1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:05,380 Congratulations, comrades. You're the last of 3,828 men. 2 00:00:08,090 --> 00:00:10,340 I found this in the state archive. 3 00:00:10,420 --> 00:00:11,420 I need your help. 4 00:00:11,630 --> 00:00:14,050 Can you confirm that the reactor exploded 5 00:00:14,130 --> 00:00:16,210 after they attempted to shut it down? 6 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:17,510 What, you think the right question 7 00:00:17,590 --> 00:00:18,800 will get you the truth? 8 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,010 They're going to put Dyatlov on trial. 9 00:00:22,090 --> 00:00:25,050 We're going to be asked to give expert testimony. 10 00:00:25,260 --> 00:00:26,710 I've analyzed the data. 11 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,760 They shut the reactor down, and then it exploded. 12 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:31,880 You've seen this before. 13 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,050 I had no idea it could cause an explosion. 14 00:00:34,130 --> 00:00:35,960 - So, it is their fault? - Yes. 15 00:00:36,050 --> 00:00:37,170 But not only their fault. 16 00:00:37,260 --> 00:00:38,880 We can make a deal with the KGB. 17 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:40,840 You'll leave this information out in Vienna. 18 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,670 They quietly let us fix the remaining reactors. 19 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:45,920 You have a chance to talk to the world. 20 00:00:46,420 --> 00:00:48,260 Someone has to start telling the truth. 21 00:03:23,050 --> 00:03:26,170 I hear they might promote Bryukhanov. 22 00:03:26,260 --> 00:03:30,260 This little problem we have with the safety test... 23 00:03:30,340 --> 00:03:34,090 if it's completed successfully, 24 00:03:34,170 --> 00:03:37,920 yes, I think promotion's very likely. 25 00:03:38,010 --> 00:03:40,170 Who knows, maybe Moscow. 26 00:03:42,010 --> 00:03:44,380 Naturally, they'll put me in charge once he's gone, 27 00:03:44,460 --> 00:03:47,510 and then I'll need someone to take my old job. 28 00:03:49,300 --> 00:03:51,590 I could pick Sitnikov. 29 00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:02,460 I would like to be considered. 30 00:04:05,590 --> 00:04:07,170 I'll keep that in mind. 31 00:04:09,010 --> 00:04:10,550 Viktor Petrovich, 32 00:04:10,630 --> 00:04:12,880 preparations for the test have gone smoothly. 33 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,210 Comrade Dyatlov's been working per my instructions, 34 00:04:16,300 --> 00:04:20,550 and Reactor 4 output's been reduced to 1600 megawatts. 35 00:04:20,630 --> 00:04:24,130 With your approval, we're ready to continue lowering power to... 36 00:04:24,210 --> 00:04:26,010 We have to wait. 37 00:04:27,090 --> 00:04:28,420 Is, uh...? 38 00:04:28,510 --> 00:04:31,420 Are you going to ask me if there's a problem, Nikolai? 39 00:04:31,510 --> 00:04:33,760 You can't read a fucking face? 40 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,380 Three years, I've tried to finish this test. 41 00:04:36,460 --> 00:04:38,010 Three years. 42 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:47,090 I've just had a call from the grid controller in Kiev. 43 00:04:47,170 --> 00:04:49,420 He says we can't lower power any further, 44 00:04:49,510 --> 00:04:50,670 not for another ten hours. 45 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,550 The grid controller? Where does he get off... 46 00:04:52,630 --> 00:04:56,550 It's not the grid controller's decision, Dyatlov. 47 00:04:56,630 --> 00:04:58,670 It's the end of the month. 48 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,380 All the productivity quotas. 49 00:05:01,460 --> 00:05:04,210 Everyone's working overtime, the factories need power. 50 00:05:04,300 --> 00:05:06,170 Someone's pushing down from above. 51 00:05:06,260 --> 00:05:08,840 Although, we'll never know who. 52 00:05:16,380 --> 00:05:18,670 So, do we have to scrap it or what? 53 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,130 No, I don't think so. 54 00:05:21,210 --> 00:05:23,130 If we need to wait ten hours, 55 00:05:23,210 --> 00:05:24,840 - we wait - Running at half power, 56 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,210 we're not going to have stability issues? 57 00:05:27,300 --> 00:05:30,550 - No, I-I should think... - I'm not asking you. 58 00:05:33,170 --> 00:05:34,510 It's safe. 59 00:05:34,590 --> 00:05:36,130 We'll maintain at 1600. 60 00:05:36,210 --> 00:05:38,800 I'll go home, get some sleep, come back tonight. 61 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,840 We'll proceed then. 62 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,210 I'll personally supervise the test. 63 00:05:43,300 --> 00:05:45,800 And it will be completed. 64 00:05:49,460 --> 00:05:52,210 Well, I'm not waiting around then. 65 00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:53,800 Call me when it's done. 66 00:07:31,260 --> 00:07:32,840 How do you feel? 67 00:07:34,670 --> 00:07:36,130 You went to the doctor yesterday. 68 00:07:36,210 --> 00:07:38,340 How is your health? 69 00:07:38,420 --> 00:07:40,630 You don't know? 70 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:43,300 From Vienna. 71 00:07:43,380 --> 00:07:44,920 Do you read German? 72 00:07:46,420 --> 00:07:51,920 It says, "At last a Soviet scientist who tells the truth." 73 00:07:52,010 --> 00:07:53,840 Obviously, I resent the insinuation, 74 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:57,550 but I think it's fair to say, you made an excellent impression at the conference. 75 00:07:57,630 --> 00:08:00,630 Turns out, you're quite good at this. 76 00:08:00,710 --> 00:08:02,590 At what? Lying? 77 00:08:02,670 --> 00:08:05,670 Statecraft, Legasov. Statecraft. 78 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,170 The West is now satisfied 79 00:08:08,260 --> 00:08:11,210 that Chernobyl was solely the result of operator error, 80 00:08:11,300 --> 00:08:13,300 which it essentially was. 81 00:08:13,380 --> 00:08:15,300 We have you to thank for that, 82 00:08:15,380 --> 00:08:17,050 and we intend to. 83 00:08:21,090 --> 00:08:23,550 "Hero of the Soviet Union." 84 00:08:23,630 --> 00:08:25,670 Our highest honor. 85 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,510 They haven't even given it to me. 86 00:08:28,590 --> 00:08:32,590 "Promotion to Director of the Kurchatov Institute." 87 00:08:35,050 --> 00:08:36,630 I'm humbled. 88 00:08:36,710 --> 00:08:41,260 I don't think there's anything humble about you, Valery Alexeyevich. 89 00:08:41,340 --> 00:08:43,800 These rewards are not yours yet. 90 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,630 First, your testimony at the trial. 91 00:08:45,710 --> 00:08:50,880 Comrade Charkov, I understand my duty to the State. 92 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,630 But you gave us assurances. 93 00:08:53,710 --> 00:08:56,130 The reactors would be made safe. 94 00:08:56,210 --> 00:08:58,630 It's been months, no changes have been made. 95 00:08:58,710 --> 00:09:02,380 - No changes even discussed. - First, the trial. 96 00:09:03,590 --> 00:09:05,920 Once it's over, we will have our villains, 97 00:09:06,010 --> 00:09:10,050 we will have our hero, we will have our truth. 98 00:09:10,130 --> 00:09:13,670 After that, we can deal with the reactors. 99 00:10:38,170 --> 00:10:40,090 Did you take a train? 100 00:10:40,170 --> 00:10:42,920 Yes, I took a train. 101 00:10:43,010 --> 00:10:45,840 Now let's talk about Vienna. 102 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,960 I'm not here to scold you. 103 00:10:48,050 --> 00:10:51,710 I know how the world works despite what Shcherbina says. 104 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,300 So... why are you here? 105 00:10:56,380 --> 00:10:59,300 Because I'm brutally stubborn. 106 00:10:59,380 --> 00:11:01,590 Which you were hoping for. 107 00:11:05,380 --> 00:11:09,800 Charkov is saying they're going to fix the reactors after the trial. 108 00:11:11,420 --> 00:11:12,920 Do you believe him? 109 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,010 The State will never willingly fix the reactors, 110 00:11:18,090 --> 00:11:21,710 because acknowledging the problem means admitting that they lied. 111 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,710 They will have to be forced. 112 00:11:30,710 --> 00:11:34,420 At the trial, you're going to tell the truth. 113 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:37,880 You're going to convince the jury. 114 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,210 It's a show trial. 115 00:11:40,300 --> 00:11:44,420 - The jury's already been handed their verdict. - I'm not talking about them. 116 00:11:46,090 --> 00:11:47,800 The Central Committee have invited 117 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,510 members of the scientific community to observe the trial. 118 00:11:51,590 --> 00:11:55,260 Our colleagues, from Kurchatov, 119 00:11:55,340 --> 00:11:57,380 from Sredmash, from Minenergo, 120 00:11:57,460 --> 00:12:01,170 they will be sitting in the crowd listening to every word you say. 121 00:12:01,260 --> 00:12:03,340 A jury that only we know is there. 122 00:12:03,420 --> 00:12:07,510 And when your testimony arrives at the moment of the explosion? 123 00:12:09,130 --> 00:12:12,630 That is when our jury will finally hear the truth. 124 00:12:12,710 --> 00:12:15,510 - And do what with it? - Insist on reform. 125 00:12:17,170 --> 00:12:20,710 - Not just to the RBMK, but the entire industry. - No, no, no, no, no. 126 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,210 - They can't function without us. - No, no, no. 127 00:12:23,300 --> 00:12:25,510 Do you know what happened to Volkov 128 00:12:25,590 --> 00:12:28,050 the man whose report you found? 129 00:12:28,130 --> 00:12:32,840 They just removed him from his position at the Institute. 130 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,050 Sacked for the crime of knowing. 131 00:12:36,130 --> 00:12:38,420 And you think that these scientists, 132 00:12:38,510 --> 00:12:41,260 handpicked to witness a show trial, 133 00:12:41,340 --> 00:12:44,960 will somehow be stirred into action by me? 134 00:12:45,050 --> 00:12:49,090 Because of some heroic stance I take in defiance of the State? 135 00:12:49,170 --> 00:12:51,050 - Yes. - Why? 136 00:12:51,130 --> 00:12:55,090 Because you're Valery Legasov, and you mean something. 137 00:12:56,050 --> 00:12:59,840 I'd like to think that if I spoke out, it would be enough. 138 00:13:01,010 --> 00:13:03,510 But I know how the world works. 139 00:13:06,210 --> 00:13:09,460 They will shoot me, Khomyuk. 140 00:13:12,340 --> 00:13:15,550 You told me to find out what happened. 141 00:13:15,630 --> 00:13:17,760 I spoke to dozens of people. 142 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,380 Every word they said, I wrote down. 143 00:13:22,460 --> 00:13:24,800 All in these books. 144 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:26,550 These are the ones who are still alive. 145 00:13:26,630 --> 00:13:28,300 These are the ones who are dead. 146 00:13:28,380 --> 00:13:29,960 They died rescuing each other. 147 00:13:30,050 --> 00:13:33,260 Putting out fires, tending to the wounded. 148 00:13:33,340 --> 00:13:35,130 They didn't hesitate, they didn't waiver. 149 00:13:35,210 --> 00:13:37,380 They simply did what had to be done. 150 00:13:37,460 --> 00:13:39,710 So have I. 151 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:41,630 So have I. 152 00:13:41,710 --> 00:13:44,630 I went willingly to an open reactor. 153 00:13:44,710 --> 00:13:48,010 So I've already given my life. 154 00:13:48,090 --> 00:13:50,210 Isn't that enough? 155 00:13:51,710 --> 00:13:54,880 No, I'm sorry, but it is not. 156 00:15:03,340 --> 00:15:06,260 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 157 00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:09,340 and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. 158 00:15:09,420 --> 00:15:11,340 has determined that justice be carried out 159 00:15:11,420 --> 00:15:12,840 on behalf of the People 160 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,420 in accordance with the general goal of our Party 161 00:15:15,510 --> 00:15:19,210 as determined by its 20th, 21st, and 22nd Congresses, 162 00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:21,210 which is a Leninist goal. 163 00:15:21,300 --> 00:15:22,510 It was, is, and will be 164 00:15:22,590 --> 00:15:25,260 the only immutable goal in the Soviet state. 165 00:15:25,340 --> 00:15:26,630 The path of Leninist principles 166 00:15:26,710 --> 00:15:29,420 shall be consistently and undeviatingly followed 167 00:15:29,510 --> 00:15:32,760 as it expresses the vital interests of the Soviet People, 168 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:34,090 its hopes and aspirations 169 00:15:34,170 --> 00:15:36,340 as we guide the life of the Party and the State. 170 00:15:36,420 --> 00:15:38,630 This session of court is now open, 171 00:15:38,710 --> 00:15:41,840 Comrade Judge Milan Kadnikov presiding. 172 00:15:43,340 --> 00:15:44,510 Indictments: 173 00:15:44,590 --> 00:15:46,630 Viktor Bryukhanov, 174 00:15:46,710 --> 00:15:48,920 Anatoly Dyatlov, 175 00:15:49,010 --> 00:15:50,920 Nikolai Fomin... 176 00:15:51,010 --> 00:15:53,960 are accused of violating Article 220 Section 2 177 00:15:54,050 --> 00:15:56,090 of the Criminal Code of the Soviet Union, 178 00:15:56,170 --> 00:16:01,210 resulting in a nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986. 179 00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:03,800 The State calls witnesses Comrade Khomyuk 180 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,260 of the Byelorussian Nuclear Institute, 181 00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:10,420 Comrade Legasov of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, 182 00:16:10,510 --> 00:16:15,090 and Comrade Boris Evdokimovich Shcherbina, 183 00:16:15,170 --> 00:16:17,590 Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers 184 00:16:17,670 --> 00:16:21,210 and head of the Bureau for Fuel and Energy. 185 00:16:55,090 --> 00:17:00,670 It began with, of all things, a safety test. 186 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,670 Why was there need for a safety test at all? 187 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,010 Reactor Number 4 was not new when the accident occurred. 188 00:17:08,090 --> 00:17:13,630 In fact, it went into operation on December 20th, 1983. 189 00:17:13,710 --> 00:17:17,670 Eleven days later, on the last day of the year, 190 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,510 Plant Director Viktor Bryukhanov signed this document... 191 00:17:22,590 --> 00:17:28,920 Certifying the completion of the construction of the reactor. 192 00:17:30,590 --> 00:17:34,960 As a result of finishing the work before the end of the year, 193 00:17:35,050 --> 00:17:38,800 Comrade Bryukhanov was awarded Hero of Socialist Labor. 194 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:43,550 Comrade Fomin was awarded for Valorous Labor. 195 00:17:43,630 --> 00:17:48,300 Comrade Dyatlov was given an Order of the Red Banner. 196 00:17:50,210 --> 00:17:52,840 But their work was not finished. 197 00:17:54,380 --> 00:17:58,590 And this document was a lie. 198 00:17:58,670 --> 00:18:01,550 In order to sign this certificate, 199 00:18:01,630 --> 00:18:06,010 all safety tests had to have been successfully completed, 200 00:18:06,090 --> 00:18:09,210 and yet, one remained. 201 00:18:11,260 --> 00:18:16,420 A nuclear reactor generates heat in the core here. 202 00:18:16,510 --> 00:18:18,710 A series of pumps, here and here, 203 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,260 send a constant flow of cooling water through the core. 204 00:18:22,340 --> 00:18:24,800 The core's heat turns the water to steam, 205 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,260 and the steam spins the turbine here, 206 00:18:27,340 --> 00:18:29,630 and the result is electricity. 207 00:18:29,710 --> 00:18:33,460 But what if a power plant has no power? 208 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:37,920 What if the power feeding the plant itself is disrupted? 209 00:18:38,010 --> 00:18:40,550 A blackout, equipment failure, 210 00:18:40,630 --> 00:18:43,420 or an attack by a foreign enemy? 211 00:18:43,510 --> 00:18:45,300 If there's no power, 212 00:18:45,380 --> 00:18:48,260 the pumps cannot move water through the core. 213 00:18:48,340 --> 00:18:51,130 And without water, the core overheats, 214 00:18:51,210 --> 00:18:52,710 the fuel melts down. 215 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,210 In short, a nuclear disaster. 216 00:18:55,300 --> 00:18:56,960 The solution? 217 00:18:57,050 --> 00:19:00,960 Three diesel fuel backup generators here. 218 00:19:01,050 --> 00:19:03,300 So, problem solved? 219 00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:05,010 No. 220 00:19:05,090 --> 00:19:07,630 Bryukhanov knew that the problem was not solved at all. 221 00:19:07,710 --> 00:19:11,130 The backup generators took approximately one minute 222 00:19:11,210 --> 00:19:13,510 to reach the speed required 223 00:19:13,590 --> 00:19:15,630 to power the pumps and prevent a meltdown, 224 00:19:15,710 --> 00:19:20,260 and by that time, it would be too late. 225 00:19:20,340 --> 00:19:22,710 So we arrive at the safety test. 226 00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:28,050 The theory was this: If the facility lost power, 227 00:19:28,130 --> 00:19:29,960 the turbine, which had been spinning, 228 00:19:30,050 --> 00:19:32,760 would take some time to slow down and stop. 229 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,210 What if you could take the electricity 230 00:19:35,300 --> 00:19:38,510 it was still generating and transfer it to the pumps? 231 00:19:38,590 --> 00:19:40,170 What if the dying turbine 232 00:19:40,260 --> 00:19:42,380 could keep the pumps working long enough 233 00:19:42,460 --> 00:19:46,920 to bridge the 60-second gap until the generators came on? 234 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:53,260 Any questions? 235 00:19:54,710 --> 00:19:58,130 No. Continue, please. 236 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:01,960 To test this theory, 237 00:20:02,050 --> 00:20:05,010 the reactor is placed in a reduced power mode... 238 00:20:05,090 --> 00:20:06,670 700 megawatts... 239 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,340 To simulate a blackout condition. 240 00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:11,340 Then the turbines are turned off, 241 00:20:11,420 --> 00:20:13,420 and as they slowly spin down, 242 00:20:13,510 --> 00:20:15,300 their electrical output is measured 243 00:20:15,380 --> 00:20:19,050 to see if it's enough to power the pumps. 244 00:20:19,130 --> 00:20:21,380 The science is strong, 245 00:20:21,460 --> 00:20:26,510 but a test is only as good as the men carrying it out. 246 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,210 Now, the first time they tried, they failed. 247 00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:34,050 The second time they tried, they failed. 248 00:20:34,130 --> 00:20:36,800 The third time they tried, they failed. 249 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,880 The fourth time they tried 250 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:44,130 was April 26th, 1986. 251 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:57,840 Comrade Khomyuk. 252 00:21:21,510 --> 00:21:23,260 To understand what happened that night, 253 00:21:23,340 --> 00:21:25,340 we have to go back ten hours earlier... 254 00:21:25,420 --> 00:21:28,920 April 25th, the day the test was meant to take place. 255 00:21:29,010 --> 00:21:30,260 By two in the afternoon, 256 00:21:30,340 --> 00:21:32,380 the reactor has been lowered by half 257 00:21:32,460 --> 00:21:35,630 from its normal output level of 3200 megawatts 258 00:21:35,710 --> 00:21:37,920 to 1600 megawatts and is stable 259 00:21:38,010 --> 00:21:41,130 and ready to be reduced to its final output level for the test: 260 00:21:41,210 --> 00:21:43,130 700 megawatts. 261 00:21:43,210 --> 00:21:47,170 But before they can proceed, there is a phone call. 262 00:21:48,210 --> 00:21:51,210 Power grid officials in Kiev say that they cannot afford 263 00:21:51,300 --> 00:21:54,670 a further reduction in the electricity until after midnight. 264 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,380 They are asking for a ten-hour delay. 265 00:21:58,420 --> 00:22:00,300 This is the first critical moment, 266 00:22:00,380 --> 00:22:02,840 the first link in the chain of disaster. 267 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,510 Competent management would have insisted on canceling the test. 268 00:22:07,590 --> 00:22:10,590 These three men allowed it to proceed. 269 00:22:12,300 --> 00:22:14,300 Why was this delay so dangerous? 270 00:22:14,380 --> 00:22:17,050 It created two problems: 271 00:22:17,130 --> 00:22:20,090 One of them is scientific in nature... 272 00:22:21,210 --> 00:22:23,840 and the other is very human. 273 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,050 This is the one we will consider first. 274 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:31,090 At midnight, there is a shift change. 275 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,340 Hey. 276 00:22:46,090 --> 00:22:48,670 - Khodemchuk... - Forget it. Find another fool. 277 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,710 Toptunov, want to buy a motorcycle? 278 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,170 Toptunov? He's just a little boy. 279 00:22:54,260 --> 00:22:56,170 He's got more hair on his face than on his balls. 280 00:22:56,260 --> 00:22:58,550 Hair? Is that what's on his lip? 281 00:23:00,710 --> 00:23:02,210 Leonid Fedorovych. 282 00:23:02,300 --> 00:23:04,880 Akimov says to come to the control room as soon as you can. 283 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:06,710 - Is he already here? - He came in early. 284 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:08,800 Something about a test. 285 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,960 You see? Desperate. 286 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,460 Sasha? 287 00:23:24,510 --> 00:23:28,210 Ah. You know the test they were supposed to run? 288 00:23:28,300 --> 00:23:30,880 The turbine rundown, they tried it last year. 289 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,380 They couldn't do it on the day shift, so they've given it to us. 290 00:23:34,460 --> 00:23:35,510 To us? 291 00:23:35,590 --> 00:23:37,170 - We don't know what... - Shh. 292 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,880 - We don't know what it is. - It's fine. 293 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,090 We take it down to 700, hold it there, 294 00:23:43,170 --> 00:23:45,920 the rest is Stolyarchuk and Kirschenbaum, but... 295 00:23:46,010 --> 00:23:48,260 Dyatlov is gonna be supervising. 296 00:23:48,340 --> 00:23:50,840 I have to do something I've never done before 297 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:52,210 with Dyatlov looking over my shoulder? 298 00:23:52,300 --> 00:23:55,170 Yeah, well, don't worry, we'll do it together. 299 00:23:55,260 --> 00:23:57,840 I'm looking at the instructions now. 300 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,460 Are we supposed to do those or not? 301 00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:11,920 Yes, this is Akimov in 4. 302 00:24:12,010 --> 00:24:15,590 I have the manual for the rundown test. 303 00:24:15,670 --> 00:24:18,510 You did it last year. 304 00:24:18,590 --> 00:24:20,960 Yes, in the program there's instructions of what to do, 305 00:24:21,050 --> 00:24:23,510 and then, well, there's a lot of things crossed out. 306 00:24:23,590 --> 00:24:25,050 What should I...? 307 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:28,710 Well, what should I...? 308 00:24:30,550 --> 00:24:32,090 Are you sure? 309 00:24:32,170 --> 00:24:34,880 Right. Thank you. 310 00:24:36,260 --> 00:24:39,050 He says to follow the crossed-out instructions. 311 00:24:39,130 --> 00:24:41,340 So then why are they crossed out? 312 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,460 We've been cleared to run the test. 313 00:24:50,550 --> 00:24:52,300 1600. Good. 314 00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:55,550 Now, is it too much to ask that you all know what you're doing? 315 00:24:55,630 --> 00:24:57,670 - Well... - Yes. Absolutely. 316 00:24:59,050 --> 00:25:00,460 - Stolyarchuk? - Yes. 317 00:25:00,550 --> 00:25:03,590 - Kirschenbaum? - Uh, I haven't reviewed. 318 00:25:03,670 --> 00:25:05,550 We only just found out really... 319 00:25:05,630 --> 00:25:06,920 There, review it. 320 00:25:07,010 --> 00:25:08,840 Or you can just do what I tell you. 321 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,960 I think even you, stupid as you are, can manage that. 322 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,550 Well, let's go. 323 00:25:17,590 --> 00:25:20,050 I'm supposed to switch the turbine off while the reactor's still running? 324 00:25:20,130 --> 00:25:24,420 - This is not good... - Shut the fuck up and do your job! 325 00:25:25,260 --> 00:25:28,300 Toptunov, reduce power to 700. 326 00:25:30,380 --> 00:25:32,550 I've never done this with the power so low before. 327 00:25:32,630 --> 00:25:34,880 It's okay. I'm with you. 328 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,710 Reducing power to 700. 329 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,460 I want you to think of Yuri Gagarin. 330 00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:49,880 I want you to imagine that he has been told nothing 331 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,710 of his mission into space until the moment that he is on the launch pad. 332 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:55,880 I want you to imagine that all he has 333 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,670 is a list of instructions that he has never seen before, 334 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,210 some of which have been crossed out. 335 00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:03,210 This is exactly what was happening 336 00:26:03,300 --> 00:26:04,920 in the control room of Reactor 4. 337 00:26:05,010 --> 00:26:08,380 The night shift had not been trained to perform the experiment. 338 00:26:08,460 --> 00:26:11,210 They hadn't even been warned it was happening. 339 00:26:11,300 --> 00:26:13,090 Leonid Toptunov, 340 00:26:13,170 --> 00:26:16,710 the operator responsible for controlling and stabilizing 341 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,960 the reactor that night was... all of 25 years old. 342 00:26:23,210 --> 00:26:26,340 And his total experience on the job? 343 00:26:26,420 --> 00:26:28,130 Four months. 344 00:26:29,210 --> 00:26:32,170 This is the human problem created by the delay. 345 00:26:33,090 --> 00:26:35,880 But inside the reactor core, 346 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,090 in the space between the atoms themselves, 347 00:26:38,170 --> 00:26:41,420 something far more dangerous is forming. 348 00:26:41,510 --> 00:26:42,960 A poison. 349 00:26:44,630 --> 00:26:46,840 The time is 28 past midnight. 350 00:27:05,010 --> 00:27:07,340 Comrade Legasov. 351 00:27:44,380 --> 00:27:46,800 I'm pleased to see some of my colleagues here 352 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,630 from the Kurchatov Institute and Minenergo. 353 00:27:50,710 --> 00:27:53,090 But you don't need to be a nuclear scientist 354 00:27:53,170 --> 00:27:56,210 to understand what happened at Chernobyl. 355 00:27:56,300 --> 00:27:58,300 You only need to know this: 356 00:27:58,380 --> 00:28:00,960 there are essentially two things that happen 357 00:28:01,050 --> 00:28:03,670 inside a nuclear reactor. 358 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,300 The reactivity which generates power 359 00:28:06,380 --> 00:28:10,260 either goes up, or it goes down. 360 00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:11,760 That's it. 361 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:16,090 All the operators do is maintain balance. 362 00:28:18,010 --> 00:28:19,880 Uranium fuel. 363 00:28:21,710 --> 00:28:24,760 As uranium atoms split apart and collide, 364 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:26,380 reactivity goes up. 365 00:28:26,460 --> 00:28:28,670 But if you don't balance the reactivity, 366 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:30,960 it never stops rising. So... 367 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,210 Boron control rods. 368 00:28:35,300 --> 00:28:39,920 They reduce reactivity like brakes on a car. 369 00:28:41,460 --> 00:28:45,460 But there's a third factor to consider: water. 370 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,340 Cool water takes heat out of the system. 371 00:28:49,420 --> 00:28:52,760 As it does, it turns to steam, or what we call a "void." 372 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,260 In an RBMK reactor of the type used at Chernobyl, 373 00:28:56,340 --> 00:29:00,380 there's something called a "positive void coefficient." 374 00:29:00,460 --> 00:29:02,210 What does that mean? 375 00:29:02,300 --> 00:29:06,760 It means that the more steam present within the system, 376 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,840 the higher the reactivity, 377 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,960 which means more heat, which means more steam, 378 00:29:12,050 --> 00:29:13,590 which means... 379 00:29:13,670 --> 00:29:17,590 It would appear we have a vicious cycle on our hands. 380 00:29:17,670 --> 00:29:20,550 And we would, were it not for this... 381 00:29:26,170 --> 00:29:31,960 And we would, were it not for this: 382 00:29:32,050 --> 00:29:35,460 the negative temperature coefficient. 383 00:29:35,550 --> 00:29:41,550 When nuclear fuel gets hotter, it gets less reactive, so... 384 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,170 fuel increases reactivity. 385 00:29:45,260 --> 00:29:48,210 Control rods and water reduce it. 386 00:29:48,300 --> 00:29:50,590 Steam increases it, 387 00:29:50,670 --> 00:29:53,960 and the rise in temperature reduces it. 388 00:29:54,050 --> 00:29:57,670 This is the invisible dance 389 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,590 that powers entire cities without smoke or flame. 390 00:30:01,670 --> 00:30:04,960 And it is beautiful 391 00:30:05,050 --> 00:30:07,050 when things are normal. 392 00:30:08,340 --> 00:30:11,210 As uranium splits apart to release energy, 393 00:30:11,300 --> 00:30:14,800 it breaks down into a new element, xenon. 394 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,760 Xenon reduces reactivity. 395 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,260 This is the poison Comrade Khomyuk mentioned. 396 00:30:21,340 --> 00:30:23,300 When the core is running at full power, 397 00:30:23,380 --> 00:30:26,380 it burns the xenon away before it can cause a problem. 398 00:30:26,460 --> 00:30:28,590 But because of the delay, 399 00:30:28,670 --> 00:30:32,550 Chernobyl Reactor 4 has been held at half power 400 00:30:32,630 --> 00:30:34,210 for ten hours. 401 00:30:34,300 --> 00:30:37,050 The xenon did not burn away. 402 00:30:38,380 --> 00:30:42,760 It built up, poisoning the core. 403 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:44,510 We're starting to lose balance. 404 00:30:44,590 --> 00:30:48,670 At 28 minutes past midnight, 405 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,170 the reactor is now primed to slow down. 406 00:30:52,260 --> 00:30:55,760 And yet, in less than an hour, it will explode. 407 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,630 If you can't understand how a stalled nuclear reactor 408 00:30:59,710 --> 00:31:02,420 could lead to an explosion, I don't blame you. 409 00:31:02,510 --> 00:31:04,550 After all, you don't work in the control room 410 00:31:04,630 --> 00:31:06,380 of a nuclear power plant. 411 00:31:06,460 --> 00:31:11,880 But as it turned out, the men who did 412 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,170 didn't understand it either. 413 00:31:20,170 --> 00:31:21,630 Easy now. 414 00:31:21,710 --> 00:31:23,710 Take it down. 415 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,880 Good. Like that. 416 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,420 You should have finished by now. 417 00:31:27,510 --> 00:31:29,550 We're following protocol for reduction rate. 418 00:31:29,630 --> 00:31:31,260 You're procrastinating. 419 00:31:31,340 --> 00:31:33,880 There are ten other men in this plant who would've done it already. 420 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,630 Keep working. You're doing fine. 421 00:31:45,630 --> 00:31:49,340 Kirschenbaum, come get me when these old women are ready. 422 00:31:49,420 --> 00:31:50,840 Yes, Comrade Dyatlov. 423 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,710 Okay, very slow now. 424 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,710 Let's ease it down to 700. 425 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,670 - Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow. - I-I didn't move any rods there. 426 00:32:30,710 --> 00:32:34,380 - What is this? - I'm not even touching it. 427 00:32:59,090 --> 00:33:01,760 We did everything right. I think that maybe the core is poisoned. 428 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:03,300 Well, if you thought the core was poisoned, 429 00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:04,550 then you didn't do everything right, 430 00:33:04,630 --> 00:33:06,010 because you're choking my reactor! 431 00:33:06,090 --> 00:33:06,960 Get it back up! 432 00:33:07,050 --> 00:33:09,340 Uh, I think if we turn off LAC, 433 00:33:09,420 --> 00:33:11,260 it may be possible to get more control. 434 00:33:11,340 --> 00:33:14,170 - Do it. Go. - Switch off local automatic control. 435 00:33:14,260 --> 00:33:17,050 Go to global. Leonid. 436 00:33:17,130 --> 00:33:19,840 LAC disabled. Global control activated. 437 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:27,420 What did you do? 438 00:33:28,170 --> 00:33:31,090 - I-I did what you said. I switched... - Look at it! 439 00:33:32,170 --> 00:33:34,550 - I don't understand. - Fucking amateurs. 440 00:33:34,630 --> 00:33:36,420 You stalled the reactor. 441 00:33:36,510 --> 00:33:38,340 How the fuck did you get this job? 442 00:33:38,420 --> 00:33:41,050 - Comrade Dyatlov... - You're gonna tell me you did everything right again, 443 00:33:41,130 --> 00:33:42,630 you incompetent asshole? 444 00:33:42,710 --> 00:33:46,090 I apologize for this unsatisfactory result. 445 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,590 - What are you doing? - We have to shut all the way down. 446 00:33:54,670 --> 00:33:57,130 - No. - We could be in a xenon pit. 447 00:33:57,210 --> 00:33:58,590 We have to shut down and wait for 24 hours. 448 00:33:58,670 --> 00:34:00,800 No. We're doing the test tonight. Raise power to 700. 449 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:02,170 We can't raise the power from here. 450 00:34:02,260 --> 00:34:03,840 - The rules... - Don't talk to me about rules. 451 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,090 - If we fall from 80%... - No, no. We fell from 50%. 452 00:34:06,170 --> 00:34:08,460 - Fifty percent is worse! - The rules don't say 50! 453 00:34:08,550 --> 00:34:11,710 - There is no rule! - Comrade Dyatlov, 454 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,840 I apologize, but what you're saying makes no sense. 455 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,550 - Raise the power. - No. 456 00:34:16,630 --> 00:34:19,590 I won't do it. It isn't safe. 457 00:34:28,420 --> 00:34:31,300 Safety first. Always. 458 00:34:31,380 --> 00:34:34,380 I've been saying that for 25 years. 459 00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:36,510 That's how long I've done this job, 25 years. 460 00:34:36,590 --> 00:34:38,050 Is that longer than you, Akimov? 461 00:34:38,130 --> 00:34:39,050 Yes. 462 00:34:39,130 --> 00:34:41,210 - Is it much longer? - Yes. 463 00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:44,420 And you with your mother's tit barely out of your mouth? 464 00:34:46,550 --> 00:34:48,710 So if I say it's safe, it's safe. 465 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:50,130 And if the two of you disagree, 466 00:34:50,210 --> 00:34:52,130 then you don't have to work here and you won't. 467 00:34:52,210 --> 00:34:54,090 But not just here. You won't work at Kursk 468 00:34:54,170 --> 00:34:56,760 or Ignalina or Leningrad or Novo-Voronezh. 469 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,210 You won't work anywhere ever again. I'll see to it. 470 00:35:00,300 --> 00:35:03,050 I think you know I will see to it. 471 00:35:04,510 --> 00:35:06,010 Raise the power. 472 00:35:09,260 --> 00:35:11,170 I would like you to record your command. 473 00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:13,670 Raise the power. 474 00:35:29,260 --> 00:35:30,630 Together, then. 475 00:35:34,210 --> 00:35:35,880 I wasn't even there. 476 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,210 What? 477 00:35:40,090 --> 00:35:42,590 I wasn't in the room when they raised the power. 478 00:35:42,670 --> 00:35:44,630 If you weren't there, then where were you? 479 00:35:44,710 --> 00:35:47,710 Comrade Legasov, you are a witness, not a prosecutor. 480 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,300 I will ask the questions here. 481 00:35:50,380 --> 00:35:53,550 If you weren't in the room, then where were you? 482 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:57,050 The toilet. 483 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,760 The toilet? 484 00:36:01,710 --> 00:36:03,510 Comrade Khomyuk interviewed everyone 485 00:36:03,590 --> 00:36:05,050 who was in the control room that night. 486 00:36:05,130 --> 00:36:07,090 They all told the same story. 487 00:36:10,420 --> 00:36:13,170 "I knew what Dyatlov ordered was wrong, 488 00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:16,130 but if I didn't do what he said, I would be fired." 489 00:36:16,210 --> 00:36:18,260 Leonid Toptunov. 490 00:36:19,380 --> 00:36:21,840 One day before he died. 491 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:23,840 No, Comrade Dyatlov, you were in the room. 492 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:25,670 You ordered them to raise the power. 493 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,300 This is a fact. 494 00:36:37,050 --> 00:36:38,710 Court is now in recess. 495 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,300 Thirty minutes. 496 00:37:23,510 --> 00:37:26,630 Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl? 497 00:37:28,090 --> 00:37:29,630 Not really, no. 498 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,460 It was mostly Jews and Poles. 499 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:36,590 The Jews were killed in pogroms, 500 00:37:36,670 --> 00:37:39,170 and Stalin forced the Poles out. 501 00:37:39,260 --> 00:37:42,760 And then the Nazis came and killed whoever was left. 502 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:44,880 But after the war... 503 00:37:46,130 --> 00:37:48,340 people came to live here anyway. 504 00:37:49,380 --> 00:37:53,090 They knew the ground under their feet was soaked in blood, 505 00:37:53,170 --> 00:37:54,880 but they didn't care. 506 00:37:56,210 --> 00:37:59,340 Dead Jews, dead Poles. 507 00:37:59,420 --> 00:38:01,010 But not them. 508 00:38:04,010 --> 00:38:07,170 No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. 509 00:38:08,550 --> 00:38:10,010 And here we are. 510 00:38:19,550 --> 00:38:21,590 How much time? 511 00:38:21,670 --> 00:38:23,050 Maybe a year. 512 00:38:23,130 --> 00:38:26,460 They call it a... 513 00:38:26,550 --> 00:38:28,760 They call it a "long illness." 514 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,630 It doesn't seem very long to me. 515 00:38:31,710 --> 00:38:34,260 I know you told me, and I believed you. 516 00:38:35,340 --> 00:38:37,130 But time passed, and I thought, 517 00:38:37,210 --> 00:38:39,840 it wouldn't happen to me. 518 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,710 I wasted it. 519 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,590 I wasted it all for nothing. 520 00:38:47,210 --> 00:38:48,880 For nothing? 521 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,710 Do you remember that morning when I first called you, 522 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:54,590 how unconcerned I was? 523 00:38:54,670 --> 00:38:56,550 I don't believe much that comes out of the Kremlin, 524 00:38:56,630 --> 00:38:58,590 but when they told me they were putting me 525 00:38:58,670 --> 00:39:01,840 in charge of the cleanup 526 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,880 and they said it wasn't serious, I believed them. 527 00:39:06,460 --> 00:39:08,210 You know why? 528 00:39:09,260 --> 00:39:11,510 Because they put you in charge. 529 00:39:11,590 --> 00:39:13,090 Yeah. 530 00:39:16,050 --> 00:39:19,130 I'm an inconsequential man, Valera. 531 00:39:19,210 --> 00:39:21,090 That's all I've ever been. 532 00:39:22,260 --> 00:39:25,380 I hoped that one day I would matter, but I didn't. 533 00:39:27,300 --> 00:39:30,630 I just stood next to people who did. 534 00:39:32,710 --> 00:39:35,090 There are other scientists like me. 535 00:39:35,170 --> 00:39:37,670 Any one of them could have done what I did. 536 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,090 But you... 537 00:39:40,010 --> 00:39:43,920 Everything we asked for, everything we needed. 538 00:39:45,340 --> 00:39:49,130 Men, material, lunar rovers. 539 00:39:51,460 --> 00:39:53,630 Who else could have done these things? 540 00:39:55,710 --> 00:39:59,050 They heard me, but they listened to you. 541 00:39:59,130 --> 00:40:03,090 Of all the ministers and all the deputies... 542 00:40:03,170 --> 00:40:07,710 Entire congregation of obedient fools... 543 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:11,840 They mistakenly sent the one good man. 544 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,920 For god's sake, Boris, 545 00:40:14,010 --> 00:40:17,460 you were the one who mattered most. 546 00:40:40,510 --> 00:40:42,340 Ah, it's beautiful. 547 00:41:24,010 --> 00:41:26,210 Comrade Legasov. 548 00:41:38,550 --> 00:41:41,550 The time is 38 past midnight. 549 00:41:41,630 --> 00:41:43,630 The reactor is nearly shut down. 550 00:41:43,710 --> 00:41:46,340 The operators of Reactor 4 are locked on a path 551 00:41:46,420 --> 00:41:48,380 that leads directly to disaster. 552 00:41:48,460 --> 00:41:50,670 There's no way to turn back. 553 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,420 They do not yet know it, but the die is cast. 554 00:41:53,510 --> 00:41:57,760 At 30 megawatts, xenon is still being created, 555 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,090 but none of it is burning away. 556 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:03,670 The reactor is drowning in poison. 557 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:08,170 To make matters worse, the reactor isn't hot enough 558 00:42:08,260 --> 00:42:11,050 to produce sufficient steam. 559 00:42:12,670 --> 00:42:15,510 The only way to safely raise power from this state 560 00:42:15,590 --> 00:42:17,880 is to do it very, very slowly 561 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,760 over the course of 24 hours. 562 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,380 But Dyatlov wants it done now. 563 00:42:23,460 --> 00:42:27,840 Akimov and Toptunov have only one course of action. 564 00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,710 They begin pulling control rods out. 565 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:31,920 Dozens at a time. 566 00:42:32,010 --> 00:42:35,050 Halfway out, three-quarters of the way out, 567 00:42:35,130 --> 00:42:37,880 still, the power does not budge. 568 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,670 So they begin pulling them all the way out. 569 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,550 There were 211 control rods in Reactor 4. 570 00:42:44,630 --> 00:42:49,260 Akimov and Toptunov completely withdrew 205. 571 00:42:49,340 --> 00:42:54,010 Remember... control rods are the brakes on this car. 572 00:42:54,090 --> 00:43:00,840 Of 211 rods, only six now remain in the reactor. 573 00:43:02,260 --> 00:43:04,880 As for the fuel, it's gone cold, 574 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,050 so the negative temperature coefficient 575 00:43:07,130 --> 00:43:09,590 is no longer weighing down the reactivity. 576 00:43:09,670 --> 00:43:13,590 But even still, the xenon poisoning is so strong, 577 00:43:13,670 --> 00:43:17,840 the best they can do is raise the power to 200 megawatts. 578 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,880 The control rods are out. 579 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,420 The emergency system has been disconnected. 580 00:43:23,510 --> 00:43:25,760 The only thing keeping the reactor in check 581 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,300 is water and xenon. 582 00:43:28,380 --> 00:43:32,630 It's one in the morning. The test is minutes away. 583 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:09,380 I'm sorry, this is all we can get. 584 00:44:09,460 --> 00:44:12,420 It's 200 megawatts. We've pulled almost everything out. 585 00:44:12,510 --> 00:44:14,010 If that's all we have, that's all we have. 586 00:44:14,090 --> 00:44:17,960 - But the test requires 700. - Stolyarchuk, let's get ready. 587 00:44:18,050 --> 00:44:19,630 - Switch on pump 4. - No, wait a second. 588 00:44:19,710 --> 00:44:21,510 - Stolyarchuk... - We have barely enough steam as it is. 589 00:44:21,590 --> 00:44:24,130 The turbine is going too slow for the test to deliver any valid results. 590 00:44:24,210 --> 00:44:26,090 - It's enough. - And if we add more water, there will be even less... 591 00:44:26,170 --> 00:44:28,130 I said it's enough. I know what I'm doing. 592 00:44:28,210 --> 00:44:29,670 Stolyarchuk. 593 00:44:35,210 --> 00:44:36,760 Main Pump 4, connected. 594 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:38,630 We should warn Khodemchuk. The pipes are gonna be... 595 00:44:38,710 --> 00:44:40,420 Never mind him. Kirschenbaum? 596 00:44:43,420 --> 00:44:46,170 The steam in the separator drum is too low... five atmospheres. 597 00:44:46,260 --> 00:44:49,090 All right, let's all help him. Get it up as best you can. 598 00:44:53,130 --> 00:44:55,010 We should stop. 599 00:44:55,090 --> 00:44:56,760 Turn that fucking thing off. 600 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,760 You have 15 minutes. 601 00:45:01,590 --> 00:45:03,710 Fifteen minutes. 602 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:06,460 They may as well have had 15 days. 603 00:45:06,550 --> 00:45:09,380 The problem they were facing was not solvable. 604 00:45:09,460 --> 00:45:12,170 The power was too low, the water was too high. 605 00:45:12,260 --> 00:45:13,840 The test was already ruined. 606 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:15,550 The results would have been useless, 607 00:45:15,630 --> 00:45:17,130 but Dyatlov didn't care. 608 00:45:17,210 --> 00:45:20,590 All he wanted to do was report a completed test. 609 00:45:21,510 --> 00:45:23,550 1:22 a.m. 610 00:45:23,630 --> 00:45:26,590 Less than two minutes remain. 611 00:45:26,670 --> 00:45:32,170 Yuvchenko, a mechanical engineer, is in his office. 612 00:45:35,510 --> 00:45:37,880 Perevozchenko, reactor section foreman, 613 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:39,590 is in the refueling hall, 614 00:45:39,670 --> 00:45:44,300 high above the 1,000-ton steel reactor cover. 615 00:45:44,380 --> 00:45:47,670 Degtaryenko and Khodemchuk, 616 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,840 circulation operators, are in the pump room. 617 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,710 None of them have been told 618 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:56,090 about the test. 619 00:45:56,170 --> 00:45:58,130 None of them know what is about to happen. 620 00:45:58,210 --> 00:46:02,510 At 1:22 and 30 seconds, 621 00:46:02,590 --> 00:46:04,630 Toptunov sees a report 622 00:46:04,710 --> 00:46:08,670 from the reactor's SKALA computer system. 623 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:12,050 Based on the absence of sufficient control rods, 624 00:46:12,130 --> 00:46:15,670 the computer is recommending that the reactor be shut down. 625 00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:22,550 Well, of course it's saying that. 626 00:46:22,630 --> 00:46:24,630 It doesn't know we're running a test. 627 00:46:26,010 --> 00:46:27,300 All right, comrades. 628 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,420 Another few minutes, it will all be over. 629 00:46:31,510 --> 00:46:33,050 Kirschenbaum, when you're ready. 630 00:46:34,210 --> 00:46:35,630 We did everything right. 631 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,170 Oscillograph on. 632 00:46:41,420 --> 00:46:43,960 Closing Number 8 throttle valve. 633 00:46:44,050 --> 00:46:45,670 Generator rotor beginning rundown. 634 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:49,630 1:23 and four seconds. 635 00:46:49,710 --> 00:46:51,050 With every decision, 636 00:46:51,130 --> 00:46:53,550 they have pulled this reactor back like a slingshot, 637 00:46:53,630 --> 00:46:55,880 further than anyone has ever pulled, 638 00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:58,300 now the test begins. 639 00:46:58,380 --> 00:47:02,050 The pumps are shut down, and they've let go. 640 00:47:04,510 --> 00:47:07,760 The pumps stop moving water through the reactor. 641 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,010 Uranium fuel is now unchecked by fresh coolant, 642 00:47:11,090 --> 00:47:12,920 unchecked by control rods. 643 00:47:13,010 --> 00:47:16,130 The balance immediately swings in the opposite direction. 644 00:47:16,210 --> 00:47:17,630 In less than a second, 645 00:47:17,710 --> 00:47:19,550 reactivity increases. 646 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:22,010 Inside the core, 647 00:47:22,090 --> 00:47:24,550 the remaining water is quickly converting to steam. 648 00:47:24,630 --> 00:47:26,710 A void is being created. 649 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,420 There is no fresh water to replace it. 650 00:47:29,510 --> 00:47:32,420 Steam increases reactivity, 651 00:47:32,510 --> 00:47:35,840 increases heat, increases steam, 652 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:38,670 increases reactivity. 653 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,050 The remaining xenon decays away. 654 00:47:43,380 --> 00:47:45,460 The power is rising. 655 00:47:47,050 --> 00:47:48,880 There's nothing left to stop it. 656 00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:53,550 1:23 and 35 seconds. 657 00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:59,090 We have a power surge! Sasha! 658 00:48:04,340 --> 00:48:05,460 What did you do?! 659 00:48:05,550 --> 00:48:10,300 1:23 and 40 seconds. 660 00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:19,840 In every control room of every nuclear reactor in the world, 661 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:23,090 there is a button with one single purpose... 662 00:48:23,170 --> 00:48:26,550 To "scram," or instantly shut down, the reaction. 663 00:48:26,630 --> 00:48:30,170 In Soviet reactors, that button is called AZ-5. 664 00:48:30,260 --> 00:48:35,210 You press AZ-5, all of the control rods insert at once, 665 00:48:35,300 --> 00:48:39,380 and the reaction is stopped dead. 666 00:48:39,460 --> 00:48:41,300 But... 667 00:48:47,170 --> 00:48:50,840 What are you waiting for, Legasov? Tell your lies. 668 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,210 Comrade Dyatlov, you will not be warned again. 669 00:48:53,300 --> 00:48:55,550 - Or what? - For god's sake, Dyatlov. 670 00:48:55,630 --> 00:48:57,510 Legasov's already given it away. 671 00:48:57,590 --> 00:49:00,630 - He said before, there was no way to avoid what was coming. - Comrade Dyatlov. 672 00:49:00,710 --> 00:49:03,710 - He knows something. She knows something. - Comrade Dyatlov. 673 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,420 I know what you are, Valery Alexeyevich. 674 00:49:07,510 --> 00:49:10,460 - You're a liar. - We've heard enough for today. 675 00:49:10,550 --> 00:49:14,420 The defendants will be remanded in custody. 676 00:49:14,510 --> 00:49:17,510 - Court will... - I... I haven't finished. 677 00:49:17,590 --> 00:49:19,630 I still have more evidence to give. 678 00:49:19,710 --> 00:49:23,090 It's not necessary. Your testimony is concluded. 679 00:49:23,170 --> 00:49:26,300 - Your Honor. - Court is now adjourned. 680 00:49:26,380 --> 00:49:28,710 - We will resume tomorrow with... - Let him finish. 681 00:49:31,380 --> 00:49:33,380 Comrade Shcherbina... 682 00:49:35,550 --> 00:49:37,880 Let him finish. 683 00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:04,170 Dyatlov broke every rule we have. 684 00:50:08,010 --> 00:50:11,420 He pushed a reactor to the brink of destruction. 685 00:50:15,590 --> 00:50:18,210 He did these things believing there was a failsafe. 686 00:50:18,300 --> 00:50:21,550 AZ-5, a simple button to shut it all down. 687 00:50:21,630 --> 00:50:26,210 But in the circumstances he created, there wasn't. 688 00:50:26,300 --> 00:50:29,760 The shutdown system had a fatal flaw. 689 00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:37,260 At 1:23:40, Akimov engages AZ-5. 690 00:50:44,710 --> 00:50:46,460 The fully-withdrawn control rods 691 00:50:46,550 --> 00:50:48,670 begin moving back into the reactor. 692 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:51,630 These rods are made of boron, which reduces reactivity, 693 00:50:51,710 --> 00:50:53,380 but not their tips. 694 00:50:53,460 --> 00:50:58,420 The tips are made of graphite, which accelerates reactivity. 695 00:50:58,510 --> 00:51:00,300 Why? 696 00:51:04,170 --> 00:51:06,130 Why? 697 00:51:07,510 --> 00:51:10,010 For the same reason our reactors 698 00:51:10,090 --> 00:51:13,170 do not have containment buildings around them, 699 00:51:13,260 --> 00:51:14,300 like those in the West. 700 00:51:14,380 --> 00:51:16,710 For the same reason we don't use 701 00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:19,340 properly enriched fuel in our cores. 702 00:51:19,420 --> 00:51:21,710 For the same reason we are the only nation 703 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:26,090 that builds water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors 704 00:51:26,170 --> 00:51:29,300 with a positive void coefficient. 705 00:51:30,670 --> 00:51:31,760 It's cheaper. 706 00:51:38,130 --> 00:51:40,960 The first part of the rods that enter the core 707 00:51:41,050 --> 00:51:42,300 are the graphite tips. 708 00:51:42,380 --> 00:51:44,760 And when they do, the reaction in the core, 709 00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,510 which had been rising, skyrockets. 710 00:51:47,590 --> 00:51:51,010 Every last molecule of liquid water 711 00:51:51,090 --> 00:51:52,710 instantly converts to steam, 712 00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,090 which expands and ruptures a series of fuel rod channels. 713 00:51:56,170 --> 00:52:00,300 The control rods in those channels can move no further. 714 00:52:00,380 --> 00:52:02,920 The graphite tips are fixed in position, 715 00:52:03,010 --> 00:52:05,800 endlessly accelerating the reaction. 716 00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:09,880 Chernobyl Reactor 4 is now a nuclear bomb. 717 00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:12,510 1:23:42. 718 00:52:12,590 --> 00:52:14,340 Perevozchenko looks down 719 00:52:14,420 --> 00:52:16,960 on the enormous steel lid of the reactor... 720 00:52:17,050 --> 00:52:18,960 ...and sees the impossible. 721 00:52:19,050 --> 00:52:20,920 The control rod and fuel channel caps, 722 00:52:21,010 --> 00:52:23,090 which each weigh 350 kilograms, 723 00:52:23,170 --> 00:52:24,760 are jumping up and down. 724 00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:27,420 He runs to warn the control room. 725 00:52:27,510 --> 00:52:30,960 But there's nothing he can do to stop what is coming. 726 00:52:31,050 --> 00:52:33,460 1:23 and 44 seconds. 727 00:52:33,550 --> 00:52:37,630 The steam blows more fuel channels apart. 728 00:52:37,710 --> 00:52:39,800 We do not know how high the power went. 729 00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,170 We only know the final reading. 730 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:44,800 Reactor 4, 731 00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:48,960 designed to operate at 3200 megawatts, 732 00:52:49,050 --> 00:52:52,710 went beyond 33,000. 733 00:52:57,210 --> 00:53:01,010 The pressure inside the core can no longer be held back. 734 00:53:01,090 --> 00:53:08,800 At long last, we have arrived. 1:23:45, explosion. 735 00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:13,050 In the instant the lid is thrown off the reactor, oxygen rushes in. 736 00:53:13,130 --> 00:53:17,590 It combines with hydrogen and super-heated graphite. 737 00:53:19,340 --> 00:53:22,420 The chain of disaster is now complete. 738 00:53:44,380 --> 00:53:46,510 Comrade Dyatlov! 739 00:53:51,300 --> 00:53:53,130 Comrade Dyatlov! 740 00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:06,710 No one in the room that night knew 741 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:10,260 the shutdown button could act as a detonator. 742 00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:13,550 They didn't know it, 743 00:54:13,630 --> 00:54:16,550 because it was kept from them. 744 00:54:16,630 --> 00:54:19,090 Comrade Legasov, you're contradicting 745 00:54:19,170 --> 00:54:21,510 your own testimony in Vienna. 746 00:54:21,590 --> 00:54:24,300 My testimony in Vienna was a lie. 747 00:54:24,380 --> 00:54:28,380 I lied to the world. 748 00:54:28,460 --> 00:54:30,800 I'm not the only one who kept this secret. 749 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:33,090 There are many. 750 00:54:33,170 --> 00:54:35,880 We were following orders, 751 00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:37,550 from the KGB, from the Central Committee. 752 00:54:37,630 --> 00:54:40,300 And right now, there are 16 reactors in the Soviet Union 753 00:54:40,380 --> 00:54:42,840 with the same fatal flaw. 754 00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:44,760 Three of them are still running 755 00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,130 less than 20 kilometers away at Chernobyl. 756 00:54:47,210 --> 00:54:51,260 Professor Legasov, if you mean to suggest the Soviet State 757 00:54:51,340 --> 00:54:53,090 is somehow responsible for what happened, 758 00:54:53,170 --> 00:54:55,920 then I must warn you, you are treading on dangerous ground. 759 00:54:56,010 --> 00:54:58,340 I've already trod on dangerous ground. 760 00:54:58,420 --> 00:55:00,460 We're on dangerous ground right now, 761 00:55:00,550 --> 00:55:03,300 because of our secrets and our lies. 762 00:55:03,380 --> 00:55:06,460 They're practically what define us. 763 00:55:06,550 --> 00:55:09,670 When the truth offends, we lie and lie 764 00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:12,130 until we can no longer remember it is even there. 765 00:55:12,210 --> 00:55:15,210 But it is still there. 766 00:55:17,380 --> 00:55:21,710 Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. 767 00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:26,710 Sooner or later, that debt is paid. 768 00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:36,420 That is how an RBMK reactor core explodes. 769 00:55:40,090 --> 00:55:41,630 Lies. 770 00:57:45,590 --> 00:57:48,630 Valery Alexeyevich Legasov, 771 00:57:48,710 --> 00:57:51,760 son of Alexei Legasov, 772 00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:55,300 Head of Ideological Compliance, Central Committee. 773 00:57:55,380 --> 00:57:57,380 Do you know what your father did there? 774 00:57:57,460 --> 00:57:58,920 Yes. 775 00:57:59,010 --> 00:58:02,960 As a student, you had a leadership position in Komsomol. 776 00:58:03,050 --> 00:58:05,380 Communist Youth, correct? 777 00:58:06,380 --> 00:58:08,800 - You already know. - Answer the question. 778 00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:10,050 Yes. 779 00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:13,960 At the Kuchartov Institute, 780 00:58:14,050 --> 00:58:16,670 you were the Communist Party secretary. 781 00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:18,170 In the position, you limited 782 00:58:18,260 --> 00:58:21,170 the promotion of Jewish scientists. 783 00:58:25,630 --> 00:58:27,010 Yes. 784 00:58:27,090 --> 00:58:30,760 To curry favor with Kremlin officials. 785 00:58:35,420 --> 00:58:37,710 You're one of us, Legasov. 786 00:58:39,130 --> 00:58:41,550 I can do anything I want with you. 787 00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:46,840 But what I want most is for you to know that I know. 788 00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:49,300 You're not brave. 789 00:58:49,380 --> 00:58:51,590 You're not heroic. 790 00:58:53,090 --> 00:58:56,340 You're just a dying man who forgot himself. 791 00:58:56,420 --> 00:59:00,130 I know who I am, and I know what I've done. 792 00:59:02,710 --> 00:59:05,090 In a just world, I'd be shot for my lies, 793 00:59:05,170 --> 00:59:08,340 but not for this, not for the truth. 794 00:59:08,420 --> 00:59:10,550 Scientists... 795 00:59:10,630 --> 00:59:14,380 and your idiot obsessions with reasons. 796 00:59:14,460 --> 00:59:16,710 When the bullet hits your skull, 797 00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:19,340 what will it matter why? 798 00:59:26,590 --> 00:59:29,130 No one's getting shot, Legasov. 799 00:59:30,630 --> 00:59:32,960 The whole world saw you in Vienna. 800 00:59:33,050 --> 00:59:35,210 It would be embarrassing to kill you now. 801 00:59:35,300 --> 00:59:36,760 And for what? 802 00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:40,630 Your testimony today will not be accepted by the State. 803 00:59:40,710 --> 00:59:43,760 It will not be disseminated in the press. 804 00:59:43,840 --> 00:59:45,800 It never happened. 805 00:59:47,090 --> 00:59:50,050 No, you will live, 806 00:59:50,130 --> 00:59:51,920 however long you have, 807 00:59:52,010 --> 00:59:55,710 but not as a scientist, not anymore. 808 00:59:55,800 --> 01:00:00,340 You'll keep your title and your office, 809 01:00:00,420 --> 01:00:05,340 but no duties, no authority, no friends. 810 01:00:05,420 --> 01:00:07,510 No one will talk to you. 811 01:00:07,590 --> 01:00:09,510 No one will listen to you. 812 01:00:11,460 --> 01:00:15,760 Other men, lesser men, 813 01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:19,510 will receive credit for the things you have done. 814 01:00:19,590 --> 01:00:21,880 Your legacy is now their legacy. 815 01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:24,710 You'll live long enough to see that. 816 01:00:28,130 --> 01:00:30,550 What role did Shcherbina play in this? 817 01:00:30,630 --> 01:00:31,760 None. 818 01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:34,380 He didn't know what I was gonna say. 819 01:00:35,670 --> 01:00:38,760 What role did Khomyuk play in this? 820 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:40,300 None. 821 01:00:40,380 --> 01:00:42,880 She didn't know either. 822 01:00:44,260 --> 01:00:46,630 After all you've said and done today, 823 01:00:46,710 --> 01:00:52,670 it would be curious if you chose this moment to lie. 824 01:00:55,590 --> 01:00:57,460 I would think a man of your experience 825 01:00:57,550 --> 01:00:59,880 would know a lie when he hears one. 826 01:01:04,050 --> 01:01:05,340 You will not meet or communicate 827 01:01:05,420 --> 01:01:07,590 with either one of them ever again. 828 01:01:07,670 --> 01:01:10,170 You will not communicate with anyone 829 01:01:10,260 --> 01:01:12,380 about Chernobyl ever again. 830 01:01:13,420 --> 01:01:15,840 You will remain so immaterial to the world around you 831 01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:17,710 that when you finally do die, 832 01:01:17,800 --> 01:01:22,090 it will be exceedingly hard to know that you ever lived at all. 833 01:01:26,420 --> 01:01:28,260 What if I refuse? 834 01:01:31,420 --> 01:01:34,510 Why worry about something that isn't going to happen? 835 01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:39,920 "Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?" 836 01:01:40,010 --> 01:01:42,260 Oh, that's perfect. 837 01:01:42,340 --> 01:01:45,420 They should put that on our money. 838 01:02:54,510 --> 01:02:58,590 To be a scientist is to be naive. 839 01:02:58,670 --> 01:03:00,920 We are so focused on our search for truth, 840 01:03:01,010 --> 01:03:05,630 we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. 841 01:03:05,710 --> 01:03:10,090 But it is always there, whether we see it or not, 842 01:03:10,170 --> 01:03:12,010 whether we choose to or not. 843 01:03:12,090 --> 01:03:14,840 The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. 844 01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:16,630 It doesn't care about our governments, 845 01:03:16,710 --> 01:03:20,420 our ideologies, our religions. 846 01:03:20,510 --> 01:03:24,130 It will lie in wait for all time. 847 01:03:24,210 --> 01:03:28,130 And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. 848 01:03:28,210 --> 01:03:30,840 Where I once would fear the cost of truth, 849 01:03:30,920 --> 01:03:33,710 now I only ask: 850 01:03:34,710 --> 01:03:37,550 What is the cost of lies? 851 01:12:24,670 --> 01:12:27,420 Why worry about something that isn't going to happen? 852 01:12:28,590 --> 01:12:29,920 Oh, that's perfect. 853 01:12:30,840 --> 01:12:32,590 They should put that on our money. 854 01:12:36,010 --> 01:12:38,340 What's really interesting is how 855 01:12:38,420 --> 01:12:40,710 the ideology of the Soviet Union... 856 01:12:40,800 --> 01:12:43,510 The idea of a system that was infallible, 857 01:12:43,590 --> 01:12:44,670 and the fear of people 858 01:12:44,760 --> 01:12:46,670 to point out any flaws or mistakes, 859 01:12:46,760 --> 01:12:47,840 everything had to be perfect. 860 01:12:48,050 --> 01:12:49,880 You had to pretend it was perfect. 861 01:12:50,260 --> 01:12:52,630 Any system with too strong an ideology, 862 01:12:52,880 --> 01:12:55,260 whether it's the idea of a perfect nation 863 01:12:55,340 --> 01:12:56,760 or a perfect belief, 864 01:12:57,510 --> 01:12:59,840 leads to exclusion of facts. 865 01:13:05,210 --> 01:13:09,670 The West is now satisfied that Chernobyl was solely the result 866 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:12,130 of operator error, which it essentially was. 867 01:13:13,010 --> 01:13:14,380 What you start to look at 868 01:13:14,460 --> 01:13:16,840 all the different causes of this accident to happen, 869 01:13:16,920 --> 01:13:20,590 it's this sort of accumulation of that kind of a mentality, 870 01:13:20,670 --> 01:13:24,460 which is, "It's more convenient to believe comfortable truths, 871 01:13:24,670 --> 01:13:27,800 and comfortable facts than it is to have to face 872 01:13:27,880 --> 01:13:29,920 difficult choices and difficult realities." 873 01:13:34,630 --> 01:13:35,670 How much time? 874 01:13:36,840 --> 01:13:38,090 Maybe a year. 875 01:13:40,300 --> 01:13:42,840 Shcherbina, he's confronted with his... 876 01:13:43,170 --> 01:13:44,340 sense of mortality. 877 01:13:44,420 --> 01:13:46,670 That he's presented with that idea of, 878 01:13:46,760 --> 01:13:49,260 "What was his life worth, and does it mean anything? 879 01:13:49,340 --> 01:13:51,340 Did he have an impact on this situation?" 880 01:13:51,420 --> 01:13:54,510 Because he was a party man, because he was an insider, 881 01:13:54,590 --> 01:13:57,800 he knew how to get the machinery of the state to work. 882 01:13:58,800 --> 01:14:00,340 For God's sake, Boris. 883 01:14:01,710 --> 01:14:03,670 You were the one who mattered most. 884 01:14:07,010 --> 01:14:10,380 Dyatlov, who's been this very stubborn, 885 01:14:10,460 --> 01:14:13,260 recalcitrant person, who refuses to accept 886 01:14:13,340 --> 01:14:15,510 any responsibility for what happened... 887 01:14:17,920 --> 01:14:20,550 I wasn't in the room when they raised the power. 888 01:14:21,260 --> 01:14:23,260 Anatoly Dyatlov made decisions 889 01:14:23,340 --> 01:14:26,170 no rational person should've ever made. 890 01:14:26,510 --> 01:14:28,380 He made crazy choices. 891 01:14:28,460 --> 01:14:30,510 I'll have 'em reviewed. We only just found out... 892 01:14:31,420 --> 01:14:32,460 There. Review it. 893 01:14:32,800 --> 01:14:34,260 In the trial, Dyatlov, 894 01:14:34,340 --> 01:14:36,630 historically, does say the following thing. 895 01:14:37,090 --> 01:14:38,960 "I will not say that I am guilty. 896 01:14:39,510 --> 01:14:41,380 But I cannot say that I am not." 897 01:14:42,050 --> 01:14:44,380 And I thought that was a remarkable... 898 01:14:44,710 --> 01:14:48,340 expression of... at least the potential of guilt. 899 01:14:49,090 --> 01:14:51,960 It was very Soviet in its own way, the statement. 900 01:14:52,210 --> 01:14:53,760 To have it both ways. 901 01:14:54,840 --> 01:14:56,460 The trial is, as always, 902 01:14:56,550 --> 01:14:58,050 we want to find who's guilty. 903 01:14:58,380 --> 01:15:00,210 The people's lust for revenge, 904 01:15:00,300 --> 01:15:02,300 which is something really, really dangerous, 905 01:15:02,380 --> 01:15:04,960 it makes it very attractive to find scapegoats 906 01:15:05,050 --> 01:15:07,920 and throw as meat to the dogs. 907 01:15:08,920 --> 01:15:11,090 Once it's over, we will have our villain, 908 01:15:11,550 --> 01:15:14,590 we will have our hero, we will have our truth. 909 01:15:15,420 --> 01:15:17,510 We established pretty early on, 910 01:15:17,590 --> 01:15:21,340 what mistakes did those people do in the control room. 911 01:15:21,420 --> 01:15:24,590 But the thing is that the system was guilty. 912 01:15:25,710 --> 01:15:28,340 Professor Legasov, if you mean to suggest 913 01:15:28,420 --> 01:15:31,340 the Soviet State is somehow responsible for what happened, 914 01:15:31,420 --> 01:15:32,380 then I must warn you, 915 01:15:32,460 --> 01:15:34,380 you are treading on dangerous ground. 916 01:15:36,260 --> 01:15:37,800 That is how... 917 01:15:38,510 --> 01:15:41,050 an RBMK reactor core explodes. 918 01:15:45,420 --> 01:15:46,420 Lies.