All language subtitles for The.Chernobyl.Disaster.S01E01.Meltdown.1080p.HDTV.H264-CBFM (2)

DR CHERNYSHOVA: The reason why
Chernobyl seems such a dire warning

to so many people around the world

is the nuclear disaster
that happened there

affected the entire planet.

I remember the first time
going into the site itself.

It's a sinister place

because you can't help remembering
what happened there

and how it had affected hundreds
of thousands of people's lives.

NARRATOR: Two miles from Chernobyl,
the city of Pripyat,

once home to 50,000 people,

lies in ruins.

Vegetation is taking over,

there are trees that are growing

into the upper floors
of the tower blocks.

A 1,000-mile exclusion zone

has restricted access to the site
for the past 36 years.

(SIRENS WAILING)

But that all changes
on 24 February 2022...

..when Russia invades Ukraine

in a bid to take back
the former Soviet Republic.

An early strategic target

is the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant.

Russia was moving tanks
through the zone

and that raised radioactive dust.

Russia is really weaponising
nuclear power plants

in this war on Ukraine.

The story of Chernobyl
is decades in the making.

It began when the emerging Soviet
Union's nuclear power programme

threatened the world.

(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

A Soviet dream
that became a nightmare.

A disaster officials
tried to cover up...

..as a brave few battled

to stop radiation spreading
across the globe.

Using top-secret Soviet documents...

(CHEERING)

..and hearing from those
who risked everything.

This is the story

of one of the world's
worst nuclear accidents.

Early morning.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant

gets ready to carry out
a safety test

on Reactor Number Four.

Every nuclear power station
has to undergo a series of tests,

and one of the safety tests
that it needed

to prove to continue to operate

was to test what would happen
to the coolant system

if there was a power cut.

Engineers planned to switch off
four of the pumps

to test their backup systems.

If there was a power cut

and the emergency generators
didn't kick in,

there would be a real problem.

The job was extremely difficult
and complex

and demanded a lot of concentration,
a lot of experience.

It was kind of a routine test,

but it was conducted in such a way

that that routine test
turned into a terrible accident.

The Chernobyl disaster
can be traced back to the 1960s

when Ukraine was part of the USSR,

and harnessing nuclear power
was a major Soviet ambition.

ANNOUNCER: A multi-stage rocket

took off from a launching site
in Russia.

The mid-20th century
was the height of the Cold War.

Rival superpowers,
the Soviet Union and USA,

are vying for technological...

..and military supremacy.

The USSR is determined
to lead the world

in harnessing nuclear power,

and it pours vast resources
into nuclear research.

Nuclear power was enormously
important to the Soviet Union

and scientists were these heroes
of the Soviet Union.

And nuclear research
was the flagship

of what Soviet science could offer.

Soviet leadership plans to build
a vast nuclear power plant.

One which would dwarf
any the world has ever seen.

(CHHEERING)

The reason why they wanted
to build such a large reactor,

the biggest in the world,
they hoped,

was national pride.

The Soviet Union at the time
was engaged in a,

not just an arms race
with the United States,

but a cultural,
political competition

prove themselves that their system
of government and life was best.

The new plant is to be built
in the Ukrainian wilderness,

60 miles north
of the capital, Kyiv.

It's named after
a nearby town, Chernobyl.

Ukraine enjoyed a special status
in the Soviet Union.

It was very important economically.

It also contained
very important industries

on its territory, coal mining
industries of course,

and many others.

A very important member
of the Union,

for political,
strategic military reasons,

economic reasons especially.

It's on the borderland,
facing to the West,

it's also a showcase
of Soviet, modernity.

In the winter of 1970,

the man chosen to build
and run Chernobyl

arrives in northern Ukraine.

Despite having never worked
with nuclear power,

34-year-old Viktor Brukhanov

will be Chernobyl's first director.

Viktor Brukhanov was a young man
when he was picked,

surprisingly,
to take on the Chernobyl project.

He was an electrical engineer,

he'd worked
in a couple of power plants

across the Soviet Union,

but this was his first
nuclear power job.

Engineer Nikolai Steinberg worked
on the project with Brukhanov.

(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

His main deficiency

was that he was never trained
as a nuclear engineer.

The real reason he was picked

was because the authorities thought
he was a man

who'd be able to master a very,
very complex, difficult task.

Construction of the huge power plant
gets underway in early spring, 1970.

The first of six planned reactors
will take seven years to build.

As the power plant grows,

so does the city built
to house its workers.

Pripyat is one of nine atomgrads,

or atomic cities in the USSR.

Each one is built from scratch,

for workers of the nuclear industry
and their families.

Pripyat was a city whose reason
for existence was Chernobyl,

and in many ways,
it was a model Soviet city.

It was what the socialist city
was supposed to be like.

The apartment buildings
were very well made.

The shops were stocked,

which was quite unusual
in Soviet society,

especially in the '70s.

(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGAUGE)

Chernobyl's 5,000 workers
and their families

lived just two miles
from the power plant.

Seven years after work began,

Chernobyl's reactor number one
is finally ready to be switched on.

Plant Director, Viktor Brukhanov,

is now at the helm
of Chernobyl's first reactor,

and is charged
with building five more.

But it won't be long

before Chernobyl suffers
its first accident.

And the authorities are quick
to cover it up.

Three nuclear reactors are now
fully operational at Chernobyl.

The completion of a fourth

will make this the largest nuclear
power station in the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian city of Pripyat,

built to house Chernobyl's workers,
is also flourishing.

In 12 years,
it's grown from a wasteland

into a city of 50,000 people.

Although they live
in a Soviet paradise,

the residents of Pripyat are unaware
of the danger they're in.

The new Chernobyl power plant
is already riddled with problems.

But it would take until 2020,

when the Ukrainian government

released thousands
of top secret documents,

that Chernobyl's early safety
problems were made public.

One of them exposes how unsafe

the power plant is becoming.

The report is dated
from 5 January 1983,

and according to this report,

between January 1978
to December 1982,

the Chernobyl nuclear power station

experienced 27 accidents
and 87 equipment failures,

including five accidents
and 16 failures

in just 12 months of 1982.

One of the most serious accidents
happens in late summer.

Chernobyl's number one reactor
undergoes a routine safety test.

Nikolai Steinberg, Head of Turbines,

is in his office
in the third reactor building.

Outside Nikolai's office

runs a ventilation pipe
connected to Reactor One.

The steam is part
of a major radiation leak.

Reactor One is shut down.

Nikolai waits for a briefing
on the incident from his bosses.

The cause of the accident
is kept secret

from Nikolai
and his colleagues.

One reason for the secrecy

is down to the presence of the KGB,

the Soviet Union's secret police.

They're a constant presence
at Chernobyl.

Well, the KGB's job would be partly
to investigate

whether this was an act of sabotage,

or whether there was someone,
who was simply negligent,

but also part of their job
was to contain rumours,

and to prevent the spread of panic.

The KGB investigation is more
concerned with quashing rumours

than uncovering
why the accident happened.

They do talk about the presence
of distorted rumours

that spread by residents
of the city of Pripyat,

and there's this kind of nightmare
scenario for the Soviet authorities

that rumours will spread.

None of this was reported
in the press.

After the accident,

radiation is detected
nine miles from the plant.

In some areas,

the levels are hundreds of times
higher than normal,

but the residents
of the nearby city of Pripyat

are kept in the dark.

Despite the accident,
Chernobyl continues to grow.

It's now 13 years

since work began on the plant.

Managers are under orders
to complete the fourth reactor

by the end of the year.

Engineers like Vladimir Kagan
are feeling the pressure.

They were incentivised

to get jobs done
by a particular time,

and this meant bonuses,
this meant certain perks.

The people who were able
to meet those deadlines,

they were rewarded
and that was part of the game.

By the end of December,
Reactor Four is near completion.

Everything had to be finished
by December.

That's when the bonuses
were handed out.

But before it can become
operational,

the reactor must undergo
a critical safety test.

The turbine test
that was the last remaining test

that was due to be done
on the unit four reactor,

hadn't been done by December.

Carrying out the test now
will mean a delay.

The reactor might not be ready
by the December deadline.

The decision on whether or not
to go ahead with the test

falls to Plant Director,
Viktor Brukhanov.

So, Brukhanov said,
"OK, we'll sign it off

"and then we'll come back
and do it at a later date."

Despite the safety test
not being carried out,

Brukhanov allows the reactor
to enter service.

He was someone who was taking risks,
he believed calculated risks.

He lacked really deep understanding
what he was running.

With Reactor Four online,

Brukhanov is now in charge

of the Soviet Union's
biggest nuclear power plant.

Spring 1985.

Events in Moscow
are about to put nuclear energy

at the forefront
of Soviet politics.

The USSR has a new leader.

Mikhail Gorbachev's arrival

heralded an era of transformation
in the Soviet Union.

He was seen as a new,
different type of leader.

He had a meeting
with Margaret Thatcher

in December 1984.

They famously get on
very well together.

There's a feeling, I think,

that things are beginning to change
inside the Soviet Union.

(CHEERING)

He understood that the Soviet Union
and Soviet economy

especially, were in need of reforms,

and he was willing
to undertake that project

of reforming the Soviet Union
to save it.

One of Gorbachev's first tasks

is to announce a plan
to revive the economy,

made to an audience of 5,000
high-ranking party members.

Gorbachev presided
over the party congress

and that congress adopted
a resolution

to double the number
of the nuclear reactors

that they would build
in the next five-year plan,

so, nuclear energy was supposed
to be the solution,

or at least part of the solution,

of how to drag the Soviet economy
out of that stagnation.

In the audience
is Chernobyl's Director,

Viktor Brukhanov.

He will be held
personally responsible

for helping meet
Gorbachev's ambitious goals.

So, the pressure on the management

was actually now becoming
even stronger,

and the burden on their shoulders
was even heavier.

Chernobyl's four reactors,
known as RBMK reactors,

are of a type unique
to the Soviet Union.

The RBMK reactor
was really advanced for its time,

much more so than western reactors,

and this was because
it could put out

the most amount of power
for a reactor of its size.

This also meant that
it was really cost-effective,

which is why they were able to build
so many across the Soviet Union.

In total, 17 RBMK reactors
are built.

All produce energy in the same way.

Effectively, the nuclear reactor
is like a kettle.

It's generating steam by splitting
uranium atoms to generate the heat.

The heat then is used
to heat water,

the water is then turned into steam,

which turns turbines
to generate electricity.

Reactor Number Four
has been running for two years,

when the long-delayed safety test
is finally scheduled to take place.

The test will be overseen
by Deputy Chief Engineer,

Anatoly Dyatlov.

Dyatlov was one
of the few people at the top

who was trained
as a nuclear engineer.

He had quite
an abrasive personality.

Dyatlov was very often feared,

and he was using
a very harsh language

to deal with his subordinates.

The test will take place
on Friday, 25 April.

Dyatlov has briefed the staff,

and they know
what's expected of them.

(SPEAKING A FOREIGN DIALECT)

Everyone turned up
expecting it to be a normal shift.

As it turned out,
it didn't go that way...

..and not everybody
would make it home alive.

Early morning.

Engineers are preparing
to carry out a safety test

on Chernobyl's reactor
Number Four.

This particular safety test
was designed to see what happened

when the cooling water pumps
lost electrical power.

Engineers will switch off
four of the pumps

which cool the reactor
to test the backup system...

..and it has to be done today.

It was the last day of the week
before the start of a holiday season

in the Soviet Union.

They were under pressure
to complete the task,

to complete the shutdown
of the reactor

before that holiday season.

Two miles away in Pripyat,

Chernobyl workers and their families

prepare for the upcoming
May Day holiday.

It's a normal spring day
with lots of people being about.

This is late April in Ukraine.

It's beautiful weather,
generally,

the time when you felt
summer is coming,

the spring has turned the corner,
it's gonna be warm and lovely.

Back at Chernobyl,

inside the control room,

preparations for the test
are underway.

It's a vast room,
a giant curving control panel.

Strange paving flooring.

It would have been filled
with smoke,

everybody smoked at the time.

Overseeing the test,

Deputy Chief Engineer,
Anatoly Dyatlov.

So, Anatoly Dyatlov

was probably the most feared person
at the facility.

If he was in the room,
you had to listen to him

and do what he said,

otherwise there'd be trouble.

The test is due to be carried out

by members of the plant's
morning shift.

They've been trained
on how to carry it out safely.

To operate the test,

the operators needed to lower
the power output of the reactor.

This makes sense, if you're gonna
test the brakes on your bike,

you don't do it at 50 miles an hour,
you do it at five.

Operators have been gradually
powering down the reactor since 1am.

By early afternoon,

the power's been reduced

to nearly 0.75
of the reactor's normal power.

(PHONE RINGING)

Inside the control room,
the phone rings.

Partway through the day,

the emergency grid controller

asked them to stop lowering
the power.

The energy was needed.

300 miles away,

another nuclear reactor
has had an emergency shutdown.

Chernobyl must keep producing power.

Rather than say,
"OK, we'll cut our losses

"and come back another day,"

Dyatlov decided,
"No, we'll carry on.

"We'll do it this evening."

For hours,
the reactor continues to operate,

but at a lower power.

The operators wait
for the green light

to carry out the test.

They had to hold the reactor
at a mid-power level

for a longer period
than was expected.

Inside the reactor,

there's been a build-up
of a dangerous gas called Xenon.

No-one really realised

that while working
at that lower power level,

the reactor was reducing
the chemical elements.

The so-called poisoning
of the reactor was taking place.

Late in the evening,

and the test still
hasn't taken place.

Chernobyl produces power 24/7

and there are constant
shift changes.

The day shift transitioned
into the evening shift,

transitioned into the night shift.

There wasn't the information
passed through each of the operators

from day to evening.

New people came,
the graveyard shift.

People who thought that by the time
they come and start their shift,

the whole thing would be over.

Good evening, I'm Michael
Usher. Here's what's coming

(PHONE RINGING)

After a nine-hour delay,

the control room is finally given
the go-ahead to carry out the test.

So, it was the night shift

that were conducting the test.

It actually started
about 11:00.

Ordinarily, the control room
was a quiet place,

especially at that time of night.

Because the turbine test
was taking place,

it was filled with people.

There were more than 20 people
in the room that night.

One of the operators working
the night shift

is Leonid Toptunov.

Leonid Toptunov

was one of the four operators

that took over the operation
of the reactor.

He was a young and very clearly,
talented engineer.

One of Toptunov's main jobs
that night

was to keep an eye
on the power in the reactor.

The final steps to start
the test are taken.

So, having been left
in this low power state all day,

the reactor was extremely unstable.

The build-up of Xenon gas
inside the reactor

is causing it to behave erratically.

Because the operators
were relatively untrained

and not prepared for the test,

they didn't really notice the signs

that the reactor
wasn't in a safe state.

Operators know
that if all goes wrong,

there is a safety mechanism
in place.

Inside the control room,

something happens
that sets alarm bells ringing.

The power dropped
really unexpectedly,

which was unexplainable
to the operators at the time.

If the operators knew enough
about the issues and problems,

they certainly would avoid
the accident.

Once power began to fall
in the reactor...

..it carried on falling

and it fell
to disastrously low levels.

The reactor was now
in serious danger.

Toptunov takes steps to raise
the reactor's power level.

But rather than bursting back
into life,

the reactor's power only creeps up
to a 16th of its maximum output.

Xenon gas has poisoned the reactor.

(ALARM SOUND)

The Xenon in the reactor
was reducing the activity

to very, very, very low levels.

Toptunov can't increase the power
to the level needed for the test.

People who were round him
tried to help him.

Dyatlov, it seems,

wanted to carry on
with the test regardless.

An argument reportedly breaks out

between Dyatlov
and the shift foreman,

Alexander Akimov.

They were seen having
quite a heated conversation,

and it's fair to assume
that it was Dyatlov saying,

"I want to go ahead,"

and Akimov saying,
"No, we should stop. It's not safe."

For nearly 24 hours,

engineers at Chernobyl's
fourth nuclear reactor

have been attempting
to carry out a safety test.

They were going to turn off
the cooling system manually

and see what happened.

But even before the test starts,

they're struggling
to control the reactor.

When the experiment was started,

it was already
in an unstable state

but the operators
didn't exactly know

what was going on in the reactor.

Deputy Chief Engineer,
Anatoly Dyatlov,

insists the test should go ahead.

Operators of Soviet reactors

were kind of used to not exactly
following the guidelines,

partly because the guidelines
were confusing,

but partly 'cause it was
quite difficult to operate

those particular reactors

without doing a few things
that you shouldn't really do.

Operators, guys
who were operating the controls

said, "We should stop,"

but Dyatlov just told them
to get on with it.

The experiment was started at 1:23.

Four of the eight pumps

that were putting cooling water
into the reactor,

the power was taken away.

When the coolant system
was switched off,

that water was no longer coming up
past the fuel rods quickly.

Any water that was in the system
was boiled off.

The water was no longer being used
to cool the fuel rods

and it bubbled off into steam.

This kind of causes
the nuclear reaction

to actually start to speed up,

so with more boiling,
more steam is produced.

The rate of fission increases...

Water that kept being pumped
into the reactor,

with the aim of cooling it down,
had the opposite effect.

The more fission increases,
the more steam is produced,

more bubbles,
and it's a positive feedback.

It's a never-ending cycle

until you get to a very dangerous,
unstable point in the reactor.

In Reactor Four's control room,

Leonid Toptunov is monitoring
the reactor's power level.

A few seconds into the test,
he's scared by what he sees.

As the reactor overheated,

Toptunov finally saw this.

He called across, said,

"The temperatures are just
skyrocketing inside the reactor."

With the reactor out of control,

there's only one course of action.

The emergency button

to shut the reactor down was hit.

The test had been running
for just 36 seconds.

Instead of shutting down

when that emergency button
was pressed,

the power continued to increase.

It keeps perpetuating

and keeps growing
and growing and growing.

You have no water left
in the reactor.

You have just steam.

The fuel channels ruptured.

The amount of steam increased.

You got more heat, more power,
and a runaway reaction happened.

There's nothing that can be done
at this point.

The Unit Four reactor explodes.

(EXPLOSIVE SOUND)

First thought that crossed
the mind of some of them

was, "OK, it is probably
an earthquake."

They wouldn't have been prepared

for what had happened
inside the reactor.

Two people die instantly
in the explosion.

Others are now being exposed
to lethal doses of radiation.

Inside a nearby fire station,
the telephone rings.

(PHONE RINGING)

The fight to save Chernobyl
has begun.

(PHONE BEEP)

..with radiation pouring

out of Chernobyl's
Number Four reactor...

The Soviet government
does everything it can

to conceal the accident...

They couldn't control radiation,

so they were trying
to control the information.

..with deadly consequences.

Nobody knows how many people died
as a result of that delay.

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