They’re dropping sand and boron on the fire. ibid. nuclear physics lady
The whole world knows. The wind has been blowing toward Germany. ibid. Shcherbina
The meltdown has begun. Chernobyl III: Open Wide, O Earth, Legasov
He’s somebody else now, do you understand? He’s dangerous to you. ibid. nurse to wife of patient
Gorbachev: How many deaths?
Legasov: Thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands. ibid.
Do you know how old I am? I’m 82. I’ve lived here my whole life, right here in that house, this place. What do I care about safe? Chernobyl IV: The Happiness of All Mankind, old woman
Under no circumstances can men go up there [roof]. ibid. Legasov
As much vodka as you want. Plus a thousand roubles. ibid. animal control squad soldier
Someone has to start telling the truth. Chernobyl V: Vichnaya Pamyat, Ulana
I understand my duty to the state. But you gave us assurances. Reactors would be made safe. It’s been months. No changes have been made; no changes discussed. ibid. Legasov to Charkov
Legasov: I went willingly to an open reactor. So I’ve already given my life. Isn’t that enough?
No, I’m sorry but it is not. ibid.
We are already on dangerous ground now because of our secrets and our lies. They are practically what define us. ibid.
Valery Legasov took his own life at the age of 51 on April 26 1988 exactly two years after the explosion at Chernobyl. The audio tapes of Legasov’s memoirs were circulated among the Soviet scientific community. His suicide made it impossible for them to be ignored. ibid. captions
We lived in a myth that we kept strengthening. And we found that life rather comfortable. We did not fully comprehend what kind of society we were living in. And that created amonster. The Real Chernobyl, scientist, Sky News 2019
On April 26 1986 there was an explosion in Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. ibid.
I couldn’t comprehend such high levels of radiation. ibid. scientist
The colour of their faces was brown or blue. ibid. firefighter, re first responders
In Chernobyl a huge clean-up operation was underway. ibid.
We were the liquidators; we were the cannon fodder. ibid. soldier
We understood this as a one-way trip … so no-one thought of the danger. ibid.
Chernobyl, Ukraine: this abandoned wasteland is one of the most dangerous places on Earth with nuclear radiation at every turn. It’s the site of a nuclear accident that became one of the worst engineering disasters in modern history. But what caused this deadly nuclear explosion? Chernobyl’s Deadly Secrets: Mysteries of the Abandoned, Discovery 2019
There’s no entry without a permit and it’s sometimes a challenge even if you have one. ibid.
There’s still a heaviness is the air that you can actually feel. ibid.
‘Because of that defect in the design [graphite tips to the rods] steam pressure built up and there was a huge blast.’ ibid. engineer
A serious design flaw. ibid.
A haunting walk through a dead world. ibid.
The first responders who ran in to fight the Chernobyl fire likely had no idea the dangers they were facing and many died of radiation poisoning in the first few weeks. ibid.
When the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in 1986 it changed everything. Now, 35 year after the disaster I am travelling to the most radioactive place on Earth. I’ve been granted special permission to explore some of Chernobyl’s secrets, going inside the very control room where thee fatal mistake was made. And seeing up close the tomb of the doomed reactor. Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle, Channel 5 2021
The Zone was established in the aftermath of the worst nuclear disaster in history. On April 26th 1986 Chernobyl’s reactor #4 exploded. The resulting fire lasted ten days, releasing 400 times as much radioactive contamination as the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. ibid.
Pripyat: This is an entire city with five secondary schools, two sports stadiums and its own palace of culture. ibid.
Illegal thrill-seekers driven largely by social media continue to be a problem here. ibid.
The Zone is becoming an unlikely wildlife sanctuary. ibid.
30 years ago man created a unique structure, a symbol of failure of his attempts to harness nature. A monument to humanity’s battle against the unknown. A tribute to those who have risked their lives trying to erect the concrete construction. Return to Chernobyl, DiscoveryPlus 2021
‘The USSR’s authorities decided to displace people and close off the entire zone around Chernobyl … It is a huge territory: 2,600 square kilometres.’ ibid. Vladimir Holosha, head of state agency of Ukraine on exclusion zone 1987-2014
On April 25th 1986 Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev has been in power for only one year … Chernobyl is a symbol of the Soviet Union’s industrial and technological muscle. Soviet nuclear scientists consider it to be the cream of the nation’s nuclear plants. Seconds from Disaster: Meltdown in Chernobyl, National Geographic 2021
Chernobyl has four reactors all running at the same time. ibid.
A safety drill – but from the start, problems develop, and now something seems to be going very wrong. The young men who work the night shift struggle to prevent a major nuclear accident. ibid.
Chernobyl’s number four reactor explodes. The force of the explosion blows the reactor’s 2,000-ton steel roof sideways. 8 tons of highly reactive fuel blast into the night sky. ibid.
It does now seem likely that some time in the last couple of days there has been perhaps the worst accident in the short history of the world’ nuclear power industry. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes, UK news, Sky Documentaries 2022
Those who survived the disaster were silenced, and the film footage hidden. ibid. commentary
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station is in all respects the leader among nuclear power stations being built. First, it leads in the speed of launching new power-generating units. ibid. Soviet information film
Everyone believed our reactors simply could not explode. ibid. commentary
People enjoyed life there. We wanted for nothing. ibid.
We had to run over the unit, looking for the injured. The conditions were absolutely horrifying. There was fire, smoke, pieces of construction hanging down, hot vapour, extreme radiation. ibid.
36 hours had passed. For 36 hours, people had been inhaling contaminated air. After the announcement of the evacuation 2,200 buses came to Pripyat and Chernobyl. The people were told, ‘Don’t worry.’ ibid.
Right after the [helicopter] flights were started getting a metallic taste and a constant scratching in the throat. It was immediately noticeable. ibid.
The explosion at Chernobyl caused a toxic nuclear mess the likes of which the world had never seen before. An eruption of thick nuclear material had poured out over 1,000 square kilometres. ibid. Oleksiy Breus, Chernobyl engineer
We calculated the explosion was equivalent to 400 nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ibid.
Sooner or later each of our bodies showed signs. We all went through it – vomiting, coughing, extreme exhaustion. Some guys couldn’t get out of bed from fatigue by the second day. We called the local medical instructor. He gave them some pills, injections, something to drink. The level of radiation accumulation was strictly concealed. People worked till they fell from their feet … about 80% of the liquidators would die. ibid.
The 1986 Chernobyl disaster turned 1,000 square miles of Ukraine into a wasteland. The Chernobyl Disaster I: Meltdown, Channel 5 2022
Two miles from Chernobyl, the city of Pripyat, once home to 50,00 people, lies in ruins. A 1,000 mile exclusion zone has restricted access to the site. ibid.
Chernobyl is decades in the making. It began when the emerging Soviet Union’s nuclear power programme threatened the world. A Soviet dream that became a nightmare. ibid.
Engineers will switch off all of the pumps that cool the reactor to test the backup system. ibid.
Xenon gas is poisoning the reactor … Even before the test starts they’re struggling to control the reactor. ibid.
A disaster officials tried to cover up. As a brave few battled to stop radiation spreading across the globe. The Chernobyl Disaster II: Firestorm
They are following orders to get water into the reactor’s system to prevent meltdown. But the electrics have failed so they are doing the job manually. ibid.
The core of the reactor is smouldering, releasing large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Helicopters battle to stop this deadly radiation escaping from the molten core. The Chernobyl Disaster III: Fallout
The sarcophagus is falling apart … 45 countries including the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom all donate towards a new safe confinement shelter. ibid.