[Legasov and Shcherbina's helicopter approaches the Chernobyl plant]
[Sees the reactor, horrified] What have they done?
I don't have to. Look. That's graphite on the roof. The whole building's been blown open. The core's exposed!
I can't see how you can tell that from here.
Oh, for God's sakes! Look at that glow! That's radiation ionizing the air!
Well, if we can't see, we don't know. [to the pilot] Get us directly over the building!
...directly over an open reactor...
I didn't ask your advice!
...we'll be dead within a week! Dead!
Get us over that building, or I'll have you shot!
[to the pilot] If you fly directly over that core, I promise you, by tomorrow morning, you'll be begging for that bullet! [the pilot considers this, and turns away from the Chernobyl plant]
[Inside a military jeep, as Fomin and Bryukhanov prepare to meet Shcherbina; the Soviet military has arrived in force, led by Colonel-General Vladimir Pikalov]
It's overkill. Pikalov's showing off to make us look bad.
It doesn't matter how it looks. Shcherbina is a pure bureaucrat, as stupid as he is pigheaded. We'll tell him the truth in the simplest terms possible. We'll be fine. [Both exit the jeep] Pikalov!
[General Pikalov joins in with Fomin and Bryukhanov to welcome Shcherbina. Legasov is standing at a distance as Shcherbina, alone, is saluted by Pikalov]
Comrade Shcherbina, Chief Engineer Fomin, Colonel-General Pikalov, and I are honored at your arrival.
Naturally, we regret the circumstances of your visit, but as you can see, we are making excellent progress in containing the damage. [Pulls out his notepad] We have begun our own inquiry into the cause of the accident, and I have a list of individuals who we believe are accountable.
[Shcherbina reads through the note and gestures Legasov to join them]
Professor Legasov, I understand you've been saying dangerous things.
Very dangerous things. Apparently, our reactor core exploded. Please, tell me how an RBMK reactor core explodes.
I'm not prepared to explain it at this time.
As I presumed, he has no answer.
It's disgraceful, really. To spread disinformation at a time like this.
[Legasov, in a tense situation, says nothing and looks to Shcherbina]
[Notices Legasov and turns to Bryukhanov] Why did I see graphite on the roof?
[Bryukhanov and Fomin's smug expressions dissolve.]
Graphite is only found in the core, where it's used as a—neutron flux moderator. Correct?
[beat] Fomin, why did the Deputy Chairman see graphite on the roof?
Well, that—that can't be. Comrade Shcherbina, my apologies, but graphite... that's not possible. Perhaps y—you saw burnt concrete.
Now there you made a mistake. Because I may not know much about nuclear reactors, but I know a lot about concrete.
I understand. [Points to Legasov] You think Legasov is wrong. How shall we prove it?
GPGeneral Pikalov
Our high-range dosimeter just arrived. We could cover one of our trucks with lead shielding, mount the dosimeter on the front.
[all of them look at Legasov]
Have one of your men get as close to the fire as he can. Give him every bit of protection you have. But understand that even with lead shielding, it may not be enough.
PPikalov
[grimly] Then I'll do it myself.
[Colonel-General Pikalov returns from driving a high-level dosimeter close to the fire.]
PPikalov
It's not three roentgen. It's fifteen thousand.
[Legasov closes his eyes.]
[Scherbina just looks at him, and he shuts up instantly.]
[Turns to Legasov] What does that number mean?
It means the core is open. It means the fire we're watching with our own eyes is giving off nearly twice the radiation released by the bomb in Hiroshima. And that's every single hour. Hour after hour, [looks at his watch] 20 hours since the explosion, so forty bombs worth by now. Forty-eight more tomorrow. And it will not stop. Not in a week, not in a month. It will burn and spread its poison until the entire continent is dead.
[Turns to the soldiers] Please escort Comrades Bryukhanov and Fomin to the local Party headquarters. [Turns to Bryukhanov] Thank you for your service.
[As he's being taken away] Dyatlov was in charge. It was Dyatlov!
Tell me how to put it out.
PPikalov
We'll use helicopters. We'll drop water on it like a forest fire—
No, no, no. You don't understand. This isn't a fire. This is a fissioning reactor core burning at over 2,000 degrees. The heat will instantly vaporize the water or worse—
[Sighs] You are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before. [Shcherbina begins to speak] Boron. Boron and sand. It'll create problems of its own, but I—I don't see any other way. Of course, it's going to take thousands of drops, because you can't fly the helicopters directly over the core, so most of it is going to miss.
[Scoffs] Well, I can't be—
Five thousand tons. And obviously, we're going to need to evacuate an enormous area—
Never mind that. Focus on the fire.
I am focusing on the fire. The wind, it's carrying all that smoke, all that radiation. At least evacuate Pripyat. It's three kilometers away.
That's my decision to make.
Is it or is not your decision—
I'm in charge here! This will go much easier if you talk to me about the things you do understand and not about the things you do not understand. [Walks back to the tent]
I'm going to get you 5,000 tons of sand and boron.
[Polissya hotel, Pripyat: Helicopters dropping sand and boron to extinguish the fire in the Chernobyl plant]
It's been smooth. Twenty drops. [notices Legasov's expression] What?
There are fifty thousand people in this city.
Professor Ilyin, who's also on the commission, says the radiation isn't high enough to evacuate.
Well, he's a medical doctor. If he says it's safe, it's safe.
[impatiently] Yes, we are, and we'll be dead in five years! [Shcherbina looks shocked] I'm sorry, I'm... I'm sorry.
[sits in stunned silence as the phone starts to ring; after several seconds, he answers it] Shcherbina. [listens] Thank you. [hangs up] A nuclear plant in Sweden has detected radiation and identified it as a byproduct of our fuel. The Americans took satellite photos. The reactor building, the smoke, the fire. The whole world knows. The wind has been blowing toward Germany. They're not letting children play outside... in Frankfurt. [glances outside at the children playing]
[The Kremlin, Moscow: Legasov and Ulana Khomyuk explain the consequences of a nuclear meltdown with full water tanks]
When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.
GGorbachev
How significant?
We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a thirty-kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. The entirety of the radioactive material in all of the cores will be ejected at force and dispersed by a massive shock wave, which will extend approximately two hundred kilometers and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev, as well as a portion of Minsk. The release of radiation will be severe, and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and most of East Germany.
GGorbachev
What do you mean, "impact"?
For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of the food and water supply, a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects. I don't know how many deaths there will be, but many. For Byelorussia and the Ukraine, "impact" means completely uninhabitable for a minimum of one hundred years.
GGorbachev
[visibly shaken] There are more than fifty million people living in Byelorussia and Ukraine.
GGorbachev
And how long before this happens?
Approximately 48 to 72 hours. But we may have a solution. We can pump the water from the tanks. Unfortunately, the tanks are sealed shut by a sluice gate, and the gate can only be opened manually from within the duct system itself. So we need to find three plant workers who know the facility well enough to enter the basement here, find their way through all these duct ways, get to the sluice gate valve here, and give us the access we need to pump out the tanks. Of course, we will need your permission.
GGorbachev
My permission for what?
Um, the water in these tanks... the level of radioactive contamination --
They'll likely be dead in a week.
We're asking for your permission to... kill three men.
[Tense silence.]
GGorbachev
Well, Comrade Legasov... all victories inevitably come at a cost.
[Legasov and Shcherbina faces incredulous workers as they ask for volunteers in a suicidal mission to open the sluice gate valve]
NWNuclear Worker
Now you want us to swim underneath a burning reactor. Do you even know how contaminated it is?
I... I don't have an exact number.
NWNuclear Worker
You don't need to have an exact number to know if it will kill us. But you can't even tell us that. Why should we do this? For what, for four hundred rubles?
You'll do it because it must be done. You'll do it because nobody else can. And if you don't, millions will die. If you tell me that's not enough I won't believe you. This is what has always set our people apart. A thousand years of sacrifice in our veins. And every generation must know its own suffering. I spit on the people who did this. And I curse the price that I have to pay. But I'm making my peace with it. Now you make yours. Go into that water. Because it must be done.
[Silence.]
AAAlexei Ananenko
[stands] Ananenko.
VBValeri Bespalov
[stands] Bespalov.
BBBoris Baranov
[stands] Baranov.
What will happen to our boys?
The divers, the firefighters, the men in the control room. What does the radiation do to them precisely?
At the levels some of them were exposed? Ionizing radiation tears the cellular structure apart. The skin blisters, turns red, then black. This is followed by a latency period. The immediate effects subside. The patient appears to be recovering. Healthy, even. But they aren't. This usually only lasts for a day or two.
Then the cellular damage begins to manifest. The bone marrow dies, the immune system fails, the organs and soft tissue begin to decompose. The arteries and veins spill open like sieves, to the point where you can't even administer morphine for the pain, which is… unimaginable. And then three days to three weeks, you are dead. That is what will happen to those boys.
Well, we've...We've gotten a steady dose, but not as much of it. Not strong enough to kill the cells, but consistent enough to damage our DNA. So, in time, cancer. Or aplastic anemia. Either way, fatal.
[beat] Well, in a sense, it would seem we've gotten off easy then, Valery.
[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]
[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.
