Chernobyl: Minute by Minute | Full Film

Sy in the heart of the Soviet Union amidst Cold War isolation and political [Music] tension a routine test gone arai would have irreversible consequences the explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine would go down in history as the worst nuclear disaster ever there would be the danger that anybody caught in the open would be subject to such radiation levels that there would be immediate health effects and radiation sickness and possibly death but what led to this catastrophic event and how was an attempted coverup carried out Soviet television has made little of the disaster hardly reporting it at all somebody at the top has to decide what's going to happen find out as we recount those moments minute by minute [Music] [Music] Friday April 25th 1986 1:06 a. m. Chernobyl power plant Ukraine in preparation for a safety test at reactor number four operators of the Chernobyl power plant begin to reduce power they wanted to test whether the plant could produce enough energy even if the power went out they also planned to run tests on Reactor 4 to see whether it could still be cooled if power was lost 3:07 a.

m. by the early morning the lowering of the reactor power was halted at600 thermal [Music] [Music] [Music] megaw 2: p. m.

[Music] as part of the test procedure operators turn off the reactor's emergency core cooling system to prevent interference with the test however the test had to be postponed due to a request from the electricity grid controller in Kei the controller asked for the power level to remain at 1600 thermal megaw to meet the electricity demand due to this the test was delayed until the night shift 1110 p. m. power reduction at the plant recommenced as the initial stages of the test began to be carried [Music] out Saturday April 26th 19 886 12 [Music] a.

m. by midnight the more experienced dayshift staff had swapped with the night shift workers they received word that they would continue the plann safety test and shut down [Music] the construction of the Chernobyl power plant began in 1972 and was poised to symbolize communist strength and autonomy after World War II the Soviet Union invested a nuclear power throughout the 1970s approximately 10% of electricity powering the Soviet Union came from nuclear energy high hopes of the method estimated an increase of this figure to 500% by the year 2000 there was a certain kind of Soviet identity built on again the sort of myth of heroism and self-sacrifice um but also you know very much on the idea of people took a lot of pride in in sort of progress technology things like the Space Race you know and space exploration were extremely important for sort of the Soviet sense of the self being some you know connected to that connected to that Society that's doing these things um and the nuclear program is another example of that you know we're talking about the Cold War we're talking about nuclear weapons also nuclear you know in terms of production of energy the Soviets embraced the rbmk reactor design which prioritized ease of local construction and economic value safety concerns were sidelined in favor of production to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the Chernobyl power plant the Soviets founded the settlement of Pria [Music] named after the nearby River pipot would become a city by 1979 with a population of 50,000 by 1983 four of the proposed six reactor units had been built each reactor was capable of producing 1,000 thermal megawatt of electrical power with four po of being enough to produce 10% of Ukraine's energy at one point another six reactors were planned to be built on the other side of the river which would make Chernobyl the most powerful nuclear plant in the world USSR the year 1,98 1 corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences OLG fedorovich speaks sometimes people ask whether a nuclear power plant can explode well I can say with full responsibility that this is absolutely impossible well it is impossible to even imagine such a thing Chernobyl was seen as a shining vital Cog in the Soviet machinery [Music] [Music] [Music] 12:28 a. m.

as the clock passes midnight power continues to drain from the reactor dropping to about 500 thermom megawatt either the operator's failure or a malfunction in the regulating system caused the power level to drop unexpectedly the power begins to drop rapidly landing at just 30 thermal megawatt [Music] 1:00 a. m. half an hour later the power levels settle at 200 thermal megawatt prompting supervisors to persevere with the test in preparation they begin to shut down safety features leaving the reactor vulnerable nuclear reactors work like steam engines in the reactor nuclear uranium rods react through fishing creating high levels of [Music] heat this heat is used to convert water into steam which turns turbines to generate electricity [Music] [Applause] control rods capable of absorbing neutrons are inserted between the uranium to slow down the reactions furthermore cooling water is also pumped around the core to prevent overheating as part of the test procedure water flow to the core was increased the additional pumps quickly removed heat from the core so rods were removed to keep electricity levels up calculations performed after the accident found that eight control rods were used at this time while operating policy required a minimum of 15 rods to be inserted in the reactor at all times 1:23 a.

m. as the reactor reading stabilized the shift supervisors considered the test preparations complete and ordered the emergency stop valves closed the test is then [Music] initiated unexpectedly a sudden surge of power erupts in a panic The Operators initiate an emergency reactor shutdown by inserting control rods into the core however the control rods Jam as they enter they were unable to control the chain reaction that followed 124 a. m.

M the huge power buildup causes a massive steam explosion destroying the reactor building and ripping the 1,000 ton roof off a fireball brightens the night sky as large amounts of radioactive material are suddenly expelled into the atmosphere following the explosion a fire broke out in the reactor building and the graphite core Valerie kemu who was an engineer working in reactor 4 is assumed to be killed instantly he would become the first of many deaths linked both directly and indirectly to the disaster fellow plant worker Vladimir shanok also died trying to rescue Kema the plant enters a blackout as the air fills with toxic particles and graphite junks despite all the evidence the chief engineer insists that the reactor remains intact and sends operators to examine the core these people were also quickly killed by the levels of radiation the amount of radiation was 4 400 times higher than what was released by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs in [Music] 1945 foreign fore forign [Music] [Music] 1:28 [Music] a. m. the first firefighters arrived at the scene unprotected unaware of the radiation seeping into the atmosphere they would begin pouring water on the fire but nothing seems to be putting it out soon many begin to vomit or lose Consciousness 1:45 a.

m. new teams of firefighters arrive one of the fire engine drivers Gregor caml later said we arrived at 10 minutes to 2: in the morning we saw graphite lying everywhere I kicked a bit of it another fireman picked up a piece and said hot neither of us had any idea of radiation my colleagues COA previc and others all went up the ladder to the roof of the reactor I never saw them again 2:15 a. m.

after an emergency meeting local Soviet officials ordered the blocking of roads in and out of pripad police officers lined the streets and like the firefighters they were unprotected and unaware of the [Music] radiation exposure to very high levels of radiation can result in both short and long-term health problems within a few miles of the reactor there would be the danger that anybody caught in the open would be subject to such radiation levels that there would be immediate health effects and radiation sickness and possibly death uh within a few days and those people would have to be hospitalized and uh given uh uh special treatment when radiation interacts with our bodies it damages the cells at the most fundamental level damaging our DNA acute radiation sickness can occur shortly after exposure with symptoms such as vomiting weakness and fever you know even robots couldn't work on top of those buildings because of the radiation and so they sent people it was so dangerous the men never stayed more than 20 to 40 seconds up there otherwise they'd get completely irradiated an atal vur used to work as a hospital attendant in the area he was sent to the site just minutes after the explosion the doctors found radiation burns on my face in my thoracic cage and in my throat I could hardly eat and through my window all day long I saw a car that drove big black bags straight to the cemetery today a Natalie suffers from a dozen illnesses all as a result of the exposure to the radiation and with a small pension to live on he struggles to cope with the medication expenses the association soya Chernobyl offers financial support to victims like Natalie it President says that many of them have the impression they have been forgotten medical help to the people of Chernobyl has shrunk Eightfold today it's only 6 million Hiers that's equivalent to 20 EUR cents per person per year the Ukrainian government has no respect a common consequence of high radiation exposure is cancer radiation transforms healthy cells into cancerous ones the effects of radiation can also o damage reproductive cells which can lead to genetic mutations in future Generations but growing numbers of children are suffering from leukemia or genetic deformities which doctors connect to the disaster this month 8-year-old Sergey went into intensive care suffering from cancer and blood poisoning 24 hours later he was dead radiation doses on the first day of the disaster caused 28 deaths six of which were firefighters who had had put out the initial fire most died of acute radiation sickness in the weeks and months following the explosion 6:35 a. m. [Music] [Music] [Music] Dawn broke revealing the scope of the devastation plume of smoke Rose from the now extinguished fires surrounding the power plant Fires at the epicenter of the Reactor Core would continue to burn for several days Sunday April 27th 1986 10:00 a.

m. to slow radioactive emissions helicopters be began to dump sand clay lead Boron and Dolomite into the still burning core it is estimated that around 600 Pilots risked dangerous radiation levels to drop these [Music] materials 2:00 p. m.

until this moment the residents of the nearby city of pripiat had been told nothing about the accident by Soviet officials they continued their life as usual utterly oblivious to the harmful [Music] radiation finally approximately 115,000 people were evacuated from pret and nearby Villages the evacuees were reassured that the evacuation would be temporary and that they should only pack vital belongings for k foree for by this time many residents were already complaining about headaches vomiting and other early signs of radiation sickness once the city was evacuated an exclusion Zone was set up around the city and the Chernobyl area to prevent their return forever [Music] millions of Acres of forest and farmland were contaminated and although many people were evacuated hundreds of thousands more remained animals were also highly contaminated and left abandoned special hunting squads were formed killing cats dogs and all other animals because of the fear that they would keep spreading the radiation the reaction to the disaster was flawed in many ways the cleanup operation itself the the Soviet Union did what they tended to do which was throw people at it the Soviet Union you know you know going back to the second world war there's this sort of culture of thinking of its citizens as being sort of expendable and this was certainly the attitude during the war and you know even though this is decades later even though this is a time of Reform it seems that that attitude still persisted so the attitude was to send people in without the right equipment not necessarily with the right training to deal with something that nobody had ever dealt with that was extremely dangerous than than and which would you know for sure have a terrible effect on the health of those people being involved in it these you know the Liquidators sent in doing it by hand without the right kind of equipment ad hoc improvising you know it was nobody was prepared for this the Soviet Union did have a sort of culture of uh heroism The Cult of the hero and again you know you always kind of find yourself coming back to the second world war but for the Soviet Union after the war it's very you know its foundation myth was a victory over fascism in the second world war and that was based on the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Soviet people the heroism of the Soviet person the willingness to sacrifice yourself for your society that was very deeply ingrained in the of official discourse official rhetoric but I think to to a large degree internalized by people as well so I think that sort of explains the willingness of people to put themselves on the line on you know from from one hand on the other hand it's also the state viewing those people the way they viewed the soldiers during the second world war that they can be thrown into a dangerous situation without much regard for their protection [Music] Monday April 28th 1986 9:00 a. m. farach Sweden over 1,000 km from the Chernobyl plant air monitors at the fors moach nuclear power plant in Sweden register unusually high levels of radiation [Music] the readings would pressure the Soviet Union to finally acknowledge the disaster after trying to suppress it the fact that this is being noticed abroad is another thing that uh means that the the Soviet state has to admit that something's gone wrong because you know it's it's it's already people can see it people you know people in different other European countries can see that something has happened they're measuring the radiation so it becomes impossible to cover it up so I mean that that in that sense that's important you know this looks very bad for the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union is worried about it its image abroad it's projecting an image of itself to its own citizens projecting an image outwards and something like this you know really seriously damages the state's image so you know there there are lots of things that make it very difficult to deal with and there this just this kind of sense that you know there was uncertainty what to do it's now known that the first traces of the radioactive Cloud were picked up in Sweden as early as Sunday that led to confusion until Moscow made its announcement 24 hours later and the jigsaw began to piece together since then the Swedish National Institute for radiation protection in Stockholm has been on round the-clock alert monitoring Countrywide readings some of which if shown hot spots of radiation with levels 100 times higher than normal and The Institute was today contacted by the Soviet Embassy here for advice on how to extinguish the fire at their nuclear plant so this uh rid cooling system is burning right now the data plus the Soviet appeal points toward a serious meltdown accident there must be quite uh substantial release because the amount of rcle we Meed even Meed in Finland Denmark Norway there must be some damage on Rector cor whole great part we couldn't say but certainly some damage on the swedes are angry that the Russian Embassy will give them no further details about what's happened which leaves most people here in the dark we have asked for detailed information with regard to the nature and the scope of the catastrophe so that we can take the right actions to to take care of own our own people here we have so far not received an answer but we expect to receive it today or tomorrow morning at a meeting today between the Soviet Ambassador in Stockholm and Sweden's foreign minister the awkward silence surrounding the power plant disaster was broken no explicit details of what happened were discussed but the swedes say it was an important breakthrough in dialogue today the U ambassador from the Soviet Union Union visited the foreign office on another matter but he also said a few thing on this uh on this issue and he said that um three of the four reactors on the site where the accident has happened the other three ones have been uh closed down and he also said that uh the Soviet authorities would inform the Swedish side if something happened that would affect Sweden meanwhile Countrywide radiation readings and samples have been flown into stockhome for analysis human and animal milk was found to be contaminated along with static Water Supplies but there is no danger in addition gamma ray detectors are constantly monitoring the atmosphere and indicate that radiation levels are falling nevertheless scientists here will remain on 24-hour alert until next Tuesday when the next wind change will blow any further contamination in this direction Terry Lloyd itm Stockholm Soviet people were not stupid they they knew that the the government doesn't tell the truth about lots of things you know they knew that a lot of their society a lot of the the rhetoric coming from above is about creating you know Illusions certain images of society but you know on an everyday level people can people sort of learn to live within that system but then you get there something like this which is such a threat to a direct threat to people's lives which is something really quite terrifying that undermines trust quite [Music] seriously 8:00 p.

m.