"I saw other colleagues who worked that night. Akimov-- are we cooling the reactor core? Once she sees how Akimov is tearing entire strains of his moustache out "Don't worry", he says, "it doesn't hurt. Hours after the world's worst nuclear accident, engineer Oleksiy Breus entered the control room of the No. "A big cup, vodka, KGB everywhere.". It was close to midnight at the end of April 26 when an evacuation was ordered; 1,200 buses and 200 trucks relocated 47,000 residents of Pripyat. Contrary to reports that the three divers died of radiation sickness as a result of their action, all three survived. Originally, robots from West Germany, Japan, and Russia were used to help clean the debris, but they could not operate due to the high levels of radiation. The Chernobyl disaster is one of the most famous nuclear catastrophes in the world, but not many people know that if it hadn't been for one man, the damage would have been much worse. Pilot Alexander Petrov, who responded to the scene, recalled, It took us more than 24 hours to get things going. This is some other smaller problem.. 4 reactor, Oleksiy Ananenko (then and now) with a scene from the TV series showing the three workers wearing respirators, The TV series portrays how 400 miners were involved in digging the tunnel under the damaged reactor, The TV series shows Pripyat residents watching events unfold on what was later nicknamed the "Bridge of Death", The damage caused to the facility by the biggest nuclear disaster in history, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. "The reactor looked so damaged, it seemed there was nothing else to do there.". It was important to me that people understood what was happening to these men, because they suffered in terrible ways, Mazin told The Chernobyl Podcast. I'll try and find it. Later in May, the Russian first deputy health minister also issued a warning that vodka and red wine were not a cure for radiation exposuredespite popular belief. Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was born on 13 March 1961, in the Brahin District of the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian SSR. Police roamed the streets wearing gas masks, but the residents were kept in the dark and only heard rumors. Here's an interview with Kovalenko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnFeTe0nDw8. Movies. As the fire department arrives on-site and begins dealing with the titanic blaze, Vasily's colleague, Misha notices a lump of the same black mineral that Dyatlov noticed earlier. The original footage was probably taken at reactor 4 control room during the time our guys were on crew, that's why many of them can be seen. "Its high rankings show that people are still interested in Chernobyl. Without functioning bone marrow in the body, a patient will usually die within four weeks. The communications networks were suddenly flooded with calls and information. In March 1983, Toptunov began his career at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. [3][page needed] At some point he gave deathbed confessions stating repeatedly: I did everything correctly. . Can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 52 or at home reading true crime magazines. In that moment, standing where Dyatlov, and [Nikolai] Fomin, and [Viktor] Bryukhanov stood it was very chilling. Vasily Ignatenko, depicted in the series, was among the first firefighters sent to tackle the blaze. They were very pale. The reason was the reactors unstable condition due to low electrical network power. In the hours after the explosion, he spoke to Oleksandr Akimov, the shift leader at the No. Is it Kovalenko? Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 - 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. The Emmy-winning HBO mini-series "Chernobyl," which is a dramatized account of the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster, has rekindled conversation about the accident, its subsequent cleanup and the long-term impacts on people living near the power plant. Akimov tries reassuring his even more shellshocked colleague, reactor engineer Leonid Toptunov, that they did everything right. "However, the technological aspects have some discrepancies which may not exactly [be] lies, but merely fiction," he adds. Hours after the world's worst nuclear accident, engineer Oleksiy Breus entered the control room of the No. Read about our approach to external linking. There was a comment on a post about him. The events of Chernobyl made me focus on my own mortalityon all our mortality. "A thin stream the firemen poured probably evaporated before it even reached reactor.". "In hospital, I was treated with a guy who biked to that bridge in the morning on 26 April to watch it. Most of the liquidators were military reserves, and the army did not have enough uniforms suitable for working in radioactive conditions. Normally, there is a strict ban on visits to the isolation ward but in hopeless cases the doctors make exceptions. 6 in Moscow, where Alexander Akomv is suffering towards death. Many can be found playing inside the abandoned cooling tower at the former power plant. Within two weeks, both Mr Akimov and Mr Toptunov had died in a Moscow hospital of acute radiation syndrome (ARS). Wrong : the poor guy who saw the skin of his leg fell off was Vyacheslav S. Brazhnik, Senior turbine operator. I havent seen this one yet, looking forward to watching! Their skin had a bright red colour. His father was involved in the Soviet space program and during his childhood, he was surrounded by scientists and engineers.[2]. "I saw the damage at reactor No. He wanted to live. Select it and press Ctrl+Enter, Yegor Moskvitin reviews a poignant new depiction of the Soviet disaster, I was there, and I dont want to watch this anymore, A journalist in Baltimore shows HBO's Chernobyl to his stepfather and discovers that he was part of the USSR's military cleanup, The widow of a Chernobyl engineer remembers her husband and describes returning to work at the power plant after the 1986 nuclear accident. Alexander Akimov is the one who had control over reactor number 4 at the night of the explosion, but whether he is the one to be held responsible remains an open question. Is there any truth or is it all here say? Warning: This story contains plot details from the miniseries. "The reactor looked so damaged, it seemed there was nothing else to do there.". Their faces were only partially covered by respirators, so they could speak to each other, they were not offered a reward, and they were not clapped on their successful return. At least one of the survivors ended up with permanently reddened, damaged skin. The shows creators havent managed to keep track of all the little things (even though their attention to detail is why many people fell in love with the miniseries in the first place): Valery Legasov, the character played by Jared Harris, drinks his vodka from a large glass in small sips, as if it were whiskey, and everyone in the cast keeps addressing each other as comrade in complete seriousness. 0000013685 00000 n
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[3] The operators attempted to perform a rundown test before scheduled routine maintenance, during which reactor 4 exploded. Children are shown playing in the radioactive dust, which falls from the sky like snow. g][^b'v@2RPROza"e =-2Ik053NC=~k{'H|(V>a!Y^5idI1OLgx]zdO
f6D*@=7'9 AKIMOV . ", I'd say it is indeed Akimov, and the man standing next to him might be Kovalenko, reactor#4 supervisor. My body parts not covered by clothes - such as hands, face and neck - were red". In 1986, Dr. Gale and the director of the Soviet Unions Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies signed an agreement to monitor the 100,000 people who were residents in the danger zonea 30-kilometer (18.7 mi) radius surrounding the site which ultimately became the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The digging only pushed radioactive material deeper into the soil and closer to the water table, so that contamination spread even further., Today, only two buildings are left standing, one of which is the former kindergarten, where children were not evacuated until 36 hours of exposure. In an attempt to contain the disaster, helicopters dumped lead slabs weighing 40 kilograms (88 lb) each on the reactor, followed by several tons of radiation absorbing-sand. He said, A physician deals with life and death every day. You could see the equipment and pumps exposed. 0000009438 00000 n
Someone posted here and I have seen another parts of this footage where Akimov uses something like a microphone [the white microphone like thing they use in the control room, forgive me but i have no clue what it's called]. He had health problems afterwards.". trailer
4 reactor, and operator Leonid Toptunov, who both feature prominently in the series. At 1:23 AM, the reactors power levels surged, and the events that followed led to an explosion which released more than 50 tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere.[1]. The original footage was probably taken at reactor 4 control room during the time our guys were on crew, that's why many of them can be seen. Akimov was the one who declared an emergency after shutting down the reactor - but it was already too late. Even after more than three decades, the death toll of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is still wildly disputed. To capture the gruesome deaths that befell plant engineers and first responders, makeup and prosthetics designer Daniel Parker studied the stages of radiation sickness, identifying seven kinds of wounds that depend on a victims proximity to the radiation source. Alexander Akimov was the head of the night shift that worked at reactor number 4 on the night of the accident. For Russian football coach and player, see, This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is. Firefighters sent from neighbouring Pripyat did not know of any radiation exposure and Ignatenko died of acute radiation syndrome on 13 May 1986. When we talk about the events that have changed the world, we always remember the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion. On the night of April 26, 1986, Alexander Akimov was at work as the shift supervisor of the night crew of Chernobyl Plant Unit Four. The goal was to test the system for preventive maintenance in case of a real power shutdown. In April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes. Read about our approach to external linking. During the evening of April 25, engineers made several fatal mistakes, including disconnecting Reactor No. Photographer Igor Kostin recalled, The clever ones also added a vine leaf for extra comfort.[5]. Tatiana Ignatenko was a collective farm fieldworker, and Ivan Ignatenko a tractor, and later truck . Two more workers died because of injuries. 1953. But Chernobyl continues to hit its mark, from a bonafide miners joke (Whats as big as a house, burns 20 liters of fuel every hour, puts out a shit-load of smoke and noise, and cuts an apple into three pieces? He was portrayed by actor Aleksandr Khoroshko in the 2004 Zero Hour television series, by Alex Lowe in the 2006 BBC production Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster[6] and by Sam Troughton in the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl. "It was clear they felt sick. These were not random people suffering these were heroes. For instance if someone's face melted off or someone's eyes changed color, the details absolutely would have showed up in the many academic articles and books written about ARS in Chernobyl victims. [4] By 28 April, the symptoms of radiation sickness had mostly subsided. Unknown to Akimov, during his work he was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation that was later determined to be 15 Gy. 0000000016 00000 n
Despite the change in tone, Chernobyl still knows how to terrify its audience, and Emily Watsons performance as Ulana Khomyuk, the nuclear scientist who visits men dying of radiation poisoning, gets under your skin even more than scenes of engineer Leonid Toptunovs bloody hospital bed sheets. Witnesses reported he dried, or his body was mummified alive. 0000017865 00000 n
The body of one of them, Valery Khodemchuk, was never recovered from the reactor debris. The one thing, though, that I did feel, walking through the power plant was a little bit of a better sense of how easy it would be to deny. Mazin also says he visited Chernobyl as a tourist, to prepare for the miniseries. 9:23 into the video, to me it looks like him, Oh God. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Chernobyl engineer Oleksiy Breus, then and now, beside the backdrop of the TV portrayal of the disaster, By Viacheslav Shramovych and Hanna Chornous, Mr Breus revisited the reactor's control room 20 years after the disaster struck, Viktor Bryukhanov (left) sits alongside deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov (orange shirt) and chief engineer Nikolai Fomin during a trial over the accident, British actor Adam Nagaitis played Vasily Ignatenko, one of the first firefighters on the scene of the disaster, The view of the damaged building from the roof of reactor No. Once more his temperature increases and then he falls into coma. There was one in particular where the floor sloped down, so it was lower than the entrance to the door, and the idea was that youd go into that room, and they would fill it with water, up to your knees or so, so you couldnt sleep. xb```a``vb`e`} @V h r
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Toptunov, along with non-essential personnel, was dismissed. "They took off their clothes, but not like it was shown in the film, not right down to nothing," Mr Breus insists, also pointing out that their role was ultimately not significant to the story. Alexander Akimov worked with other employers in the reactor after the explosion. Some dogs have been fitted with radiation sensors and GPS receivers, which help to map the radiation levels across the exclusion zone.[8]. Some of the events he witnessed that morning were realistically depicted in the show, he says, but others he describes as fiction. Warning: This story contains plot details from the miniseries. The story of the reactor's catastrophic explosion, as told in an HBO/Sky miniseries, has received the highest ever score for a TV show on the film website IMDB. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov and Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov "In my opinion, [Aleksandr Akimov and Leonid Toptunov] are the most tragic figures from the Chernobyl personnel. ', 'The worst cases are brought to hospital No. The information is all on the level of 'he said, she said'. How would I find another job after that?". 2023 BBC. This documentary. [4] They were found by other workers and taken to the infirmary. [2], Akimov worked with his crew in the reactor building after he learned the extent of the accident. At first, the head of the tests, Dyatlov A. S., forced them, with his orders, to move away [4] His parents once asked about the cause but he only could say they had followed regulations. Warning: spoilers ahead. In ablaze, he does indeed talk to Akimov and how much he wanted to live.. but Read wasn't talking about Akimov when he said about skin falling off his legs. Thats your job, randomly spouting INSAG reports. Chernobyl guide Yuri Tatarchuk explained, Kopachi was very badly contaminated and so it was decided to bury it, house by house. The actor playing Alexander Akimov, for instance, was never even put in makeup to depict the loss of his face. I wasn't aware of this new documentary. "I've never heard there was a crowd of people who went to watch the fire at night," he says. At 04:00, Moscow ordered feeding of water to the reactor. Twitter: @thecheish. There were little slots for food and such, but then there were some grimmer rooms. And Oleksiy Breus sees their portrayal as "not a fiction, but a blatant lie". In July 1987, Chernobyls plant director Viktor P. Bryukhanov, chief engineer Nikolai M. Fomin, and deputy Anatoly S. Dyatlov were sentenced to two to ten years at a labor camp. He points to a few inaccuracies in the TV portrayal. 30 33 Related Topics Chernobyl Ukraine Europe Place 33 comments Best Add a Comment ApprehensiveFarmer17 2 yr. ago Akimov had 100% of his skin burnt by radiation. The reactor power level had been reduced, preparing for a planned safety test. Biography Akimov was born in 1953 in the Soviet Union. Frantic. "Their characters are distorted and misrepresented, as if they were villains. ", he asks the one in the neighbouring bed, "We only pressed the shutdown button!" [. Its no better now than it was 28 years ago. The Chernobyl disaster, considered the worst nuclear disaster in history, occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, then part of the Soviet Union, now in Ukraine. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why half of India's urban women stay at home. 43 0 obj<>stream
Akimov was exposed during his work to a lethal dose of 15 Gy of radiation. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? ", "Possibly, Anatoly Dyatlov became the main anti-hero in the show because that was how he was perceived by the power plant's workers, his subordinates and top-management, in the beginning. Lyuba tries to cheer her husband up, she brings him pictures that their children drew. Role of Akimov in Chernobyl As we know from the official data, Akimov is wrongfully accused of being responsible for the accident. And Oleksiy Breus sees their portrayal as "not a fiction, but a blatant lie". Can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 5ft 2" or at home reading true crime magazines. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. The The judges of the show trial claim one year later: The engineers are at fault who started operation of the reactor in 1983, despite not all safety tests having been passed. Just days after the initial disaster, the wind changed direction and began blowing high levels of radiation in the direction of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. This is an eerie and deserted location, as the homes of Kopachi were completely bulldozed and buried by the Soviet Army. Firefighters were also asked to help clear radioactive debris from the roof after the fire was extinguished. The level of radiation in the Chernobyl zone is still the same today as it was in 1986.[9]. One of the most dramatic scenes in the miniseries shows three power plant workers volunteering to go into an underground tunnel beneath the damaged reactor to open a vital drainage valve. They showed Mr. Schadov as an incompetent official who is not respected by the miners. Yes, it's Kovalenko, standing next to Akimov. Because Id spent so much time living in that space, in multiple areas of those spaces for so long, and with the people in my mind for so long to walk where they walked felt so strange. Firefighters sent from neighbouring Pripyat did not know of any radiation exposure and Ignatenko died of acute radiation syndrome on 13 May 1986. Ive never heard anything about his face, only his skin blackening and shriveling. Who would applaud that?". However, the deputy chief engineer of the power plant Anatoly Dyatlov ordered to proceed with the tests. He would try and stand up and walk around, but this resulted in the "skin on his legs falling off like socks". It took 3.5 hours to evacuate. He's growing weaker, wheezes, can hardly talk anymore. They later died in hospital in Moscow.". Alexander Akimov (Sam Troughton) was the night crew shift supervisor during the early . Ultimately, though, he is happy the show has refocused attention on the disaster and the scale of damage caused. During the evening of April 25, engineers made several fatal mistakes, including disconnecting Reactor No. Panting. "A thin stream the firemen poured probably evaporated before it even reached reactor.". A member of staff at the plant from 1982, he became a witness to the immediate aftermath on the morning of 26 April 1986. "There are many stereotypes shown, typical of Western portrayal of the Soviet Union," argues Oleksiy Breus. Hours after the explosion, helicopters were flown over Reactor No. He knew he was going to die but didn't want to. At 9:25 time mark, do you think it might be Khodemchuk? Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. He sent a letter to his parents and left a note on where to find him in Moscow. Later this perception changed.". "If I didn't do it, they could just fire me. Contrary to reports that the three divers died of radiation sickness as a result of their action, all three survived. Because its so big! "I was surprised they even brought us there," Mr Breus says of arriving at work the morning after the explosion. The traffic was insane. Nekhaev even had to have his leg amputated. He wanted a promotion which was promised to him in case of a successful test. Mice embryos used for research have dissolved in the conditions, and horses left that lived within 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) of the power plant died due to their thyroid glands disintegrating.