1 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,540 I hear they might promote Grukhanov. 2 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:42,000 This little problem we have with the safety test, if it's completed 3 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,220 successfully... Yes, I think promotion's very likely. 4 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:49,980 Who knows? Maybe Moscow. 5 00:02:52,820 --> 00:02:56,280 Naturally, they'll put me in charge once he's gone, and then I'll need someone 6 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:57,540 to take my old job. 7 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:01,440 I could pitch Sidnikov. 8 00:03:10,860 --> 00:03:12,260 I would like to be considered. 9 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,240 I'll keep that in mind. 10 00:03:21,620 --> 00:03:23,360 Preparations for the test have gone smoothly. 11 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,600 Comrade Dyatlov's been working per my instructions, and reactor core output's 12 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,520 been reduced to 1 ,600 megawatts. 13 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,440 With your approval, we're ready to continue lowering power to... You have 14 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:36,440 wait. 15 00:03:37,780 --> 00:03:38,940 It, uh... 16 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,400 Are you going to ask me if there's a problem, Nikolai? 17 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:43,600 You can't read a fucking face. 18 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,900 Three years. I've tried to finish this test. Three years. 19 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,220 I've just had a call from the grid controller in Kiev. He says we can't 20 00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:01,440 power any further, not for another ten hours. 21 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:02,559 The grid controller? 22 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,720 Where does he get off television? Not the grid controller's decision, the ad 23 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:06,720 love. 24 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:08,280 It's the end of the month. 25 00:04:09,340 --> 00:04:11,720 All the productivity quotas. 26 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,000 Everyone's working overtime. The factories need power. Someone's pushing 27 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,220 from a puff. Not that we'll ever know who. 28 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,980 So, do we have to scrap it or what? 29 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:30,660 No, I don't think so. 30 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:34,500 If we need to wait ten hours, we wait. 31 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,140 I'm running out of power. We're not going to have stability issues. 32 00:04:38,020 --> 00:04:40,380 No, I should think... I'm not asking you. 33 00:04:43,700 --> 00:04:44,700 It's safe. 34 00:04:45,540 --> 00:04:46,880 We'll maintain at 1600. 35 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:49,180 I'll go home, get some sleep, come back tonight. 36 00:04:49,420 --> 00:04:50,420 We'll proceed then. 37 00:04:51,500 --> 00:04:53,360 I'll personally supervise the test. 38 00:04:54,460 --> 00:04:55,920 And it will be completed. 39 00:05:00,020 --> 00:05:01,120 Well, I'm not waiting around. 40 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:04,080 Call me when it's done. 41 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:42,840 How do you feel? 42 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,640 You went to the doctor yesterday. How is your health? 43 00:06:49,140 --> 00:06:50,140 You don't know? 44 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:53,360 From Vienna. 45 00:06:53,940 --> 00:06:54,960 Do you read German? 46 00:06:57,020 --> 00:07:01,900 It says, at last, a Soviet scientist who tells the truth. 47 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,420 Obviously, I resent the insinuation, but I think it's fair to say you made an 48 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:08,020 excellent impression at the conference. 49 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:10,360 Turns out you're quite good at this. 50 00:07:11,310 --> 00:07:12,229 At what? 51 00:07:12,230 --> 00:07:13,230 Nine. 52 00:07:13,650 --> 00:07:14,830 Statecraft, Vigasov. 53 00:07:15,210 --> 00:07:21,150 Statecraft. The West is now satisfied that Chernobyl was solely the result of 54 00:07:21,150 --> 00:07:23,090 operator error, which it essentially was. 55 00:07:23,870 --> 00:07:27,210 We have you to thank for that, and we intend to. 56 00:07:31,630 --> 00:07:33,070 Error of the Soviet Union. 57 00:07:34,090 --> 00:07:35,490 Our highest honor. 58 00:07:36,450 --> 00:07:38,310 They haven't even given it to me. 59 00:07:39,410 --> 00:07:42,110 Promotion to director of the Kerchatov Institute. 60 00:07:45,670 --> 00:07:46,670 I'm humbled. 61 00:07:47,830 --> 00:07:51,610 I don't think there's anything humble about you, Valeri Alexeevich. 62 00:07:51,830 --> 00:07:53,590 These rewards are not yours yet. 63 00:07:54,470 --> 00:07:56,430 First, your testimony at the trial. 64 00:07:56,650 --> 00:08:00,130 Comrade Tarkov, I understand my duty to the state. 65 00:08:01,450 --> 00:08:03,270 You gave us assurances. 66 00:08:03,990 --> 00:08:06,210 The reactors would be made safe. 67 00:08:06,750 --> 00:08:07,930 It's been months. 68 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,600 No changes have been made, no changes even discussed. First, the trial. 69 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:19,140 Once it's over, we will have our villains, we will have our hero, we will 70 00:08:19,140 --> 00:08:20,140 our truth. 71 00:08:20,860 --> 00:08:23,460 After that, we can deal with our reactors. 72 00:09:49,390 --> 00:09:50,390 Did you take a train? 73 00:09:50,730 --> 00:09:52,390 Yes, I took a train. 74 00:09:53,530 --> 00:09:55,110 Now let's talk about Vienna. 75 00:09:56,490 --> 00:09:58,030 I'm not here to scold you. 76 00:09:58,630 --> 00:10:01,930 I know how the world works, despite what Shevina says. 77 00:10:03,450 --> 00:10:06,390 So, why are you here? 78 00:10:07,630 --> 00:10:11,390 Because I'm brutally stubborn, which you were hoping for. 79 00:10:16,550 --> 00:10:19,770 Charkov is saying they're going to fix the reactors after the trial. 80 00:10:21,810 --> 00:10:23,050 Do you believe him? 81 00:10:26,430 --> 00:10:30,610 The state will never willingly fix the reactors because acknowledging the 82 00:10:30,610 --> 00:10:34,110 problem means admitting that they lied. They will have to be forwarded. 83 00:10:41,110 --> 00:10:44,350 At the trial, you're going to tell the truth. 84 00:10:46,350 --> 00:10:47,850 You're going to convince the jury. 85 00:10:48,570 --> 00:10:53,390 If it's a true trial, the jury's already been handed their verdict. I'm not 86 00:10:53,390 --> 00:10:54,390 talking about them. 87 00:10:56,490 --> 00:11:01,010 The Central Committee have invited members of the scientific community to 88 00:11:01,010 --> 00:11:02,030 observe the trial. 89 00:11:02,590 --> 00:11:07,950 Our colleagues from Kachatov, from Sredmash, from Mininago. 90 00:11:08,370 --> 00:11:12,590 They will be sitting in the crowd listening to every word you say. A jury 91 00:11:12,590 --> 00:11:13,710 only we know is there. 92 00:11:14,380 --> 00:11:20,540 And when your testimony arrives at the moment of the explosion, that is when 93 00:11:20,540 --> 00:11:22,380 jury will finally hear the truth. 94 00:11:23,220 --> 00:11:24,520 And do what with it? 95 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,080 Insist on reform. 96 00:11:27,780 --> 00:11:30,640 Not just for the RBMK, but the entire industry. 97 00:11:31,060 --> 00:11:35,260 No, no, no. They can't function without us. If we... Do you know what happened 98 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:37,760 to Volkov, the man whose report you found? 99 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,460 They just removed him from his position at the Institute. 100 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:45,740 That. for the crime of knowing. 101 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:52,420 And you think that these scientists, hand -picked to witness a show trial, 102 00:11:52,420 --> 00:11:58,440 somehow be stirred into action by me because of some heroic stance I take in 103 00:11:58,440 --> 00:11:59,440 defiance of the state? 104 00:11:59,860 --> 00:12:00,860 Yes. 105 00:12:01,100 --> 00:12:05,060 Why? Because you're Valery Legatov and you mean something. 106 00:12:07,620 --> 00:12:10,140 I'd like to think that if I spoke out it would be enough. 107 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:13,240 But I know how the world works. 108 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:28,000 You told me to find out what happened. I spoke to dozens of people. 109 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:31,700 Every word they said, I wrote down. 110 00:12:32,820 --> 00:12:33,820 All illegal. 111 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:39,340 These are the ones who are still alive. These are the ones who are dead. They 112 00:12:39,340 --> 00:12:44,640 died rescuing each other, putting out fires, tending to the wounded. They 113 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,960 hesitate. They didn't waver. They simply did what had to be done. 114 00:12:48,180 --> 00:12:49,180 So have I. 115 00:12:50,220 --> 00:12:51,220 So have I. 116 00:12:53,130 --> 00:12:54,150 to an open reactor. 117 00:12:55,250 --> 00:12:57,730 So I've already given my life. 118 00:12:59,150 --> 00:13:00,150 Isn't that enough? 119 00:13:02,290 --> 00:13:04,230 No, I'm sorry, but it is not. 120 00:14:14,350 --> 00:14:17,430 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the 121 00:14:17,430 --> 00:14:21,670 Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR has determined that justice be 122 00:14:21,670 --> 00:14:25,630 carried out on behalf of the people in accordance with the general goal of our 123 00:14:25,630 --> 00:14:31,210 party, as determined by its 20th, 21st, and 22nd Congresses, which is a Leninist 124 00:14:31,210 --> 00:14:35,350 goal. It was, is, and will be the only immutable goal in the Soviet state. 125 00:14:35,770 --> 00:14:39,870 The path of Leninist principles shall be consistently and undeviatingly followed 126 00:14:39,870 --> 00:14:43,130 as it expresses the vital interests of the Soviet people. 127 00:14:43,660 --> 00:14:47,040 its hopes and aspirations as we guide the life of the party and state. 128 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:52,080 This session of court is now open. Comrade Judge Milan Kadnikov presiding. 129 00:14:54,320 --> 00:15:00,940 Indictments. Victor Brukhanov, Anatoly Dyatlov, Nikolai Samin 130 00:15:00,940 --> 00:15:06,020 are accused of violating Article 220, Section 2 of the Criminal Code of the 131 00:15:06,020 --> 00:15:10,300 Soviet Union, resulting in a nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986. 132 00:15:12,110 --> 00:15:16,490 The state calls witnesses Comrade Chamyuk of the Belarusian Nuclear 133 00:15:16,770 --> 00:15:23,170 Comrade Legatov of the Kachatov Institute of Atomic Energy, and Comrade 134 00:15:23,170 --> 00:15:29,250 Yevdokimovich Shevbina, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Head of 135 00:15:29,250 --> 00:15:31,070 the Bureau for Fuel and Energy. 136 00:16:06,220 --> 00:16:10,120 It began with, of all things, the safety test. 137 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,000 Why was there need for a safety test at all? 138 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,900 Reactor number four was not new when the accident occurred. 139 00:16:18,660 --> 00:16:22,800 In fact, it went into operation on December 20th, 1983. 140 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,460 And 11 days later, on the last day of the year, 141 00:16:28,580 --> 00:16:35,440 plant director Viktor Bryukhanov signed this document, certifying... 142 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,060 the completion of the construction of the reactor. 143 00:16:41,020 --> 00:16:44,340 As a result of finishing the work before the end of the year, 144 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,260 Comrade Brukhanov was awarded Hero of Socialist Labor. 145 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:53,600 Comrade Fomin was awarded for Valorous Labor. 146 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,220 Comrade Dyatlov was given an Order of the Red Banner. 147 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,020 But the work was not finished. 148 00:17:05,069 --> 00:17:08,010 This document was a lie. 149 00:17:09,609 --> 00:17:14,970 In order to sign this certificate, all safety tests had to have been 150 00:17:14,970 --> 00:17:18,329 successfully completed, and yet one remained. 151 00:17:21,630 --> 00:17:26,130 A nuclear reactor generates heat in the core here. 152 00:17:26,890 --> 00:17:32,150 A series of pumps here and here send a constant flow of cooling water through 153 00:17:32,150 --> 00:17:33,069 the core. 154 00:17:33,070 --> 00:17:37,850 The core's heat turns the water to steam, and the steam spins the turbine 155 00:17:37,950 --> 00:17:39,250 and the result is electricity. 156 00:17:40,190 --> 00:17:43,190 But what if a power plant has no power? 157 00:17:44,810 --> 00:17:47,770 What if the power feeding the plant itself is disrupted? 158 00:17:48,450 --> 00:17:52,950 A blackout, equipment failure, or an attack by a foreign enemy? 159 00:17:54,010 --> 00:17:59,810 If there's no power, the pumps cannot move water through the core, and without 160 00:17:59,810 --> 00:18:01,370 water, the core overheats. 161 00:18:01,830 --> 00:18:05,410 The fuel melts down, is short, a nuclear disaster. 162 00:18:05,830 --> 00:18:10,910 The solution, three diesel fuel backup generators here. 163 00:18:11,410 --> 00:18:12,990 So, problem solved. 164 00:18:13,690 --> 00:18:18,270 Now, Brichano knew that the problem was not solved at all. 165 00:18:18,530 --> 00:18:23,350 The backup generators took approximately one minute to reach the speed required 166 00:18:23,350 --> 00:18:26,370 to power the pumps and prevent a meltdown. 167 00:18:26,670 --> 00:18:29,510 And by that time, it would be too late. 168 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:32,680 So we arrived at the safety test. 169 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:36,240 The theory was this. 170 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,200 If the facility lost power, the turbine, which had been spinning, would take 171 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:42,620 some time to slow down and stop. 172 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:48,720 What if you could take the electricity it was still generating and transfer it 173 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,860 to the pumps? What if the dying turbine could keep the pumps working long enough 174 00:18:52,860 --> 00:18:57,060 to bridge the 60 -second gap until the generators came on? 175 00:19:02,670 --> 00:19:03,670 Any questions? 176 00:19:05,110 --> 00:19:06,110 No. 177 00:19:06,990 --> 00:19:08,170 Continue, please. 178 00:19:09,930 --> 00:19:16,210 To test this theory, the reactor is placed in a reduced power mode, 700 179 00:19:16,210 --> 00:19:19,030 megawatts, to simulate a blackout condition. 180 00:19:19,830 --> 00:19:24,950 Then the turbines are turned off, and as they slowly spin down, their electrical 181 00:19:24,950 --> 00:19:28,790 output is measured to see if it's enough to power the pumps. 182 00:19:29,470 --> 00:19:30,810 The science is strong. 183 00:19:32,270 --> 00:19:36,630 But a test is only as good as the men carrying it out. 184 00:19:38,150 --> 00:19:41,230 The first time they tried, they failed. 185 00:19:41,710 --> 00:19:44,110 The second time they tried, they failed. 186 00:19:44,530 --> 00:19:46,990 The third time they tried, they failed. 187 00:19:47,590 --> 00:19:53,430 The fourth time they tried was April 26, 1986. 188 00:20:06,570 --> 00:20:07,670 Comrade Hamyuk. 189 00:20:27,650 --> 00:20:34,490 To understand what happened that night, we have 190 00:20:34,490 --> 00:20:35,910 to go back ten hours earlier. 191 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,940 April 25th, the day the test was meant to take place. 192 00:20:39,460 --> 00:20:44,240 By 2 in the afternoon, the reactor had been lowered by half from its normal 193 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:49,480 output level of 3 ,200 megawatts to 1 ,600 megawatts and is stable and ready 194 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,040 be reduced to its final output level for the test, 700 megawatts. 195 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,580 But before they can proceed, there is a phone call. 196 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,260 Power grid officials in Kiev say that they cannot afford a further reduction 197 00:21:03,260 --> 00:21:05,020 electricity until after midnight. 198 00:21:05,580 --> 00:21:07,320 They are asking for a 10 -hour delay. 199 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,800 This is the first critical moment, the first link in the chain of disaster. 200 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,920 Competent management would have insisted on cancelling the test. 201 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,640 These three men allowed it to proceed. 202 00:21:22,780 --> 00:21:24,480 Why was this delay so dangerous? 203 00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:26,660 It created two problems. 204 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:33,200 One of them is scientific in nature, and the other is very human. 205 00:21:34,540 --> 00:21:36,320 This is the one we will consider first. 206 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:41,100 At midnight, there is a shift change. 207 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,480 Look at it. Find another fool. 208 00:22:00,100 --> 00:22:01,059 Stopped enough. 209 00:22:01,060 --> 00:22:02,060 Want to buy a motorcycle? 210 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:03,640 Stopped enough. 211 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,820 That's it, the little boy. He's got more hair on his face than on his balls. 212 00:22:07,060 --> 00:22:09,060 Yeah, that was on his lip. 213 00:22:11,420 --> 00:22:12,420 Leonid Fedorovich, 214 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,560 the chemo specialist will come to the control room as soon as you can. 215 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:16,819 Are you already here? 216 00:22:16,820 --> 00:22:17,820 Came in early. 217 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:19,080 Something about a tap. 218 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:37,760 Sasha. You know the test they're supposed to run? 219 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,860 The turbine run -down, they tried it last year. 220 00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:44,100 They couldn't do it on the day shift, so they've given it to us. 221 00:22:45,100 --> 00:22:46,100 To us? 222 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,340 We don't know what... We don't know what it is. 223 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:51,680 It's fine. 224 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,240 We take it down to 700, hold it there, rest of the study at your concussion 225 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:59,000 bound, but... You know, love is going to be supervising. 226 00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:02,770 I have to do something I've never done before with Dyatlov looking over my 227 00:23:02,770 --> 00:23:03,830 shoulder. Oh, don't worry. 228 00:23:04,170 --> 00:23:05,170 We'll do it together. 229 00:23:05,930 --> 00:23:07,430 I'm clicking the instructions now. 230 00:23:09,290 --> 00:23:10,710 Are we supposed to do those or not? 231 00:23:20,090 --> 00:23:21,850 Yes, this is Akimov from 4. 232 00:23:23,330 --> 00:23:26,070 I have the manual for the run -down test. 233 00:23:26,930 --> 00:23:28,370 You did it last year, aren't you? 234 00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:33,520 Yes, in the program there's instructions of what to do and then there's a lot of 235 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,380 things crossed out. What should I... What should I... 236 00:23:38,380 --> 00:23:41,640 Are you sure? 237 00:23:43,540 --> 00:23:44,540 Right. 238 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:45,800 Thank you. 239 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,000 He says to follow the crossed out instructions. 240 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:51,080 Then why are they crossed out? 241 00:23:58,830 --> 00:24:00,010 I've been cleared to run the test. 242 00:24:01,050 --> 00:24:02,290 1 ,600. Good. 243 00:24:03,910 --> 00:24:06,170 Is it too much to ask that you all know what you're doing? 244 00:24:06,410 --> 00:24:07,410 Well, yes. 245 00:24:07,430 --> 00:24:08,430 Absolutely. 246 00:24:09,930 --> 00:24:10,749 Delia Chook? 247 00:24:10,750 --> 00:24:11,890 Yes. Kirsten Baum? 248 00:24:12,390 --> 00:24:15,650 I haven't reviewed. We only just found out. There. 249 00:24:16,550 --> 00:24:17,550 Review it. 250 00:24:17,570 --> 00:24:19,110 Or you can just do what I tell you. 251 00:24:19,670 --> 00:24:21,990 Being even you, stupid as you are, can manage that. 252 00:24:23,490 --> 00:24:24,490 Well, let's go. 253 00:24:28,780 --> 00:24:30,860 Switch the turbine off while the reactor's still running. 254 00:24:31,340 --> 00:24:34,740 Is this not good? Shut the fuck up and do your job. 255 00:24:36,060 --> 00:24:37,060 Topton off. 256 00:24:37,420 --> 00:24:38,580 Reduce power to 700. 257 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,480 I've never done this with the power so low before. It's okay, I'm with you. 258 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:51,880 Reducing power to 700. 259 00:24:53,580 --> 00:24:55,580 I want you to think of Yuri Gagarin. 260 00:24:58,060 --> 00:25:02,100 I want you to imagine that he has been told nothing of his mission into space 261 00:25:02,100 --> 00:25:04,060 until the moment that he is on the launch pad. 262 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,460 I want you to imagine that all he has is a list of instructions that he has 263 00:25:08,460 --> 00:25:11,300 never seen before, some of which have been crossed out. 264 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,780 This is exactly what was happening in the control room of Reactor 4. 265 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,760 The night shift had not been trained to perform the experiment. They hadn't even 266 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:20,760 been warned it was happening. 267 00:25:22,060 --> 00:25:26,440 Leonid Toktunov, the operator responsible for controlling... 268 00:25:26,970 --> 00:25:28,690 and stabilizing the reactor that night. 269 00:25:29,950 --> 00:25:32,310 All of 25 years old. 270 00:25:33,610 --> 00:25:35,670 And his total experience on the job? 271 00:25:36,830 --> 00:25:37,830 Four months. 272 00:25:39,710 --> 00:25:42,330 This is the human problem created by the delay. 273 00:25:43,770 --> 00:25:48,430 But inside the reactor core, in the space between the atoms themselves, 274 00:25:49,010 --> 00:25:51,610 something far more dangerous is forming. 275 00:25:51,850 --> 00:25:52,850 A poison. 276 00:25:55,310 --> 00:25:56,910 The time is 28 past midnight. 277 00:26:16,050 --> 00:26:17,190 Comrade Legasov. 278 00:26:55,050 --> 00:26:59,430 I'm pleased to see some of my colleagues here from the Kurchatov Institute and 279 00:26:59,430 --> 00:27:00,430 Menenegro. 280 00:27:01,830 --> 00:27:05,290 But you don't need to be a nuclear scientist to understand what happened at 281 00:27:05,290 --> 00:27:06,290 Chernobyl. 282 00:27:06,710 --> 00:27:08,270 You only need to know this. 283 00:27:08,770 --> 00:27:13,590 There are essentially two things that happen inside a nuclear reactor. 284 00:27:14,190 --> 00:27:19,910 The reactivity which generates power either goes up or it goes down. 285 00:27:20,710 --> 00:27:21,710 That's it. 286 00:27:22,540 --> 00:27:25,220 All the operators do is maintain balance. 287 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:29,600 Uranium fuel. 288 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:37,940 As uranium atoms split apart and collide, reactivity goes up. But if you 289 00:27:37,940 --> 00:27:40,460 balance the reactivity, it never stops rising. 290 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:45,020 So, boron control rods. 291 00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:49,980 They reduce reactivity like brakes on a car. 292 00:27:52,330 --> 00:27:55,710 But there's a third factor to consider, water. 293 00:27:57,410 --> 00:28:02,170 Cool water takes heat out of the system. As it does, it turns to steam or what 294 00:28:02,170 --> 00:28:03,170 we call a void. 295 00:28:03,410 --> 00:28:08,630 In an RBMK reactor of the type used at Chernobyl, there's something called a 296 00:28:08,630 --> 00:28:10,510 positive void coefficient. 297 00:28:11,150 --> 00:28:12,170 What does that mean? 298 00:28:12,990 --> 00:28:18,430 It means that the more steam present within the system, the higher the 299 00:28:18,430 --> 00:28:25,160 reactivity. which means more heat, which means more steam, which means, it would 300 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,940 appear we have a vicious cycle on our hands. 301 00:28:28,220 --> 00:28:31,200 And we would, were it not for this. 302 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:42,000 And we would, were it not for this, 303 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,700 the negative temperature coefficient. 304 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:50,610 When nuclear fuel gets hotter, It gets less reactive. 305 00:28:51,070 --> 00:28:55,070 So, fuel increases reactivity. 306 00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:58,530 Control rods and water reduce it. 307 00:28:58,870 --> 00:29:00,930 Steam increases it. 308 00:29:01,410 --> 00:29:03,790 The rise in temperature reduces it. 309 00:29:05,350 --> 00:29:11,570 This is the invisible dance that powers entire cities without smoke or flame. 310 00:29:12,010 --> 00:29:16,990 And it is beautiful when things are normal. 311 00:29:18,890 --> 00:29:23,950 As uranium splits apart to release energy, it breaks down into a new 312 00:29:24,250 --> 00:29:25,250 xenon. 313 00:29:25,650 --> 00:29:27,790 Xenon reduces reactivity. 314 00:29:28,270 --> 00:29:30,790 This is the poison Comrade Homyuk mentioned. 315 00:29:31,810 --> 00:29:36,170 When the core is running at full power, it burns the xenon away before it can 316 00:29:36,170 --> 00:29:42,350 cause a problem. But because of the delay, Chernobyl reactor 4 has been held 317 00:29:42,350 --> 00:29:44,170 half power for 10 hours. 318 00:29:44,650 --> 00:29:46,950 The xenon did not burn away. 319 00:29:48,940 --> 00:29:51,860 It built up, poisoning the core. 320 00:29:53,260 --> 00:29:55,000 We're starting to lose balance. 321 00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:02,000 At 28 minutes past midnight, the reactor is now primed to slow down. 322 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,060 And yet, in less than an hour, it will explode. 323 00:30:07,020 --> 00:30:11,440 If you can't understand how a stalled nuclear reactor could lead to an 324 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:12,820 explosion, I don't blame you. 325 00:30:13,060 --> 00:30:16,840 After all, you don't work in the control room of a nuclear power plant. 326 00:30:18,810 --> 00:30:24,270 As it turned out, the men who did didn't understand it either. 327 00:30:30,750 --> 00:30:31,750 Easy now. 328 00:30:32,390 --> 00:30:33,390 Take it down. 329 00:30:34,550 --> 00:30:36,210 Good. Like that. 330 00:30:36,510 --> 00:30:37,830 It's going to finish by now. 331 00:30:38,150 --> 00:30:41,330 We're following protocol for reduction rate. You're procrastinating. 332 00:30:42,090 --> 00:30:44,390 Ten other men in this plant would have done it already. 333 00:30:56,629 --> 00:30:59,570 Kirsten Baum, come get me when these old women are ready. 334 00:31:00,150 --> 00:31:01,290 Yes, Comrade Dyatlov. 335 00:31:20,930 --> 00:31:25,210 Okay, very slow now. Let's ease it down to 700. 336 00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:29,500 Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow. 337 00:31:29,860 --> 00:31:31,280 I didn't move any rods there. 338 00:31:41,380 --> 00:31:42,380 What is this? 339 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:44,320 I'm not even touching it. 340 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,920 Did everything right to think that maybe the core is poison? Well, if you 341 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,600 thought the core was poison, then you didn't do everything right because 342 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,700 choking my reactor. Get it back up! 343 00:32:17,980 --> 00:32:21,640 I think we could turn off LAC if it may be possible to get more control. 344 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:23,160 Do it. Go. 345 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:25,860 Switch off local automatic control. Go to global. 346 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,060 LAC disabled. 347 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:30,400 Global control activated. 348 00:32:36,260 --> 00:32:37,320 What did you do? 349 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,360 I did what you said. I switched... Look at it! 350 00:32:42,700 --> 00:32:43,700 I don't understand. 351 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,420 Fucking amateurs. You stole the reactor. 352 00:32:47,100 --> 00:32:48,980 How the fuck did you get this job? 353 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,760 Comrade, the antler. You're going to tell me that you did everything right 354 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:53,260 again, you incompetent arsehole. 355 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,680 I apologize for this unsatisfactory result. 356 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:03,120 What are you doing? 357 00:33:03,620 --> 00:33:05,060 We have to shut all the way down. 358 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:07,360 No. We could be in a xenon pit. 359 00:33:07,740 --> 00:33:10,880 We have to shut down and wait 24 hours. No, we're doing the test tonight. Raise 360 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:11,879 power to 700. 361 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:13,000 We can't raise the power from here. 362 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:14,620 Don't talk to me about rules. 363 00:33:14,860 --> 00:33:20,260 No, no, we fell from 50 % of power. The rules don't say 50. There is no rule. 364 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:25,020 Comrade Diadlov, I apologise, but what you're saying makes no sense. Raise the 365 00:33:25,020 --> 00:33:26,220 power. No. 366 00:33:28,140 --> 00:33:29,480 I won't do it. It isn't safe. 367 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:40,280 Safety first. 368 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:42,120 Always. 369 00:33:42,860 --> 00:33:44,580 I've been saying that for 25 years. 370 00:33:45,260 --> 00:33:48,640 That's how long I've done this job. 25 years. Is that longer than you, Akimov? 371 00:33:49,500 --> 00:33:50,720 Yes. Is it much longer? 372 00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:54,480 Yes. And you with your mother's tip early out of your mouth? 373 00:33:57,450 --> 00:34:01,270 See, if I say it's safe, it's safe. And if the two of you disagree, then you 374 00:34:01,270 --> 00:34:04,590 don't have to work here, and you won't. But not just here. You won't work at 375 00:34:04,590 --> 00:34:08,590 Kursk or Ignalina or Leningrad or Novo Voronezh. You won't work anywhere. 376 00:34:09,110 --> 00:34:10,530 Ever again, I'll see to it. 377 00:34:11,110 --> 00:34:13,389 I think you know I will see to it. 378 00:34:15,110 --> 00:34:16,110 Raise the power. 379 00:34:19,810 --> 00:34:21,610 I would like you to record your command. 380 00:34:22,790 --> 00:34:23,790 Raise the power. 381 00:34:44,909 --> 00:34:46,150 I wasn't even there. 382 00:34:47,489 --> 00:34:48,489 What? 383 00:34:50,670 --> 00:34:53,210 I wasn't in the room when they raised the power. 384 00:34:54,130 --> 00:34:58,690 If you weren't there, then where were you? You are a witness, not a 385 00:34:58,750 --> 00:35:00,030 I will ask the questions here. 386 00:35:01,550 --> 00:35:03,390 If you weren't in the room, then where were you? 387 00:35:06,190 --> 00:35:07,190 The toilet. 388 00:35:09,270 --> 00:35:10,270 The toilet. 389 00:35:12,700 --> 00:35:15,940 Comrade Khamyuk interviewed everyone who was in the control room that night. 390 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,240 They all told the same story. 391 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,260 I knew what Dyatlov ordered was wrong. 392 00:35:23,780 --> 00:35:26,180 But if I didn't do what he said, I would be fired. 393 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,260 Leonid Toptunov. 394 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:31,420 One day before he died. 395 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:34,560 No, Comrade Dyatlov, you were in the room. 396 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,140 You ordered them to raise the power. This is a fact. 397 00:35:47,630 --> 00:35:49,150 Course is now in recess. 398 00:35:49,430 --> 00:35:50,430 30 minutes. 399 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:36,800 Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl? 400 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:39,720 Not really, no. 401 00:36:41,180 --> 00:36:43,660 It was mostly Jews and Poles. 402 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:49,060 The Jews were killed in pogroms and Stalin forced the Poles out. 403 00:36:49,780 --> 00:36:52,940 And then the Nazis came and killed whoever was left. 404 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:58,360 After the war, people came to live here anyway. 405 00:36:59,780 --> 00:37:02,140 They knew the ground under their feet. 406 00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:04,700 Choked in blood, but they didn't care. 407 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,880 Dead Jews, dead Poles. 408 00:37:09,940 --> 00:37:10,940 But not them. 409 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,700 No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. 410 00:37:18,940 --> 00:37:19,980 And here we are. 411 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:30,960 Well, it's time. 412 00:37:32,460 --> 00:37:33,460 Maybe a year. 413 00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:41,020 They call it a... They call it a long illness. It doesn't seem very long to 414 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,440 I know you told me and I believed you. 415 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,840 But time passed and I thought it wouldn't happen to me. 416 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:52,360 I wasted it. 417 00:37:53,380 --> 00:37:55,240 I wasted it all for nothing. 418 00:37:57,820 --> 00:37:58,820 For nothing. 419 00:38:00,780 --> 00:38:03,040 Do you remember that morning when I first called you? 420 00:38:03,260 --> 00:38:04,840 How unconcerned I was. 421 00:38:05,300 --> 00:38:08,920 I don't believe much that comes out of the Kremlin, but when they told me they 422 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:14,240 were putting me in charge of the cleanup, they said it wasn't serious. I 423 00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:15,240 believed them. 424 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:17,880 You know why? 425 00:38:19,780 --> 00:38:21,360 Because they put you in charge. 426 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,860 I'm an inconsequential man, Valera. 427 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:31,040 That's all I've ever been. 428 00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:35,300 I hoped that one day I would matter, but I didn't. 429 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,680 I just stood next to people who did. 430 00:38:43,260 --> 00:38:45,300 There are other scientists like me. 431 00:38:45,780 --> 00:38:47,820 Any one of them could have done what I did. 432 00:38:48,140 --> 00:38:54,120 With you, everything we asked for, everything we needed. 433 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,200 Men, material, lunar rovers. 434 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:08,620 They heard me, but they listened to you. 435 00:39:09,940 --> 00:39:16,520 Of all the ministers and all the deputies, the entire congregation of 436 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:21,340 fools, they mistakenly sent the one good man. 437 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:23,820 God's sakes, Boris. 438 00:39:25,340 --> 00:39:27,220 You were the one who mattered most. 439 00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:36,240 Comrade Legasov. 440 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,140 The time is 38 past midnight. 441 00:40:52,140 --> 00:40:53,820 The reactor is nearly shut down. 442 00:40:54,660 --> 00:40:58,540 The operators of reactor 4 are locked in a path that leads directly to disaster. 443 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:00,740 There's no way to turn back. 444 00:41:01,340 --> 00:41:03,520 They do not yet know it, but the dive comes. 445 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:09,980 At 30 megawatts, xenon is still being created, but none of it is burning away. 446 00:41:12,220 --> 00:41:14,480 The reactor is drowning in poison. 447 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:20,840 To make matters worse, the reactor isn't hot enough to produce sufficient steam. 448 00:41:23,060 --> 00:41:28,280 The only way to safely raise power from this state is to do it very, very slowly 449 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,600 over the course of 24 hours. 450 00:41:31,140 --> 00:41:33,380 The Atlas wants it done now. 451 00:41:34,540 --> 00:41:37,640 Akimov and Toptunov have only one course of action. 452 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,000 They begin pulling control rods out. 453 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:42,820 Dozens at a time. 454 00:41:43,220 --> 00:41:45,320 Halfway out, three quarters of the way out. 455 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:50,740 Still, the power does not budge. So they begin pulling them all the way out. 456 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,740 There were 211 control rods in reactor 4. 457 00:41:55,560 --> 00:42:02,380 Akimov and Toptunov completely withdrew 205. Remember, control rods... 458 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:03,920 are the brakes on this car. 459 00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:11,120 Of 211 rods, only six now remain in the reactor. 460 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:18,620 As for the fuel, it's gone cold, so the negative temperature curve is no longer 461 00:42:18,620 --> 00:42:20,160 weighing down the reactivity. 462 00:42:20,460 --> 00:42:26,040 But even still, the xenon poisoning is so strong, the best they can do is raise 463 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:27,880 the power to 200 megawatts. 464 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:30,940 The control rods are out. 465 00:42:31,610 --> 00:42:35,570 The emergency system has been disconnected. The only thing keeping the 466 00:42:35,570 --> 00:42:38,490 in check is water and xenon. 467 00:42:38,990 --> 00:42:40,210 It's one in the morning. 468 00:42:40,470 --> 00:42:42,570 The task is minutes away. 469 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:18,519 I'm sorry. 470 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:19,520 This is all we can get. 471 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,500 It's 200 megawatts. We've pulled almost everything out. 472 00:43:23,380 --> 00:43:24,660 That's all we have. That's all we have. 473 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:26,800 But the test requires 700. 474 00:43:27,580 --> 00:43:30,360 Steliachuk, let's get ready. Switch on pump four. No, wait a second. 475 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,740 Steliachuk. We have barely enough steam as it is. The turbine is going too slow 476 00:43:33,740 --> 00:43:36,800 for the test to deliver any valid results. And if we add more water, there 477 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,520 be even less. I said it's enough. I know what I'm doing. Steliachuk. 478 00:43:45,780 --> 00:43:46,940 Main pump four connected. 479 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:49,960 I wish you one heard him, Chu. The pipes are going to be jumping. Never mind 480 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:50,960 him. Curtain bomb. 481 00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:57,820 The steam in the separated drum is too low. Five atmospheres. All right, let's 482 00:43:57,820 --> 00:43:59,280 all help him. Get it up and spread the gas. 483 00:44:04,180 --> 00:44:05,180 We stop. 484 00:44:05,980 --> 00:44:07,280 Turn that fucking thing off. 485 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:09,880 You have 15 minutes. 486 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:13,360 15 minutes. 487 00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:16,500 They may as well have had 15 days. 488 00:44:17,450 --> 00:44:21,970 The problem they were facing was not solvable. The power was too low. The 489 00:44:21,970 --> 00:44:24,350 was too high. The test was already ruined. 490 00:44:24,550 --> 00:44:25,970 The results would have been useless. 491 00:44:26,190 --> 00:44:27,410 But Dyatlov didn't care. 492 00:44:27,730 --> 00:44:30,310 All he wanted to do was report a completed test. 493 00:44:32,050 --> 00:44:34,250 1 .22 a .m. 494 00:44:34,830 --> 00:44:36,350 Less than two minutes remain. 495 00:44:38,530 --> 00:44:42,130 Yushchenko, a mechanical engineer, is in his office. 496 00:44:46,590 --> 00:44:51,370 Baravozchenko, reactor section foreman, is in the refueling hall, high above the 497 00:44:51,370 --> 00:44:53,710 1 ,000 -ton steel reactor cover. 498 00:44:56,970 --> 00:45:01,170 Dziktayevko, Kudetuk, circulation operators are in the pump room. 499 00:45:03,530 --> 00:45:06,250 None of them have been told about the tech. 500 00:45:06,710 --> 00:45:08,750 None of them know what is about to happen. 501 00:45:09,470 --> 00:45:14,870 At 1 .22 and 30 seconds, Toktunov sees a report. 502 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:17,860 from the reactor's SCALA computer system. 503 00:45:19,540 --> 00:45:24,360 Based on the absence of sufficient control rods, the computer is 504 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:25,940 that the reactor be shut down. 505 00:45:32,060 --> 00:45:34,560 Well, of course it's saying that. It doesn't know we're running a test. 506 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:37,640 All right, comrades. 507 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,820 Another few minutes and we'll all be over. 508 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:43,440 Attention bound when you're ready. 509 00:45:44,810 --> 00:45:45,810 We did everything right. 510 00:45:48,610 --> 00:45:49,610 Still a graph on? 511 00:45:52,050 --> 00:45:53,590 Closing number 8, throttle valve. 512 00:45:55,110 --> 00:45:56,530 Generator rotor beginning run down. 513 00:45:56,870 --> 00:45:59,410 1 .23 and 4 seconds. 514 00:46:00,270 --> 00:46:04,070 With every decision, they have pulled this reactor back like a slingshot, 515 00:46:04,250 --> 00:46:06,250 further than anyone has ever pulled. 516 00:46:06,830 --> 00:46:08,110 Now the test begins. 517 00:46:08,910 --> 00:46:11,610 The pumps are shut down, and they've let go. 518 00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:17,580 The pumps stop moving water through the reactor. 519 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:23,360 Uranium fuel is now unchecked by fresh coolant, unchecked by control rods. 520 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:28,100 The balance immediately swings in the opposite direction. In less than a 521 00:46:28,260 --> 00:46:29,700 reactivity increases. 522 00:46:31,300 --> 00:46:36,020 Inside the core, the remaining water is quickly converting to steam. A void is 523 00:46:36,020 --> 00:46:37,020 being created. 524 00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:39,540 There is no fresh water to replace it. 525 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:44,100 Steam increases reactivity, increases heat. 526 00:46:44,910 --> 00:46:47,870 Increases steam, increases reactivity. 527 00:46:49,270 --> 00:46:52,250 The remaining xenon decays away. 528 00:46:53,650 --> 00:46:55,330 The power is rising. 529 00:46:57,590 --> 00:46:59,210 There's nothing left to stop it. 530 00:47:00,410 --> 00:47:03,710 One, twenty -three, and thirty -five minutes. 531 00:47:07,190 --> 00:47:09,110 We have a power surge, Sasha! 532 00:47:14,700 --> 00:47:15,820 What did you do? 533 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:19,540 1, 23, and 40 seconds. 534 00:47:27,620 --> 00:47:31,420 In every control room of every nuclear reactor in the world, there is a button 535 00:47:31,420 --> 00:47:32,980 with one single purpose. 536 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,020 Scram or instantly shut down the reaction. 537 00:47:37,300 --> 00:47:40,540 In Soviet reactors, that button is called AZ -5. 538 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,220 You press AZ -5. 539 00:47:43,900 --> 00:47:49,440 All of the control rods insert at once and the reaction is stopped dead. 540 00:47:50,860 --> 00:47:51,480 But... 541 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:58,580 What 542 00:47:58,580 --> 00:47:59,740 are you waiting for, Legato? 543 00:48:00,780 --> 00:48:04,040 Tell your lies. Comrade Dyatlov, you will not be warned again. 544 00:48:04,260 --> 00:48:04,839 Or what? 545 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:08,720 For God's sake, Comrade Dyatlov. Legasov's already given it away. He said 546 00:48:08,720 --> 00:48:12,120 Saul... Comrade Dyatlov. There was no way to avoid what was coming. He knows 547 00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:14,520 something. Comrade Dyatlov. He knows something. 548 00:48:15,500 --> 00:48:18,960 I know what you are, Valerian Alexievich. You're a liar. 549 00:48:19,420 --> 00:48:20,660 We've heard enough for today. 550 00:48:21,940 --> 00:48:24,600 The defendants will be remanded in custody. 551 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,180 Court will... I haven't finished. 552 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:30,040 You'll have more evidence again. 553 00:48:30,730 --> 00:48:34,370 It's not necessary. Your testimony is concluded, Your Honor. 554 00:48:34,590 --> 00:48:36,710 Court is now adjourned. 555 00:48:36,990 --> 00:48:38,590 We will resume tomorrow. 556 00:48:38,870 --> 00:48:39,870 Then finish. 557 00:48:42,010 --> 00:48:43,110 Comrade Sabino. 558 00:48:45,830 --> 00:48:46,830 Then finish. 559 00:49:13,290 --> 00:49:14,530 broke every rule we have. 560 00:49:16,630 --> 00:49:21,110 He pushed the reactor to the brink of destruction. 561 00:49:25,870 --> 00:49:28,710 He did these things believing there was a fail -safe. 562 00:49:28,930 --> 00:49:34,590 AZ -5, a simple button to shut it all down. But in the circumstances he 563 00:49:34,770 --> 00:49:36,270 there wasn't. 564 00:49:36,730 --> 00:49:40,130 The shutdown system had a fatal flaw. 565 00:49:42,410 --> 00:49:47,490 At 1 .2340, a chemoth engages AZ -5. 566 00:49:55,110 --> 00:49:58,850 The fully withdrawn control rods begin moving back into the reactor. 567 00:49:59,190 --> 00:50:03,310 These rods are made of boron, which reduces reactivity, but not the tip. 568 00:50:03,950 --> 00:50:08,550 The tip are made of graphite, which accelerates reactivity. 569 00:50:08,870 --> 00:50:09,870 Why? 570 00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:23,060 For the same reason our reactors do not have containment buildings around them, 571 00:50:23,180 --> 00:50:29,000 like those in the West. For the same reason we don't use properly enriched 572 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:29,959 in our cores. 573 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:35,120 For the same reason we are the only nation that builds water -cooled, 574 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:38,960 -moderated reactors with a positive void coefficient. 575 00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:42,080 It's cheaper. 576 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:53,720 The first part of the rods that enter the core are the graphite pits, and when 577 00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:57,560 they do, the reaction in the core, which had been rising, skyrockets. 578 00:50:58,380 --> 00:51:04,260 Every last molecule of liquid water instantly converts to steam, which 579 00:51:04,260 --> 00:51:09,080 and ruptures a series of fuel rod channels. The control rods in those 580 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:10,260 can move no further. 581 00:51:10,820 --> 00:51:15,940 The graphite pits are fixed in position, endlessly accelerating the reaction. 582 00:51:16,700 --> 00:51:18,340 Chernobyl reactor 4. 583 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:20,440 is now a nuclear bomb. 584 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:22,700 1 .23 .42. 585 00:51:24,060 --> 00:51:28,600 Korovochenko looks down on the enormous steel lid of the reactor and sees the 586 00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:32,820 impossible. The control rod and fuel channel caps, which each weigh 350 587 00:51:32,820 --> 00:51:35,060 kilograms, are jumping up and down. 588 00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:40,800 He runs to warn the control rod, but there's nothing he can do to stop what 589 00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:43,240 coming. 1 .23 .44. 590 00:51:44,300 --> 00:51:47,140 The steam blows more fuel channels apart. 591 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:52,080 We do not know how high the power went. We only know the final reading. 592 00:51:54,460 --> 00:52:01,260 Reactor 4, designed to operate at 3200 megawatts, went beyond 33 593 00:52:01,260 --> 00:52:02,260 ,000. 594 00:52:07,460 --> 00:52:11,420 The pressure inside the core can no longer be held back. 595 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:15,900 At long last we have arrived at 12345. 596 00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:24,800 In the instant the lid is thrown off the reactor, oxygen rushes. It combines 597 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,800 with hydrogen and superheated graphite. 598 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,460 The chain of disaster is now complete. 599 00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:20,400 No one in the room that night knew the shutdown button could act as a 600 00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:23,460 They didn't know it. 601 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:26,940 Because it was kept from them. 602 00:53:27,460 --> 00:53:31,920 Comrade Legasov, you're contradicting your own testimony in Vienna. 603 00:53:32,440 --> 00:53:34,300 My testimony in Vienna was a lie. 604 00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:38,200 I lied to the world. 605 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:42,100 I'm not the only one who kept the secrets. There are many. 606 00:53:43,850 --> 00:53:49,070 The following order from the KGB, from the Central Committee, and right now 607 00:53:49,070 --> 00:53:52,610 there are 16 reactors in the Soviet Union with the same fatal flaw. 608 00:53:53,470 --> 00:53:57,890 Three of them are still running, less than 20 kilometers away at Chernobyl. 609 00:53:58,190 --> 00:54:03,450 Mr. Legasov, if you mean to suggest the Soviet state is somehow responsible for 610 00:54:03,450 --> 00:54:06,730 what happened, then I must warn you, you are treading on dangerous ground. 611 00:54:07,250 --> 00:54:10,910 I've already trod on dangerous ground. We're on dangerous ground right now 612 00:54:10,910 --> 00:54:13,110 because of our secrets and our lies. 613 00:54:14,030 --> 00:54:15,890 They're practically what define us. 614 00:54:16,990 --> 00:54:22,370 When the truth offends we we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is 615 00:54:22,370 --> 00:54:24,430 even there but it is still there. 616 00:54:27,930 --> 00:54:31,810 Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. 617 00:54:34,590 --> 00:54:36,530 Sooner or later that debt is paid. 618 00:54:41,450 --> 00:54:42,450 That is how 619 00:54:43,790 --> 00:54:46,170 An RBMK reactor core explodes. 620 00:54:50,430 --> 00:54:51,430 LIE! 621 00:56:56,830 --> 00:56:58,590 Valery Alexievich Legasov. 622 00:57:00,030 --> 00:57:02,010 Son of Alexei Legasov. 623 00:57:02,290 --> 00:57:04,810 Head of Ideological Compliance, Central Committee. 624 00:57:05,790 --> 00:57:07,370 Do you know your father did that? 625 00:57:07,870 --> 00:57:08,870 Yes. 626 00:57:10,090 --> 00:57:13,150 As a student, you had a leadership position in Komsomol. 627 00:57:13,590 --> 00:57:15,030 Communist youth, correct? 628 00:57:16,830 --> 00:57:18,710 You already know. Answer the question. 629 00:57:19,330 --> 00:57:20,330 Yes. 630 00:57:22,210 --> 00:57:23,650 At the Kachatov Institute. 631 00:57:24,650 --> 00:57:26,230 You were the Communist Party secretary. 632 00:57:27,170 --> 00:57:30,470 In that position, you limited the promotion of Jewish scientists. 633 00:57:35,970 --> 00:57:36,970 Yes. 634 00:57:37,550 --> 00:57:39,870 To curry favor with Kremlin officials. 635 00:57:45,810 --> 00:57:47,350 You're one of us, Legato. 636 00:57:49,470 --> 00:57:51,570 I can do anything I want with you. 637 00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:56,200 But what I want the most is for you to know that I know. 638 00:57:57,480 --> 00:57:58,540 You're not brave. 639 00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:01,700 You're not heroic. 640 00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:06,220 You're just a dying man who forgot himself. 641 00:58:07,100 --> 00:58:08,480 I know who I am. 642 00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:10,140 And I know what I've done. 643 00:58:13,260 --> 00:58:17,520 In a just world, I would be shot for my lies, but not for this, but for the 644 00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:18,520 truth. 645 00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:24,220 And you're idiot obsession with reasons. 646 00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:28,900 When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why? 647 00:58:36,940 --> 00:58:38,860 No one's getting shot in the castle. 648 00:58:40,980 --> 00:58:43,000 The whole world saw you in Vienna. 649 00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:45,660 It would be embarrassing to kill you now. 650 00:58:45,860 --> 00:58:46,860 And for what? 651 00:58:48,330 --> 00:58:51,270 Your testimony today will not be accepted by the state. 652 00:58:51,530 --> 00:58:53,450 It will not be disseminated in the press. 653 00:58:54,390 --> 00:58:55,850 It never happened. 654 00:58:57,410 --> 00:58:58,410 No. 655 00:58:58,890 --> 00:59:04,990 You will live however long you have, but not as a scientist, not anymore. 656 00:59:06,270 --> 00:59:12,850 You keep your title and your office, but no duties, no 657 00:59:12,850 --> 00:59:15,230 authority, no friends. 658 00:59:15,810 --> 00:59:17,290 No one will talk to you. 659 00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:19,580 No one will listen to you. 660 00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:28,920 Other men, let the men, will receive credit for the things you have done. 661 00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:32,240 Your legacy is now their legacy. 662 00:59:32,540 --> 00:59:34,480 You'll live long enough to see that. 663 00:59:38,680 --> 00:59:40,460 What role did Chibina play in this? 664 00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:44,220 None. He didn't know what I was going to say. 665 00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:48,160 What role did Homyuk play in this? 666 00:59:49,420 --> 00:59:50,420 None. 667 00:59:50,820 --> 00:59:52,100 She didn't know either. 668 00:59:54,720 --> 01:00:01,200 After all you've said and done today, it would be curious if you chose this 669 01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:02,440 moment to lie. 670 01:00:06,180 --> 01:00:09,900 I would think a man of your experience would know a lie when he hears one. 671 01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:17,500 You will not meet or communicate with either one of them ever again. 672 01:00:19,080 --> 01:00:22,180 You will not communicate with anyone about Chernobyl ever again. 673 01:00:23,940 --> 01:00:27,760 You will remain so immaterial to the world around you that when you finally 674 01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:32,040 die, it will be exceedingly hard to know that you ever lived at all. 675 01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:43,690 And if I refuse, why worry? about something that 676 01:00:43,690 --> 01:00:44,690 isn't going to happen. 677 01:00:46,210 --> 01:00:49,730 Why worry about something that isn't going to happen? 678 01:00:50,530 --> 01:00:51,770 Oh, that's perfect. 679 01:00:52,810 --> 01:00:54,610 They should put that on our money. 680 01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:07,620 To be a scientist is to be naive. 681 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:14,540 We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few 682 01:02:14,540 --> 01:02:15,840 want us to find it. 683 01:02:16,460 --> 01:02:22,380 But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. 684 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:26,800 The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. It doesn't care about our 685 01:02:26,800 --> 01:02:29,480 governments, our ideologies, our religions. 686 01:02:31,160 --> 01:02:33,520 It will line wait for all time. 687 01:02:36,200 --> 01:02:38,360 At last is the gift of Chernobyl. 688 01:02:38,740 --> 01:02:45,600 Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask, what 689 01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:46,900 is the cost of lies?