All language subtitles for Chernobyl.Inside.the.Meltdown.S01E04.Truth.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB

I was the first western scientist

invited to do scientific research
with the Complex's expedition.

A small group of scientists who
worked on forensic analysis

of the remains of the
destroyed Reactor in Unit 4.

The Soviet Union was collapsing.

They took me to the plant
kind of undercover.

They dressed me up
in worker's clothing...

just under the radar.

Yes.

I thought it was just hey, let's take
this American along kind of thing.

But no, it was get up,
work, until you drop.

Pretty much every day.

People sometimes
laugh at scientists,

but that's because they don't understand
the sheer beauty of seeking the truth.

And that's what
these people wanted.

This is where officials say,
a crime was committed.

It's here that engineers conducted
the experiment that led to the explosion.

The destroyed reactor
is still hot,

very deep within what
the Soviets call a sarcophagus,

a gigantic concrete tomb

where the radioactive material will
be buried for centuries to come.

The structure of
the sarcophagus was really

a combination of improvisation
and brute force.

When it was complete the Soviet
engineer said that the sarcophagus

was another triumph
of Soviet engineering.

But inside the ruins of
the reactor building

around 190 tons of uranium fuel
remained unaccounted for.

The scientists were worried about what's
called the critical mass coming together

and restarting
a nuclear reaction.

They noticed on their neutron
detectors a spike of neutrons

that led them to believe that
a critical mass had indeed formed

and that a nuclear
reaction had happened.

They were puzzled, they were worried.
So, we gotta know where this fuel is.

Scientists from the
Kurchatov Institute,

the Soviet Union's chief

research and development
agency for nuclear energy

launched what became known as
the Chernobyl Complex Expedition

to locate the fuel.

It was this eclectic almost
rag-tagged group of scientists.

They were soft-spoken people,
just trying to get to the bottom of things.

My job was to shoot.
They told me what to shoot and I did it.

Sergey! Pull the water into the light.

Then we gave the plans to the scientists

who processed them
and they studied them.

I mean they're getting dosed.

Everything is coated with
varying degrees of contamination.

I mean, you don't want
to stay in there.

My principle was, when the image
starts to break down,

when radiation affected the sensors,
then I knew it was dangerous in there.

My boss used to say, "The Soviet
Radioactivity is the best.

You will grow chest hair.
and it will strengthen your manhood!"

Although he is dead now.

Some of the fuel had been thrown out
of the reactor core by the explosion.

But it was assumed that the rest
remained inside Reactor number 4.

The supervisor told me:
"Tomorrow you will come to the reactor."

"We will lay rails to lower
the camera into the pipeline."

A tunnel had been carved
on the cement to get through.

Water was coming in
from the reactor cracks.

Of course, the water was radioactive.

My boot cover was torn and it filled
with water, but I continued.

Later, when I checked my leg
with a dosimeter,

the radiation level was skyrocketing.

My leg was radioactive
for two weeks,

until layers of skin were removed.

Nobody had been inside
the reactor vessel.

Anybody who went in there would have
been exposed to very high fields of radiation.

They told me that underneath me
there were 200 roentgens.

It's a lot, it's a lethal dose,
if you stay there for three hours.

We put the camera on
in the reactor pipeline.

But then it didn't go any further.
It was stuck.

I ran and climbed
in the reactor.

And I fixed the camera.

And we discovered
something interesting.

That's when they noticed what core.
It was no core.

There was nothing left
inside the reactor.

And so, the immediate question was:
"Where the hell did the fuel go?"

To help them locate the fuel, they would
strap cameras to toy tanks.

Because they were the ones that
could withstand the radiation in there.

Other more sophisticated
robots failed.

They would have aerosol and
air current detection methods.

And that's when the bigger
picture started to emerge.

What happened was the core itself,
the fuel and the graphite

basically were percolating through
the floor of the reactor cavity.

The fuel melted through

and fell down onto the floor
of the sub-reactor region.

There were holes that led to what
are called steam distribution headers.

If flowed out the steam distribution
headers and then two more floor

down pipes into the water
that was there.

Roughly 75% of the fuel

ended up in the lower
regions of the reactor building.

They thought that they could have
a critical mass coming together

to restart reactions.

So you have these great energies released
which would cause damage.

Thank God, that never happen.

We later found out

once the fuel broke through and spread out,
it basically shuts itself down.

It just froze in place.
And you can see that, this day.

If you're going to be working
in the kind of environment

that the Complex Expedition was...

you really have to
be dedicated.

Dedicated to getting
to the truth.

The Soviet Union
was not about truth.

A year after the accident,

it had become clear that the Soviets
authorities intended to lay the blame

for what had happened almost
entirely at the feet of the operators.

In a makeshift courtroom in a building
in the center of Chernobyl,

six men went on trial today
charged with safety violations

that caused history's
worst nuclear accident.

The defendants face up to 12 years
in jail, if they are convicted.

The courtroom
was packed with

workers from the power plant
and families of the victims.

The defendants are accused of allowing
unauthorized experiments at the plant,

ignoring basic operating procedures
and overwriting safety systems.

The judge made it clear that
he wasn't gonna listen to anything

that contradicted the official
version of the events.

It was effectively one of the final
show trials of the Soviet Union.

A chapter ended today in
history's worst nuclear accident

in Chernobyl in the Soviet Union.

Six Russian nuclear power plant
officials who defied safety regulations

were held criminally responsible
for the deaths of 36 people.

They had to have a scapegoat.
And that became the operators.

The verdict was all six are guilty
of varying degrees of criminal negligence.

Viktor Bryukhanov the former
plant director

10 years in a labor camp for
gross violations of safety rules,

including a concurrent five years
sentence for abuse of power.

Yes, they blamed the operators.
I was an operator once too.

Overall, I worked at the station
almost 13 years before the accident.

The trial has been closed
to foreign journalists

And no detailed reports have
appeared in Soviet media,

So it's not known whether or how
the accused defended themselves.

On the opening day,

one of the defendants suggested some of
the blame lay with the reactor design.

But that's the only thing that's been
said publicly in their defense.

They called me as a witness.

I still don't know if I was called,
as a defense witness

or as a prosecution witness.

I don't know.

They asked about a technical issue,
I don't remember exactly.

And that was it.
I left the room.

I had the feeling

that the accident was not only
due to operator error.

The operators made mistakes.

but it was obvious that
the authorities were hiding something.

After leaving Chernobyl,

Steinberg eventually became
part of an independent commission

that reopened the investigation
into what had happened at Chernobyl.

My friends were dead.

It didn't matter how much time
passed, we had to do research.

The goal was clear.

Let's find the truth,
and restore justice.

Data about the performance of the reactor
during the accident was being recorded.

But in the immediate aftermath,

all the documentation and data
from the plant was seized

and returned to Moscow
and classified.

For us, two or three of the documents
were very important.

We needed the pulsograms,
which would show

when the reactor started
to get out of control

and when the operators
tried to deactivate it.

But the designer and
the director of the institute

who designed and
built the reactor

didn't give us their documents.

The KGB classified the real reasons
for the causes of the Chernobyl accident.

Any dissent from the official line

that the operators were responsible
was essentially forbidden.

The lawyers said that
the documents we needed

are also at the The Supreme Court,

which was conducted
the investigation and the trial.

I spoke with the vice president
of the Supreme Court

and he gave us access
to the documents.

There we found the documents
we needed.

We took it step by step.
The work took a year and a half.

The evidence was found
in the oscillogram data.

It was clear that something
unusual had happened.

They moved the data
by six seconds.

This allowed them to say that
the operators were at fault.

- So the data was fake?
- Yes.

The findings of Steinberg and
the rest of the investigators

finally brought to light
the true causes of the disaster.

We did it.

We found all the data
and everything fell into place.

They showed that the reactor
got out of control

since the operators
tried to deactivate it.

The new information tended to

shift the focus of responsibility
from operator actions

to fundamental design flaws
in the reactor itself.

The Chernobyl power station
used RBMK type reactors

that was uniquely
Soviet technology.

There was nothing like that
produced in the West.

RBMK type reactors are very large
reactors, that is large physically.

A core that was 14 meters in diameter
and 7 meters high.

This is extremely large compared
to reactors in the West,

which have a diameter
of maybe 3 or 4 meters.

The RBMK reactors had
nearly 1,700 fuel channels

that contained the uranium fuel
that produces heat.

That's used to boil water to make
steam to make electricity.

This core is so large it's almost
like having two reactors in one,

one at the top
and one at the bottom.

One side of the reactor couldn't speak
to the other side of the reactor

so it forced the operators to keep
careful watch over this.

The total number of parameters

which must be controlled
by an RBMK reactor operator

is about 16,000.

Imagine having all of this
information in your mind.

It was a problem.

The only way that the operators could
control the reactor is with control rods.

Insertion of the control rods tend
to decrease the reactor power.

Removal of the control rods causes
the reactor power to increase.

The control rods are
used by the operators

to fine tune the level of the chain
reaction taking place.

So it's really like having
brakes and an accelerator on a car.

Normally, there should be
26-30 control rods in the core.

The control rods are also used
to shut down the RBMK reactor.

The emergency shutdown function on the RBMK,
also called AZ-5 by the Soviet terminology,

was to shut the reactor down
quickly in an emergency.

The AZ-5 system was designed to insert
almost all of the remaining control rods

into the core at the same time.

And it was intended simply to bring
the reactor into a safety shutdown state.

During tests in 1983,

nuclear engineers at another RBMK
plant in Ignalina had discovered

that there was a disturbing anomaly
about the way the AZ-5 system worked.

With a very low number of control rods
inserted into the core of the reactor,

when the emergency shutdown
system was activated

it could induce
a runaway reaction

leading to a meltdown
and an explosion of the core.

The reactor designers
and the ministry officials

who developed the RBMK reactors

they knew about these defects
long before the accident.

They've began to
make progress on

modifying the emergency
shutdown system

and although the Chernobyl
number 4 Unit was on the list

as due for those modifications,
they decided that they would just save it

until the next scheduled maintenance
shutdown to make the fixes.

Information about this fault did not make its way
down to the level of the individual operators.

The operators were
attempting an experiment

to power the reactor when
the offsite power have been lost.

The midnight shift came in...

and they were told that they
would conduct the experiment.

They were not expecting to do this.

They have not been familiarized
with the test protocol.

The operators had great difficulty
bringing the reactor up to a power level

that would make the test possible.

They had withdrawn an equivalent of
203 of the 211 control rods

from the core of Reactor number 4,

making the reactor as unstable
as it was possible to be.

And very sensitive to any
further changes in control.

By the time the test
actually began,

the reactor was like a loaded gun just
waiting for someone to pull the trigger.

In the test protocol,
the completion of the test

was marked by the operators
pressing the AZ-5 button

to release the control rods
to shut the reactor down.

They pressed the AZ-5
button at 1:23 AM.

Silence prevailed
for a few seconds.

Then there was a noise.
A humming sound.

Dust was falling from the ceiling.

It was a design flaw of the control rods
that ultimately caused the explosion.

The control rods
are made of boron,

which is a material that reduces
the reaction rate in the reactor.

Unlike most reactors underneath
those rods was sections of graphite

which tend to increase
the reaction rate.

If the rods were
completely withdrawn,

then this graphite
was pulled into the core.

Under normal circumstances, this graphite
would never cause a problem.

But in this case the core was
already in such an unstable state

that the slightest
additional power fluctuation

could initiate a runaway
chain reaction.

The AZ-5 button that
was pushed by the operators

inserted all of the control
rods at once.

The problem was
the graphite caused

the power to increase
at the bottom of the reactor.

Power is shutting down at the top,
but you had a power surge at the bottom.

The overall effect
was disastrous.

A power increase by ten thousand
times in 0.5 seconds.

At that moment, the temperature
reached 40,000 degrees.

It literally caused
the reactor to explode.

Hence the building
being destroyed.

It was as if when you stamped on
the brakes of a speeding car

it accelerated instead of
slowing down.

The Soviet version of the events was
that the accident began to occur

and then in a panic

the operators pressed the AZ-5 button
in order to try and shut down the reactor.

It was a clear and
deliberate falsification.

Everything was fine,
all indications were stable

until they pressed the button.

They couldn't deny it anymore!
We have clearly proven it.

The brake led to the explosion.

The truth is good.

But those responsible
weren't punished in any way.

And innocent people
went to prison.

Let them answer, those who
designed the reactor.

Why did it explode?

The operators in Unit 4
on the night of the accident

not know the potential consequences of
triggering the emergency shut down system.

The Soviets believed that
their system was so superior

that no mistake could ever be made,
that their technology was beyond reproach.

The reactor had been designed

by people of the pinnacle
of the Soviet scientific state.

So if it came to a choice between making
these people culpable for this catastrophe

and laying the blame at the feet of some
lowly reactor operators in Ukraine,

then, they would gonna be
the ones who took the fall.

The design flaws
set them up for failure.

When the perfect storm of
the circumstances, the actions

and the design problems came
together, it was almost inevitable.

The nature of the Soviet system
was such that denial, secrecy

and cover up was endemic
to their way of operation.

The truth is, Chernobyl is
more of a metaphor

for the failure of the Soviet system
than it is of a reactor safety story.

The increasing reporting about
what had really happened...

and information about the failures
of the design of the reactor...

finally revealed
to citizens of the USSR

that the Soviet Union did not in fact
lead the world in high technology.

The dramatic failures
of the Chernobyl accident

undermined one of the last
sources of Soviet pride.

Chernobyl is a tragedy for our people,
but not the greatest!

Because as long as we
don't have our own state,

Chernobyl existed,
exists and will continue to exist.

Good evening.
Eleven Soviet republics

agreed to form a new commonwealth
of independent states, today

and consign the Soviet
Union to history.

The Soviet Union saw herself
as a great empire

and one day that all
came crushing down.

With 11 signatures and
a round of applause,

The Soviet Union
had cease to exists.

There was chaos. People lost
their jobs, didn't had any food.

It was deeply humiliating for many
Russians, for millions of Russians.

This is the first time we've met,

the terrible power of
the nuclear energy

when it gets
out of control.

Gorbachev said he thought
the Chernobyl accident

was the ultimate cause of the
the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Because huge numbers of people,
especially in Ukraine,

began to realize the Communist
party protected itself,

it didn't protect us.

The Soviet's initial attempt to try to cover
over the destroyed reactor building

was a hastily engineered structure
that they built in the summer of 1986.

It was leaky, it was not
as structurally

strong as it could
have been.

It's way beyond it's designed life,
it's crumbling.

We've already had a collapse in one part of
the turbine hall with a very heavy snow load.

We see some very, very major
structural damage there.

If it had collapsed, it could have stirred up
some of the radioactive debris and caused

additional release of some of the
radioactive material that was within it.

Because of these concerns, Ukraine
and Western donors got together

and created a structure
to cover over the entire building.

A very large structure called
the New Safe Confinement.

Construction began on
the New Safe Confinement in 2010.

A massive international effort.

Something like 40 countries
and organizations played a role

in funding and designing
that structure.

It was hugely expensive as well,
best part of two billion dollars.

This is actually one of the most ambitious
projects in the history of engineering.

It is twice the length
of a 747 airplane.

It is the largest movable
land based structure ever built.

The New Safe Confinement

was actually built to be mobile and
was built off to the side of the reactor

and moved on rails over
the original building.

Over these pins
we put the Teflon pads.

And basically, if you put a lot of them,

you make your own sliding way
for the skid shoes to slide on.

Construction on the New Safe Confinement
was a long and arduous process.

And it ended
six years later in 2016.

It's a big step for safety,

and Ukraine and Europe
will be much safer now.

Ukraine, unlike the Soviet Union,

very much wants to be part
of the international community

and not an insular state.

I was standing on a roof
doing a live shot on CNN.

The Ukrainians who resist...

I tell you what, I just heard a big bang
right here behind me.

I told you we shouldn't have
done the live shot here.

It was shocking that Russia
had decided to send its forces

into Kiev, into Ukraine.

And the first explosions of
that conflict were being heard.

Russian forces are
said to have taken control

of the Chernobyl power plant
in northern Ukraine,

the site of the world's
worst nuclear disaster.

A military advisor says
staff members are held hostage.

The potentially dangerous
military confruntation

around that nuclear reactor,

that could kick up all sorts of
horrific radioactive materials

and cause that massive catastrophe
to repeat itself all over again.

The Russian soldiers
plowed across the exclusion zone.

They dug trenches in the forest which
is an extraordinary thing to do.

The amount of contamination absorbed
by those soldiers is pretty shocking.

They will undoubtedly,
suffer health consequences.

Of exactly the same kind
that was suffered in Ukraine

post 1986 calamity
at Chernobyl.

The Soviet Kremlin had an utter
disregard for the liquidators

for the firefighters of Chernobyl.

In the same way,
the Russian Kremlin

had an apparent disregard
for the welfare of the soldiers.

Shortly afterwards, the Ukrainians
took back the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

The Russians found they had to fight
for every square centimeter

of the territory they
were going to capture.

You're looking at footage
that shows a Russian drone

with a high explosive warhead
striking the shelter

that covers the 4th Unit of
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,

sparking a fire that
was later contained.

Are you kidding?
Lobbing a missile into Chernobyl?

What possessed you
to do that?

The strike on the New Safe Confinement
structure, underlines the nuclear threath

throughout the whole
Ukraine conflict.

It could cause another Chernobyl,
another nuclear disaster.

And that would
be catastrophic.

Chernobyl remains the worst
nuclear accident in history.

Around 200,000 people were relocated
as a result of the catastrophe.

The area around the power plant is likely to
remain uninhabitable for at least 20,000 years.

When we left Chernobyl, I was child,
but I was put in a situation

that not even some
adults can live through.

It feels that the situation
repeats itself,

that we again are forced
to leave our home.

When the Russians started
the invasion in 2022,

we left Ukraine and moved to
Luxembourg, and now we are here.

I hoped for better for my kids,
but it didn't happen.

I always teach my children,
be adaptable!

And be resilient!

And Ukrainians have
proved to be resilient.

What can Chernobyl teach us
in the context of the current war?

Each of these horrible acts

teaches the consequences of error.

Both are a huge sadness,
a huge disaster

and a huge loss
for every country.

We were all affected
psychologically from the accident.

Our lives were separated,
before and after the accident.

We believed in our government,
in our science.

We believed that everything
would go well.

But we didn't
understand the risks.

I think the legacy of Chernobyl,

40 years on, isn't just
in the minds of people.

The scars are
physical as well.

These radioactive toxins

caused a huge spike
in thyroid cancer.

And you can go to Ukraine today,

and you can see people who were around
in 1986 when the catastrophe happened.

They have got little scars on their necks
where they had operation on their thyroid glands

to take out parts of the thyroid
because they become cancerous.

I remember quite often I would
hear that that person died,

a friend or neighbor,
or colleague just young people.

It was radiation but
doctors wouldn't mention that.

So it was a silent war.

What to take from
the story of Chernobyl?

That's a hard one.

What would I say?

To maintain open societies...

that can provide checks
and balances

to the pride that comes with
having huge, complex technologies.

If I were to give a lesson
for my grandchildren,

tell the truth, no matter how
bad the situation is

it can only be made worse
by lying and being untruthful.

I think the Chernobyl story,
is arguably more relevant than ever...

given that the causes of the accident
lie in a government and a society

that had completely lost touch
with what the truth really was.

Thirty-one operators and plant workers died in the
immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster.

Approximately 600,000 personnel were
involved in the cleanup operation.

Thousands have died, but the true
number will never be known.

One of the things that
I think we all learned is

when the regime is serving
itself rather than the people,

that's when
power evaporates.

That's the moral binder,
the truth.

Performance: Stella Sarigoule