of the Turbine Hall 246 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,879 to stop the spread of the fire to another reactor 247 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,560 in unit number three. 248 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,520 Piotr's colleagues on the roof start feeling seriously ill. 249 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,399 Not yet suffering symptoms himself, 250 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,600 he stays behind and is soon one of the last on the roof. 251 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,079 Senior operator of Reactor 4, Aleksandr Zelentsov 252 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,759 is suddenly awoken by his phone. 253 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,760 He's called to the plant immediately. 254 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,839 His first job is to help fully disconnect 255 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,920 Reactor 4 from Reactor 3. 256 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,359 They share some of the same systems and infrastructure, 257 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:55,040 so it needs to be isolated. 258 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,679 Then, he goes in search of Valery Khodemchuk, 259 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,080 his colleague who had earlier taken his night shift. 260 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,200 But the inside of Unit 4 is a tangled web of destruction. 261 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,959 Unlike the firefighters, Aleksandr is fully aware 262 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,480 that he's potentially receiving a fatal dose of radiation. 263 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,239 There's no sign of Valery Khodemchuk. 264 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,320 His body is never found. 265 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,399 At 4am, senior management gathers in the underground bunker 266 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,640 designed to withstand nuclear attack. 267 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,919 Anatoly Dyatlov, the man in charge of the ill-fated safety test, 268 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:18,759 joins them, weak and retching, 269 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,120 yet still downplaying the incident. 270 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:29,879 Dyatlov tells the senior management that it's all contained - 271 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,959 it's just a hydrogen explosion. 272 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,400 There is no breach in Reactor Number 4. 273 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,640 The bosses are more than happy to pass this on to their superiors. 274 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:52,959 The Soviet Union has got layers and layers of bureaucracy, 275 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:54,960 but there's no real accountability. 276 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,120 Truth isn't important in the Soviet Union. 277 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,439 And the entire Soviet system is designed 278 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,719 so that the Dyatlov's lie 279 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:20,799 is replicated right up the chain of command, all the way 280 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:25,479 to the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 281 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:27,400 Mikhail Gorbachev. 282 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,439 By the time Gorbachev receives the message, 283 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,720 Piotr is one of nearly 200 men bringing the fires under control... 284 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,600 ...but the reactor core continues to burn. 285 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,119 Eventually, Piotr is called down from the roof 286 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,199 and heads to the decontamination showers, 287 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,360 where he sees his father, also a firefighter. 288 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,799 He's waiting for his boy to come out, 289 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:09,399 but it is in the shower that Petrov feels really sick, 290 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,119 and when he comes out, he can barely hear or see. 291 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,160 He only hears his father say to him, "Hold on." 292 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,920 And then he's taken to the hospital. 293 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,079 The hospital has invoked its crisis plan. 294 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,799 They've moved out all the routine patients, 295 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,599 they've opened up as many beds as they can, 296 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:54,079 and they're waiting. 297 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,479 They're waiting for the wave 298 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,600 that is about to hit them. 299 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,039 Radiation destroys cells, 300 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,119 it disrupts connective tissues, 301 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:41,399 and eventually, if doses are really, really acute, in fact, 302 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,639 it damages the central nervous system 303 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:47,600 and essentially renders you unconscious very rapidly. 304 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,040 But at first, it looks like a bad case of sunburn. 305 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,639 With no radiology departments and minimal training, 306 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,120 the hospital staff are initially confounded. 307 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,199 Here in an atomgrad - an atom city - 308 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,919 you'd think they would be prepared to deal with radiation accidents. 309 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,119 But, of course, nobody would admit 310 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,879 that anything could go wrong in a Soviet nuclear power station, 311 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:29,479 so nobody was prepared for the radiation effects on the human body 312 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,400 that came when something did go wrong. 313 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,839 They're treating patients with milk 314 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,919 before they realise these are no ordinary burns 315 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,000 and that their clothes are contaminated. 316 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:50,199 And that's when the nurses realise that this isn't gas poisoning 317 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,079 and they have to treat their patients differently. 318 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:54,919 They make them strip. 319 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,799 They take their clothes away 320 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:58,320 and lock it in a basement. 321 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:17,999 And they begin to administer IV drips, 322 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,279 and this is really the first thing 323 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,400 that begins to help alleviate their symptoms. 324 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,599 More and more patients are flooding in, 325 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,160 straining the hospital's limited resources. 326 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,000 By daybreak, the hospital records its first fatality. 327 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,400 The reactor is still freely spewing radiation into the atmosphere... 328 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,159 WHIRRING 329 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,320 ...as daylight lays bare the true extent of the damage. 330 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,680 The people of Pripyat are only just waking up... 331 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,160 ...to a city that has been completely sealed off from the outside world. 332 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:50,959 The truth about the enormity of the disaster that has just happened 333 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,640 will slowly start to dawn on the Soviet scientists. 334 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:02,039 But instead of alerting the world to the danger, 335 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,720 the Soviet officials will remain silent. 336 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,600 The authorities' first instinct is to try and cover it up. 337 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,320 The KGB swings into action. 338 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:23,559 They cut off all the phone lines to Pripyat and Chernobyl. 339 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:28,799 They close the roads. They don't let anybody leave. 340 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,879 They're worried about spreading panic. 341 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,400 They want to control the flow of information. 342 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,519 Just a few kilometres from the reactor, 343 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,879 the town's 50,000 residents are kept in the dark, 344 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,039 completely oblivious to the radiation 345 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:51,680 filling the air around them. 346 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:19,839 It's a lovely weekend - they go on picnics, 347 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,080 there are children playing in the playground. 348 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,319 There are even weddings going on in the city... 349 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,000 CHURCH BELLS PEAL 350 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,080 ...and no-one tells them anything. 351 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,639 Radiation on the streets of Pripyat 352 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:44,040 is recorded at 25,000 times the normal levels. 353 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,680 By nightfall, it will be 90,000. 354 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:53,119 It's so high, 355 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,999 radiation particles strike the camera sensors, 356 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,800 causing bursts of light and flashes on the film footage. 357 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,919 Those measures are being observed by people, 358 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,800 and that tells people that something very dangerous is going on. 359 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,559 While the authorities keep Pripyat in lockdown, 360 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,239 they're preparing to save Moscow 361 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,320 from Chernobyl's radioactive fallout. 362 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,439 At 4pm, on the 26th of April 1986, 363 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,760 officials gather at the headquarters of the Pripyat Communist Party. 364 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,919 Senior management of the plant finally admits 365 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,280 that Reactor 4 has in fact exploded... 366 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,680 ...and that pumping cooling water through the core is pointless. 367 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,559 Their efforts over the last 12 hours, 368 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,799 which have included several suicide missions, 369 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:21,520 were totally in vain. 370 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,519 Government officials are still pondering 371 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:30,399 whether to evacuate the city, 372 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:32,959 when the head of the military radiation reconnaissance team 373 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:34,320 bursts in. 374 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,519 He's taken readings outside the power plant 375 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,080 100 million times normal levels... 376 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,520 ...enough to kill someone in close proximity within 15 minutes. 377 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,999 Engineers have also picked up another problem - 378 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,079 a significant amount of nuclear fuel 379 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,000 is still burning within the damaged reactor vessel. 380 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,559 Once there is a realisation that 381 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,759 the reactor can and has exploded, 382 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:13,599 there are new dangers that are 383 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:15,719 coming to minds of the scientists 384 00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:17,639 working on the clean-up. 385 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,439 And one danger that becomes very real is 386 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,439 that it will continue to heat up in its core, 387 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,560 and that it will explode... 388 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,719 ...and it could be a kind of explosion that will set off 389 00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:36,159 the neighbouring reactor, in the Unit Number 3, 390 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:37,960 and then possibly the other two. 391 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,959 This could leave large swathes of Europe uninhabitable 392 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:44,960 for thousands of years. 393 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,079 The second problem that they're worried about 394 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,719 is kind of in the opposite direction - 395 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,880 that the reactor will melt, literally... 396 00:41:57,760 --> 00:41:59,239 ...and the radioactive fuel 397 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:02,839 and all the debris will get into the water supply. 398 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,639 From there, they will poison the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, 399 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,559 and finally the oceans. 400 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,600 That, again, would be potentially a global catastrophe. 401 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:18,839 The government commission into the accident finally concedes 402 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,400 that evacuation of the town is necessary. 403 00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:28,919 But it's still 19 hours 404 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,640 until the population is relocated. 405 00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:43,479 At the hospital, authorities prepare to spirit 406 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,800 the worst-affected patients away to Moscow. 407 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,000 Piotr is told to get ready. 408 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:06,039 But of course, the relatives are there - 409 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:07,279 they're besieging the hospital, 410 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:09,240 they want to see their husbands, their sons. 411 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:12,920 And this is where the authorities try a trick. 412 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,559 They're told by the people in charge, 413 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,639 "Go home and start packing a bag," 414 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,400 to get them out of the way. 415 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:27,199 But the time they come back to the hospital, 416 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:28,640 their loved ones have gone. 417 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,559 In total, 26 firefighters and plant workers 418 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,760 are transported to the capital. 419 00:44:39,240 --> 00:44:40,959 But when Piotr is assessed, 420 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,840 one of the doctors is amazed at his condition... 421 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,360 ...and puts it down to the amount of vodka in his system. 422 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,760 Piotr and Pravik are in good spirits, even joking with staff. 423 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:05,079 There's an apparent recovery where people seem to get better, 424 00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:06,639 but, actually, what's happened is 425 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:11,359 there has been long-term damage to key systems in the body, 426 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:15,479 and, actually, your ability just to do the normal 427 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,199 replacing cells has gone. 428 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,439 So people will then deteriorate again 429 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:25,079 after this so-called latent period. 430 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:27,279 {\an8}At that point, you will either recover 431 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:28,880 {\an8}or you will die. 432 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:44,720 It's the last time Piotr will see Pravik alive. 433 00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,359 100km north of Chernobyl, 434 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,679 residents in the countryside of Belarus 435 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:02,920 witness a strange weather phenomenon. 436 00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:08,039 They're looking up at the sky... 437 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:09,559 THUNDER RUMBLES 438 00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,760 ...they're seeing a strange colouration. 439 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,720 It's very dirty, it's black - this is the famous black rains. 440 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,280 People say they saw reddish, purple colours. 441 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:31,759 And they're also seeing aeroplanes flying in the sky. 442 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,960 They're seeing colours coming out from the rear of the aeroplanes. 443 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:41,640 Some have also even reported rockets being fired into the skies. 444 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,439 What they are seeing is the Kremlin's desperate response 445 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,960 to a growing threat against the capital city. 446 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:57,079 Up in the atmosphere, 447 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:01,640 there is lethal, very concentrated radioactivity. 448 00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:06,479 Overnight of the 26th of April 449 00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:10,279 to the 27th, we are getting wind 450 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:13,559 coming from the west to the east, 451 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,600 heading in the direction of Moscow. 452 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,359 The authorities decide to make it rain. 453 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:25,840 They decide that it would rain over Belarus. 454 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:34,919 The Soviet Union had the capability to fly through the clouds, 455 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:38,479 spread the chemicals that would cause the droplets to form, 456 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,279 that would cause the rain to fall out 457 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,480 before it reached Moscow. 458 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:50,719 They'll pull the radioactivity with it, down onto the ground - 459 00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:53,440 that is the process of cloud seeding. 460 00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:02,000 An army of pilots is ordered into the skies over rural Belarus. 461 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,599 That rain affects hundreds of thousands of people - 462 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:14,080 it makes Belarus the worst-affected territory. 463 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:20,599 70% of the Chernobyl nuclear fallout, radioactive fallout, 464 00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:22,560 falls on the territory of Belarus. 465 00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:30,799 Soon, people start flooding local hospitals, 466 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,920 displaying the syndromes of the radiation sickness. 467 00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:40,639 So, this is the poisoning of the entire republic 468 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,199 that will have enormous long-term consequences on people's lives 469 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,240 for generations to come. 470 00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:51,919 But the radioactive cloud 471 00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:53,479 would soon become too big 472 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:55,520 for even the Soviets to control. 473 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:12,999 At midday, on Sunday the 27th of April, 1986, 474 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,880 life continues as normal in Pripyat. 475 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:23,959 By the time the radioactive clouds reach as far as Sweden, 476 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,839 people in Pripyat who are living right next to the plant 477 00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:29,039 still know nothing about what has happened 478 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:31,440 or the danger in which they're in. 479 00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:38,679 We have reports of one person 480 00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:41,279 going up to the roof of his apartment block 481 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,079 and hoping to get a bit of suntan, 482 00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:48,480 and he's taken aback by how quickly the suntan catches. 483 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:55,039 Above them is the sound of helicopters preparing an assault 484 00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:57,280 on Chernobyl's Reactor Number 4. 485 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,359 So, military pilots are charged with the task 486 00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:25,839 of flying over the open reactor 487 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:30,200 and dropping the bags with sand, clay and boron into the opening. 488 00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:36,280 Boron is a very good way of suppressing a nuclear reaction. 489 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:45,480 Dolomite, clay are good for smothering graphite fires. 490 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,359 And also, they put lead in because 491 00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,519 they were trying to reduce the radiation dose 492 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:55,799 coming out of the wrecked reactor 493 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,800 to people who were trying to work in the vicinity. 494 00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:07,039 The liquidation campaign is now under way - 495 00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:09,959 the beginning of a mammoth mobilisation of Soviet resources 496 00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:12,200 that will ramp up in the coming days. 497 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:24,559 In Pripyat, fears over causing panic are finally put aside 498 00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:26,760 for the health of the town's population. 499 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:34,479 1,200 buses and 240 trucks 500 00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,720 are commandeered from Kyiv and the region. 501 00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:46,519 The announcement about the evacuation comes at 1pm, 502 00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:49,880 in the middle of a lovely Sunday afternoon. 503 00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:55,120 This is the last thing people are expecting, really. 504 00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:59,439 It's true, there's been an explosion, 505 00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:02,279 but for 36 hours, 506 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,719 people have been told nothing about the radioactivity, 507 00:52:05,720 --> 00:52:10,440 and so this order to evacuate comes like a bolt from the blue. 508 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:13,559 The people are outside, 509 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:16,159 there are children eating ice cream in the cafeteria, 510 00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,839 and suddenly they're told to leave their homes. 511 00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,320 {\an8}WOMAN OVER LOUDSPEAKER: 512 00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:14,239 They've been told that the evacuation 513 00:53:14,240 --> 00:53:16,799 will only be for three days. 514 00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:21,200 People are told to take only the most-essential items with them. 515 00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:53,040 Thankfully, Volodymyr's mother is given a reprieve. 516 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:11,719 The mood is very calm, very orderly. 517 00:54:11,720 --> 00:54:15,519 People get into the buses and the buses take off - 518 00:54:15,520 --> 00:54:19,720 the operation proceeds pretty much as expected. 519 00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:18,600 By 5pm, the evacuation is officially complete. 520 00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:25,840 Around 45,000 evacuees depart the city... 521 00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:29,120 ...which is left an eerie ghost town. 522 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:45,359 Radioactivity knows no borders, 523 00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:52,679 so the story had crossed over the border from the Soviet Union, 524 00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:56,679 and was about to break internationally, 525 00:55:56,680 --> 00:55:59,000 on Monday the 28th of April. 526 00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:07,719 On the Monday morning, a worker at the Forsmark Power Station in Sweden 527 00:56:07,720 --> 00:56:11,760 actually sets the alarms off on his way into work. 528 00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:16,520 His shoe has picked up fallout from Chernobyl. 529 00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:24,359 They quickly work out where it's coming from, 530 00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:27,200 and the Soviets are forced to admit there has been an accident. 531 00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:32,999 Despite requests from various countries for more information, 532 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:35,800 they refuse to offer up any more detail... 533 00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:40,520 ...but it's soon making headlines across the globe. 534 00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:46,799 Brief and buried report of the biggest nuclear accident in history. 535 00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:48,799 Is one that was clearly addressed 536 00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:52,479 of the lethal effect being two to three miles, and then... 537 00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:55,839 Exactly what caused the Chernobyl nuclear reactor to explode, 538 00:56:55,840 --> 00:56:57,239 we don't yet know. 539 00:56:57,240 --> 00:56:58,799 How many lives will have been lost 540 00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:00,959 as an immediate result of the disaster 541 00:57:00,960 --> 00:57:02,479 will be easier to calculate. 542 00:57:02,480 --> 00:57:04,479 But how many people are doomed eventually 543 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:06,880 to fall victim to Chernobyl, we will never know. 544 00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:13,080 Some of these children will die young. 545 00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:24,799 On the 11th of May, the first control room operator dies, 546 00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:28,320 with his skin charred black and eyes wide open. 547 00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:35,000 Lieutenant Pravik succumbs to his injuries that same day. 548 00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:41,640 It's another week before Piotr finds out. 549 00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:46,119 He's told that all of his colleagues have died. 550 00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:48,559 Their coffins are wrapped in plastic, 551 00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:52,680 welded shut inside zinc boxes, and covered with cement. 552 00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:30,399 In the weeks and months that followed the nuclear accident 553 00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:31,680 at Chernobyl... 554 00:58:33,200 --> 00:58:35,080 ...the clean-up effort gathers pace. 555 00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:42,119 The so-called "liquidators", 556 00:58:42,120 --> 00:58:44,999 which comes from the Russian word for "eliminating", 557 00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:48,039 are eliminating the consequences of the disaster. 558 00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:51,719 So, the number of these people is quite mind-boggling really - 559 00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:53,879 600,000 people and more 560 00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:56,920 are drafted into these missions. 561 00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:02,279 Miners tunnel under the reactor's foundations 562 00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:06,479 to add a protective concrete slab and install a giant heat exchanger 563 00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:08,319 to cool down the molten core 564 00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:10,880 and prevent it melting into the groundwater. 565 00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:25,279 Men are tasked with removing radioactive graphite from the roof, 566 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:28,719 so a sarcophagus can be built over the wreckage. 567 00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:31,639 Nearly 4,000 so-called "bio-robots", 568 00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:33,959 with home-made lead armour for protection, 569 00:59:33,960 --> 00:59:37,879 shovel graphite blocks over the side and into the core. 570 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:42,480 They have 90 seconds, estimated to be a maximum lifetime dose. 571 00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:48,159 A lot of the soldiers sent to decontamination missions 572 00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:50,039 are young boys. 573 00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:53,679 They're draftees, so they're between 18, 20 years of age. 574 00:59:53,680 --> 00:59:55,199 And they have to deal not just 575 00:59:55,200 --> 00:59:57,799 with the physical difficulties of decontamination, 576 00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:00,000 but also with the psychological burdens. 577 01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:06,520 They do it out of a sense of duty... 578 01:00:07,880 --> 01:00:11,279 ...because there is some understanding at this point 579 01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:13,799 that this is needed to save people 580 01:00:13,800 --> 01:00:16,320 or to prevent an even greater disaster. 581 01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:25,960 On the 14th of May, 1986, two and a half weeks after the explosion... 582 01:00:27,880 --> 01:00:30,399 ...Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledges the accident in public 583 01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:32,120 for the first time. 584 01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:00,599 Mikhail Gorbachev has only been running 585 01:01:00,600 --> 01:01:04,519 the Soviet Union for 13 months at this point. 586 01:01:04,520 --> 01:01:07,119 He has been saying that the Soviet Union 587 01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:11,720 needs to have glasnost, openness. 588 01:01:13,280 --> 01:01:18,599 And taking all that time 589 01:01:18,600 --> 01:01:22,719 to even tell a scrap of the truth 590 01:01:22,720 --> 01:01:25,919 demonstrates that there is 591 01:01:25,920 --> 01:01:28,400 no openness in the Soviet Union. 592 01:01:34,800 --> 01:01:37,479 As pressure mounts at home and abroad, 593 01:01:37,480 --> 01:01:40,919 Gorbachev is forced to follow through on his promise of glasnost, 594 01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:44,000 as the Iron Curtain is gradually lifted. 595 01:01:48,760 --> 01:01:52,879 So journalists begin to gain unprecedented access, 596 01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:55,359 for example, to nuclear scientists. 597 01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:58,120 This was an industry shrouded in secrecy... 598 01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:01,799 ...and once those floodgates are open, 599 01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:04,240 it's very difficult to kind of keep shutting them down. 600 01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:10,280 The real cause of the explosion is eventually revealed. 601 01:02:14,480 --> 01:02:17,439 There is a fatal flaw in every Soviet reactor 602 01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:19,479 that none of the scientists at Chernobyl, 603 01:02:19,480 --> 01:02:21,680 on the night of the explosion, were aware of. 604 01:02:25,520 --> 01:02:28,639 The problem is that this SCRAM system - 605 01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,799 this automated safety system that is meant to shut 606 01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:35,159 down the reactor very quickly in cases of emergency - 607 01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:37,480 the problem is that it is deeply flawed. 608 01:02:39,240 --> 01:02:42,519 The control rods, which are made of boron - 609 01:02:42,520 --> 01:02:45,199 the material that does slow down the reaction - 610 01:02:45,200 --> 01:02:49,880 those control rods have the tips that are made of graphite. 611 01:02:51,840 --> 01:02:55,159 So, when the graphite tips are inserted into 612 01:02:55,160 --> 01:02:59,839 the hot reactor to slow down the reaction, they do the opposite - 613 01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:01,200 they speed it up. 614 01:03:03,200 --> 01:03:06,159 So, as the control rods go back into the reactor, 615 01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:09,519 they greatly increase the reactivity, 616 01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:13,320 and that causes an explosion. 617 01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:18,879 Some top officials and atomic scientists 618 01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:22,200 had known about it for years, even decades. 619 01:03:26,400 --> 01:03:32,759 The nature of the Soviet Union - the secrecy, the self-deception - 620 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:38,120 all of this is what causes the disaster in the first place. 621 01:03:42,120 --> 01:03:45,999 I got the chance to ask a question 622 01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,239 to Mikhail Gorbachev in person, 623 01:03:48,240 --> 01:03:50,719 and the question I chose was, 624 01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:54,799 "What was your biggest problem at the time of Chernobyl?" 625 01:03:54,800 --> 01:03:57,639 Mikhail Gorbachev told me that 626 01:03:57,640 --> 01:04:02,080 getting information was his biggest problem. 627 01:04:12,120 --> 01:04:14,559 The Chernobyl disaster also gives a boost 628 01:04:14,560 --> 01:04:17,159 to Ukrainian eco-nationalism 629 01:04:17,160 --> 01:04:21,079 because it becomes a political issue that the Ukrainian intelligentsia 630 01:04:21,080 --> 01:04:24,479 and cultural figures adopt as a national issue. 631 01:04:24,480 --> 01:04:26,800 It becomes a Ukrainian tragedy. 632 01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:34,199 But the refusal of Moscow, again and again, to recognise 633 01:04:34,200 --> 01:04:38,119 the damage done to the health and environment in Ukraine 634 01:04:38,120 --> 01:04:39,919 begins to kind of really strain 635 01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:42,039 the relationship between Kyiv and Moscow. 636 01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,760 INDISTINCT CHATTER 637 01:04:46,840 --> 01:04:49,040 YELLING 638 01:04:56,880 --> 01:05:01,239 As Gorbachev says, the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 639 01:05:01,240 --> 01:05:07,559 was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 640 01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:09,920 MUFFLED YELLING 641 01:05:13,960 --> 01:05:17,680 It helped change the map of the world in a few years. 642 01:05:25,600 --> 01:05:30,399 The consequences of the disaster for the environment are enormous, 643 01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:33,920 and the effects will last for centuries. 644 01:05:37,880 --> 01:05:43,040 This makes it easy sometimes to lose the human dimension of the tragedy. 645 01:05:45,680 --> 01:05:50,399 We are talking about impact on health, which is long-term, 646 01:05:50,400 --> 01:05:53,839 the rise in cancer, and especially cancer in children, 647 01:05:53,840 --> 01:05:56,760 thyroid cancer, all kinds of disabilities. 648 01:06:01,080 --> 01:06:03,759 And I think it's really important to remember the people 649 01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:07,319 who suffered and who sacrificed their lives, their health, 650 01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:10,079 in trying to prevent an even bigger disaster, 651 01:06:10,080 --> 01:06:12,120 an even bigger catastrophe. 652 01:06:25,360 --> 01:06:26,679 Every year, 653 01:06:26,680 --> 01:06:30,039 Ukrainians come together to honour the fallen - 654 01:06:30,040 --> 01:06:31,719 those that died or suffered 655 01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:35,240 at the hands of an unprecedented disaster. 656 01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:48,880 SIGHING 657 01:07:23,040 --> 01:07:25,440 Subtitles by Red Bee Media 54126

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