1 00:02:28,860 --> 00:02:31,070 I hear they might promote Bryukhanov. 2 00:02:32,238 --> 00:02:35,408 This little problem we have with the safety test, 3 00:02:36,242 --> 00:02:38,744 if it's completed successfully... 4 00:02:40,079 --> 00:02:42,832 Yes, I think promotion's very likely. 5 00:02:43,875 --> 00:02:45,877 Who knows, maybe Moscow. 6 00:02:47,879 --> 00:02:50,256 Naturally, they'll put me in charge once he's gone, 7 00:02:50,339 --> 00:02:53,092 and then I'll need someone to take my old job. 8 00:02:55,052 --> 00:02:57,138 I could pick Sitnikov. 9 00:03:05,980 --> 00:03:07,773 I would like to be considered. 10 00:03:11,319 --> 00:03:12,695 We'll keep that in mind. 11 00:03:14,614 --> 00:03:18,743 Viktor Petrovich, preparations for the test have gone smoothly. 12 00:03:18,826 --> 00:03:22,121 Comrade Dyatlov's been working per my instructions, 13 00:03:22,205 --> 00:03:25,666 and Reactor 4 output's been reduced to 1,600 megawatts. 14 00:03:26,542 --> 00:03:29,837 With your approval, we're ready to continue lowering power to... 15 00:03:29,921 --> 00:03:31,088 We have to wait. 16 00:03:32,757 --> 00:03:33,758 Is, uh... 17 00:03:34,342 --> 00:03:36,802 Are you going to ask me if there's a problem, Nikolai? 18 00:03:37,261 --> 00:03:39,096 You can't read a fucking face? 19 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,058 Three years, I've tried to finish this test. 20 00:03:42,141 --> 00:03:43,267 Three years. 21 00:03:50,733 --> 00:03:52,944 I've just had a call from the grid controller in Kiev. 22 00:03:53,027 --> 00:03:55,196 He says we can't lower power any further, 23 00:03:55,279 --> 00:03:56,572 not for another 10 hours. 24 00:03:56,656 --> 00:03:58,491 A grid controller? Where does he get off... 25 00:03:58,574 --> 00:04:01,202 It's not the grid controller's decision, Dyatlov. 26 00:04:02,370 --> 00:04:03,704 It's the end of the month. 27 00:04:04,497 --> 00:04:07,250 All the productivity quotas. 28 00:04:07,333 --> 00:04:10,044 Everyone's working overtime. The factories need power. 29 00:04:10,127 --> 00:04:11,879 Someone's pushing down from above. 30 00:04:11,963 --> 00:04:13,506 Not that we'll never know who. 31 00:04:22,181 --> 00:04:24,433 So, do we have to scrap it or what? 32 00:04:24,517 --> 00:04:26,310 No, I don't think so. 33 00:04:26,978 --> 00:04:29,563 If we need to wait 10 hours, we wait. 34 00:04:29,647 --> 00:04:33,067 Running at half power, we're not going to have stability issues? 35 00:04:33,150 --> 00:04:35,778 - No, I should think... - I'm not asking you. 36 00:04:38,906 --> 00:04:40,157 It's safe. 37 00:04:40,616 --> 00:04:42,034 We'll maintain at 1,600. 38 00:04:42,118 --> 00:04:44,537 I'll go home, get some sleep, come back tonight. 39 00:04:44,620 --> 00:04:45,871 We'll proceed then. 40 00:04:46,747 --> 00:04:48,833 I'll personally supervise the test. 41 00:04:49,583 --> 00:04:51,377 And it will be completed. 42 00:04:55,256 --> 00:04:56,716 Well, I'm not waiting around, then. 43 00:04:58,050 --> 00:04:59,385 Call me when it's done. 44 00:06:36,982 --> 00:06:38,067 How do you feel? 45 00:06:40,444 --> 00:06:43,030 You went to the doctor yesterday. How is your health? 46 00:06:44,156 --> 00:06:45,241 You don't know? 47 00:06:47,451 --> 00:06:48,786 From Vienna. 48 00:06:49,078 --> 00:06:50,496 Do you read German? 49 00:06:52,289 --> 00:06:57,128 It says, "At last a Soviet scientist who tells the truth." 50 00:06:57,795 --> 00:06:59,797 Obviously, I resent the insinuation, 51 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:01,006 but I think it's fair to say 52 00:07:01,090 --> 00:07:03,384 you made an excellent impression at the conference. 53 00:07:03,843 --> 00:07:05,886 Turns out, you're quite good at this. 54 00:07:06,429 --> 00:07:08,347 At what? Lying? 55 00:07:08,431 --> 00:07:11,392 Statecraft, Legasov. Statecraft. 56 00:07:11,517 --> 00:07:14,061 The West is now satisfied 57 00:07:14,145 --> 00:07:16,981 that Chernobyl was solely the result of operator error, 58 00:07:17,064 --> 00:07:18,482 which it essentially was. 59 00:07:19,275 --> 00:07:20,985 We have you to thank for that, 60 00:07:21,068 --> 00:07:22,528 and we intend to. 61 00:07:26,866 --> 00:07:28,909 "Hero of the Soviet Union." 62 00:07:29,368 --> 00:07:31,120 Our highest honor. 63 00:07:31,495 --> 00:07:33,873 They haven't even given it to me. 64 00:07:34,457 --> 00:07:37,668 "Promotion to director of the Kurchatov Institute." 65 00:07:41,088 --> 00:07:42,423 I'm humbled. 66 00:07:43,048 --> 00:07:47,052 I don't think there's anything humble about you, Valery Alexeyevich. 67 00:07:47,136 --> 00:07:49,013 These rewards are not yours yet. 68 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,474 First, your testimony at the trial. 69 00:07:51,557 --> 00:07:55,478 Comrade Charkov, I understand my duty to the State. 70 00:07:56,770 --> 00:07:58,731 But you gave us assurances. 71 00:07:59,523 --> 00:08:01,984 The reactors would be made safe. 72 00:08:02,067 --> 00:08:04,528 It's been months. No changes have been made. 73 00:08:04,612 --> 00:08:07,948 - No changes even discussed. - First, the trial. 74 00:08:09,450 --> 00:08:11,744 Once it's over, we will have our villains, 75 00:08:11,827 --> 00:08:14,997 we will have our hero, we will have our truth. 76 00:08:15,915 --> 00:08:18,959 After that, we can deal with the reactors. 77 00:09:43,877 --> 00:09:45,254 Did you take a train? 78 00:09:45,879 --> 00:09:47,840 Yes, I took a train. 79 00:09:48,757 --> 00:09:50,593 Now let's talk about Vienna. 80 00:09:51,677 --> 00:09:53,304 I'm not here to scold you. 81 00:09:53,971 --> 00:09:57,308 I know how the world works despite what Shcherbina says. 82 00:09:58,642 --> 00:10:01,520 So, why are you here? 83 00:10:02,730 --> 00:10:04,523 Because I'm brutally stubborn. 84 00:10:05,149 --> 00:10:06,900 Which you were hoping for. 85 00:10:11,363 --> 00:10:15,117 Charkov is saying they're going to fix the reactors after the trial. 86 00:10:17,161 --> 00:10:19,288 Do you believe him? 87 00:10:21,832 --> 00:10:24,001 The State will never willingly fix the reactors 88 00:10:24,084 --> 00:10:27,421 because acknowledging the problem means admitting that they lied. 89 00:10:27,504 --> 00:10:29,214 They will have to be forced. 90 00:10:36,513 --> 00:10:39,642 At the trial, you're going to tell the truth. 91 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:43,687 You're going to convince the jury. 92 00:10:43,771 --> 00:10:45,439 It's a show trial. 93 00:10:46,315 --> 00:10:48,108 The jury's already been handed their verdict. 94 00:10:48,192 --> 00:10:49,526 I'm not talking about them. 95 00:10:51,904 --> 00:10:55,783 The Central Committee have invited members of the scientific community 96 00:10:55,866 --> 00:10:57,284 to observe the trial. 97 00:10:57,826 --> 00:11:00,704 Our colleagues, from Kurchatov, 98 00:11:01,121 --> 00:11:03,207 from Sredmash, from Minenergo, 99 00:11:03,290 --> 00:11:06,877 they will be sitting in the crowd listening to every word you say. 100 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,171 A jury that only we know is there. 101 00:11:09,254 --> 00:11:12,758 And when your testimony arrives at the moment of the explosion? 102 00:11:14,802 --> 00:11:17,846 That is when our jury will finally hear the truth. 103 00:11:18,514 --> 00:11:21,558 - And do what with it? - Insist on reform. 104 00:11:23,102 --> 00:11:25,479 Not just to the RBMK, but the entire industry. 105 00:11:25,562 --> 00:11:26,563 No, no, no. 106 00:11:26,647 --> 00:11:28,148 - They can't function without us. - No, no, no. 107 00:11:28,232 --> 00:11:29,233 If we... 108 00:11:29,316 --> 00:11:33,362 Do you know what happened to Volkov, the man whose report you found? 109 00:11:34,071 --> 00:11:37,825 They just removed him from his position at the Institute. 110 00:11:38,742 --> 00:11:41,036 Sacked for the crime of knowing. 111 00:11:42,037 --> 00:11:47,042 And you think that these scientists, handpicked to witness a show trial, 112 00:11:47,126 --> 00:11:50,337 will somehow be stirred into action by me? 113 00:11:51,130 --> 00:11:54,633 Because of some heroic stance I take in defiance of the State? 114 00:11:54,717 --> 00:11:55,968 Yes. 115 00:11:56,051 --> 00:11:57,094 Why? 116 00:11:57,177 --> 00:12:00,597 Because you're Valery Legasov, and you mean something. 117 00:12:02,766 --> 00:12:05,436 I'd like to think that if I spoke out, it would be enough. 118 00:12:06,729 --> 00:12:08,564 But I know how the world works. 119 00:12:11,942 --> 00:12:14,611 They will shoot me, Khomyuk. 120 00:12:18,157 --> 00:12:21,326 You told me to find out what happened. 121 00:12:21,410 --> 00:12:23,537 I spoke to dozens of people. 122 00:12:23,620 --> 00:12:26,832 Every word they said, I wrote down. 123 00:12:28,083 --> 00:12:29,418 All in these books. 124 00:12:30,669 --> 00:12:32,337 These are the ones who are still alive. 125 00:12:32,421 --> 00:12:34,047 These are the ones who are dead. 126 00:12:34,131 --> 00:12:35,758 They died rescuing each other. 127 00:12:36,258 --> 00:12:39,094 Putting out fires, tending to the wounded. 128 00:12:39,178 --> 00:12:40,929 They didn't hesitate. They didn't waiver. 129 00:12:41,013 --> 00:12:43,098 They simply did what had to be done. 130 00:12:43,182 --> 00:12:44,183 So have I. 131 00:12:45,476 --> 00:12:46,477 So have I. 132 00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:49,646 I went willingly to an open reactor. 133 00:12:50,481 --> 00:12:52,983 So I've already given my life. 134 00:12:54,359 --> 00:12:55,527 Isn't that enough? 135 00:12:57,488 --> 00:12:59,823 No, I'm sorry, but it is not. 136 00:14:09,309 --> 00:14:12,187 "The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 137 00:14:12,271 --> 00:14:15,232 and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. 138 00:14:15,315 --> 00:14:18,610 has determined that justice be carried out on behalf of the People 139 00:14:18,694 --> 00:14:21,321 in accordance with the general goal of our Party 140 00:14:21,405 --> 00:14:24,992 as determined by its 20th, 21 st and 22nd Congresses, 141 00:14:25,075 --> 00:14:26,994 which is a Leninist goal. 142 00:14:27,077 --> 00:14:31,039 It was, is, and will be the only immutable goal in the Soviet state. 143 00:14:31,123 --> 00:14:32,541 The path of Leninist principles 144 00:14:32,624 --> 00:14:35,294 shall be consistently and undeviatingly followed, 145 00:14:35,377 --> 00:14:38,213 as it expresses the vital interests of the Soviet people, 146 00:14:38,589 --> 00:14:39,923 its hopes and aspirations 147 00:14:40,007 --> 00:14:42,175 as we guide the life of the Party and the State. 148 00:14:42,426 --> 00:14:44,469 This session of court is now open, 149 00:14:44,553 --> 00:14:47,389 Comrade Judge Milan Kadnikov presiding." 150 00:14:49,016 --> 00:14:50,225 Indictments. 151 00:14:50,309 --> 00:14:52,352 Viktor Bryukhanov, 152 00:14:52,436 --> 00:14:54,646 Anatoly Dyatlov, 153 00:14:54,730 --> 00:14:56,773 Nikolai Fomin, 154 00:14:56,857 --> 00:14:59,860 are accused of violating Article 220 Section 2 155 00:14:59,943 --> 00:15:02,029 of the Criminal Code of the Soviet Union, 156 00:15:02,112 --> 00:15:06,074 resulting in a nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986. 157 00:15:07,159 --> 00:15:09,620 The State calls witnesses Comrade Khomyuk 158 00:15:09,703 --> 00:15:12,122 of the Byelorussian Nuclear Institute, 159 00:15:12,205 --> 00:15:16,209 Comrade Legasov of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, 160 00:15:17,002 --> 00:15:20,297 and Comrade Boris Evdokimovich Shcherbina, 161 00:15:20,964 --> 00:15:23,467 Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers 162 00:15:23,550 --> 00:15:26,345 and head of the Bureau for Fuel and Energy. 163 00:16:01,171 --> 00:16:05,384 It began with, of all things, a safety test. 164 00:16:06,593 --> 00:16:09,346 Why was there need for a safety test at all? 165 00:16:10,055 --> 00:16:13,225 Reactor number 4 was not new when the accident occurred. 166 00:16:13,976 --> 00:16:18,647 In fact, it went into operation on December 20th, 1983. 167 00:16:19,564 --> 00:16:22,693 Eleven days later, on the last day of the year, 168 00:16:23,610 --> 00:16:28,031 plant director Viktor Bryukhanov signed this document, 169 00:16:29,449 --> 00:16:34,454 certifying the completion of the construction of the reactor. 170 00:16:36,456 --> 00:16:39,501 As a result of finishing the work before the end of the year, 171 00:16:40,919 --> 00:16:44,631 Comrade Bryukhanov was awarded Hero of Socialist Labor. 172 00:16:45,590 --> 00:16:49,094 Comrade Fomin was awarded for Valorous Labor. 173 00:16:49,511 --> 00:16:53,557 Comrade Dyatlov was given an Order of the Red Banner. 174 00:16:55,976 --> 00:16:58,437 But their work was not finished. 175 00:17:00,147 --> 00:17:03,358 And this document was a lie. 176 00:17:04,985 --> 00:17:07,320 In order to sign this certificate, 177 00:17:07,571 --> 00:17:11,783 all safety tests had to have been successfully completed, 178 00:17:11,867 --> 00:17:13,660 and yet, one remained. 179 00:17:17,122 --> 00:17:21,334 A nuclear reactor generates heat in the core here. 180 00:17:22,294 --> 00:17:24,546 A series of pumps, here and here, 181 00:17:24,629 --> 00:17:27,674 send a constant flow of cooling water through the core. 182 00:17:28,175 --> 00:17:30,677 The core's heat turns the water to steam, 183 00:17:30,761 --> 00:17:33,055 and the steam spins the turbine here, 184 00:17:33,138 --> 00:17:34,765 and the result is electricity. 185 00:17:35,557 --> 00:17:38,393 But what if a power plant has no power? 186 00:17:40,187 --> 00:17:43,023 What if the power feeding the plant itself is disrupted? 187 00:17:43,815 --> 00:17:48,195 A blackout, equipment failure, or an attack by a foreign enemy? 188 00:17:49,279 --> 00:17:51,156 If there's no power, 189 00:17:51,239 --> 00:17:53,992 the pumps cannot move water through the core. 190 00:17:54,409 --> 00:17:56,828 And without water, the core overheats, 191 00:17:56,912 --> 00:17:58,455 the fuel melts down. 192 00:17:58,538 --> 00:18:01,041 In short, a nuclear disaster. 193 00:18:01,124 --> 00:18:02,250 The solution? 194 00:18:02,834 --> 00:18:06,171 Three diesel fuel backup generators here. 195 00:18:06,755 --> 00:18:08,548 So, problem solved? 196 00:18:08,924 --> 00:18:10,300 No. 197 00:18:10,884 --> 00:18:13,428 Bryukhanov knew that the problem was not solved at all. 198 00:18:13,970 --> 00:18:16,890 The backup generators took approximately one minute 199 00:18:16,973 --> 00:18:19,351 to reach the speed required 200 00:18:19,434 --> 00:18:21,645 to power the pumps and prevent a meltdown, 201 00:18:21,728 --> 00:18:24,731 and by that time, it would be too late. 202 00:18:26,149 --> 00:18:28,026 So we arrive at the safety test. 203 00:18:30,237 --> 00:18:31,613 The theory was this, 204 00:18:31,696 --> 00:18:33,907 if the facility lost power, 205 00:18:33,990 --> 00:18:35,867 the turbine, which had been spinning, 206 00:18:35,951 --> 00:18:38,829 would take some time to slow down and stop. 207 00:18:38,912 --> 00:18:42,707 What if you could take the electricity it was still generating 208 00:18:42,791 --> 00:18:44,251 and transfer it to the pumps? 209 00:18:44,334 --> 00:18:48,171 What if the dying turbine could keep the pumps working long enough 210 00:18:48,255 --> 00:18:52,342 to bridge the 60-second gap until the generators came on? 211 00:18:57,514 --> 00:18:58,849 Any questions? 212 00:19:00,433 --> 00:19:03,645 No. Continue, please. 213 00:19:05,522 --> 00:19:07,816 To test this theory, 214 00:19:07,899 --> 00:19:12,320 the reactor is placed in a reduced power mode, 700 megawatts, 215 00:19:12,404 --> 00:19:14,156 to simulate a blackout condition. 216 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:17,159 Then the turbines are turned off, 217 00:19:17,409 --> 00:19:19,202 and as they slowly spin down, 218 00:19:19,286 --> 00:19:21,121 their electrical output is measured 219 00:19:21,204 --> 00:19:24,166 to see if it's enough to power the pumps. 220 00:19:24,833 --> 00:19:26,334 The science is strong, 221 00:19:27,335 --> 00:19:32,090 but a test is only as good as the men carrying it out. 222 00:19:33,508 --> 00:19:36,428 Now, the first time they tried, they failed. 223 00:19:37,137 --> 00:19:39,431 The second time they tried, they failed. 224 00:19:39,931 --> 00:19:42,225 The third time they tried, they failed. 225 00:19:42,934 --> 00:19:45,645 The fourth time they tried 226 00:19:45,729 --> 00:19:49,357 was April 26th, 1986. 227 00:20:01,536 --> 00:20:03,246 Comrade Khomyuk. 228 00:20:27,354 --> 00:20:29,105 To understand what happened that night, 229 00:20:29,189 --> 00:20:31,233 we have to go back 10 hours earlier, 230 00:20:31,316 --> 00:20:34,694 April 25th, the day the test was meant to take place. 231 00:20:34,778 --> 00:20:38,240 By 2:00 in the afternoon, the reactor has been lowered by half 232 00:20:38,323 --> 00:20:41,451 from its normal output level of 3,200 megawatts 233 00:20:41,534 --> 00:20:43,787 to 1,600 megawatts and is stable 234 00:20:43,870 --> 00:20:46,790 and ready to be reduced to its final output level for the test, 235 00:20:46,873 --> 00:20:48,416 700 megawatts. 236 00:20:49,084 --> 00:20:52,712 But before they can proceed, there is a phone call. 237 00:20:54,130 --> 00:20:57,133 Power grid officials in Kiev say that they cannot afford 238 00:20:57,217 --> 00:21:00,512 a further reduction in the electricity until after midnight. 239 00:21:00,595 --> 00:21:02,931 They are asking for a 10-hour delay. 240 00:21:04,224 --> 00:21:06,059 This is the first critical moment, 241 00:21:06,142 --> 00:21:08,770 the first link in the chain of disaster. 242 00:21:08,853 --> 00:21:12,232 Competent management would have insisted on canceling the test. 243 00:21:13,441 --> 00:21:16,194 These three men allowed it to proceed. 244 00:21:18,113 --> 00:21:20,031 Why was this delay so dangerous? 245 00:21:20,365 --> 00:21:22,284 It created two problems. 246 00:21:22,951 --> 00:21:25,120 One of them is scientific in nature, 247 00:21:26,830 --> 00:21:28,498 and the other is very human. 248 00:21:29,749 --> 00:21:31,584 This is the one we will consider first. 249 00:21:32,627 --> 00:21:36,589 At midnight, there is a shift change. 250 00:21:50,103 --> 00:21:51,104 Hey. 251 00:21:51,938 --> 00:21:54,524 - Khodemchuk... - Forget it. Find another fool. 252 00:21:55,275 --> 00:21:57,569 Toptunov, want to buy a motorcycle? 253 00:21:57,652 --> 00:22:00,030 Toptunov? He's just a little boy. 254 00:22:00,113 --> 00:22:01,990 He's got more hair on his face than on his balls. 255 00:22:02,073 --> 00:22:04,326 Hair? Is that what's on his lip? 256 00:22:06,411 --> 00:22:07,495 Leonid Fedorovych. 257 00:22:08,121 --> 00:22:10,707 Akimov says to come to the control room as soon as you can. 258 00:22:10,790 --> 00:22:12,417 - Is he already here? - He came in early. 259 00:22:12,959 --> 00:22:14,210 Something about a test. 260 00:22:16,046 --> 00:22:18,256 You see? Desperate. 261 00:22:27,891 --> 00:22:29,059 Sasha? 262 00:22:30,727 --> 00:22:33,104 You know the test they were supposed to run? 263 00:22:34,147 --> 00:22:36,816 The turbine rundown, they tried it last year. 264 00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:40,070 They couldn't do it on the day shift, so they've given it to us. 265 00:22:40,153 --> 00:22:41,321 To us? 266 00:22:41,404 --> 00:22:42,781 - We don't know what... - Shh... 267 00:22:44,699 --> 00:22:46,701 - We don't know what it is. - It's fine. 268 00:22:46,785 --> 00:22:48,912 We take it down to 700, hold it there, 269 00:22:48,995 --> 00:22:51,414 the rest is Stolyarchuk and Kirschenbaum, but... 270 00:22:51,748 --> 00:22:54,084 Dyatlov is gonna be supervising. 271 00:22:54,793 --> 00:22:56,628 I have to do something I've never done before 272 00:22:56,711 --> 00:22:58,046 with Dyatlov looking over my shoulder? 273 00:22:58,129 --> 00:23:00,965 Yeah, well, don't worry, we'll do it together. 274 00:23:01,049 --> 00:23:02,592 I'm just looking at the instructions now. 275 00:23:04,302 --> 00:23:06,179 Are we supposed to do those or not? 276 00:23:15,146 --> 00:23:17,107 Yes, this is Akimov in 4. 277 00:23:18,274 --> 00:23:21,236 I have the manual for the rundown test. 278 00:23:21,903 --> 00:23:23,696 You did it last year. 279 00:23:24,489 --> 00:23:26,866 Yes, in the program, there's instructions of what to do, 280 00:23:26,950 --> 00:23:29,244 and then, well, there's a lot of things crossed out. 281 00:23:29,327 --> 00:23:30,328 What should I... 282 00:23:32,455 --> 00:23:33,581 Well, what should I... 283 00:23:36,084 --> 00:23:37,127 Are you sure? 284 00:23:38,628 --> 00:23:40,463 Right. Thank you. 285 00:23:42,132 --> 00:23:44,384 He says to follow the crossed-out instructions. 286 00:23:44,926 --> 00:23:46,511 So then why are they crossed out? 287 00:23:53,726 --> 00:23:55,228 We've been cleared to run the test. 288 00:23:56,229 --> 00:23:57,814 1,600. Good. 289 00:23:58,690 --> 00:24:01,317 Now, is it too much to ask that you all know what you're doing? 290 00:24:01,401 --> 00:24:03,236 - Well... - Yes. Absolutely. 291 00:24:04,821 --> 00:24:06,281 - Stolyarchuk? - Yes. 292 00:24:06,364 --> 00:24:09,367 - Kirschenbaum? - Uh, I haven't reviewed. 293 00:24:09,451 --> 00:24:11,244 We only just found out really... 294 00:24:11,327 --> 00:24:12,537 There, review it. 295 00:24:12,620 --> 00:24:14,706 Or you can just do what I tell you. 296 00:24:14,789 --> 00:24:17,417 I think even you, stupid as you are, can manage that. 297 00:24:18,585 --> 00:24:19,586 Well, let's go. 298 00:24:23,548 --> 00:24:26,468 I'm supposed to switch the turbine off while the reactor's still running? 299 00:24:26,551 --> 00:24:29,971 - This is not good... - Shut the fuck up and do your job! 300 00:24:31,055 --> 00:24:34,476 Toptunov, reduce power to 700. 301 00:24:36,311 --> 00:24:38,354 I've never done this with the power so low before. 302 00:24:38,438 --> 00:24:39,814 It's okay. I'm with you. 303 00:24:45,653 --> 00:24:47,197 Reducing power to 700. 304 00:24:48,823 --> 00:24:51,075 I want you to think of Yuri Gagarin. 305 00:24:53,244 --> 00:24:55,872 I want you to imagine that he has been told nothing 306 00:24:55,955 --> 00:24:57,207 of his mission into space 307 00:24:57,290 --> 00:24:59,459 until the moment that he is on the launch pad. 308 00:24:59,751 --> 00:25:01,794 I want you to imagine that all he has 309 00:25:01,878 --> 00:25:04,464 is a list of instructions that he has never seen before, 310 00:25:04,547 --> 00:25:06,591 some of which have been crossed out. 311 00:25:07,091 --> 00:25:10,845 This is exactly what was happening in the control room of Reactor 4. 312 00:25:11,596 --> 00:25:14,224 The night shift had not been trained to perform the experiment. 313 00:25:14,307 --> 00:25:16,893 They hadn't even been warned it was happening. 314 00:25:16,976 --> 00:25:18,895 Leonid Toptunov, 315 00:25:18,978 --> 00:25:21,564 the operator responsible for controlling 316 00:25:21,648 --> 00:25:24,108 and stabilizing the reactor that night was 317 00:25:25,568 --> 00:25:27,529 all of 25 years old. 318 00:25:28,988 --> 00:25:30,865 And his total experience on the job? 319 00:25:32,116 --> 00:25:33,201 Four months. 320 00:25:35,078 --> 00:25:37,705 This is the human problem created by the delay. 321 00:25:38,831 --> 00:25:41,709 But inside the reactor core, 322 00:25:41,793 --> 00:25:43,920 in the space between the atoms themselves, 323 00:25:44,420 --> 00:25:47,090 something far more dangerous is forming. 324 00:25:47,173 --> 00:25:48,591 A poison. 325 00:25:50,385 --> 00:25:52,178 The time is 28 past midnight. 326 00:26:10,989 --> 00:26:12,574 Comrade Legasov. 327 00:26:50,236 --> 00:26:52,655 I'm pleased to see some of my colleagues here 328 00:26:52,739 --> 00:26:55,408 from the Kurchatov Institute and Minenergo. 329 00:26:56,868 --> 00:26:58,911 But you don't need to be a nuclear scientist 330 00:26:58,995 --> 00:27:00,997 to understand what happened at Chernobyl. 331 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,125 You only need to know this. 332 00:27:04,208 --> 00:27:08,880 There are essentially two things that happen inside a nuclear reactor. 333 00:27:09,547 --> 00:27:15,345 The reactivity, which generates power, either goes up or it goes down. 334 00:27:16,012 --> 00:27:17,013 That's it. 335 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,725 All the operators do is maintain balance. 336 00:27:23,728 --> 00:27:24,896 Uranium fuel. 337 00:27:27,523 --> 00:27:32,236 As uranium atoms split apart and collide, reactivity goes up. 338 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,280 But if you don't balance the reactivity, 339 00:27:34,364 --> 00:27:36,366 it never stops rising. So... 340 00:27:38,618 --> 00:27:41,037 Boron control rods. 341 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:45,792 They reduce reactivity like brakes on a car. 342 00:27:47,293 --> 00:27:51,005 But there's a third factor to consider, water. 343 00:27:52,674 --> 00:27:55,218 Cool water takes heat out of the system. 344 00:27:55,301 --> 00:27:58,638 As it does, it turns to steam, or what we call a "void." 345 00:27:58,721 --> 00:28:02,141 In an RBMK reactor of the type used at Chernobyl, 346 00:28:02,225 --> 00:28:06,062 there's something called a "positive void coefficient." 347 00:28:06,145 --> 00:28:07,313 What does that mean? 348 00:28:08,189 --> 00:28:12,527 It means that the more steam present within the system, 349 00:28:12,610 --> 00:28:14,696 the higher the reactivity, 350 00:28:14,779 --> 00:28:17,699 which means more heat, which means more steam, 351 00:28:17,782 --> 00:28:18,783 which means... 352 00:28:19,742 --> 00:28:23,121 It would appear we have a vicious cycle on our hands. 353 00:28:23,496 --> 00:28:26,249 And we would, were it not for this... 354 00:28:32,380 --> 00:28:37,760 And we would, were it not for this, 355 00:28:37,844 --> 00:28:40,138 the negative temperature coefficient. 356 00:28:41,472 --> 00:28:47,145 When nuclear fuel gets hotter, it gets less reactive, 357 00:28:48,438 --> 00:28:50,356 so fuel increases reactivity. 358 00:28:51,065 --> 00:28:53,943 Control rods and water reduce it. 359 00:28:54,026 --> 00:28:56,404 Steam increases it, 360 00:28:56,487 --> 00:28:58,948 and the rise in temperature reduces it. 361 00:29:00,700 --> 00:29:03,536 This is the invisible dance 362 00:29:03,619 --> 00:29:07,290 that powers entire cities without smoke or flame. 363 00:29:07,373 --> 00:29:09,709 And it is beautiful, 364 00:29:10,793 --> 00:29:12,295 when things are normal. 365 00:29:14,130 --> 00:29:17,049 As uranium splits apart to release energy, 366 00:29:17,133 --> 00:29:20,553 it breaks down into a new element, xenon. 367 00:29:20,636 --> 00:29:23,556 Xenon reduces reactivity. 368 00:29:23,639 --> 00:29:26,184 This is the poison Comrade Khomyuk mentioned. 369 00:29:27,143 --> 00:29:29,187 When the core is running at full power, 370 00:29:29,270 --> 00:29:32,148 it burns the xenon away before it can cause a problem. 371 00:29:32,231 --> 00:29:34,442 But because of the delay, 372 00:29:34,525 --> 00:29:39,363 Chernobyl Reactor 4 has been held at half power for 10 hours. 373 00:29:40,072 --> 00:29:42,325 The xenon did not burn away. 374 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,121 It built up, poisoning the core. 375 00:29:48,581 --> 00:29:50,333 We're starting to lose balance. 376 00:29:50,416 --> 00:29:54,212 At 28 minutes past midnight, 377 00:29:54,295 --> 00:29:57,298 the reactor is now primed to slow down. 378 00:29:58,132 --> 00:30:01,344 And yet, in less than an hour, it will explode. 379 00:30:02,386 --> 00:30:05,473 If you can't understand how a stalled nuclear reactor 380 00:30:05,556 --> 00:30:08,267 could lead to an explosion, I don't blame you. 381 00:30:08,351 --> 00:30:12,104 After all, you don't work in the control room of a nuclear power plant. 382 00:30:13,022 --> 00:30:15,399 But as it turned out, 383 00:30:15,483 --> 00:30:19,487 the men who did didn't understand it either. 384 00:30:25,868 --> 00:30:26,911 Easy now. 385 00:30:27,411 --> 00:30:28,538 Take it down. 386 00:30:29,455 --> 00:30:31,666 Good. Like that. 387 00:30:31,749 --> 00:30:33,251 You should have finished by now. 388 00:30:33,334 --> 00:30:35,294 We're following protocol for reduction rate. 389 00:30:35,378 --> 00:30:37,213 You're procrastinating. 390 00:30:37,296 --> 00:30:39,757 There are 10 other men in this plant who would've done it already. 391 00:30:39,841 --> 00:30:42,176 Keep working. You're doing fine. 392 00:30:51,686 --> 00:30:55,064 Kirschenbaum, come get me when these old women are ready. 393 00:30:55,147 --> 00:30:56,440 Yes, Comrade Dyatlov. 394 00:31:15,877 --> 00:31:20,298 Okay, very slow now. Let's ease it down to 700. 395 00:31:23,634 --> 00:31:26,971 - Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow. - I didn't move any rods there. 396 00:31:36,564 --> 00:31:39,984 - What is this? - I'm not even touching it. 397 00:32:05,009 --> 00:32:06,135 We did everything right. 398 00:32:06,218 --> 00:32:07,595 I think that maybe the core is poisoned. 399 00:32:07,678 --> 00:32:09,096 Well, if you thought the core was poisoned, 400 00:32:09,180 --> 00:32:11,724 then you didn't do everything right, because you're choking my reactor! 401 00:32:11,807 --> 00:32:12,850 Get it back up! 402 00:32:12,934 --> 00:32:15,144 I think if we turn off LAC, 403 00:32:15,227 --> 00:32:17,146 it may be possible to get more control. 404 00:32:17,229 --> 00:32:19,941 - Do it. Go. - Switch off local automatic control. 405 00:32:20,024 --> 00:32:22,109 Go to global. Leonid. 406 00:32:22,985 --> 00:32:25,404 LAC disabled. Global control activated. 407 00:32:31,577 --> 00:32:33,037 What did you do? 408 00:32:34,038 --> 00:32:36,666 - I did what you said. I switched... - Look at it! 409 00:32:38,042 --> 00:32:40,294 - I don't understand. - Fucking amateurs. 410 00:32:40,378 --> 00:32:42,213 You've stalled the reactor. 411 00:32:42,296 --> 00:32:44,131 How the fuck did you get this job? 412 00:32:44,215 --> 00:32:45,299 Comrade Dyatlov... 413 00:32:45,383 --> 00:32:47,009 You're gonna tell me you did everything right again, 414 00:32:47,093 --> 00:32:48,469 you incompetent asshole? 415 00:32:48,552 --> 00:32:51,263 I apologize for this unsatisfactory result. 416 00:32:57,144 --> 00:32:58,229 What are you doing? 417 00:32:58,562 --> 00:33:00,398 We have to shut all the way down. 418 00:33:00,481 --> 00:33:02,942 - No. - We could be in a xenon pit. 419 00:33:03,025 --> 00:33:04,485 We have to shut down and wait 24 hours. 420 00:33:04,568 --> 00:33:06,612 No. We're doing the test tonight. Raise power to 700. 421 00:33:06,696 --> 00:33:08,072 We can't raise the power from here. 422 00:33:08,155 --> 00:33:09,740 - The rules... - Don't talk to me about rules. 423 00:33:09,824 --> 00:33:11,993 - If we fall from 80%... - No, no. We fell from 50%. 424 00:33:12,076 --> 00:33:14,245 - 50% is even worse. - The rules don't say 50. 425 00:33:14,328 --> 00:33:15,621 There is no rule! 426 00:33:15,705 --> 00:33:19,583 Comrade Dyatlov, I apologize, but what you're saying makes no sense. 427 00:33:19,667 --> 00:33:21,585 - Raise the power. - No. 428 00:33:22,962 --> 00:33:24,797 I won't do it. It isn't safe. 429 00:33:34,140 --> 00:33:36,892 Safety first. Always. 430 00:33:37,768 --> 00:33:40,229 I've been saying that for 25 years. 431 00:33:40,312 --> 00:33:42,314 That's how long I've done this job, 25 years. 432 00:33:42,398 --> 00:33:43,691 Is that longer than you, Akimov? 433 00:33:43,774 --> 00:33:44,859 Yes. 434 00:33:44,942 --> 00:33:47,153 - Is it much longer? - Yes. 435 00:33:47,236 --> 00:33:49,780 And you with your mother's tit barely out of your mouth? 436 00:33:52,366 --> 00:33:54,535 So if I say it's safe, it's safe. 437 00:33:54,618 --> 00:33:55,911 And if the two of you disagree, 438 00:33:55,995 --> 00:33:57,955 then you don't have to work here and you won't. 439 00:33:58,039 --> 00:33:59,040 But not just here. 440 00:33:59,123 --> 00:34:02,585 You won't work at Kursk or Ignalina or Leningrad or Novovoronezh. 441 00:34:02,668 --> 00:34:05,713 You won't work anywhere ever again. I'll see to it. 442 00:34:06,088 --> 00:34:08,507 I think you know I will see to it. 443 00:34:10,176 --> 00:34:11,427 Raise the power. 444 00:34:15,056 --> 00:34:16,766 I would like you to record your command. 445 00:34:18,059 --> 00:34:19,143 Raise the power. 446 00:34:34,992 --> 00:34:36,202 Together, then. 447 00:34:39,997 --> 00:34:41,582 I wasn't even there. 448 00:34:42,374 --> 00:34:43,793 What? 449 00:34:45,836 --> 00:34:48,255 I wasn't in the room when they raised the power. 450 00:34:49,006 --> 00:34:50,466 If you weren't there, then where were you? 451 00:34:50,549 --> 00:34:53,469 Comrade Legasov, you are a witness, not a prosecutor. 452 00:34:53,552 --> 00:34:55,387 I will ask the questions here. 453 00:34:56,639 --> 00:34:58,682 If you weren't in the room, then where were you? 454 00:35:01,393 --> 00:35:02,478 The toilet. 455 00:35:03,395 --> 00:35:05,731 The toilet? 456 00:35:07,525 --> 00:35:09,318 Comrade Khomyuk interviewed everyone 457 00:35:09,401 --> 00:35:10,820 who was in the control room that night. 458 00:35:10,903 --> 00:35:12,696 They all told the same story. 459 00:35:16,283 --> 00:35:18,536 "I knew what Dyatlov ordered was wrong, 460 00:35:18,994 --> 00:35:21,330 "but if I didn't do what he said, I would be fired." 461 00:35:21,914 --> 00:35:23,415 Leonid Toptunov. 462 00:35:25,084 --> 00:35:26,710 One day before he died. 463 00:35:27,753 --> 00:35:29,630 No, Comrade Dyatlov, you were in the room. 464 00:35:30,005 --> 00:35:32,466 You ordered them to raise the power. This is a fact. 465 00:35:42,726 --> 00:35:45,437 Court is now in recess. Thirty minutes. 466 00:36:29,356 --> 00:36:32,193 Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl? 467 00:36:33,819 --> 00:36:35,237 Not really, no. 468 00:36:36,614 --> 00:36:39,074 It was mostly Jews and Poles. 469 00:36:40,618 --> 00:36:44,288 The Jews were killed in pogroms, and Stalin forced the Poles out. 470 00:36:45,122 --> 00:36:48,209 And then the Nazis came and killed whoever was left. 471 00:36:49,293 --> 00:36:50,461 But after the war, 472 00:36:51,921 --> 00:36:53,881 people came to live here anyway. 473 00:36:55,257 --> 00:36:58,844 They knew the ground under their feet was soaked in blood, 474 00:36:58,928 --> 00:37:00,137 but they didn't care. 475 00:37:01,847 --> 00:37:03,933 Dead Jews, dead Poles. 476 00:37:05,142 --> 00:37:06,185 But not them. 477 00:37:09,855 --> 00:37:12,024 No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. 478 00:37:14,193 --> 00:37:15,236 And here we are. 479 00:37:25,204 --> 00:37:26,205 How much time? 480 00:37:27,331 --> 00:37:28,582 Maybe a year. 481 00:37:29,458 --> 00:37:32,253 They call it a... 482 00:37:32,336 --> 00:37:34,505 They call it a "long illness." 483 00:37:34,588 --> 00:37:36,298 It doesn't seem very long to me. 484 00:37:37,508 --> 00:37:39,593 I know you told me, and I believed you. 485 00:37:41,095 --> 00:37:42,763 But time passed, and I thought 486 00:37:43,681 --> 00:37:45,349 it wouldn't happen to me. 487 00:37:46,475 --> 00:37:47,851 I wasted it. 488 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,646 I wasted it all for nothing. 489 00:37:52,940 --> 00:37:54,191 For nothing? 490 00:37:55,651 --> 00:37:58,445 Do you remember that morning when I first called you, 491 00:37:58,529 --> 00:38:00,447 how unconcerned I was? 492 00:38:00,531 --> 00:38:02,408 I don't believe much that comes out of the Kremlin, 493 00:38:02,491 --> 00:38:06,787 but when they told me they were putting me in charge of the cleanup 494 00:38:07,746 --> 00:38:10,249 and they said it wasn't serious, I believed them. 495 00:38:12,167 --> 00:38:13,252 You know why? 496 00:38:14,962 --> 00:38:16,714 Because they put you in charge. 497 00:38:17,673 --> 00:38:18,716 Yeah. 498 00:38:21,844 --> 00:38:24,221 I'm an inconsequential man, Valery. 499 00:38:24,972 --> 00:38:26,682 That's all I've ever been. 500 00:38:28,017 --> 00:38:30,811 I hoped that one day I would matter, but I didn't. 501 00:38:33,105 --> 00:38:36,025 I just stood next to people who did. 502 00:38:38,527 --> 00:38:40,946 There are other scientists like me. 503 00:38:41,030 --> 00:38:43,407 Any one of them could have done what I did. 504 00:38:43,490 --> 00:38:44,700 But you... 505 00:38:45,868 --> 00:38:49,621 Everything we asked for, everything we needed. 506 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,460 Men, material, lunar rovers. 507 00:38:57,296 --> 00:38:59,214 Who else could have done these things? 508 00:39:01,550 --> 00:39:04,094 They heard me, but they listened to you. 509 00:39:05,304 --> 00:39:08,932 Of all the ministers and all the deputies, 510 00:39:09,016 --> 00:39:12,644 entire congregation of obedient fools, 511 00:39:13,604 --> 00:39:16,565 they mistakenly sent the one good man. 512 00:39:17,649 --> 00:39:19,651 For God's sakes, Boris, 513 00:39:20,652 --> 00:39:23,072 you were the one who mattered most. 514 00:39:46,220 --> 00:39:47,888 Ah, it's beautiful. 515 00:40:29,930 --> 00:40:31,765 Comrade Legasov. 516 00:40:44,361 --> 00:40:46,405 The time is 38 past midnight. 517 00:40:47,406 --> 00:40:49,241 The reactor is nearly shut down. 518 00:40:49,908 --> 00:40:51,702 The operators of Reactor 4 are locked 519 00:40:51,785 --> 00:40:53,954 on a path that leads directly to disaster. 520 00:40:54,538 --> 00:40:56,165 There's no way to turn back. 521 00:40:56,582 --> 00:40:59,042 They do not yet know it, but the die is cast. 522 00:40:59,877 --> 00:41:03,505 At 30 megawatts, xenon is still being created, 523 00:41:03,589 --> 00:41:05,340 but none of it is burning away. 524 00:41:07,593 --> 00:41:09,511 The reactor is drowning in poison. 525 00:41:10,262 --> 00:41:13,932 To make matters worse, the reactor isn't hot enough 526 00:41:14,016 --> 00:41:16,602 to produce sufficient steam. 527 00:41:18,562 --> 00:41:21,315 The only way to safely raise power from this state 528 00:41:21,398 --> 00:41:25,736 is to do it very, very slowly over the course of 24 hours. 529 00:41:26,528 --> 00:41:28,822 But Dyatlov wants it done now. 530 00:41:29,364 --> 00:41:32,826 Akimov and Toptunov have only one course of action. 531 00:41:33,744 --> 00:41:36,079 They begin pulling control rods out. 532 00:41:36,747 --> 00:41:37,748 Dozens at a time. 533 00:41:38,248 --> 00:41:40,834 Halfway out, three-quarters of the way out, 534 00:41:40,918 --> 00:41:43,712 still, the power does not budge. 535 00:41:43,795 --> 00:41:46,507 So they begin pulling them all the way out. 536 00:41:46,590 --> 00:41:50,385 There were 211 control rods in Reactor 4. 537 00:41:50,469 --> 00:41:55,140 Akimov and Toptunov completely withdrew 205. 538 00:41:55,224 --> 00:41:59,228 Remember, control rods are the brakes on this car. 539 00:41:59,937 --> 00:42:06,443 Of 211 rods, only six now remain in the reactor. 540 00:42:07,945 --> 00:42:10,739 As for the fuel, it's gone cold, 541 00:42:10,822 --> 00:42:12,824 so the negative temperature coefficient 542 00:42:12,908 --> 00:42:15,494 is no longer weighing down the reactivity. 543 00:42:15,577 --> 00:42:19,456 But even still, the xenon poisoning is so strong, 544 00:42:19,540 --> 00:42:23,126 the best they can do is raise the power to 200 megawatts. 545 00:42:24,545 --> 00:42:26,338 The control rods are out. 546 00:42:26,797 --> 00:42:29,258 The emergency system has been disconnected. 547 00:42:29,341 --> 00:42:31,510 The only thing keeping the reactor in check 548 00:42:31,593 --> 00:42:34,179 is water and xenon. 549 00:42:34,263 --> 00:42:38,183 It's 1:00 in the morning. The test is minutes away. 550 00:43:12,718 --> 00:43:14,845 I'm sorry, this is all we can get. 551 00:43:15,345 --> 00:43:17,764 It's 200 megawatts. We've pulled almost everything out. 552 00:43:18,348 --> 00:43:19,808 If that's all we have, that's all we have. 553 00:43:20,267 --> 00:43:23,812 - But the test requires 700. - Stolyarchuk, let's get ready. 554 00:43:23,895 --> 00:43:25,564 - Switch on pump four. - No, wait a second. 555 00:43:25,647 --> 00:43:27,608 - Stolyarchuk... - We have barely enough steam as it is. 556 00:43:27,691 --> 00:43:30,110 The turbine is going too slow for the test to deliver any valid results. 557 00:43:30,193 --> 00:43:31,570 - It's enough. - And if we add more water, 558 00:43:31,653 --> 00:43:33,322 - there will be even less... - I said it's enough. 559 00:43:33,405 --> 00:43:34,573 I know what I'm doing. Stolyarchuk. 560 00:43:40,912 --> 00:43:42,289 Main pump four, connected. 561 00:43:42,664 --> 00:43:44,374 We should warn Khodemchuk. The pipes are gonna be... 562 00:43:44,458 --> 00:43:45,959 Never mind him. Kirschenbaum? 563 00:43:49,338 --> 00:43:52,049 The steam in the separator drum is too low, five atmospheres. 564 00:43:52,132 --> 00:43:54,843 All right, let's all help him. Get it up as best you can. 565 00:43:59,139 --> 00:44:00,223 We should stop. 566 00:44:00,891 --> 00:44:02,559 Turn that fucking thing off. 567 00:44:03,727 --> 00:44:05,354 You have 15 minutes. 568 00:44:07,230 --> 00:44:08,398 Fifteen minutes. 569 00:44:09,650 --> 00:44:12,069 They may as well have had 15 days. 570 00:44:12,402 --> 00:44:15,155 The problem they were facing was not solvable. 571 00:44:15,238 --> 00:44:17,866 The power was too low. The water was too high. 572 00:44:17,949 --> 00:44:19,576 The test was already ruined. 573 00:44:19,660 --> 00:44:22,621 The results would have been useless, but Dyatlov didn't care. 574 00:44:23,038 --> 00:44:25,749 All he wanted to do was report a completed test. 575 00:44:27,209 --> 00:44:29,336 1:22 a.m. 576 00:44:30,045 --> 00:44:31,922 Less than two minutes remain. 577 00:44:33,173 --> 00:44:37,135 Yuvchenko, a mechanical engineer, is in his office. 578 00:44:41,348 --> 00:44:43,725 Perevozchenko, reactor section foreman, 579 00:44:43,809 --> 00:44:44,976 is in the refueling hall, 580 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:49,147 high above the 1,000-ton steel reactor cover. 581 00:44:51,566 --> 00:44:53,568 Degtaryenko, Khodemchuk, 582 00:44:53,652 --> 00:44:56,446 circulation operators, are in the pump room. 583 00:44:58,699 --> 00:45:01,952 None of them have been told about the test. 584 00:45:02,035 --> 00:45:03,870 None of them know what is about to happen. 585 00:45:04,663 --> 00:45:09,710 At 1:22 and 30 seconds, Toptunov sees a report 586 00:45:10,585 --> 00:45:13,422 from the reactor's SKALA computer system. 587 00:45:14,631 --> 00:45:17,968 Based on the absence of sufficient control rods, 588 00:45:18,051 --> 00:45:21,221 the computer is recommending that the reactor be shut down. 589 00:45:27,144 --> 00:45:29,604 Well, of course it's saying that. It doesn't know we're running a test. 590 00:45:31,773 --> 00:45:32,858 All right, comrades. 591 00:45:34,693 --> 00:45:37,195 Another few minutes, it will all be over. 592 00:45:37,279 --> 00:45:38,655 Kirschenbaum, when you're ready. 593 00:45:39,990 --> 00:45:41,074 We did everything right. 594 00:45:43,577 --> 00:45:45,078 Oscillograph on. 595 00:45:47,122 --> 00:45:48,790 Closing number eight throttle valve. 596 00:45:49,916 --> 00:45:51,460 Generator rotor beginning rundown. 597 00:45:51,918 --> 00:45:54,629 1:23 and four seconds. 598 00:45:55,464 --> 00:45:59,342 With every decision, they have pulled this reactor back like a slingshot, 599 00:45:59,426 --> 00:46:01,470 further than anyone has ever pulled. 600 00:46:02,053 --> 00:46:03,638 Now the test begins. 601 00:46:04,181 --> 00:46:07,142 The pumps are shut down, and they've let go. 602 00:46:10,270 --> 00:46:13,023 The pumps stop moving water through the reactor. 603 00:46:13,690 --> 00:46:16,777 Uranium fuel is now unchecked by fresh coolant, 604 00:46:16,860 --> 00:46:18,820 unchecked by control rods. 605 00:46:18,904 --> 00:46:21,907 The balance immediately swings in the opposite direction. 606 00:46:21,990 --> 00:46:25,118 In less than a second, reactivity increases. 607 00:46:26,453 --> 00:46:27,871 Inside the core, 608 00:46:27,954 --> 00:46:30,290 the remaining water is quickly converting to steam. 609 00:46:30,373 --> 00:46:32,542 A void is being created. 610 00:46:32,626 --> 00:46:35,170 There is no fresh water to replace it. 611 00:46:35,253 --> 00:46:38,173 Steam increases reactivity, 612 00:46:38,256 --> 00:46:41,551 increases heat, increases steam, 613 00:46:41,635 --> 00:46:43,261 increases reactivity. 614 00:46:44,554 --> 00:46:47,599 The remaining xenon decays away. 615 00:46:49,017 --> 00:46:50,519 The power is rising. 616 00:46:52,813 --> 00:46:54,314 There's nothing left to stop it. 617 00:46:55,690 --> 00:46:59,110 1:23 and 35 seconds. 618 00:47:02,447 --> 00:47:04,533 We have a power surge! Sasha! 619 00:47:10,038 --> 00:47:11,164 What did you do? 620 00:47:11,748 --> 00:47:14,960 1:23 and 40 seconds. 621 00:47:23,176 --> 00:47:25,679 In every control room of every nuclear reactor in the world, 622 00:47:25,762 --> 00:47:28,932 there is a button with one single purpose, 623 00:47:29,015 --> 00:47:32,435 to "scram," or instantly shut down the reaction. 624 00:47:32,519 --> 00:47:35,772 In Soviet reactors, that button is called AZ-5. 625 00:47:36,690 --> 00:47:38,733 You press AZ-5, 626 00:47:38,817 --> 00:47:41,027 all of the control rods insert at once, 627 00:47:41,111 --> 00:47:44,656 and the reaction is stopped dead. 628 00:47:45,740 --> 00:47:46,908 But... 629 00:47:53,456 --> 00:47:54,749 What are you waiting for, Legasov? 630 00:47:54,833 --> 00:47:56,751 Tell your lies. 631 00:47:56,835 --> 00:47:59,045 Comrade Dyatlov, you will not be warned again. 632 00:47:59,129 --> 00:48:01,339 - Or what? - For God's sake, Dyatlov. 633 00:48:01,423 --> 00:48:03,425 - Legasov's already given it away. - That's enough. 634 00:48:03,508 --> 00:48:06,553 He said before there was no way to avoid what was coming. 635 00:48:06,636 --> 00:48:08,263 - He knows something. - Comrade Dyatlov. 636 00:48:08,346 --> 00:48:09,931 She knows something. 637 00:48:11,224 --> 00:48:13,268 I know what you are, Valery Alexeyevich. 638 00:48:13,351 --> 00:48:16,354 - You're a liar. - We've heard enough for today. 639 00:48:17,522 --> 00:48:20,233 The defendants will be remanded in custody. 640 00:48:20,317 --> 00:48:23,320 - Court will... - I haven't finished. 641 00:48:23,403 --> 00:48:25,530 I still have more evidence to give. 642 00:48:25,614 --> 00:48:28,909 It's not necessary. Your testimony is concluded. 643 00:48:28,992 --> 00:48:32,162 - Your Honor. - Court is now adjourned. 644 00:48:32,245 --> 00:48:34,456 - We will resume tomorrow with... - Let him finish. 645 00:48:37,167 --> 00:48:38,501 Comrade Shcherbina... 646 00:48:41,254 --> 00:48:42,297 Let him finish. 647 00:49:07,572 --> 00:49:09,908 Dyatlov broke every rule we have. 648 00:49:13,620 --> 00:49:16,748 He pushed a reactor to the brink of destruction. 649 00:49:21,294 --> 00:49:23,880 He did these things believing there was a failsafe. 650 00:49:23,964 --> 00:49:27,425 AZ-5, a simple button to shut it all down. 651 00:49:27,509 --> 00:49:32,055 But in the circumstances he created, there wasn't. 652 00:49:32,138 --> 00:49:35,350 The shutdown system had a fatal flaw. 653 00:49:37,477 --> 00:49:42,732 At 1:23:40, Akimov engages AZ-5. 654 00:49:50,782 --> 00:49:54,577 The fully withdrawn control rods begin moving back into the reactor. 655 00:49:54,661 --> 00:49:57,330 These rods are made of boron, which reduces reactivity, 656 00:49:57,414 --> 00:49:58,498 but not their tips. 657 00:49:59,332 --> 00:50:03,628 The tips are made of graphite, which accelerates reactivity. 658 00:50:04,129 --> 00:50:05,130 Why? 659 00:50:09,801 --> 00:50:10,927 Why? 660 00:50:13,555 --> 00:50:15,849 For the same reason our reactors 661 00:50:15,932 --> 00:50:18,018 do not have containment buildings around them, 662 00:50:18,977 --> 00:50:20,103 like those in the West. 663 00:50:20,186 --> 00:50:24,899 For the same reason we don't use properly enriched fuel in our cores. 664 00:50:25,150 --> 00:50:27,485 For the same reason we are the only nation 665 00:50:27,569 --> 00:50:31,906 that builds water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors 666 00:50:31,990 --> 00:50:34,451 with a positive void coefficient. 667 00:50:36,327 --> 00:50:37,370 It's cheaper. 668 00:50:43,585 --> 00:50:44,836 The first part 669 00:50:44,919 --> 00:50:46,713 of the rods that enter the core 670 00:50:46,796 --> 00:50:48,131 are the graphite tips. 671 00:50:48,214 --> 00:50:50,550 And when they do, the reaction in the core, 672 00:50:50,633 --> 00:50:53,511 which had been rising, skyrockets. 673 00:50:53,595 --> 00:50:58,600 Every last molecule of liquid water instantly converts to steam, 674 00:50:58,683 --> 00:51:01,978 which expands and ruptures a series of fuel rod channels. 675 00:51:02,062 --> 00:51:06,149 The control rods in those channels can move no further. 676 00:51:06,232 --> 00:51:08,693 The graphite tips are fixed in position, 677 00:51:08,777 --> 00:51:11,654 endlessly accelerating the reaction. 678 00:51:11,738 --> 00:51:15,575 Chernobyl Reactor 4 is now a nuclear bomb. 679 00:51:16,117 --> 00:51:18,661 1:23:42. 680 00:51:18,745 --> 00:51:22,707 Perevozchenko looks down on the enormous steel lid of the reactor 681 00:51:22,791 --> 00:51:24,793 and sees the impossible. 682 00:51:24,876 --> 00:51:26,669 The control rod and fuel channel caps, 683 00:51:26,753 --> 00:51:28,838 which each weigh 350 kilograms, 684 00:51:28,922 --> 00:51:30,590 are jumping up and down. 685 00:51:31,132 --> 00:51:33,343 He runs to warn the control room. 686 00:51:33,426 --> 00:51:36,346 But there's nothing he can do to stop what is coming. 687 00:51:36,429 --> 00:51:39,432 1:23 and 44 seconds. 688 00:51:40,058 --> 00:51:43,478 The steam blows more fuel channels apart. 689 00:51:43,561 --> 00:51:45,605 We do not know how high the power went. 690 00:51:45,688 --> 00:51:46,898 We only know the final reading. 691 00:51:49,484 --> 00:51:54,030 Reactor 4, designed to operate at 3,200 megawatts, 692 00:51:54,781 --> 00:51:57,325 went beyond 33,000. 693 00:52:03,081 --> 00:52:06,876 The pressure inside the core can no longer be held back. 694 00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:13,258 At long last, we have arrived. 1:23:45, explosion. 695 00:52:14,884 --> 00:52:17,846 In the instant the lid is thrown off the reactor, 696 00:52:17,929 --> 00:52:18,972 oxygen rushes in. 697 00:52:19,055 --> 00:52:23,143 It combines with hydrogen and super-heated graphite. 698 00:52:25,186 --> 00:52:28,022 The chain of disaster is now complete. 699 00:52:50,170 --> 00:52:51,588 Comrade Dyatlov! 700 00:52:56,843 --> 00:52:58,178 Comrade Dyatlov! 701 00:53:09,689 --> 00:53:12,567 No one in the room that night knew 702 00:53:12,650 --> 00:53:15,820 the shutdown button could act as a detonator. 703 00:53:17,447 --> 00:53:18,781 They didn't know it, 704 00:53:20,450 --> 00:53:22,452 because it was kept from them. 705 00:53:22,535 --> 00:53:27,290 Comrade Legasov, you're contradicting your own testimony in Vienna. 706 00:53:27,707 --> 00:53:29,667 My testimony in Vienna was a lie. 707 00:53:31,169 --> 00:53:33,463 I lied to the world. 708 00:53:34,297 --> 00:53:36,132 I'm not the only one who kept this secret. 709 00:53:36,216 --> 00:53:37,217 There are many. 710 00:53:38,801 --> 00:53:40,220 We were following orders, 711 00:53:41,804 --> 00:53:43,431 from the KGB, from the Central Committee. 712 00:53:43,514 --> 00:53:46,059 And right now, there are 16 reactors in the Soviet Union 713 00:53:46,142 --> 00:53:48,603 with the same fatal flaw. 714 00:53:48,686 --> 00:53:50,563 Three of them are still running 715 00:53:50,647 --> 00:53:53,066 less than 20 kilometers away at Chernobyl. 716 00:53:53,149 --> 00:53:57,070 Professor Legasov, if you mean to suggest the Soviet state 717 00:53:57,153 --> 00:53:58,988 is somehow responsible for what happened, 718 00:53:59,072 --> 00:54:01,783 then I must warn you, you are treading on dangerous ground. 719 00:54:02,492 --> 00:54:04,160 I've already trod on dangerous ground. 720 00:54:04,244 --> 00:54:06,287 We're on dangerous ground right now, 721 00:54:06,371 --> 00:54:09,123 because of our secrets and our lies. 722 00:54:09,207 --> 00:54:12,252 They're practically what define us. 723 00:54:12,335 --> 00:54:15,546 When the truth offends, we lie and lie 724 00:54:15,630 --> 00:54:17,882 until we can no longer remember it is even there. 725 00:54:17,966 --> 00:54:19,550 But it is still there. 726 00:54:23,221 --> 00:54:27,267 Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. 727 00:54:29,644 --> 00:54:31,813 Sooner or later, that debt is paid. 728 00:54:36,734 --> 00:54:41,656 That is how an RBMK reactor core explodes. 729 00:54:45,702 --> 00:54:46,703 Lies. 730 00:56:51,369 --> 00:56:53,663 Valery Alexeyevich Legasov, 731 00:56:55,248 --> 00:56:57,458 son of Alexei Legasov, 732 00:56:57,667 --> 00:57:00,128 Head of Ideological Compliance, Central Committee. 733 00:57:01,170 --> 00:57:02,672 Do you know what your father did there? 734 00:57:03,005 --> 00:57:04,006 Yes. 735 00:57:05,383 --> 00:57:08,719 As a student, you had a leadership position in Komsomol. 736 00:57:08,803 --> 00:57:10,847 Communist Youth, correct? 737 00:57:12,223 --> 00:57:14,142 - You already know. - Answer the question. 738 00:57:14,559 --> 00:57:15,601 Yes. 739 00:57:17,603 --> 00:57:19,605 At the Kurchatov Institute, 740 00:57:19,689 --> 00:57:21,858 you were the Communist Party secretary. 741 00:57:22,567 --> 00:57:26,237 In the position, you limited the promotion of Jewish scientists. 742 00:57:31,200 --> 00:57:32,785 Yes. 743 00:57:32,869 --> 00:57:35,496 To curry favor with Kremlin officials. 744 00:57:41,127 --> 00:57:43,004 You're one of us, Legasov. 745 00:57:44,839 --> 00:57:46,716 I can do anything I want with you. 746 00:57:48,468 --> 00:57:51,345 But what I want the most is for you to know that I know. 747 00:57:52,638 --> 00:57:54,140 You're not brave. 748 00:57:55,683 --> 00:57:57,143 You're not heroic. 749 00:57:58,811 --> 00:58:02,190 You're just a dying man who forgot himself. 750 00:58:02,273 --> 00:58:05,735 I know who I am, and I know what I've done. 751 00:58:08,529 --> 00:58:10,907 In a just world, I'd be shot for my lies, 752 00:58:10,990 --> 00:58:13,201 but not for this, not for the truth. 753 00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:16,329 Scientists, 754 00:58:16,412 --> 00:58:20,124 and your idiot obsession with reasons. 755 00:58:20,208 --> 00:58:24,629 When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why? 756 00:58:32,303 --> 00:58:34,639 No one's getting shot, Legasov. 757 00:58:36,349 --> 00:58:38,017 The whole world saw you in Vienna. 758 00:58:38,851 --> 00:58:40,937 It would be embarrassing to kill you now. 759 00:58:41,020 --> 00:58:42,063 And for what? 760 00:58:43,439 --> 00:58:46,484 Your testimony today will not be accepted by the State. 761 00:58:46,567 --> 00:58:48,903 It will not be disseminated in the press. 762 00:58:49,570 --> 00:58:51,405 It never happened. 763 00:58:52,782 --> 00:58:57,036 No, you will live, however long you have, 764 00:58:57,828 --> 00:59:00,581 but not as a scientist, not anymore. 765 00:59:01,582 --> 00:59:05,545 You'll keep your title and your office, 766 00:59:06,754 --> 00:59:11,092 but no duties, no authority, no friends. 767 00:59:11,175 --> 00:59:12,510 No one will talk to you. 768 00:59:13,344 --> 00:59:14,720 No one will listen to you. 769 00:59:17,181 --> 00:59:20,601 Other men, lesser men, 770 00:59:21,727 --> 00:59:24,438 will receive credit for the things you have done. 771 00:59:25,398 --> 00:59:27,692 Your legacy is now their legacy. 772 00:59:27,775 --> 00:59:29,986 You'll live long enough to see that. 773 00:59:33,948 --> 00:59:35,783 What role did Shcherbina play in this? 774 00:59:36,534 --> 00:59:37,618 None. 775 00:59:37,702 --> 00:59:39,537 He didn't know what I was gonna say. 776 00:59:41,455 --> 00:59:43,541 What role did Khomyuk play in this? 777 00:59:44,208 --> 00:59:45,209 None. 778 00:59:46,085 --> 00:59:47,503 She didn't know either. 779 00:59:50,047 --> 00:59:52,508 After all you've said and done today, 780 00:59:52,592 --> 00:59:58,222 it would be curious if you chose this moment to lie. 781 01:00:01,434 --> 01:00:05,438 I would think a man of your experience would know a lie when he hears one. 782 01:00:09,775 --> 01:00:12,778 You will not meet or communicate with either one of them ever again. 783 01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:17,742 You will not communicate with anyone about Chernobyl ever again. 784 01:00:19,243 --> 01:00:21,495 You will remain so immaterial to the world around you 785 01:00:21,579 --> 01:00:23,456 that when you finally do die, 786 01:00:24,081 --> 01:00:27,668 it will be exceedingly hard to know that you ever lived at all. 787 01:00:32,131 --> 01:00:33,841 And if I refuse? 788 01:00:37,219 --> 01:00:40,139 Why worry about something that isn't going to happen? 789 01:00:41,557 --> 01:00:44,769 "Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?" 790 01:00:45,728 --> 01:00:47,271 Oh, that's perfect. 791 01:00:48,147 --> 01:00:49,982 They should put that on our money. 792 01:02:00,428 --> 01:02:03,180 To be a scientist is to be naive. 793 01:02:04,515 --> 01:02:06,851 We are so focused on our search for truth, 794 01:02:06,934 --> 01:02:11,105 we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. 795 01:02:11,647 --> 01:02:15,860 But it is always there, whether we see it or not, 796 01:02:15,943 --> 01:02:17,903 whether we choose to or not. 797 01:02:17,987 --> 01:02:20,698 The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. 798 01:02:20,781 --> 01:02:22,450 It doesn't care about our governments, 799 01:02:22,533 --> 01:02:24,869 our ideologies, our religions. 800 01:02:26,328 --> 01:02:28,789 It will lie in wait for all time. 801 01:02:30,082 --> 01:02:34,003 And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. 802 01:02:34,086 --> 01:02:36,547 Where I once would fear the cost of truth, 803 01:02:36,630 --> 01:02:38,257 now I only ask, 804 01:02:40,426 --> 01:02:42,386 "What is the cost of lies?"