All language subtitles for Chernobyl The Lost Tapes (2022).complete.EN

("Swan Lake Op.20, Act II:
Dance of the Cygnets" playing)

In the Soviet Union the relationship
with the truth was complicated.

In 1982 when Brezhnev died

every channel showed the same
programme, Swan Lake.

It was clear without any explanation

that something had happened
at the top.

This was the Soviet Union.

Attempts to control the truth

ended up with losing control
of everything.

The most catastrophic example of this
is the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

It does now seem like

that sometime
in the last couple of days

there's been perhaps
the worst accident

in the short history

of the world's nuclear
power industry.

In Moscow, Western diplomats
have spent the day

trying to get more information

about the accident
with no success.

They documented everything

believing they would show the world
a heroic victory...

A zone with a 19-mile
radius around Chernobyl

remains a poisoned
no man's land.

...but the battle would prove
far too costly.

Many died of radiation

those who survived the disaster
were silenced

and the film footage hidden.

It's only now the truth can be told.

Soviet television tonight
accused the western media

of spreading
slanderous inventions

about the Chernobyl accident.

The explosion at Chernobyl
would destroy so much.

The pride of the Soviet regime,

that would destroy the rest.

We will adopt the five-year plan
to increase nuclear energy.

It is about how the Soviet Union
will enter the 21st century.

What will be the face and position
of Socialism in the world.

What tomorrow's
mankind will look like.

WELCOME

I was sent to the town
of energy workers, Chernobyl.

When I got to the town,
I felt like I was in heaven.

I'd never seen such a beautiful
and vibrant town before.

Everything was nice, beautiful, green.

Such a beautiful town,
on the bank of the river.

The town was very young,

the average age was 26 years old.

So the town really was for the young.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station
is in all respects the leader

among nuclear power stations
being built

First, it leads in the speed of
launching new power-generating units.

I arrived at Chernobyl
as a nuclear engineer.

I worked shifts in the control room.

Understanding and controlling
nuclear power generation

was extremely complicated.

NUCLEAR ENERGY REACTORS

All types of reactors
are of the highest quality

and their nuclear
and radiation safety is paramount.

The safety systems of Soviet
nuclear power plants

fully meet international requirements.

It was drilled into all of us that

the Soviet nuclear program
was the best and safest in the world.

Sometimes people ask, "Could
a nuclear power plant explode?"

Well, I can completely
responsibly declare

that this is completely
out of the question.

It's impossible to even imagine
such a thing.

It's impossible to even imagine
such a thing.

Everyone believed our reactors
simply could not explode.

Both the power plant, end the town
that set right next to it,

were built,
confident of a long future.

Many mere atomic cities
like Chernobyl were planned.

The authorities wanted to create
a mighty workforce

who could build and run them.

People came from every corner
of the Soviet Republics.

There were girls studying
for many different professions.

Their brothers used to visit them

and that's how I met
my husband, Vasya.

It really was love at first sight.

We had lots of plans.

Of course, we planned to have
a large family

because Vasya was from a family
with many children.

Our city is young.

We have very-few concerns
about diseases

but we are anxious
about the birth rate.

We need a bigger maternity ward.

That's why together
with the department for construction

we are building a maternity hospital
for 75 beds.

Here it is, in front of you,
you can see it.

This hospital will support our city
and our young mothers

by helping with the birth of future
nuclear energy builders.

Our birth rate was higher
than the average in the USSR.

People enjoyed life there.

We wanted for nothing.

We lived well, I'd say.

People came from all over
our immense country

to create the biggest
nuclear power station on that earth.

So that the peaceful atom

could provide warmth, light, peace
and joy on the earth.

Could provide warmth, light, peace
and joy on the earth.

Thus you,
people of the next generation,

please take up the torch from us

and carry it through your life!

Be worthy of your fathers and
grandfathers, mothers and sisters

and of all who give their work

intellect and skills
for the sake of humanity.

We had a nice relationship
with the nuclear power plant.

They monitored releases
of radioactive substances

practically on a daily basis.

Life was so relaxed.

It was so balanced, it felt so safe.

We got married.

I found out I was pregnant right away.

We really wanted a child.

We couldn't even imagine
the possibility of any threat.

Even though Vasya worked
as a firefighter,

I never felt anything that could be
a problem or a real threat

Nothing like I felt that night.

01.26 AM

CHERNOBYL FIRE SERVICE,
EMERGENCY CALLS

Hello, is this
Paramilitary Fire Unit 2?

-Yes.
-What's on fire there?

There's been an explosion
inside the main building

between Reactor 3 and Reactor 4.

Are there any people there?

Yes.

Call the commanders.

Already did, the chief is up.

OK, get all of them, all officers,
officer corps!

That night,
I still hadn't gone to bed.

My balcony overlooked the garden

and I could see the road.

I see three fire trucks pulling out

and I see Vasya running.
I'm asking them as quietly as I can,

"Vasya, where are you going?"

And he replies, "There's a fire.

Something has happened
at the nuclear plant."

"Oh, go to bed, it's late. Go rest."

And when I turned my head
towards the power plant, I saw

the blaze and smoke rising

in the shape of a mushroom cloud.

Some said,
they heard the explosion that night

but only when the sun rose

the full extent of the damage
could be seen.

The 26th of April, 1986

at a height of 220 metres.

We're approaching the unit.

On the right we can see
the central hall of Reactor 4.

Higher! There it is!
Keep focusing on this spot!

Keep it where the smoke
is coming from!

Keep it there! That's right!

I woke up in the morning
to the alarm, had some coffee

and went to work by bus.

I went to my shift without knowing
what happened the night before.

I simply saw the destroyed power unit
from the bus window.

It was obvious that it had
an incredibly high level of radiation.

I was scared of entering
the zone of this nuclear plague.

I entered the plant
from the side of Reactor 4.

The scale of the destruction
bacame clear.

I could see
the upper part of the reactor

the circulation pumps that would
pump the coolant into the reactor.

All of those were visible, exposed.

All my equipment.

I was confused. Why am I here?
What can be done?

The night shift had been working
since the explosion.

It was their duty
to help the firefighters

try and control the disaster.

When I arrived in the control room
only a few of them remained.

There was Aleksandr Akimov.
I greeted him with a nod.

Lyonya Toptunov was also there.
I shook his hand.

He was incredibly pale,
white as a sheet.

Both of them were in a poor condition.

They'd already received lethal doses
of radiation by morning.

I met Vyacheslav Brazhnik.

He was changing his clothes.
His entire body was red.

We had to run all over the unit,
looking for the injured.

The conditions
were absolutely horrifying.

There was fire, smoke,
pieces of construction hanging down,

hot vapour, extreme radiation.

They say you cannot feel radiation.

It cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.

I was invigorated, energised,
even festive.

Later, I read that it's called
'radiation euphoria.'

It passed quickly,
giving way to nausea.

So high levels of radiation
can be felt to some extent.

I went to the sanitary checkpoint,
undressed, took a shower.

I noticed that my body was bronze,
as if suntanned.

My hands, face, and neck were red

and everything underneath my clothes
was brown.

They checked the level of radiation
in my body.

My right thigh and right arm
were polluted.

I guessed that the right arm

was due to my handshake with Toptunov.

The 26th was a Saturday.

Back then we had
a six-day school week,

so I woke up, had breakfast
and went to school.

It was an average Saturday morning.

Mothers walking around
with baby carriages,

people strolling around,
kids going to school.

There was absolutely nothing
in the city

that could make you think
that something is wrong.

After the second lesson,

our teacher didn't come to the class
after the bell.

We heard something through the open
classroom window, lots of sirens.

That was the moment we started
to understand something is going on.

My friend and I
climbed out of the window

and ran towards
the sound of the sirens.

The sound was coming
from the hospital.

There were ambulances there.

There was quite a big crowd of people.

We tried to find out
what had happened,

and asked them some questions.

Everyone ignored us.
Until one man noticed us and said,

"Children, what are you doing here?"

"Why are you not in school?"

"There was a fire at the Power Plant."

That's the moment when everything
started getting more interesting.

We ran to the overpass.

The station was covered with haze.

All the officers and generals
were ordered

to return to the Moscow headquarters.

They gathered us,

and said there had
been a serious accident at Chernobyl.

We did not know anything yet.
There was very little information.

We were responsible
for protecting Russia.

It was down to us to prevent
the consequences of Chernobyl

to stop the radioactivity
getting to Moscow and other cities.

So firstly on all the major roads,

we placed special units with officers
and soldiers to stop and check

all the transport going to Moscow.

We didn't really think
there would be radiation.

We thought it was just a precaution.

But it turned out
that many cars were radioactive.

It was a big deal.

The flashes on the film

are caused by the radiation.

Just like a Geiger counter makes
a sound,

the film shows flash spots.

At the beginning, the radiation
indicators were unknown.

The radiation level was so high

that the devices we had
were not powerful enough.

Everyone was outside, taking walks
with baby carriages, children

schools and kindergartens were open.

Actually, this was...
Nobody was warned by anybody.

Actually, this was...
Nobody was warned by anybody.

The only thing that happened

was that the streets
were being cleaned in some places

with some foamy solution
and that's it.

Everything else was so calm.

It could have been announced
on the radio.

It was the duty
of the city administration.

They had to give an order.

They knocked on all the rooms at once,

all the apartments they could reach
and said the same thing,

"Due to the fire at the plant,
radioactive emissions are possible."

"There will be an evacuation."

"Take everything you need
for the first three days,"

"documents, food, and be ready
for the evacuation."

Instead of telling everybody
"Go home, shut the doors and windows,"

they take people to playgrounds

that have at least ten times
more radiation than indoors.

Kids are playing
in these radioactive playgrounds

and everybody is waiting
for the evacuation

that, in the end,
wouldn't start that day.

By evening people started dispersing

but we spent
more than two hours outside.

That night mum got me
to sleep in my clothes

in case the evacuation happened.

She spent a sleepless night
beside the window

watching the glints of the glow
over the forest.

On the night of the 26th,

we were alerted at midnight and
told to urgently come to the airfield.

We were told
to fly to Chernobyl city,

that the accident had happened
at the power plant.

We were told to arrive
ready to receive orders.

Attention please!

In connection with the accident
at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,

the town is developing
unfavourable radiation conditions.

In order to ensure
the complete safety of people

and especially children,

it is necessary

to temporarily evacuate
the town's residents

to nearby areas

of the Kyiv region.

At around midday,

I heard the evacuation announcement
for the first time.

It was coming from the city
loudspeakers and radio.

It is recommended that you take
your documents with you

things of vital importance,

as well as food
for the first few days.

Comrades!

Please keep calm and organised

during the temporary evacuation.

Thirty-six hours had passed.

For 36 hours, people had been
inhaling contaminated air.

After the announcement
of the evacuation,

2,200 buses came
to Pripyat and Chernobyl.

The people were told, "Don't worry!"

"This is a temporary evacuation.
You will all come back."

It was all lies.

"You'll come back,
just take your IDs, no big deal."

"The radiation level is acceptable."

In fact, the level of radiation
was extraordinary.

If we told the truth, there would
have been immense panic.

There would have been serious panic.

People sang songs. Behaving like
it was just a day off, nothing more.

We didn't take much, thinking
we were going for a short time.

We only took a few clothes
and the clothes we had on,

documents and some money, that's all.

They boarded those buses,

leaving absolutely everything behind.

All pets, dogs, cats, had to stay.

So before the evacuation there was
such a howling from the dogs.

It was unbearable to hear.

The main task was to find out

the levels of radiation
around the power plant.

The levels were outrageous.

A huge amount of radioactive fallout
was being pumped into the air.

We have to manage this catastrophe

and stop the release of more
radiation into the atmosphere.

We lift the cargo
and fly at 100 m height to the reactor.

The operator's task: after
the navigator aims at the target...

The pilots were ordered
to load sacks of sand

and boron

and drop these bags from helicopters
into the reactor.

You take a parachute,
a parachute holds a few sacks.

You stick this thing
in the helicopter.

All that is tied onto it?

It's all tied on.

When you get over the reactor you
press the button and it's released.

It was intense, flight after flight.

Take-off for a 10-15 minute flight,
landing, loading, next flight...

By the end of the day,
the tiredness was colossal

with the pressure of time,
together with the radiation,

our health suffered.

Right after the first flights
we started getting a metallic taste

and a constant scratch in the throat,

it was immediately noticeable.

The enemy there
was everywhere and all the time,

but it was invisible.

All this was disorganised.

The work was very dangerous.

At sunset,
they flew from east to west.

When the rays of the sun illuminated
the cockpit, it blinded the pilot.

The helicopter caught fire
and they all burned alive.

It was senseless.

They worked for a week.

They dumped the sand.
That didn't shut anything down.

Everything they were dumping

made just a huge mound in the reactor.

It collapsed and created
an even bigger release

from that reactor than before.

So all the released radionuclides

were going straight into the air,
into the atmosphere

and were flying all around the world.

It's now clear
that the Soviet Union

has suffered
one of the worst disasters

in the history
of nuclear power.

Massive quantities
of radiation

have apparently been
released in an accident

at the Chernobyl Power Station
in the Ukraine.

The Soviet version is this,

one of the atomic reactors

at the Chernobyl
Atomic Power Plant

in the city of Kyiv was damaged

and there is speculation
in Moscow

that people were injured
and may have died.

The Soviets may have
been fairly quick

to acknowledge the accident

because evidence in the form
of mild and nuclear radiation

have already reached beyond
the Soviet borders

to Scandinavia.

There are indications

the accident
could have happened

several days ago.

It would take that long

for radiation to drift
to Scandinavia

and to make
the political decision

to announce it.

You can be sure

that the decision to,
to disclose

was made
at the very highest level,

undoubtedly by
Gorbachev himself.

The Soviet press is paying

signally little attention
to the disaster.

Newspapers carry only

the brief
official announcement

inconspicuously placed.

People have noticed
the small paragraph

but seemed unaware
of the potential dangers.

People in the cities,
towns, and villages

of the Ukraine

just haven't been told

what dangers they may face.

That was Gorbachev's directive

not to say anything
about the accident too early.

The hope was
to fix the problem quickly

and report
about the successful outcome.

In Kyiv, the people were living there

with levels of radiation there were
about 5O times above normal.

As you can tell,
contrary to western news

there has been
no gigantic explosion or fire

and there are not thousands of dead

and now the level of radiation
has lowered back to normal.

The accident happened,
but exaggeration and rumours

spread by western bourgeois media
are not appropriate.

Helicopters were asked
to help dust suppression.

Ten to 15 tons of liquid plastic
were dispersed.

It bound it on the surfaces, roads,
and even in the fields.

It was suggested that the bottom
of the reactor could get so hot,

that the fuel would burn through it.

Huge, tremendous amounts
of radionuclides

would have contaminated the water.

This would probably kill everyone
in Ukraine and the USSR

and spread the contamination
all around the world.

They gathered
a large number of miners.

So they started building
a concrete slab under the reactor.

COMRADES! OUR TASK
IS TO PROGRESS

THE MINE 13 METRES EACH DAY

We were put into shifts.

Each of us had 8 shifts of 3 hours.

The work was not so much hard,

as it was stressful, tense.

Let's do it faster, let's move.

Imagine three hours of intensive work
without a break,

no stops, no nothing.

Raise it up.
Press a bit to the left. Lift it up!

We didn't know
the radiation was harmful

and later would affect us so badly.

Two years later
the first miner would die.

And after that,

we started to hear more and more
about illness and deaths.

We thought we would handle
this accident very quickly.

But this was such a huge operation,
it's hard to even describe it.

Let's go everybody, quickly!

God forbid anyone should pass through
such a hell.

The miners built the tunnel
under the 4th reactor,

but our work had only just begun.

On the eve of
the Seven Nation Summit in Tokyo

both Mrs. Thatcher
and President Reagan

have urged the Russians
to say more about Chernobyl.

Meeting with
Italy's Premier Craxi,

Mr. Reagan was demanding
answers from the Russians.

Come forward and tell everybody
exactly what happened.

You can hardly call this kind of
an accident an internal affair

when other countries
are threatened

with the fallout of ra...

dangerous radioactivity.

A report in this morning's

Communist party
newspaper "Pravda"

indicates that the fire
at the power station

still may not have been put out

ten days after it started.

The newspaper says
there was an explosion

followed by two fires
at the plant.

The "Pravda" pays tribute
to the firemen whose efforts

it says limited the scale
of the damage considerably.

"Brave bold men"
it calls them,

fighting courageously,

hardly able to breathe
for soot and smoke,

their boots
sticking in the asphalt

melted by
the high temperatures.

Every firefighter
who was sent to Chernobyl

ended up in hospital.

Vasya was taken
to the Moscow Hospital Number Six.

ENTRY IS FORBIDDEN

We had to bribe our way in.

At that time
I was five months pregnant.

I didn't tell the doctor.

I understood they may not let me in
because of this.

When she asked,

"Do you have children?"

I said, "Yes, I have two."

She then waved her hand, and said,

"Alright, if you don't plan
any more babies, then you can go."

They told me,

"Their condition is very severe."

And warned us,

hugging or kissing
is strictly forbidden.

And when she guided us to the ward,

I was shocked that they told me
Vasya was in a critical condition.

They were sitting with their legs
up on the beds

and playing cards.

And they were laughing. We could feel
their laughter everywhere.

And when we opened the door,
Vasya looks at me and says,

"Even here you found me. Guys!
She found me even here!"

Of course, I hugged and kissed him.

I whispered in his ear,

"Vasya, don't tell anyone
that I am pregnant,

because they may not let me back in."

The Ministry of Health of the USSR
had a so-called 'Fourth Department'

in charge of nuclear medicine.

Nuclear medicine
was at quite a high level.

It had its own clinics, including
the Hospital Number Six in Moscow.

There were countless cases of people

with radiation sickness
before Chernobyl

and the treatment schemes
had already been developed.

The doctors were using them.

The doctors knew
who would make it through

and who wouldn't from the first days.

They treated
those who could be treated.

As an American
I'm very privileged

to be able to represent

in the Soviet Union
the concern of Americans.

Vasya would have to undergo
bone marrow transplant surgery.

The operation was carried out
by Dr Gale.

We have agreed

to a joint
Soviet-American effort
in this regard.

The Soviets cared more
about international perception

than its own people.

So Gale was invited,

but it was a bit of unfair play.

He was entrusted
with the hopeless ones.

He told us that

he had hope
that everything would be alright.

He saw that Vasya was very athletic

and that he was so

strong, muscular.

He thought
that everything would be alright.

Vasya got much worse.

Much worse. There weren't any wounds
on his body yet,

but they were already
starting to show.

Certain radiation wounds.

They didn't look like normal wounds.

They were completely different.

His voice got weaker. On the inside.

It was tough.

He had wounds in his mouth,
he started getting them everywhere.

During the boner marrow
transplant surgery it wasn't that bad.

But after surgery...

Very scary.

Their bodies rejected food.

They didn't digest it.

We finally realised that big trouble
was around the corner

when Vitya Kibenok and Volodya Pravyk
died at night.

They died ten minutes apart
from each other.

Then Tishura died,

he died on May 9th as well.

Then we realised that this was it.

But I just thought that nobody else
got bone marrow transplants.

Only Vasya got it.

I thought that he'll survive,
we'll make it through.

It was around May 9th.

We were taken by bus to see Gorbachev.

All the families got seated.

There were lots of us.

We were seated
and Gorbachev came up to us.

He told us
that they were heroes of our country,

that all of them
will be buried in Moscow

and then they told us
about the non-disclosure...

that we were signing
non-disclosure agreements

and that we agreed for them
to be buried in Moscow.

How can you talk
about funerals, burials,

when my husband is still alive?
Why was I brought here

and why should I sign anything?

My father was holding me back.

I asked him, "Why should I sign this?
My husband is alive!"

And my poor father was looking at me.

I realised that he understood things
much more than I did.

But he told me,

"Quiet, be quiet, my dear daughter.
Everything will be alright."

"Everything will be alright."

Vasya died on May 13th,

at 11 am.

You all know
that a misfortune befell us recently

an accident
at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

It seriously hurt the Soviet people

and shook the international community.

As of this moment,
299 people have been hospitalised

diagnosed with radiation sickness
of various degrees.

Seven of them are deceased.

Thanks to
the effective measures taken

the worst is behind us.

The most serious consequences
have been averted.

OUR TASK IS TO ACT HEROICALLY

There was an order from the Party to
complete the clean up liquidation

before the anniversary
of the October Revolution.

"No matter what it takes."

We put up a camp

tents, set up for the whole battalion.

Every day...

at 6 am...

we head out, measure everything,
30-kilometre exclusion zone.

Monitoring the radiation measurements

the whole day, but, well,
we signed a non-disclosure agreement.

We had a captain...

"Don't disclose the radiation levels!
You mustn't!"

We knew nothing
about what was going on.

Nothing.

Until the accident,
there were 50 nuclear reactors

operating in the Soviet Union

generating 11%
of that nation's electricity.

Most of the larger
Soviet plants

differ in design
from US reactors.

The major difference is

most Soviet nuclear plants
do not have

containment buildings,

the thick concrete
dome structures

Americans are used to seeing
built around US reactors.

When the worst American
nuclear accident occurred

at Three Mile Island,

most leaking radiation
was kept inside

the containment building.

If as seems to be the case
there was no containment

around the reactor
as is the general--

Can we be sure of that?
What do you--

I do not, I do not know.

Do you think there's
a containment building?

I don't think that there is
a containment building

because the policy of
Soviet atomic constructors

was that the reactor's
absolutely safe

and so there is no need to have
this kind of precaution

because it indicate
possibility of disaster

which Russian always
con-considered,

uh, absolutely impossible.

So going to be clear about this,
you're, you're going

as far as to say you think it
almost certain or just probable

there was no protective shield
around this reactor

which appears to have
melted down?

No, I think that
there is no protection,

protection shield
around this reactor's

certainly the case,

because the building
as such indicate

that there is no shield.

Walter Patterson, if that is so,

what is the danger to life?

Well, obviously if radioactivity
got as far as Scandinavia,

how long, however long
it took to get there,

a great deal must have escaped
close to the site.

The explosion at Chernobyl
caused a toxic nuclear mess

the likes of which the world
had never seen before.

An eruption of thick nuclear material
had poured out over 1000 sq km.

It was an epic story.

My soldiers
started decontaminating houses.

There was a hope that people

could return to live here

to these houses.

But nothing worked.

Radioactive particles were everywhere.

It was really horrible.

Our deadlines were quite clear,

we would be the last
to complete the cleaning.

It was our military duty.

We had to obey our orders.

We had no other choice.

Mikhail Gorbachev's visit
to the east continues.

What has been remarkable
is how much the Soviet people

in spite of all the evidence
still seem to be believing

the fairy stories the government
is still telling them.

It could be argued, Martin,

that only the Soviet Union
could have kept a lid

on what might have been
a situation of public panic,

only a totalitarian state
could have got away with it.

I'm not sure they have
got away with it.

We calculated
the explosion was equivalent

to 400 nuclear bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It completely destroyed the reactor.

Then the nuclear fuel
was ejected from the structure.

The accident was not called
a catastrophe for nothing.

By September, the hardest part
of the liquidation remained.

A huge amount of nuclear fuel
was lying on the roofs.

There were hundreds of tons,

not kilograms, but hundreds of tons,

so they bought a robot from Germany.

How are you going to turn it around?

Our mission was to seal
the reactor shut.

We had to remove the nuclear fuel
and bury it.

The level of radiation
was substantial.

Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel,
it's Samoilenko.

Yuri Samoilenko is a courageous,
very capable man.

Deputy Chief Engineer
of Chernobyl Power Plant.

This was the kind of work, where the
leaders had to make quick decisions.

The buck stopped with us.

Listen carefully,
this is General Tarakanov.

We had to complete the task

preferably, without having
to put anyone in danger.

The robot will push the graphite
pieces over the edge.

That is the plan.

Now we'll go upstairs,
to the 50-metre mark,

to the control room
where we operate the robot.

It was an extremely difficult job.

We needed the robot to do the work

instead of humans
disposing of everything on the roof

because the conditions
were too dangerous.

Drive it straight towards the block.

We needed it to work.

Drive him forward.

Where is it going?

It was such a tense psycho-emotional
situation we had there,

it could literally crack your bones.

It moved around a bit,
then went out of control.

Is it damaged?

It's not working!

It's falling apart.

What do we do now?

The electronics of these robots

immediately malfunctioned
and they burned out.

The German robot is stuck.

We just can't drag it off

because it's sitting
on a graphite block.

The robot just spins around
and that's it.

It's three and a half tons.

We're working on it.

There can be no failure.

The job had to be done.

The major is the battalion commander,
everyone gets lined-up

and General Tarakanov says,

"You have to complete
the honourable mission of

shovelling the debris into
the reactor and it'll be sealed shut."

"Only volunteers are going!"

Volunteers!

The general told the commander,

"This needs to be done."

And the major told us,

"This is an order!"

I had a perfectly good idea
what we were dealing with.

We are the professionals.

But the people
who were subordinate to us,

they understood absolutely nothing.

This talk about radiation
is nonsense, guys. We're healthy.

We are already used to it
and it's gotten used to us.

Everyone is smiling here.

Everyone's content.
They even sell vodka here.

There was a rumour
going around Moscow,

you come here and you get given
150 g of vodka everyday.

I was speaking to my wife,
telling her about

how you walk into the canteen
and are given 150 g of vodka.

You leave and are given another 150 g.

She said, at least eat something
with all this alcohol!

We are entering a high radiation area.

Close down the hatches,
turn on the filtration units.

I asked the commission to choose
the strongest, healthiest soldiers

who were inventive and sporty.

Generals and officers
went around all the regiments

and selected 5,000 volunteers.

A car brought lead sheets,

those millimetre-thick ones,
some tie string, and that was it and

some underpants.

The guys sewed the lead
into their clothes.

The robots failed,
but we have bio-robots.

Our Major Klopotenko
said, "Boys, you...

both of you are the best combatants,
why are you slacking off?"

"I don't want to do this", I replied.

Because I realised

the radiation level skyrocketed.

You know what the punishment
for disobeying an order now is?

And then you go to the first service
ladder, get up to the first site,

then, from there,
get out to the second one.

It's a bit destroyed.

Your task is to clean
this coal-black graphite from here.

The Soviet machine,
the Soviet Army was all powerful.

The order had been given.

It was suicidal.

Get around the pipe,

to its eastern side, and take a breath.

-Right here.
-Yes.

Maybe it's not easy
for everyone to understand

how we could let people out there.

But we didn't just
let them out thoughtlessly.

Nobody knew anything,
especially the first ones.

They knew nothing
and they were literally going to hell.

Look here, you have to take the
graphite and throw it into the abyss.

But don't get too close. You can only
approach this metal railing.

Look at these guys,
they act correctly.

Do you have any questions for us?

No questions?

Well, then I thank you for your task
and wish you good health.

Hurry up. Let's go.

Careful, guys!

We didn't even have proper protection.

You take a piece

giving out 600 roentgen of radiation,

the contact time is a few seconds.

But, it remained in the spine,

those molecules and atoms.

It accumulated, and accumulated,
and accumulated in the body.

Let's go!

We are ready.

We'll be going.
The hole is to the right.

Got it!

Careful, be careful.

Sooner or later
each of our bodies showed signs.

We all went through it, vomiting,
coughing, extreme exhaustion.

Some guys couldn't get out of bed
from fatigue by the second day.

We called the local medical
instructor, he gave them some pills,

injections,

something to drink.

The level of radiation accumulation
was strictly concealed.

People worked until they fell
from their feet.

On the fifth day, I started vomiting,
started choking.

Eating, I hardly ate at all,
just drank-drank-drank.

Roughly speaking, about 80%
of the liquidators would die

in the years that followed.

You have completed the assigned task
and completed it excellently.

I congratulate you
on the completion of this task.

I wish you great health
and a long life.

All of you are awarded a prize
of 800 rubles.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I serve the Soviet Union.

Thank you.

I serve the Soviet Union.

I serve the Soviet Union.

I serve the Soviet Union.

We were liquidators,
just "cannon fodder", that's all.

We had been there for three months
and this was the end of the mission.

They climbed to the highest ground

and raised the flag.

There was a prolonged alarm sound
from the power plant.

It has the same symbolism
as Victory Day.

We've removed
the high radiation level.

We reported to the commission
that the operation was complete.

Be careful. Put the camera down.
Hurry up.

My soldiers liquidated 200 tons
of radioactive fuel and other debris.

People have acted
heroically, selflessly.

I can say with good reason that
for all the severity of the incident,

the damage was limited
to a decisive extent

due to the courage and skill
of our people.

Their loyalty to their duty,

the coherence of the actions
of everyone who took part

in eliminating the consequences
of the accident.

My first thought was:
"That's it, the end,"

but it was
a completely different story.

I had to wait years

before I could return home to visit.

Our balcony, kitchen window.

Here's an apple tree
I planted with Vasya.

We had great plans...

for the future...

and then...

everything was different.

I was pregnant.

They admitted me to the hospital.

I gave birth to a girl.

Oh God.

Before he died,
Vasya and I gave her a name

and Vasya said,

"Her name will be Natasha."

"I like the name Natasha,"

and so we named her.

After five hours...

she died.

At that time, I was told that she

protected me, she saved my life.

That all the radiation...

that I was inhaling, she absorbed it.

We have seen an increase

in pregnancy and birth complications...

adrenal cancer

and thyroid cancer in newborns,

which was very rare
before the accident.

Women are giving birth
to so-called sirens,

when the whole lower part of the body

turns into...

like a fish tail.

There are no healthy people
after the accident.

-What did you say your name is?
-Vasilina Ivanivna.

Absolutely all local people,
who started having health problems

received a diagnosis from our doctors
of 'Radiophobia.'

They claimed
that all our problems appeared

because we were too afraid
of radiation.

It was all just psychological.

This is the point
where the Soviet version of events

completely disconnects from the truth.

YEVGENIY CHAZOV,
MINISTER OF HEALTH OF THE USSR

The accident at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant

had no impact on the health
of the population.

A thorough medical examination

did not reveal any abnormalities

in the health of the population
in the affected areas.

Every fourth kid has an enlarged
thyroid gland and liver.

When they take a blood test,

they find leukemia
and other abnormalities.

They don't tell us about it
and we don't understand it.

What do the doctors say? They say
it's normal, it's fine, it's nothing.

They did some laboratory tests
in the village,

but didn't say a single word to us.
No truth. No analysis. Nothing.

I feel weak, I get bad headaches.

The regime actively tried to sweep
the consequences away.

Gorbachev's first visit to Chernobyl
was two years after the disaster.

Hello, comrades.

Hello.

Any questions for me?
Any questions? Please.

Yeah, this man here.

He spent five hours at the plant
during the accident

now he barely leaves the hospital

and they say
it has no relation to radiation.

Doctors were forbidden to diagnose
anything related to radiation.

So there were no more cases.

In reality, there were;
officially, there weren't.

This was the rule.

Everyone here
is a Chernobyl liquidator.

They do not record our illnesses as
being caused by exposure to radiation.

They diagnosed me with brain damage.

Degradation of the body's bone base,

rectal prolapse,
destruction of the pelvis and so on.

What could have caused that?

It's ridiculous!

Robot. A biorobot!

Is it falling out for no reason?

LEONID ILYIN, VICE-PRESIDENT,
ADVANCED SOVIET MATHEMATICS

Everyone in this room is well aware

that the problem is not scientific

but psychological, leading
to the syndrome of 'Radiophobia'.

The Soviets blamed it all
on 'Radiophobia,'

but the more they denied it,

the more real evidence emerged.

I can also mention those freak calves.
I've lost count of them.

We slaughtered a calf not so long ago.

Its leg grew from its neck.

Other milkmaids have their calves
born three-legged.

More than forty mutant piglets
have been born since the disaster.

Are you worried
about this phenomenon?

Of course we are.

Let's go to the pig farm.
We'll show you.

They told us to have coils implanted
and have abortions.

They wouldn't have ordered
that if there wasn't radiation.

They would't have forbidden us
from having children.

This was the Soviet Union,
the secrecy.

A lot of secrets surround Chernobyl,
not only medical,

but also technological ones.

The government of the Soviet Union

prepared a report
on the causes of the disaster.

In August 1986,
the report was presented in Vienna to

the International
Atomic Energy Agency.

Back when this report was being
prepared in the USSR in the summer,

the KGB started collecting
non-disclosure agreements.

I've signed that KGB paper.

In the first paragraph,
I was forbidden to disclose, quote,

'the true causes of the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant disaster'.

The State then diverted attention
by finding someone to blame.

They set up a court in Chernobyl

and invited journalists
from all over the world.

Former Director of the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant.

They decided to blame it on
the alleged mistakes and violations

of the operating personnel
of the reactor.

Former Deputy Chief Engineer
on Exploitation of the NPP.

Of all the heads of the Station
brought to the court,

he was the only
professional nuclear physicist.

At the moment of the explosion
he was at the reactor.

The Chernobyl trial,
was certainly a show trial.

It wasn't a trial,
it was a one-sided game.

The sentence in the name of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

July 29, 1987, the city of Chernobyl.

The main reasons
that led to the accident

were gross violations
of the safety rules.

The Russians say the Chernobyl
accident was caused by no fewer

than 6 violations of safety
procedures by staff,

that they say won't happen again.

To professionals, it was clear,

that personnel's mistakes
weren't the cause.

The cause was the faulty design
of the reactor.

After Chernobyl,
all the USSR reactors of this type

were shut down for modernisation.

In some situations,

the reactors,

functioned in a way that made them
almost uncontrollable,

and the operators had no way of
influencing the reactor's behaviour.

In some situations,

the reactors started behaving
worse than before the disaster.

Some mistakes were successfully
corrected, others weren't correctable.

In 1987, the Soviet Union
made this information classified

and the reactors continued operating.

I didn't make any risky decisions
about the reactor.

I considered
that completely unacceptable.

The mistakes by the personnel
are a lie.

A lie of the Soviet Union.

In the case of Chernobyl,
the concealment of causes,

the concealment of the design flaws

led to the explosion of the reactor.

And politically, hiding
the consequences of the accident...

I want to show you some photographs.

These are the children of the zone
who are born today.

...led to a political explosion
and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

No one likes being lied to.

By that time the Union became nothing
but a bunch of lies.

Certainly, it was one of the nails
in the Soviet Union's coffin.

Nature takes its revenge...

for immorality and dishonesty...

for cruelty and mediocrity,

greediness and secrecy

of the Soviet system.

We don't know how many people

have died from the Chernobyl accident

in these three years.

But we do know that we built

the world's largest coffin.

Sunday's outbreak of fighting

is only the latest
in four months of violence

in the tiny
Caucasian republic of Georgia.

Spasms of unrest
in the Soviet Union

were felt
in the southern republics

of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

We haven't learnt the same lessons
from Chernobyl

as our foreign colleagues have.

The lack of information
frightened people.

Millions of inhabitants.

The rebellion against
Communist authority

has now spread

and there's almost certainly
more trouble to come.

The decision to send in troops

was taken by
President Gorbachev.

All of these are products
of the command and control system.

We need to stop the vicious machine.

("Swan Lake Op.20, Act II:
Dance of the Cygnets" playing)

The decree
of the Vice President of the USSR.

In view of Mikhail Sergeyevich
Gorbache's inability,

for health reasons, to perform
his duties as President of the USSR,

in keeping with Paragraph 7, Article
127 of the Constitution of the USSR,

Vice-President Yanayev took office

as President of the USSR
on August 19, 1991.