All language subtitles for Chernobyl.S01E02.720p.WEBRip.x264-TBS [No-HI]

What is the cost of lies?

Who is to blame?

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't look right.

We taste metal.

I think
there's graphite on the ground.

You didn't see graphite.

You didn't
because it's not there!

We seal off the city. Contain
the spread of misinformation.

Secretary
Gorbachev has appointed a committee

to manage the accident.
You're on it.

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.

Eight 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, uh,
240 kilometers away.

Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk

with the Institute of Nuclear En...

Looking for...?

- All right, stay calm.
- Don't tell me to stay calm.

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

- Who's the next closest?
- It's Chernobyl, but that's not possible.

They're 400 kilometers away.

That's too far
for eight milliroentgen.

They'd have to be split open.

Maybe they know something.

- Iodine.
- Could it be a waste dump?

No.

We'd be seeing other isotopes.

Nuclear test?
Uh, new kind of bomb?

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

Something with the space
program 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.
- But we don't have enough!

As many as you can.

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

What are you doing?
What is that?

Milk. It's milk.
Much better than water.

No, no, no.
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?

We have our orders!

- Disperse!
- Hey, there! Get him!

Why you keeping us out here?

Professor Legasov?

Oh, no, not yet.

They're finishing up some other business.
It'll be a few more minutes.

- Can I get you some tea?
- No, I'm fine. Thank you.

Would you care to read Deputy Chairman
Shcherbina's report while you wait?

Certainly. Thank you.

All right, Professor.
They're ready.

Professor Legasov?

You have my support.

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 specializing
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

that 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?

Uh, 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 am sorry.
I'm so sorry.

Page three,
the section on casualties.

Uh...

"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-There's graphite
on the ground.

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

- Of what importance...?
- There's only one place in the entire facility

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

that 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.

Professor 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.

I'm, uh...
I apologize.

I didn't mean, uh...

Please, may I express my concern

as calmly and as
respectfully as I...

- Professor Legasov...
- Boris.

I will allow it.

Um...

An RBMK reactor

uses uranium 235 as fuel.

Every atom of U-235
is like a bullet

traveling 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, uh, this concern

stems entirely from
the description of a rock?

Yes.

Hmm.

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.

A wise decision,
comrade General Secretary...

And take
Professor Legasov with you.

Uh...

Forgive me, comrade
General Secretary, but I...

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 I'll have one of these soldiers
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.

We take an unstable element
like uranium 235,

which has too many neutrons.

- A neutron is, uh...
- 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 are actually traveling
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. -No. Not now.

- Mikhail!
- Lyudmilla.

Take her.

Take her away from here, please.

- Get away from them! You want to get sick? Go!
- Oh my God.

Please take her,
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, Sixth 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 want to see him?
Go to Moscow.

But they're not
letting us leave here.

Tell them Major Burov allows it.

- Oh. 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.

Oh, for God's sakes.

Look at that glow!

That's radiation
ionizing the air!

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

Get us directly
over the building!

- Boris, if we fly...
- Don't you use my name!

...directly over an open reactor,
we'll be dead within a week!

Dead!

Sir?

Get us over that building,
or I'll have you shot!

If you fly directly 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 everywhere,
spreading fear.

- I know about Chernobyl.
- Oh?

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

- Whatever that means.
- And that if you don't immediately

issue iodine tablets
and then evacuate this 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.

Pikalov's showing off
to make us look bad.

It doesn't matter how it looks.

Shcherbina is a pure bureaucrat,

as stupid as he is pigheaded.

We'll tell him the truth in
the simplest terms possible.

We'll be fine.

Pikarov!

Comrade Shcherbina,
Chief Engineer Fomin,

Colonel General Pikalov, and I

are honored at your arrival.

Deeply, deeply honored.

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 inquiry
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 has 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?

Well, that... that can't be.

Comrade Shcherbina,
my apologies, but graphite...

that's not possible.

Perhaps you saw burnt concrete.

Now there you made a mistake,

because 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 shall 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 he can.

Give him every bit
of protection you have.

But understand that
even with lead shielding,

it may not be enough.

Then I'll do it myself.

Good.

He's back.

It's not three 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 with our own eyes

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.

Forty-eight 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.

- We'll drop water on it like a forest 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
vaporize 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-I don't see any other way.

Of course, it's going to take
thousands of drops,

because you can't fly the
helicopters directly over the core,

so most of it is going to miss.

- How much sand and boron?
- Well, I can't be...

- For God's sake, roughly!
- Five thousand tons.

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.

The wind, it's carrying
all that smoke,

all that radiation.

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

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

- I've been told not to.
- Is it or is not...

I'm in charge here!

This will go much easier
if you talk to me

about the things
you do understand

and not about the things
you do not understand.

Where are you going?

I'm going to get you
5,000 tons 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.

Ah.

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 ten-meter perimeter.

Ten meter perimeter. Copy.

Lead One, per pre-flight:

maintain minimum
ten-meter perimeter.

Copy that.

Forty meters... 35...

30...

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

They can't get over the fire.
How are they supposed...

The wind will have to carry it.

Tell them, they cannot
go over the core.

Lead One is too close.

I repeat, they are too close.

Copy.

Lead One, you are
inside the perimeter.

Did not copy.
Signal's breaking up.

Lead One?

Do you copy?

Lead One, do you copy?

Lead One, come in.

Do you copy, Lead One?

Lead One!

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 Two,
approach from the west.

Kurchatov
Institute Laboratory Four.

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.

- You know, 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.

Well, that's wonderful.

Though children can
make you even hotter

when they're crawling
all over you.

Maybe I should visit them.

No, they don't want visitors.

I'm sorry, um,
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.
Twenty drops.

What?

There are 50,000 people
in this city.

Professor Ilyin,
who's also on the commission,

says the radiation isn't
high enough to evacuate.

Ilyin isn't a physicist.

Well, 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 byproduct of our fuel.

The Americans took
satellite photos.

The reactor building,
the smoke, the fire.

The whole world knows.

The wind has been blowing
toward Germany.

They're not letting
children play outside...

in Frankfurt.

Want a smoke?

There has been a
nuclear accident in the Soviet Union

and the Soviets have
admitted that 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 that your reactor
core is exposed.

I know the graphite is 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 are Valery
Alexeyevich 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...
- No, 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.

And 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

apologizing to our friends,

apologizing 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've dropped.

The uranium will melt the sand,

creating a kind of lava

which will begin to melt down
through the shield below.

You have made lava?

I anticipated this.

I believed there was
time to reinforce

this lower concrete pad

before the lava
reached the earth

and contaminated
the groundwater.

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

Uh, um...

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 vaporize

approximately 7,000
cubic meters of water,

causing a significant
thermal explosion.

How significant?

We estimate between
two and four megatons.

Everything within
a 30-kilometer 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 kilometers

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,

a 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.

Sixty, 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?

Uh, 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.

Well...

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 will need to know
the basement layout.

And, of course, any volunteers
will be rewarded.

A yearly stipend of 400 rubles.

And, uh, for those of you working
in reactors one and two, promotions.

Why are reactors one and two
still operating at all?

My friend was a security
guard that night,

and, uh, 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'll kill us.

But you can't even tell us that.

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

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.

But I'm making my peace with it,

and now you make yours.

And go into that water.

Because it must be done.

Ananenko.

Bezpalov.

Baranov.

The immediate danger is over.

Now, I'm afraid
the long war must begin.

How many men do you require?

Approximately 750,000 men.

I've worked
the numbers over and over,

and I always get the same
answer.

It's not possible.

We have to pursue
every possibility.

No matter what
or who is to blame.

Because if we don't find out
what happened that night...

it will happen again.

The valve will be difficult
to operate,

so we'll need three men.

Ananenko.

Bezpalov.

Baranov.

The water was very irradiated.

And there was no expectation
that they would survive.

And they did it nonetheless.

For me to shoot that,

I really didn't want
some kind of big ambient light

so that you can see everything
that's going on

and you kind of make it
into some spectacle.

But for me, it was always
about authenticity,

and the visceral feel of being
with these divers

in this pitch-darkness,
not really seeing anything else

but what's being lit
by the flashlights

and the reflections in the water
from those flashlights.

I'm a nuclear physicist.

Ulana Khomyuk
is not a real person.

She's an invented character.

An amalgam of the scientists
at the time in the Soviet Union

who worked together.

I'm here about Chernobyl.

One of the challenges of...

creating any kind of
historical fiction

is compressing the amount
of people involved.

I needed a character
to represent the hundreds

of scientists who came together
to try and figure out

how to stop Chernobyl
from getting worse,

to clean it up, and then

to determine how it happened
in the first place.

Smothering the coal
will put the fire out,

but... you've made a mistake.

These were scientists

that understood that they were
trying to solve a mystery

in a system that did not
want them to solve the mystery.

They were put on trial.

Scientists involved in this
were threatened,

their families were threatened,
and yet, they did it anyway.

Because, I think,
they understood as scientists,

that the truth was no longer
something that could be

hidden away,
that it was now too late.

I prefer my opinion to yours.

Before you were
deputy secretary,

you worked in a shoe factory.

Because Legasov has the
scientific understanding

of what has happened,

he immediately is given
the responsibility

of trying to figure out,
"Well, what do they do next?"

He hasn't owned it yet,
as in terms of it's his problem.

Anything we should be
worried about?

He has a choice at that point,

to tell them the truth
or to lie.

No.

That's sort of the point
that he steps into the story.

Up until that point,

he was an innocent
who was plucked from his life

and plunked into this situation.

But the moment that he lies,

he now owns responsibility
for the outcome.