[3][page needed] At some point he gave deathbed confessions stating repeatedly: I did everything correctly. Although it has been more than three decades since the Chernobyl disaster, there are many still suffering the consequences today. Sputnik/RIA Vasily Ignatenko was 25 years old when he died of radiation. 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. On April 26th, 1986, at 1:23 am, Alexander Akimov did what he and thousands of other nuclear plant operators have been trained to do. The calamity is considered the most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, and the area itself is still suffering in its aftermath. 0000001387 00000 n He stayed behind and had his crew turn on the emergency water pumps to flood the reactor - sadly, the power source was inactive. Is it Kovalenko? ", "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. Tatiana Ignatenko was a collective farm fieldworker, and Ivan Ignatenko a tractor, and later truck . As the rods were being inserted, the graphite tips of the control rods accelerated the reaction, creating neutron flux in the bottom of the core. [] It was a kind of torture I would have never even contemplated. Just found this on Sky. More than 500,000 residents in Ukraine were ultimately forced to leave their homes. 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. At first, our commanders didnt know what to do. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union . The roles of three key personalities lie at the heart of the story: Plant director Viktor) Bryukhanov, chief engineer Nikolai Fomin and deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov. (k[YUWvP "Its high rankings show that people are still interested in Chernobyl. 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. They were nothing like that. his younger brother is donating bone marrow but the transplant can't stop the decay of the tissue. Don't have high hopes going into this one guys. The goal was to test the system for preventive maintenance in case of a real power shutdown. Residents started to panic when there was a metallic smell in the air, and the atmosphere appeared different. Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov (Ukrainian: , Russian: ; 16 August 1960 14 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the senior reactor control chief engineer at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. He points to a few inaccuracies in the TV portrayal. They later died in hospital in Moscow.". "Another friend treated at the same time said he had a date with his girlfriend close to the bridge that night. Nearly 8.4 million residents of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia were exposed to the radioactive cloud that was released. Warning: spoilers ahead. [4] Toptunov and Akimov received bone marrow transplants in attempt to restore their immune systems. "The operators were afraid of him," Mr Breus agrees. He sent a letter to his parents and left a note on where to find him in Moscow. All three men were sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp for their role in the disaster and series creator Craig Mazin maintains that Dyatlov in particular was a "real bully", who later made statements that were not credible. Firefighters were also asked to help clear radioactive debris from the roof after the fire was extinguished. Whilst he was in hospital. We dont think of our own death. 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. He was portrayed by actor Volodya Stepanenko in the 2004 Zero Hour TV series. Temperatures beneath the reactor were high and the series shows them stripping naked. I also heard that his otopsy file is closed to the public and is only accessible with specific permission. I feel bad for akimov because he died with the guilt weighing on him that he some how caused the accident and why did it happen, I also feel really bad. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? I wasn't aware of this new documentary. Meduza shares its thoughts about the shows latest installment, Open Wide, O Earth, and looks at some of the showrunners editing decisions. He was talking about another operator Brazhik. Fresh perspectives. Theres something wrong with you.. Once more his temperature increases and then he falls into coma. They showed Mr. Schadov as an incompetent official who is not respected by the miners. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in . Some of the events he witnessed that morning were realistically depicted in the show, he says, but others he describes as fiction. Two weeks have passed since the explosion as Akimov's suffering is ends. When the operators pushed the red button, the reactor didn't stop but exploded.". I havent seen this one yet, looking forward to watching! Jesus, that is terrible for Nekheav, at least they all did what they could to remove all the water from them valves to avoid a steam explosion and tbh I think it is for the best we dont find out about poor Akimovs faces, He got a very large dose all over and I read somewhere he didnt want to die so he tried to act normal but when he would stand the skin around his legs would fal down like loose socks, I just invisioned that in my mind that sounds awful. However, they didnt know about the faults that had been made during the construction of the reactor. The scene where Dr. Khomyuk is jailed by the KGB was filmed in Vilnius at a real former KGB prison. 04:30 - Chief engineer Fomin arrived in the Block 4 control room. He and his crew then stayed and manually pumped the emergency feedwater into the reactor. 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. During the evening of April 25, engineers made several fatal mistakes, including disconnecting Reactor No. He points to a few inaccuracies in the TV portrayal. Or something along those lines. Ultimately, though, he is happy the show has refocused attention on the disaster and the scale of damage caused. Once more his temperature increases and then he falls into coma. Most of the liquidators were military reserves, and the army did not have enough uniforms suitable for working in radioactive conditions. 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 work done would last until the morning hours of the 27th by trying to pump water into the exposed reactor core. 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. "However, the technological aspects have some discrepancies which may not exactly [be] lies, but merely fiction," he adds. 0000009438 00000 n Founder of Crime Viral community since 2015. "A thin stream the firemen poured probably evaporated before it even reached reactor.". When the reactor has been put into a poisoned condition, they tried to raise the power at whatever the cost. So from that Im assuming those could be pretty true about him, especially skin being so delicate because of the radiation. Poor guy. 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. "However, the technological aspects have some discrepancies which may not exactly [be] lies, but merely fiction," he adds. Tatarchuk said of the aftermath, It was criminal. The reason was the reactors unstable condition due to low electrical network power. I'll try and find it. Only a Second World War survivor can imagine a similar scene.[4]. 4's emergency safety systems and its power-regulating system. When Alexander has taken his duties, the reactor was in the state of preparation for the shutdown of the power. He wanted a promotion which was promised to him in case of a successful test. But no matter how strict he was, he was still a high-level professional.". The HBO miniseries includes many of the real people operating the reactor at the time of the meltdown. 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. He was entirely black, due to skin necrosis, but I never read anywhere that he had no face left, Jesus Christ he mummified, that sounds horrific. 0000018917 00000 n [11] They were found guilty of gross violation of safety regulations which led to an explosion. [3] However, the reactor stalled unexpectedly during test preparations, dropping to a low 30 MW. The buses which escorted the residents out of Pripyat spread the radiation to wider areas. Vasily Ignatenko was just 25 when he succumbed to slow death via radiation poisoning after fighting the fires of Chernobyl. One after the other, like giant beetles, kilometre after kilometre. Lyudmillas story appears in Svetlana Alexievichs book, Voices From Chernobyl, where she says, None of the doctors knew I was staying the night with him in the compression chamber. "I was surprised they even brought us there," Mr Breus says of arriving at work the morning after the explosion. 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. ", Most of the firefighters were pouring water on the damaged reactor, he says. Experts were unable to make an exact reading, as 200 meters (656 ft) above the reactor, radiation levels had reached 1,500 rems, but the counters were not capable of reading any higher than 500 rems. Our first priority is--PEREVOZCHENKO, 30's, bursts in. This documentary. Miners were brought in to dig a tunnel under the reactor to create a space for a heat exchanger, to stop the molten core melting through the concrete pad and contaminating the groundwater, threatening millions of lives. It's not just a local interest, for a small group of people, but it is still worldwide. 2023 BBC. Sam Troughton, an English actor, performed the role of Chernobyl supervisor of the shift in the Chernobyl series by HBO in 2019. Movies. What interviewer? Unknown to Akimov, during his work he was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation that was later determined to be 15 Gy. Does anybody know what the sources the author of this article could have used? The explosion occurred. Viewers dont need to see what remains of shift supervisor Alexander Akimovs face watching the reaction in Dr. Khomyuks eyes is more than enough. Lyuba tries to cheer her husband up, she brings him pictures that their children drew. On 10 July 1984 Aleksandr Akimov was appointed to the position of shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4. "I saw other colleagues who worked that night. Abagian recalled, Children were running in the streets; people were hanging laundered linen out to dry. "As we moved through it, we were aware that there were the ghosts of history around us," Mazin said. "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. "The reactor looked so damaged, it seemed there was nothing else to do there.". It was a cruel time.[7]. See a comparison with a very old photo of Stolyarchuk: https://bit.ly/3wBuX2S Pay attention to the "indentation" of the line of his moustache on the right side of the face. In the series, Pripyat residents rush to a railway bridge for a better view of the fire, unaware of the exposure. HBO. After two episodes, with the initial fire extinguished and early panic beginning to subside, the focus shifts to questions about why the reactor exploded and who was responsible for the disaster. He was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and died two weeks after the explosion. 0000001545 00000 n Thats your job, randomly spouting INSAG reports. Ive never heard anything about his face, only his skin blackening and shriveling. Mazin also says he visited Chernobyl as a tourist, to prepare for the miniseries. 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. The communications networks were suddenly flooded with calls and information. His burnt lungs hardly let him breathe, his intestines have decomposed, excrements mixed with blood are oozing from his body. ", By now Akimov's wife Lyuba was allowed to come to Moscow. "It was clear they felt sick. All three men were sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp for their role in the disaster and series creator Craig Mazin maintains that Dyatlov in particular was a "real bully", who later made statements that were not credible. Its unknown if this incident caused his sons illness, but screenwriters considered using memories of this personal tragedy as a way to explain Dyatlovs questionable decisions during the Chernobyl disaster. It was supposed to shut down the reactor, but the result turned out to be the exact opposite. Wrong : the poor guy who saw the skin of his leg fell off was Vyacheslav S. Brazhnik, Senior turbine operator. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. "I saw the damage at reactor No. Panting. When confronted with confusing reactor indications, he initiated an emergency shutdown of Unit 4 of the large electricity . It would have eventually boiled . There was no smoke or fire, just fumes coming from the damaged part. The body of one of them, Valery Khodemchuk, was never recovered from the reactor debris. On May 21, the American premium cable network HBO aired the third episode of Chernobyl, a new miniseries about the catastrophic nuclear accident in April 1986 that rocked the Soviet Union. "It was our job," says Oleksiy Ananenko, who was on shift at the time, while the others had been ordered in by their manager. 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The control rods had graphite moderators to speed up reaction and the other part of the rods were made of boron to decrease reaction. During the test, Akimov called for the AZ-5 (scram) button to be pressed to shut down the reactor, and Toptunov operated the button. Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was born on 13 March 1961, in the Brahin District of the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian SSR. Some of the events he witnessed that morning were realistically depicted in the show, he says, but others he describes as fiction. 21 23 His wife Lyuba is at his side.'. Raising power after this point put the reactor into a potentially dangerous state, due to Xenon poisoning, as well as design flaws in the reactor unknown to the operators. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Yes, i thought the same about Razim Davletbayev. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnFeTe0nDw8. [] And the last thing that I want this show to do is to scare people about nuclear power. It kills you slowly, and it kills you in an excruciating manner. Very awesome. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Read about more radioactive calamities on 10 Modern Radiation Accidents Involving Civilians and 10 Famous Incidences of Death by Radiation. 0000017865 00000 n ", Russia to make its own show about Chernobyl, Giant structure moves in to cover Chernobyl, TV drama Chernobyl: 'So chilling, it spares you nothing', Chernobyl: The end of a three-decade experiment, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 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. Who would applaud that?". 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. Two more workers died because of injuries. . Oleksiy Breus says the accident helped reveal the substantial flaws of the Soviet system. Ultimately, though, he is happy the show has refocused attention on the disaster and the scale of damage caused. Dr. Gale treated patients who had suffered such a high exposure to radiation that even a bone marrow transplant could not save them. Undeservedly condemned, professionally slandered. 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. "The operators were afraid of him," Mr Breus agrees. 3, Firefighters pictured in 1986 before cleaning debris from the roof of the No. Youll burn together. I followed them around them like a dog I stood by the door for hours, asking and begging. They are also used for research on diseases including rabies. Pretty sure its true, the story of his face being gone came from just before he died while they were questioning him. You can see Gorbachenko who was a witness that night and helped in the search of Shashenok. He's growing weaker, wheezes, can hardly talk anymore. The autopsy qualifies as medical records so of course they are all closed to the public. 0000001208 00000 n Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. 0000016820 00000 n I think you mean Aleksandr Akimov at Chernobyl, who was the shift supervisor on the night of the disaster. Read about our approach to external linking. 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, Chernobyl mini-series review: 'It stops you sleeping', Chernobyl disaster: 'I didn't know the truth', Craig Mazin maintains that Dyatlov in particular was a "real bully", The people who moved to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus. Mr. Alexander was the one who managed the block control panel of the reactor in Chernobyl. He wanted to live. The dogs are tagged and their radiation exposure studied. [4], In 2008, Akimov was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, then the President of Ukraine.[5]. The reactor power level had been reduced, preparing for a planned safety test. Akimov was the one who declared an emergency after shutting down the reactor - but it was already too late.