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You work too hard.

- Where is everyone?
- Oh, they refused to come in.

- Why?
- It's Saturday.

- Why did you come in?
- I work too hard.

It's boiling in here.

8 milliroentgen. A leak?

No. It would've gone off before.

- It's coming from outside.
- The Americans?

Iodine 131.

It's not military,
it's uranium decay U-235.

Reactor fuel?

Ignalina,
maybe 240 kilometres away.

Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with
the Institute of Nuclear And...

Looking for...

All right. Stay calm.

They're at 4. It's not them.

- Who's the next closest?
- It's Chernobyl.

That's not possible.
They're 400 kilometres away.

That's too far
for 8 milliroentgen.

They'd have to be split open.

Maybe they know something.

- Iodine.
- Could it be a waste dump?

We'd be seeing other isotopes.

Nuclear test?
Er... New kind of bomb?

We'd have heard. That's what
half our people work on here.

Something
with a space programme,

like a satellite or...

No-one's answering the phone.

- Get everyone started on an IV.
- We don't have enough.

- All the children, then.
- We don't have enough.

As many as you can.

- Where's the old man?
- He set up a burn ward in 16.

What are you doing?
What is that?

Milk. It's milk.

- Much better than water.
- Stop. Stop!

What are you doing?

These are radiation burns.
Their clothes are contaminated.

Help me!

Get it all off.

We're taking it down
to the basement.

He was a firefighter
from Chernobyl.

Can you stop pushing, please?

Hey! Get him!

Just get...

Why are you keeping us out here?

Professor Legasov.

Oh, no, not yet. They're
finishing up other business.

It'll be a few more minutes.
Can I get you some tea?

- No. I'm fine, thank you.
- Care to read

Deputy Chairman Shcherbina's
report while you wait?

Certainly, thank you.

All right, Professor,
they're ready.

Professor Legasov?

Thank you all for your duty
to this commission.

We will begin with Deputy
Chairman Shcherbina's briefing,

and then we will discuss
next steps if necessary.

Thank you,
Comrade General Secretary.

I'm pleased to report

that the situation
in Chernobyl is stable.

Military and civilian
patrols have secured the region

and Colonel General Pikalov,

who commands troops specialising
in chemical hazards,

has been dispatched
to the plant.

In terms of radiation,
plant director Bryukhanov

reports no more
than 3.6 roentgen.

I'm told it's the equivalent
of a chest X-ray,

so if you're overdue
for a check-up...

- And foreign press?
- Totally unaware.

KGB First Deputy Chairman
Charkov assures me

we have successfully protected
our security interests.

Good. Very good.

Well, it seems like
it's well in hand,

so... if there's nothing else,

meeting adjourned.

No!

- Pardon me?
- Er... we can't adjourn.

This is Professor Legasov
of the Kurchatov Institute.

Professor,
if you have any concerns,

feel free to address them
with me later.

I can't. I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.

Page three,
the section on casualties.

Er..."A fireman
was severely burned

on his hand by a chunk of smooth
black mineral on the ground,

outside the reactor building."

Smooth black mineral. Graphite.

There's graphite on the ground.

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

And what importance that...

There's only one place
where you will find graphite.

Inside the core. If there's
graphite on the ground outside,

it means it wasn't a control
system tank that exploded,

it was the reactor core.
It's open.

- Um... Comrade Shcherbina.
- Comrade General Secretary,

I can assure you
Professor Legasov is mistaken.

Bryukhanov reports that
the reactor core is intact.

- And as for the radiation...
- Yes, 3.6 roentgen,

which, by the way, is not the
equivalent of one chest X-ray,

but rather 400 chest X-rays...

That number's been bothering me
for a different reason, though.

It's also the maximum reading
on low-limit dosimeters.

They gave us
the number they had.

I think the true number
is much, much higher.

If I'm right, this fireman
was holding the equivalent

of four million chest X-rays
in his hand.

Legasov, there's no place
for alarmist hysteria...

It's not alarmist
if it's a fact.

Well,
I don't hear any facts at all.

All I hear
is a man I don't know,

engaging in conjecture,
in direct contradiction

to what has been reported
by Party officials.

Um... er... I apologise.

I didn't mean... er...

Please,
may I express my concern

as calmly and as respectfully...

- Professor Legasov...
- Boris.

I will allow it.

An RBMK reactor
uses uranium 235 as fuel.

Every atom of U-235
is like a bullet,

travelling at nearly
the speed of light,

penetrating everything
in its path -

woods, metal, concrete, flesh.

Every gram of U-235

holds over a billion trillion
of these bullets.

That's in one gram.

Now, Chernobyl holds
over three million grams,

and right now it is on fire.

Winds will carry
radioactive particles

across the entire continent.

Rain will bring them
down on us.

That's three million
billion trillion bullets

in the... in the air we breathe,

the water we drink,
the food we eat.

Most of these bullets will not
stop firing for 100 years.

Some of them
not for 50,000 years.

Yes, and this concern...

..stems entirely from
the description of a rock?

Yes.

Hm...

Comrade Shcherbina...

I want you to go to Chernobyl.

You take a look at the reactor,
you personally,

and you report
directly back to me.

Wise decision,
Comrade General Secretary.

And take Professor Legasov
with you.

Oh.

Forgive me, Comrade General
Secretary, but I don't...

Do you know
how a nuclear reactor works?

- No.
- No.

Well, then, how will you know
what you're looking at?

Meeting adjourned.

How does a nuclear reactor work?

- What?
- It's a simple question.

- It's hardly a simple answer.
- Of course.

You presume
I'm too stupid to understand.

So I'll restate: tell me
how a nuclear reactor works

or one of these soldiers will
throw you out of the helicopter.

A nuclear reactor
makes electricity with steam.

The steam turns a turbine,
which generates electricity.

Where a typical power plant
makes steam by burning coal,

a nuclear plant...

In a nuclear plant we use
something called fission.

You take an unstable element
like uranium 235,

which has too many neutrons.

- A neutron is a...
- The bullet.

Yes, the bullet.

So, bullets are flying off
of the uranium.

Now, if we put enough
uranium atoms close together,

the bullets from one atom will
eventually strike another atom.

The force of this impact
splits that atom apart,

releasing a tremendous amount
of energy, fission.

- And the graphite.
- Ah, yes.

The neutrons actually travel
so fast we call this flux.

It's relatively unlikely

that the uranium atoms
will ever hit one another.

In RBMK reactors, we surround
the fuel rods with graphite

to moderate, slow down,
the neutron flux.

Good. I know how
a nuclear reactor works.

Now I don't need you.

Can you help me?
I need to find my husband.

Not now.

- Mikhail.
- Lyudmilla. Take her.

Take her away from here, please.

Get away from them.
Do you want to get sick? Go.

Please take her. Please take
her. Please, please, please.

Please take her!

Excuse me,
I am Vasily Ignatenko's wife.

He's a fireman. Ignatenko.

Ignatenko. Six Paramilitary
Fire and Rescue unit.

I need to find him, please.

Ignatenko...

He's being transported
by helicopter to Moscow.

- Hospital number six.
- Why? Is he all right?

Can I see him?

You wanna see him,
go to Moscow.

But they're not
letting us leave here.

Tell them Major Burov allows it.

- When are they taking him?
- Now.

We're approaching
the power plant.

What have they done?

- Can you see inside?
- I don't have to.

Look.

That's graphite on the roof.

The whole building's
been blown open.

The core's exposed.

I can't see how
you can tell that from here.

For God's sakes,
look at that glow.

That's radiation
ionising the air.

Well, if we can't see it,
we don't know.

Get us over the building.

- Boris...
- Don't use my name!

If we fly over an open reactor,
we'll be dead within a week!

Sir?

Get us over that building.
Or I'll have you shot.

If you fly over that core,

I promise you
by tomorrow morning

you'll be begging
for that bullet.

Perhaps if you came back
another day.

Just wonderful.

Deputy Secretary, Garanin.

Ulana Khomyuk
of the Byelorussian Institute

- for Nuclear Energy.
- What a pleasure.

- Let me introduce...
- I'm here about Chernobyl.

Such a lovely time.
Visit again soon.

I will, thank you.

I must tell you, this is why
no-one likes scientists.

When we have a disease to cure
where are they?

In a lab, noses in their books,
and so, Grandma dies.

But when there isn't a problem,
they're spreading fear.

- I know about Chernobyl.
- Oh?

I know that the core is either
partially or completely exposed.

Whatever that means.

And if you don't immediately

issue iodine tablets
and then evacuate the city,

hundreds of thousands of people
are going to get cancer,

and God knows
how many more will die.

Yes, very good.

There has been
an accident at Chernobyl,

but I've been assured
there is no problem.

- I'm telling you that there is.
- I prefer my opinion to yours.

I'm a nuclear physicist.

Before you were deputy secretary
you worked in a shoe factory.

Yes. I worked in a shoe factory.

And now I'm in charge.

To the workers of the world.

Stable iodine
will keep your thyroid

from absorbing
radioactive iodine.

Take one a day
for as long as they last.

And go east. Get as far
from Minsk as you can.

It's overkill. Bryukhanov
showing off to make us look bad.

It doesn't matter how it looks.

Shcherbina is
a pure bureaucrat,

stupid as he is pig-headed.

We'll tell him the truth in the
simplest terms. We'll be fine.

Bryukhanov!

Comrade Shcherbina.
Chief Engineer Fomin,

Colonel General Bryukhanov and I
are honoured at your arrival.

Deeply, deeply honoured.

Naturally, we regret
the circumstances of your visit,

but as you can see, we are
making excellent progress

in containing the damage.

We have begun our own enquiry
into the cause of the accident,

and I have a list of individuals
who we believe are accountable.

Professor Legasov,
I understand you've been saying

- dangerous things.
- Very dangerous things.

Apparently
our reactor core exploded.

Please, tell me how
an RBMK reactor core explodes.

I'm not prepared to explain it
at this time.

- As I presumed, he's no answer.
- It's disgraceful.

Really. To spread disinformation
at a time like this.

Why did I see graphite
on the roof?

Graphite is only found
in the core where it's used

as a neutron flux moderator,
correct?

Fomin, why did
the Deputy Chairman

see graphite on the roof?

Oh, that can't be.

Comrade Shcherbina,
my apologies, but graphite...

that's not possible.

Perhaps you saw burnt concrete.

Now,
there you've made a mistake.

Cos I may not know much
about nuclear reactors,

but I know a lot about concrete.

- Comrade, I assure you...
- I understand.

You think Legasov is wrong.

How should we prove it?

Our high-range dosimeter
just arrived.

We could cover one of our trucks
with lead shielding,

mount the dosimeter
on the front.

Have one of your men get
as close to the fire as you can.

Give them every bit
of protection you have,

but even with lead shielding,
it may not be enough.

Then I'll do it myself.

Good.

He's back.

It's not 3 roentgen.
It's 15,000.

Comrade Shcherbina...

- What does that number mean?
- It means the core is open.

It means the fire we're watching
is giving off nearly twice

the radiation released
by the bomb in Hiroshima.

And that's every single hour,
hour after hour.

20 hours since the explosion,
so 40 bombs' worth by now.

48 more tomorrow,
and it will not stop.

Not in a week, not in a month.

It will burn
and spread its poison

until the entire continent
is dead.

Please escort Comrades
Bryukhanov and Fomin

to the local party headquarters.

- Thank you for your service.
- Comrade...

You're excused.

Dyatlov was in charge.
It was Dyatlov!

Tell me how to put it out.

We'll use helicopters and
drop water on it like a fire.

No, no. You don't understand,
this isn't a fire.

This is
a fissioning reactor core

burning at over 2,000 degrees.

The heat will instantly
vaporise the water.

How do we put it out?

You are dealing
with something

that has never occurred
on this planet before.

Boron.

Boron and sand.

Well, that'll create
problems of its own

but I don't see any other way.

It's going to take
thousands of drops

because you can't
fly helicopters

directly over the course,
so most of it is going to miss.

How much sand and boron?

For God's sake, roughly.

5,000 tonnes.

And obviously we're
going to need to evacuate

- an enormous area.
- Never mind that.

- Focus on the fire.
- I am focusing on the fire.

But the wind is carrying
all that smoke...

..all that radiation.

At least evacuate Pripyat.
It's three kilometres away.

- That's my decision to make.
- Then make it.

I've been told not to.

- Is it or is it not...
- I'm in charge here!

This will go easier if you talk
about the things you understand

and not about the things
you do not understand.

Where are you going?

I'm going to get you 5,000
tonnes of sand and boron.

There's a hotel.

I'd prefer one of those.

Superstitious?

Moscow?

Are you here
because of the fire?

Anything we should
be worried about?

No.

We're in position.
Approaching drop.

Clear to proceed.

Copy. We'll go
one by one in rotation.

Remind them about the perimeter.

They cannot fly directly
over the fire.

- A minimum of a 10m perimeter.
- 10m perimeter.

Lead 1 for pre-flight,
maintain minimum 10m perimeter.

Copy that.
40 meters, 35...

30...

No, no, no. They're too close.

If they can't get over the fire,
how...

The wind will have to carry it.

Tell them.
They cannot go over the core.

Lead 1 is too close.
I repeat, they are too close.

Copy. Lead 1,
you are inside the perimeter.

They're not copying this.
Signal's breaking up.

Lead 1? Lead 1, do you copy?

Lead 1, do you copy?
Lead 1, come in.

Do you copy, Lead 1?

Lead 1!

Sir, what do I tell the others?

Is there any other way, Legasov?

Send the next one in.

Tell them to approach
from the west.

Lead 2, approach from the west.

Kurchatov Institute,
Laboratory 4.

Marina Gruzinskaya? It's
Ulana Khomyuk from Minsk.

Oh, yes.
How nice of you to phone.

- It's been too long.
- It has.

I was actually calling
about our friend.

- The one in the country.
- Oh, yes, of course.

I wanted to see how he's doing.
It's so hot there right now.

Yes, it's extremely hot, but
his nephews are flying down,

and they always bring
cool weather.

Oh, which nephews?

Simka, who's 14,
and little Boris, who's five.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Though children can make
you even hotter

when they're
crawling all over you.

- Maybe I should visit.
- No, they don't want visitors.

I'm sorry. I have to get back to
work. It's very busy right now.

Goodbye.

They're dropping sand
and boron on the fire.

It's what I would do.

Yes, I'm sure it is.

Where are you going?

Chernobyl.

It's been smooth. 20 drops.

What?

There are 50,000 people
in this city.

Professor Ilyan,
who's also on the commission,

says the radiation
isn't high enough to evacuate.

- Ilyan isn't a physicist.
- But he's a medical doctor.

If he says it's safe, it's safe.

Not if they stay here.

- We're staying here.
- Yes, we are,

and we'll be dead in five years.

I'm sorry. I...

I'm sorry.

Shcherbina.

Thank you.

A nuclear plant in Sweden
has detected radiation.

And identified it
as a by-product of our fuel.

The Americans
took satellite photos.

The reactor building
and the smoke. The fire.

The whole world knows.

The wind has been
blowing toward Germany.

They're not letting children
play outside...

..in Frankfurt.

Do you want a smoke?

There has been a nuclear
accident in the Soviet Union

and the Soviets
have admitted it happened.

The Soviet version is this:

one of the atomic reactors at
the Chernobyl atomic power plant

near the city of Kiev
was damaged,

and there is speculation
in Moscow

that people were injured
and may have died.

The Soviets
may have been fairly quick

to acknowledge the accident
because evidence

in the form
of mild nuclear radiation

had already reached beyond the
Soviet borders to Scandinavia.

I said turn around.
This is a restricted zone.

I'm from the Byelorussian
Institute for Nuclear Energy.

- Do you have permission?
- Listen to me.

I need to speak
to someone urgently.

Turn around right now
or I'll arrest you.

If you arrest me,
you should take me

to the highest
possible authority.

We have to start
a radiological survey,

sector by sector, on foot,
dosimeters in hand.

Are you all right?

Of course.

Comrades.

The guards arrested this woman
at the south checkpoint.

I'd have put her in a cell.

But he thought you should know
that I know.

I know your reactor core
is exposed.

I know the graphite's on fire,
the fuel is melting

and you're dropping sand
and boron on it,

which you probably thought
was smart,

but you've made a mistake.

Ulana Yuriyvna Khomyuk,
chief physicist,

Byelorussian Institute
for Nuclear Energy.

And you're
Valery Alekeyevich Legasov.

Smothering the core
will put the fire out

but the temperature
will eventually increase...

Believe me, I'm perfectly aware.
But I estimate at least a month

before it melts through
the lower concrete pad,

- which gives us time.
- You don't have a month.

You have
approximately two days.

Yes. The fuel would take a month
to reach the concrete pad here.

But first...
it's going to burn through

the biological shield here
by Tuesday.

And when it does,
it's going to hit these tanks,

- bubbler pools, reservoirs...
- Reservoirs for the ECS.

I understand your concern.

But I confirmed it
with plant personnel.

- The tanks are nearly empty.
- No, they were nearly empty.

Each of these points here,
here and here

all drain to the bubbler pools.

I'm guessing that every pipe
in the building ruptured.

Then there are
those fire engines

that I saw on the way in.

The fire hoses
are still connected.

They've been gushing water into
the structure this whole time.

The tanks are full.

The tanks are full.

I have ten minutes...

...then I'm back on the phone,
apologising to our friends,

apologising to our enemies.

Our power comes from
the perception of our power.

Do you understand
the damage this has done?

Do you understand
what's at stake?

Boris?

Professor Legasov
will deliver our briefing.

There is some good news.

The air drops are working
to douse the fire.

There's been a reduction
in radionuclide emissions,

but the fire
will not be extinguished

for at least another two weeks.

There is also
an additional problem.

Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold

simply because
it is not on fire.

In fact, the temperature
will likely rise as a result

of the blanket of sand
we dropped.

The uranium will melt the sand,

creating a kind of lava,
which will begin to melt down

- through the shield below.
- You've made lava?

I anticipated this.

I believed there was time

to reinforce
this lower concrete pad

before the lava
reached the earth

and contaminated
ground water,

but as it turned out I was
worried about the wrong thing.

It was my understanding
that these large water tanks

under the reactor
were essentially empty.

This is Ulana Khomyuk
of the Byelorussian Institute.

Thanks to her insight,
we are now aware

that the tanks are,
in fact, full.

Of water. Why is that a problem,
Professor?

When the lava enters
these tanks,

it will instantly superheat
and vaporise

approximately
7,000 cubic meters of water,

causing a significant
thermal explosion.

How significant?

We estimate between
two and four megatons.

Everything within a 30km radius
will be completely destroyed,

including the three remaining
reactors at Chernobyl.

The entirety of the radioactive
material in all of the cores

will be ejected, at force...

and dispersed
by a massive shock wave...

..which will extend
approximately 200 kilometres

and likely be fatal to the
entire population of Kiev,

as well as a portion of Minsk.

The release of radiation
will be severe,

and will impact
all of Soviet Ukraine,

Latvia, Lithuania,

Byelorussia, as well as Poland,

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania

and most of East Germany.

What do you mean, "impact"?

For much of the area,
a nearly permanent disruption

of the food and water supply,

steep increase in the rates
of cancer and birth defects.

I don't know how many deaths
there will be, but many.

For Byelorussia and the Ukraine,

impact means
completely uninhabitable

for a minimum of 100 years.

There are more
than 50 million people

living in Byelorussia
and Ukraine.

60, yes.

And how long
before this happens?

Approximately 48 to 72 hours.

But we may have a solution.

We can pump the water
from the tanks.

Unfortunately
the tanks are sealed shut

by a sluice gate,
and the gate can only be opened

manually from within
the duct system itself.

So we need to find
three plant workers

who know the facility
well enough

to enter the basement here,

find their way through
all these duct ways...

..get to the sluice
gate valve here

and give us the access we need
to pump out the tanks.

Of course, we will need
your permission.

- My permission for what?
- The water in these ducts...

The level of radioactive
contamination...

They'll likely be dead
in a week.

We're asking for your permission
to kill three men.

Comrade Legasov...

..all victories
inevitably come at a cost.

And open
the sluice gate valve here.

The valve
will be difficult to operate

so we'll need three men...

who'll need to know
the basement layout.

And, of course,
any volunteers will be rewarded.

A yearly stipend of 400 roubles.

And er... for those of you

working in reactors 1 and 2,
promotions.

Why are reactors 1 and 2
still operating at all?

My friend was
a security guard that night

and er... she's now dying.

And we've all heard
about the firemen.

And now you want us to swim
underneath a burning reactor.

Do you even know
how contaminated it is?

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

You don't need an exact number
to know if it will kill us,

but you can't even tell us that.

Why should we do this?
For what, 400 roubles?

You'll do it
because it must be done.

You'll do it
because nobody else can.

And if you don't...
millions will die.

If you tell me that's not
enough, I won't believe you.

This is what has always
set our people apart.

A thousand years of sacrifice
in our veins.

And every generation
must know its own suffering.

I spit on the people
who did this.

And I curse the price
I have to pay.

I'm making my peace with it.
Now you make yours.

And go into that water...

..because it must be done.

Ananenko.

Bezpalov.

Baranov.