[May 3, 1986: A Party official and two soldiers arrive at a coal mine in Tula, Russian SFSR]
MSMikhail Shchadov
Who's in charge here?
AGAndrei Glukhov
I'm the crew chief.
SShchadov
I am Shchadov, Minister of Coal Industries.
GGlukhov
We know who you are.
SShchadov
How many men do you have?
GGlukhov
On this shift, 45 here, a hundred in total.
SShchadov
I need all one hundred men to gather their equipment and get on the trucks.
GGlukhov
[smirking] Do you? To where?
SShchadov
That's classified.
GGlukhov
Come on, then. Start shooting. You haven't got enough bullets for all of us. Kill as many as you can. Whoever's left, they'll beat the living piss out of each of you.
SSoldier
You can't talk to us like that!
GGlukhov
Shut the fuck up! This is Tula. This is our mine. We don't leave unless we know why.
SShchadov
You're going to Chernobyl. Do you know what's happened there?
GGlukhov
[somewhat less confident] We dig up coal, not bodies.
SShchadov
The reactor fuel is going to sink into the ground and poison the water from Kiev to the Black Sea. All of it. Forever, they say. They want you to stop that from happening.
GGlukhov
And how are we supposed to do that?
SShchadov
They didn't tell me, because I don't need to know. Do you need to know, or have you heard enough?
[Glukhov stares at him for a moment, then walks up and pats him on the shoulder with his sooty hands before walking to the trucks. The other miners do likewise, dirtying up his clean suit and his face]
MMiner
Now you look like the Minister of Coal.
[After a meeting with the Central Committee, Legasov confronts KGB official Aleksandr Charkov about Khomyuk's arrest]
She was arrested by the KGB. You are the first deputy chairman of the KGB.
ACAleksandr Charkov
[amused] I am. That's why I don't have to bother with arresting people anymore.
But you are bothering with having us followed.
I think the deputy chairman is busy...
CCharkov
No no, it's perfectly understandable. Comrade, I know you've heard the stories about us. When I hear them, even I am shocked. But we are not what people say. Yes, people are following you. People are following those people. And you see them? [indicates two agents behind him] They follow me. The KGB is a circle of accountability. Nothing more.
You know the work we're doing here. You really don't trust us?
CCharkov
Of course I do. But you know the old Russian proverb: "Trust, but verify." And the Americans think that Ronald Reagan thought that up. Can you imagine? It was very nice speaking with you. [turns to walk away]
CCharkov
[turns back] So you will be accountable for her? [Legasov nods] Then it's done.
CCharkov
I know who she is. Good day, Professor. [walks off; Legasov glances at Shcherbina]
No, that went surprisingly well. You came off like a naive idiot. And naive idiots are not a threat.
They didn't hurt me. They let a pregnant woman in with -- oh, it doesn't matter. They were stupid. I was stupid. Dyatlov won't talk to me. Akimov, yes, Toptunov, yes, but... Valery, Akimov... his face was gone.
Is that a choice I even have?
Do you think the fuel will actually melt through the concrete pad?
I don't know. A forty-percent chance, maybe.
I said fifty. [chuckles] Either way, the numbers mean the same thing: "Maybe". Maybe the core will melt through to the groundwater. Maybe the miners I've told to dig under the reactor will save millions of lives. Maybe I'm killing them for nothing. I don't want to do this anymore. I want to stop. But I can't. I don't think you have a choice any more than I do. I think, despite the stupidity, the lies, even this, you are compelled. The problem has been assigned, and you will stop at nothing until you find an answer. Because that is who you are.
[An old woman milking a cow refuses to evacuate from a village near Chernobyl]
OWOld Woman
You know how old I am?
SSoldier
I don't know. Old.
OWOld Woman
I'm 82. I've lived here my whole life. Right here, that house, this place. What do I care about "safe"?
SSoldier
I have a job. Don't cause trouble.
OWOld Woman
Trouble? You're not the first soldier to stand here with a gun. When I was 12, the Revolution came. Tsar's men, then Bolsheviks. Boys like you marching in lines. They told us to leave. No. Then there was Stalin and his famine, the Holodomor. My parents died. Two of my sisters died. They told the rest of us to leave. No. Then the Great War. German boys, Russian boys. More soldiers, more famine, more bodies. My brothers never came home. But I stayed, and I'm still here. After all that I have seen... so I should leave now, because of something I cannot see at all? No.
SSoldier
[takes the milk bucket and dumps it out; the others honk the horns of their trucks] It's time to go. [the old woman simply grabs the bucket and starts milking the cow again] Please stand up now. This is your last warning. [the old woman continues to milk the cow, until the soldier shoots it in the head] It's time to go. [the old woman simply sits there]
BBacho
Look. This happens to everyone the first time. Normally when you kill a man. But for you a dog. So what? There's no shame in it. You remember your first time, Garo? My first time, Afghanistan. We were moving through a house and... suddenly a man was there and I shot him in the stomach. Yeah, that's a real war story. There are never any good stories like in movies - they're shit. A man was there, boom... stomach. I was so scared I didn't pull the trigger again for the rest of the day. I thought, 'Well, that's it, Bacho. You put a bullet in someone. You're not you anymore. You'll never be you again.' But then you wake up the next morning and you're still you. And you realize: that was you all along. You just didn't know.
[showing pictures of the damaged reactor] The atom is a humbling thing.
It's not humbling, it's humiliating. Why is the core still exposed to the air? Why have we not already covered it up?
We want to, but we can't get close enough. The debris on the roof is graphite from the core itself. Until we can push it off the roof back into the reactor, it'll kill anyone who gets near it. You see the roof is in three levels. We've named them. The small one here is Katya, one thousand roentgen per hour. Presume two hours of exposure is fatal. The one on the side, Nina, two thousand roentgen. One hour, fatal.
We used remote-controlled bulldozers in Afghanistan.
Too heavy. They'd fall right through.
Moon rovers. Lunokhod STR-1s. They're light. And if we line them with lead, they can withstand the radiation.
We couldn't put a man on the Moon. At least we can keep a man off a roof.
That is the most important thing, General. Under no circumstances can men go up there. Robots only.
What about this large section here?
Twelve thousand roentgen. If you were to stand there in full protective gear head-to-toe for two minutes, your life expectancy would be cut in half. By three minutes, you're dead within months. Even our lunar rovers won't work on Masha. That amount of gamma radiation penetrates everything. The particles literally shred the circuits in microchips apart. If it's more complicated than a light switch, Masha will destroy it.
It would be fair to say that that piece of roof is the most dangerous place on Earth.
[sits in stunned silence for a moment, before taking a draw from his cigarette] So... what do we do?
That's what we wanted to ask you.
[After a West German robot clearing graphite from the roof fails due to the radiation, Shcherbina is on the phone with Moscow, shouting furiously.]
Of course I know they're listening! I want them to hear! I want them to hear it all! [outside, Legasov and General Tarakanov can easily hear] Do you know what we're doing here?! Tell those geniuses what they have done! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK! Tell them! Go tell them! Ryzhkov! Go tell them he's a joke! Tell fucking Gorbachev! TELL THEM! [smashes the phone to pieces, then drags them outside before tossing them into the grass, then turns to Legasov and Tarakanov] The official position of the State is that a global nuclear catastrophe is not possible in the Soviet Union. They told the Germans that the highest detected level of radiation was two thousand roentgen. They gave them the propaganda number. That robot was never going to work. [to one of the guards] We need a new phone.
[General Tarakanov briefs his men before sending them to clear roof level "Masha"]
Comrade Soldiers, the Soviet people have had enough of this accident. They want us to clean this up, and we have entrusted you with this serious task. Because of the nature of the working area, you will each have no more than ninety seconds to solve this problem. Listen careful to each of my instructions, and do exactly as you have been told. This is for your own safety and the safety of your comrades. You will enter Reactor Building 3, climb the stairs, but do not immediately proceed to the roof. When you get to the top, wait inside behind the entrance to the roof, and catch your breath. You will need it for what comes next. [indicates photographs of the roof] This is the working area. We must clear the graphite. Some of it is in blocks weighing approximately 40 to 50 kilograms. They all must be thrown over the edge here. Watch your comrades moving fast from this opening, then turning to the left, then entering the workspace here. Take care not to stumble. There's a hole in the roof. Take care not to fall. You will need to move quickly, and you will need to move carefully. Do you understand your mission as I have described it?
SSoldiers
[in unison]: Yes, Comrade General!
These are the most important ninety seconds of your lives. Commit your task to memory, and do your job.
Congratulations comrades. You are the last of 3,828 men. You have performed your duties perfectly. I wish you all good health and long life. All of you are awarded a bonus of 800 rubles.
[Tarakanov goes down a line of Soldiers, shaking hands with each individual]
SSSoviet Soldier
I serve the Soviet Union.
SSSoviet Soldier
I serve the Soviet Union.
SSSoviet Soldier
I serve the Soviet Union.
[Pripyat, April 25, 1986 - twelve hours prior to the explosion]
I hear they might promote Bryukhanov. This little problem we have with the safety test, if it's completed successfully... yes, I think promotion's very likely. Who knows? Maybe Moscow. Naturally, they'll put me in charge once he's gone, and then I'll need someone to take my old job. I could pick Sitnikov.
I would like to be considered.
We'll keep that in mind. [Bryukhanov enters] Viktor Petrovich, preparations for the test have gone smoothly. Comrade Dyatlov's been working per my instructions, and reactor 4's output has been reduced to 1600 megawatts. With your approval, we're ready to continue lowering power to --
Are you going to ask me if there's a problem, Nikolai? You can't read a fucking face? Three years, I've tried to finish this test. Three years. [lights a cigarette] I've just had a call from the grid controller in Kiev. He says we can't lower power any further. Not for another ten hours.
A grid controller? Where does he get off telling us--
It's not the grid controller's decision, Dyatlov. It's the end of the month. All the productivity quotas. Everyone's working overtime, the factories need power, someone's pushing down from above, not that we'll ever know who. [sighs] So do we have to scrap it, or what?
No, I don't think so. If we need to wait ten hours, we wait.
[to Dyatlov] Running half power, not going to have stability issues?
It's safe. We'll maintain at 1600. I'll go home, get some sleep, come back tonight. We'll proceed then. I'll personally supervise the test, and it will be completed.
Well, I'm not waiting around. Call me when it's done.
[During the test at Chernobyl, the reactor stalls, but Dyatlov insists on continuing the test]
No. I won't do it, it isn't safe.
[Dyatlov stares at Akimov for a moment, then Toptunov, then back at Akimov]
Safety first, always. I've been saying that for 25 years. That's how long I've been doing this job, 25 years. Is that longer than you, Akimov?
[to Toptunov] And you, with your mother's tit barely out your mouth? [Toptunov is silent] See, if I say "it's safe", it's safe. And if the two of you disagree, then you don't have to work here. And you won't. But not just here. You won't work at Kursk, or Ignalina, or Leningrad, or Novovoronezh. You won't work anywhere ever again. I'll see to it. I think you know I will see to it. Raise the power.
[holds out the duty log] I would like you to record your command --
[slaps the log out of Akimov's hands] Raise the power.
[Akimov picks up the log, then steps to the control console, as Dyatlov lights a cigarette behind him]
[to Toptunov] Together, then.
[As the courtroom is at a recess, Legasov meets outside with Shcherbina, coughing into a handkerchief]
Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl?
It was mostly Jews and Poles. The Jews were killed in pogroms, and Stalin forced the Poles out. And then the Nazis came and killed whoever was left. But after the war, people came to live here anyway. They knew the ground under their feet was soaked in blood, but they didn't care. Dead Jews, dead Poles. But not them. No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. And here we are.
[Shcherbina shows Legasov his handkerchief, stained with his blood from radiation sickness]
Maybe a year. They call it a...[coughs] They call it a "long illness". It doesn't seem very long to me. I know you told me, and I believed you. But time passed, and I thought, it wouldn't happen to me. I wasted it. I wasted it all for nothing.
Do you remember that morning when I first called you, how unconcerned I was? I don't believe much that comes out of the Kremlin, but when they told me they were putting me in charge of the cleanup, and they said it wasn't serious, I believed them. You know why?
Because they put you in charge.
[dejectedly] Yeah. I'm an inconsequential man, Valera. That's all I've ever been. I hoped that one day I would matter, but I didn't. [pats Legasov on the shoulder] I just stood next to people who did.
There are other scientists like me. Any one of them could have done what I did. But you... everything we asked for, everything we needed. Men, material, lunar rovers. Who else could have done these things? They heard me, but they listened to you. Of all the ministers, and all the deputies, entire congregation of obedient fools... they mistakenly sent the one good man. For godsakes, Boris... you were the one who mattered most.
[sees a small caterpillar on his lap and lets it crawl on his index finger] Ah, it's beautiful.
