All language subtitles for Chernobyl - S01E02

You know, probably the homeland is not
the city

house where I lived on holidays, but
these villages that were

passed on by grandfathers with simple
crosses of their Russian graves.

According to Russian customs, only by
throwing a fire on Russian soil behind,

In our eyes, comrades were dying.

In Russian, the shirt was torn on the
chest.

We, the bullet, were still with you.

But three times, believing that life was
over, I was proud of the most

beautiful, bitter land, where I was
born.

You worked too hard.

Where is everyone?

Oh, they refused to come in.

Why?

It's Saturday.

Why did you come in?

I worked too hard.

It's boiling in here.

8 Miller, Rumkin.

Leak? No.

It would have gone off before. It's
coming from outside.

The American?

Iodine -131.

It's not military, it's uranium decay.

U -235.

Reactor fuel.

Ignalina, maybe 240 kilometers away.

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

All right, 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.

Well, that's too far for eight mini
-ronkin. They'd have to be split open.

Maybe they know something.

Iodine. Could it be a waste dump?

We'd be seeing other isotopes.

Nucleotide? A new kind of bomb? We'd
have heard that's what half our people

on here.

Something with a 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. We don't have
enough.

As many as you can.

What did the old man? He said if a girl
rolled in 16.

What are you doing? What is that?

Milk. It's milk. Much better than water.
No, no, stop, stop!

What are you doing? These are radiation
burns.

Their clothes are contaminated.

Help me!

Get it all off.

I'm taking it down to the basement.

You were the firefighter. Can you stop
pushing, please?

Professor Legatov.

Oh no, not yet.

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

you some tea?

No, I'm fine, thank you. Would you care
to read Deputy Chairman Shabina'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 Sherpina's briefing, and then
we will discuss next steps, if

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

Pikalo, who commands troops specializing
in chemical hazards, has been

dispatched to the plant.

In terms of radiation... Plant Director
Brekhanov reports no more than 3 .6

Sronkin. I'm told it's the equivalent of
a test x -ray, so if you're overdue for

a check -up... And foreign press?

Totally unaware.

KGB First Deputy Chairman Cherkov
assures me that we have successfully

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?

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.

A fireman was severely burned on his
hand by a chunk of smooth black mineral

the ground outside the reactor building.
Smooth...

Black mineral. Graphite. There's
graphite on the ground.

There was a tank explosion. There's
debris.

Of what importance that could be...
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.

Oh.

Comrade Shervina.

General Secretary, I can assure you that
Professor Legasov is mistaken.

Buchanan reports that the reactor core
is intact.

And as for the radiation... Yes, 3 .6
Rontgen, which, by the way, is not the

equivalent of one chest X -ray, but
rather 400 chest X -rays. That number's

bothering me for a different reason,
though.

It's also the maximum reading on low
-limit decimeters. They gave us the

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.

There's no place for alarmist hysteria.
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

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... Professor Legato. 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, wood, metal, concrete, flesh.

Every gram of U -235 holds over a
billion trillion of these bullets.

one... Now, Chernobyl holds over 3
million grams, and right now it is on

Wind will carry radioactive particles
across the entire continent.

Rain will bring them down on us. That's
3 million, billion, trillion bullets 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.

Comrade Shabina, I want you to go to
Chernobyl.

You take a look at the reactor, you
personally, and you report directly back

me. Wise decision, Comrade General
Secretary.

And take Professor Legato with you.

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? Simple question.

Hardly a simple answer.

Of course.

Presume I'm too stupid to understand.

I'll restate.

Tell me how a nuclear reactor works or
I'll have one of these soldiers throw

out of the helicopter.

A nuclear reactor makes electricity with
steam.

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... 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

of energy. Efficient.

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.

I don't need you.

Can you help me? I need to find my
husband. Not now.

Take away from him, please.

Get away from them.

Oh, my God. You want to get back? Go.
Please, Senka. Please, Senka. Please,

Senka. Please.

Please. Please.

Please, Senka.

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 Borov allows it.

When are they taking him?

Now.

Approaching a power plant.

What have they done?

Hey, let's 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 see how you can tell that from
here.

Oh, for God's sake.

Look at that glow.

That's radiation ionizing the air.

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

Get us directly over the building.
Sorry. Don't use my name. If we fly

over it, I'll just react and 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

begging for that bullet.

I think you'll pay him back another day.

Just wonderful.

Deputy Secretary Garanin.

Ulana Khomyuk of the Belarusian
Institute for Nuclear Energy.

What a pleasure.

Now 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.

that means.

And that 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

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.

Big Carl up showing off to make us look
bad. Doesn't matter how it looks.

Sabina is a pure bureaucrat.

Stupid as he is, pig -headed.

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

How much have you been?

Chief Engineer Amin, Colonel Delacroix
and I are honoured at your arrival.

Deeply, deeply honoured.

Naturally, we regret the circumstances
of your visit, but as you can see, we

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 seeing 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, there's no answer.

It's great.

Really.

It spreads 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?

Farmeen, why did the deputy chairman see
graphite on the roof?

Father, there can't be.

Comrade Shevina, 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.

I know a lot about concrete.

Comrade, I assure you that... I'm done.

This leads to the death of his walk.

How shall we prove it?

Our high -ranked decimeter just arrived.

We could cover one of our trucks with
lead shielding.

Mount the decimeter on the front.

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

Given every bit of protection you have,
but understand that even with lead

shielding it may not be enough.

Then I'll do it myself.

Feedback.

Not too long, Kent.

15 ,000.

Comrade Wiener.

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.

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.

Cruz and Scorch, Comrade Pekhanov, will
come in to the local party headquarters.

Thank you for your service.

No problem. Your excuse.

The atlas was in charge.

It was the atlas!

Tell me how to put it out.

We'll use helicopters.

We'll drop water on it like a fire.

That isn't a fire.

This is a fissioning reactor called
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 that.

That'll create problems of its own, but
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 course, so
most of it is going to miss. How much,

sir, number?

I'll take roughly.

5 ,000 tons.

Obviously, we're going to need to
evacuate an enormous area. Never mind

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

The wind is 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 this or is it not your decision? I'm
in charge.

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 borer.

We just did it.

Moscow?

Are you here because of the fire?

Anything we should be worried about?

No.

Remind them about the perimeter.

They cannot fly directly over the fire.
A minimum of a 10 -meter perimeter.

10 -meter perimeter.

Lead one per pre -flight. Maintain
minimum 10 -meter perimeter.

Copy that. 40 meters.

35.

30.

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

We can't get over the fire. The wind
will have to carry it.

Tell them.

They cannot go over the core.

Lead 1 is too close.

I repeat, we are too close.

Copy.

Lead 1, you are inside the perimeter.

I did not copy this.

The signal is breaking up.

What?

No.

What? You copy?

Sir, what do I tell the others?

Is there any other way, Nagazo?

Send the next one in.

Tell them to approach from the west.

It's out of Institute Laboratory 4.

Marina Gosenskaya?

It's Alana Chomiuk 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...

Oh, which nephews?

Simca, who's 14, and little Boris, who's
5.

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.

That's what I would do.

Yes, I'm sure I do.

Where you going?

Chernobyl.

It's been smooth.

20 drops.

What?

There are 50 ,000 people in the city.

Professor Illion, who's also on the
commission, says the radiation isn't

enough to evacuate.

Illion 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...

A nuclear plant in Sweden that 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.

Not letting children play outside.

In Frankfurt.

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 in the city

Kiev was damaged, and there is
speculation in Moscow that people were

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.

On the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
the city of Pripyat, an

unfavorable radiation situation is
taking

place.

Starting at 2 .00 p

.m., buses will be delivered

with police officers and...

will be guarded by police officers.
Comrades,

temporarily leaving their homes, do not
forget...

I said turn around.

This is a restricted zone.

I'm from the Belarusian 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, the cement is
in hand.

Comrade, the guards erected 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'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.

Olana Yurevnyuk, chief physicist,
Belarusian Institute for Nuclear Energy.

you're Valery Alexeevich Legatov.

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

ECM. 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

fire engines that I saw on the way in.
Fire hoses are still connected.

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

Thanks a lot.

Thanks a lot.

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 Legato will deliver our
briefing.

There is some good news.

The airdrops 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

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 believe 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.

It was my understanding that these large
water tanks under the reactor were

essentially empty.

This is Ulana Khomyuk of the Belarusian
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 2 and 4 megatons.

Everything within a 30 -kilometer radius
will be completely destroyed, including

the three remaining reactors at
Chernobyl. The entirety of the

material in all of the cores will be
ejected at force.

and dispersed by a massive shockwave,
which will extend approximately

200 kilometers and likely be fatal to
the entire population of Kiev, as well

a portion of Minsk.

The release of radiation will be severe
and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine,

Latvia, Lithuania, Belarusia, as well as
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,

Romania. And most of it's 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 Belarusia and Ukraine, impact means
completely uninhabitable for a minimum

of 100 years.

more than 50 million people living in
Belarusia and Ukraine.

50, yeah.

And how long before this happens?

Approximately 48 to 72 hours.

But we may have a solution.

We can pump the water from the tank.

Unfortunately... The tank was 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

here, find their way through all these
ductways, get to the sluice gate valve

here, and give us the access we need to
pump out the tank.

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.

Open the sluice gate valve here.

The valve will be difficult to operate,
so we'll need three men.

We'll need to know the basement layout.

And of course, any volunteers will be
rewarded.

A yearly stipend of 400 rubles.

And 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 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 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
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 caused the price I have to pay.

I'm making my peace with it.

Now you make yours.

Go into that water.

But it must be done.

On an ankle.

There's Parlov.

Hmm.

Oh.

Thank you.