Chernobyl (2019): Season 1, Episode 5 - Vichnaya Pamyat - full transcript

Congratulations, comrades.
You're the last of 3,828 men.

I found this
in the state archive.

I need your help.

Can you confirm
that the reactor exploded

after they attempted
to shut it down?

What, you think
the right question

will get you the truth?

They're going
to put Dyatlov on trial.

We're going to be asked
to give expert testimony.

I've analyzed the data.

They shut the reactor down,
and then it exploded.



You've seen this before.

I had no idea it could cause
an explosion.

- So, it is their fault?
- Yes.

But not only their fault.

We can make a deal with the KGB.

You'll leave this information
out in Vienna.

They quietly let us
fix the remaining reactors.

You have a chance
to talk to the world.

Someone has to start
telling the truth.

I hear they might
promote Bryukhanov.

This little problem we have
with the safety test...

if it's completed successfully,

yes, I think promotion's
very likely.

Who knows, maybe Moscow.



Naturally, they'll put me
in charge once he's gone,

and then I'll need someone
to take my old job.

I could pick Sitnikov.

I would like to be considered.

I'll keep that in mind.

Viktor Petrovich,

preparations for the test
have gone smoothly.

Comrade Dyatlov's been
working per my instructions,

and Reactor 4 output's been
reduced to 1600 megawatts.

With your approval,
we're ready to continue lowering power to...

We have to wait.

Is, uh...?

Are you going to ask me if
there's a problem, Nikolai?

You can't read
a fucking face?

Three years,
I've tried to finish this test.

Three years.

I've just had a call from
the grid controller in Kiev.

He says we can't
lower power any further,

not for another
ten hours.

The grid controller?
Where does he get off...

It's not the grid controller's decision,
Dyatlov.

It's the end of the month.

All the productivity quotas.

Everyone's working overtime,
the factories need power.

Someone's pushing
down from above.

Although,
we'll never know who.

So, do we have to scrap it
or what?

No, I don't think so.

If we need to wait
ten hours,

- we wait
- Running at half power,

we're not going to have
stability issues?

- No, I-I should think...
- I'm not asking you.

It's safe.

We'll maintain at 1600.

I'll go home, get some sleep,
come back tonight.

We'll proceed then.

I'll personally
supervise the test.

And it will be completed.

Well, I'm not waiting
around then.

Call me when it's done.

How do you feel?

You went
to the doctor yesterday.

How is your health?

You don't know?

From Vienna.

Do you read German?

It says, "At last a Soviet
scientist who tells the truth."

Obviously, I resent
the insinuation,

but I think it's fair to say, you made an
excellent impression at the conference.

Turns out,
you're quite good at this.

At what? Lying?

Statecraft, Legasov.
Statecraft.

The West is now satisfied

that Chernobyl was solely
the result of operator error,

which it essentially was.

We have you
to thank for that,

and we intend to.

"Hero of the Soviet Union."

Our highest honor.

They haven't even
given it to me.

"Promotion to Director
of the Kurchatov Institute."

I'm humbled.

I don't think there's anything humble
about you, Valery Alexeyevich.

These rewards are
not yours yet.

First, your testimony
at the trial.

Comrade Charkov,
I understand my duty to the State.

But you gave us
assurances.

The reactors
would be made safe.

It's been months,
no changes have been made.

- No changes even discussed.
- First, the trial.

Once it's over,
we will have our villains,

we will have our hero,
we will have our truth.

After that, we can deal
with the reactors.

Did you take a train?

Yes, I took a train.

Now let's talk about Vienna.

I'm not here to scold you.

I know how the world works
despite what Shcherbina says.

So... why are you here?

Because I'm
brutally stubborn.

Which you were
hoping for.

Charkov is saying they're going to
fix the reactors after the trial.

Do you believe him?

The State will never
willingly fix the reactors,

because acknowledging the problem
means admitting that they lied.

They will have to be forced.

At the trial,
you're going to tell the truth.

You're going
to convince the jury.

It's a show trial.

- The jury's already been handed their verdict.
- I'm not talking about them.

The Central Committee
have invited

members of the scientific
community to observe the trial.

Our colleagues,
from Kurchatov,

from Sredmash,
from Minenergo,

they will be sitting in the crowd
listening to every word you say.

A jury that only
we know is there.

And when your testimony arrives
at the moment of the explosion?

That is when our jury will
finally hear the truth.

- And do what with it?
- Insist on reform.

- Not just to the RBMK, but the entire industry.
- No, no, no, no, no.

- They can't function without us.
- No, no, no.

Do you know
what happened to Volkov

the man whose
report you found?

They just removed him from
his position at the Institute.

Sacked for the crime
of knowing.

And you think that
these scientists,

handpicked to witness
a show trial,

will somehow be stirred
into action by me?

Because of some heroic stance
I take in defiance of the State?

- Yes.
- Why?

Because you're Valery Legasov,
and you mean something.

I'd like to think that if I
spoke out, it would be enough.

But I know
how the world works.

They will shoot me, Khomyuk.

You told me
to find out what happened.

I spoke to dozens of people.

Every word they said,
I wrote down.

All in these books.

These are the ones
who are still alive.

These are the ones
who are dead.

They died rescuing each other.

Putting out fires,
tending to the wounded.

They didn't hesitate,
they didn't waiver.

They simply did
what had to be done.

So have I.

So have I.

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.

The Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union

and the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

has determined that
justice be carried out

on behalf of the People

in accordance with
the general goal of our Party

as determined by its 20th,
21st, and 22nd Congresses,

which is a Leninist goal.

It was, is, and will be

the only immutable goal
in the Soviet state.

The path of Leninist principles

shall be consistently
and undeviatingly followed

as it expresses the vital
interests of the Soviet People,

its hopes and aspirations

as we guide the life
of the Party and the State.

This session of court
is now open,

Comrade Judge Milan
Kadnikov presiding.

Indictments:

Viktor Bryukhanov,

Anatoly Dyatlov,

Nikolai Fomin...

are accused of violating
Article 220 Section 2

of the Criminal Code
of the Soviet Union,

resulting in a nuclear disaster
on April 26, 1986.

The State calls witnesses
Comrade Khomyuk

of the Byelorussian
Nuclear Institute,

Comrade Legasov of the Kurchatov
Institute of Atomic Energy,

and Comrade Boris
Evdokimovich Shcherbina,

Deputy Chairman of
the Council of Ministers

and head of the Bureau
for Fuel and Energy.

It began with, of all things,
a safety test.

Why was there need
for a safety test at all?

Reactor Number 4 was not new
when the accident occurred.

In fact, it went into operation
on December 20th, 1983.

Eleven days later,
on the last day of the year,

Plant Director Viktor Bryukhanov
signed this document...

certifying the completion of
the construction of the reactor.

As a result of finishing the
work before the end of the year,

Comrade Bryukhanov was awarded
Hero of Socialist Labor.

Comrade Fomin was awarded
for Valorous Labor.

Comrade Dyatlov was given
an Order of the Red Banner.

But their work was not finished.

And this document was a lie.

In order to sign
this certificate,

all safety tests had to have
been successfully completed,

and yet, one remained.

A nuclear reactor generates
heat in the core here.

A series of pumps,
here and here,

send a constant flow of cooling
water through the core.

The core's heat turns
the water to steam,

and the steam spins
the turbine here,

and the result is electricity.

But what if a power plant
has no power?

What if the power feeding
the plant itself is disrupted?

A blackout, equipment failure,

or an attack
by a foreign enemy?

If there's no power,

the pumps cannot move
water through the core.

And without water,
the core overheats,

the fuel melts down.

In short, a nuclear disaster.

The solution?

Three diesel fuel
backup generators here.

So, problem solved?

No.

Bryukhanov knew that the problem
was not solved at all.

The backup generators took
approximately one minute

to reach the speed required

to power the pumps
and prevent a meltdown,

and by that time,
it would be too late.

So we arrive
at the safety test.

If the facility lost power,

the turbine,
which had been spinning,

would take some time
to slow down and stop.

What if you could take
the electricity

it was still generating
and transfer it to the pumps?

What if the dying turbine

could keep the pumps
working long enough

to bridge the 60-second gap
until the generators came on?

Any questions?

No. Continue, please.

To test this theory,

the reactor is placed
in a reduced power mode...

700 megawatts...

to simulate
a blackout condition.

Then the turbines
are turned off,

and as they slowly spin down,

their electrical output is
measured

to see if it's enough
to power the pumps.

The science is strong,

but a test is only as good
as the men carrying it out.

Now, the first time they tried,
they failed.

The second time they tried,
they failed.

The third time they tried,
they failed.

The fourth time they tried

was April 26th, 1986.

Comrade Khomyuk.

To understand
what happened that night,

we have to go back
ten hours earlier...

April 25th, the day the test
was meant to take place.

By two in the afternoon,

the reactor has been
lowered by half

from its normal output level
of 3200 megawatts

to 1600 megawatts
and is stable

and ready to be reduced to its
final output level for the test:

700 megawatts.

But before they can proceed,
there is a phone call.

Power grid officials in Kiev
say that they cannot afford

a further reduction in the
electricity until after midnight.

They are asking
for a ten-hour delay.

This is the first
critical moment,

the first link
in the chain of disaster.

Competent management would have
insisted on canceling the test.

These three men
allowed it to proceed.

Why was this delay
so dangerous?

It created two problems:

One of them is
scientific in nature...

and the other is very human.

This is the one
we will consider first.

At midnight,
there is a shift change.

Hey.

- Khodemchuk...
- Forget it. Find another fool.

Toptunov, want to buy
a motorcycle?

- Toptunov?
- He's just a little boy.

He's got more hair on his face
than on his balls.

Hair? Is that
what's on his lip?

Leonid Fedorovych.

Akimov says to come to the
control room as soon as you can.

- Is he already here?
- He came in early.

Something about a test.

You see? Desperate.

Sasha?

Ah. You know the test
they were supposed to run?

The turbine rundown,
they tried it last year.

They couldn't do it on the day shift,
so they've given it to us.

To us?

- We don't know what...
- Shh.

We don't know what it is.
- It's fine.

We take it down to 700,
hold it there,

the rest is Stolyarchuk
and Kirschenbaum, but...

Dyatlov is gonna be supervising.

I have to do something
I've never done before

with Dyatlov looking
over my shoulder?

Yeah, well, don't worry,
we'll do it together.

I'm looking at
the instructions now.

Are we supposed to do
those or not?

Yes, this is Akimov in 4.

I have the manual
for the rundown test.

You did it last year.

Yes, in the program there's
instructions of what to do,

and then, well, there's
a lot of things crossed out.

What should I...?

Well, what should I...?

Are you sure?

Right. Thank you.

He says to follow
the crossed-out instructions.

So then why are
they crossed out?

We've been cleared
to run the test.

1600. Good.

Now, is it too much to ask that
you all know what you're doing?

- Well...
- Yes. Absolutely.

- Stolyarchuk?
- Yes.

- Kirschenbaum?
- Uh, I haven't reviewed.

We only just
found out really...

There, review it.

Or you can just
do what I tell you.

I think even you,
stupid as you are, can manage that.

Well, let's go.

I'm supposed to switch the turbine off
while the reactor's still running?

- This is not good...
- Shut the fuck up and do your job!

Toptunov, reduce power to 700.

I've never done this with
the power so low before.

It's okay. I'm with you.

Reducing power to 700.

I want you to think
of Yuri Gagarin.

I want you to imagine that
he has been told nothing

of his mission into space until the
moment that he is on the launch pad.

I want you to imagine
that all he has

is a list of instructions
that he has never seen before,

some of which
have been crossed out.

This is exactly
what was happening

in the control room
of Reactor 4.

The night shift had not been
trained to perform the experiment.

They hadn't even been
warned it was happening.

Leonid Toptunov,

the operator responsible
for controlling and stabilizing

the reactor that night was...
all of 25 years old.

And his total experience
on the job?

Four months.

This is the human problem
created by the delay.

But inside the reactor core,

in the space between
the atoms themselves,

something far more
dangerous is forming.

A poison.

The time is 28 past midnight.

Comrade Legasov.

I'm pleased to see some
of my colleagues here

from the Kurchatov Institute
and Minenergo.

But you don't need
to be a nuclear scientist

to understand what
happened at Chernobyl.

You only need to know this:

there are essentially
two things that happen

inside a nuclear reactor.

The reactivity
which generates power

either goes up,
or it goes down.

That's it.

All the operators do
is maintain balance.

Uranium fuel.

As uranium atoms
split apart and collide,

reactivity goes up.

But if you don't
balance the reactivity,

it never stops rising. So...

Boron control rods.

They reduce reactivity
like brakes on a car.

But there's a third factor
to consider: water.

Cool water takes heat
out of the system.

As it does, it turns to steam,
or what we call a "void."

In an RBMK reactor of
the type used at Chernobyl,

there's something called
a "positive void coefficient."

What does that mean?

It means that the more steam
present within the system,

the higher the reactivity,

which means more heat,
which means more steam,

which means...

It would appear we have
a vicious cycle on our hands.

And we would,
were it not for this...

And we would,
were it not for this:

the negative temperature
coefficient.

When nuclear fuel gets hotter,
it gets less reactive, so...

fuel increases reactivity.

Control rods and water
reduce it.

Steam increases it,

and the rise in
temperature reduces it.

This is the invisible dance

that powers entire cities
without smoke or flame.

And it is beautiful

when things are normal.

As uranium splits apart
to release energy,

it breaks down
into a new element, xenon.

Xenon reduces reactivity.

This is the poison
Comrade Khomyuk mentioned.

When the core is
running at full power,

it burns the xenon away
before it can cause a problem.

But because of the delay,

Chernobyl Reactor 4 has
been held at half power

for ten hours.

The xenon did not burn away.

It built up, poisoning the core.

We're starting to lose balance.

At 28 minutes past midnight,

the reactor is now
primed to slow down.

And yet, in less than an hour,
it will explode.

If you can't understand
how a stalled nuclear reactor

could lead to an explosion,
I don't blame you.

After all, you don't work
in the control room

of a nuclear power plant.

But as it turned out,
the men who did

didn't understand it either.

Easy now.

Take it down.

Good. Like that.

You should have
finished by now.

We're following protocol
for reduction rate.

You're procrastinating.

There are ten other men in this
plant who would've done it already.

Keep working.
You're doing fine.

Kirschenbaum, come get me
when these old women are ready.

Yes, Comrade Dyatlov.

Okay, very slow now.

Let's ease it down to 700.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow.
- I-I didn't move any rods there.

- What is this?
- I'm not even touching it.

We did everything right.
I think that maybe the core is poisoned.

Well, if you thought
the core was poisoned,

then you didn't
do everything right,

because you're
choking my reactor!

Get it back up!

Uh, I think
if we turn off LAC,

it may be possible
to get more control.

- Do it. Go.
- Switch off local automatic control.

Go to global.
Leonid.

LAC disabled.
Global control activated.

What did you do?

I-I did what you said.
I switched... Look at it!

- I don't understand.
- Fucking amateurs.

You stalled the reactor.

How the fuck did
you get this job?

- Comrade Dyatlov...
- You're gonna tell me you did everything right again,

you incompetent asshole?

I apologize for this
unsatisfactory result.

- What are you doing?
- We have to shut all the way down.

- No.
- We could be in a xenon pit.

We have to shut down
and wait for 24 hours.

No. We're doing the test
tonight. Raise power to 700.

We can't raise
the power from here.

- The rules...
- Don't talk to me about rules.

- If we fall from 80%...
- No, no. We fell from 50%.

- Fifty percent is worse!
- The rules don't say 50!

- There is no rule!
- Comrade Dyatlov,

I apologize, but what you're
saying makes no sense.

- Raise the power.
- No.

I won't do it.
It isn't safe.

Safety first. Always.

I've been saying that
for 25 years.

That's how long I've
done this job, 25 years.

Is that longer
than you, Akimov?

Yes.

- Is it much longer?
- Yes.

And you with your mother's
tit barely out of your mouth?

So if I say it's safe,
it's safe.

And if the two
of you disagree,

then you don't have to work
here and you won't.

But not just here.
You won't work at Kursk

or Ignalina or Leningrad
or Novo-Voronezh.

You won't work anywhere ever again.
I'll see to it.

I think you know
I will see to it.

Raise the power.

I would like you
to record your command.

Raise the power.

Together, then.

I wasn't even there.

What?

I wasn't in the room
when they raised the power.

If you weren't there,
then where were you?

Comrade Legasov, you are a witness,
not a prosecutor.

I will ask the questions here.

If you weren't in the room,
then where were you?

The toilet.

The toilet?

Comrade Khomyuk
interviewed everyone

who was in the control
room that night.

They all told the same story.

"I knew what Dyatlov
ordered was wrong,

but if I didn't do what
he said, I would be fired."

Leonid Toptunov.

One day before he died.

No, Comrade Dyatlov,
you were in the room.

You ordered them
to raise the power.

This is a fact.

Court is now in recess.

Thirty minutes.

Do you know anything
about this town, Chernobyl?

Not really, no.

It was mostly Jews and Poles.

The Jews were
killed in pogroms,

and Stalin forced
the Poles out.

And then the Nazis came
and killed whoever was left.

But after the war...

people came to live
here anyway.

They knew the ground under
their feet was soaked in blood,

but they didn't care.

Dead Jews, dead Poles.

But not them.

No one ever thinks it's going
to happen to them.

And here we are.

How much time?

Maybe a year.

They call it a...

They call it a "long illness."

It doesn't seem very long to me.

I know you told me,
and I believed you.

But time passed,
and I thought,

it wouldn't happen to me.

I wasted it.

I wasted it all for nothing.

For nothing?

Do you remember that morning
when I first called you,

how unconcerned I was?

I don't believe much that
comes out of the Kremlin,

but when they told me
they were putting me

in charge of the cleanup

and they said it wasn't serious,
I believed them.

You know why?

Because they put
you in charge.

Yeah.

I'm an inconsequential man,
Valera.

That's all I've ever been.

I hoped that one day
I would matter, but I didn't.

I just stood
next to people who did.

There are other
scientists like me.

Any one of them could
have done what I did.

But you...

Everything we asked for,
everything we needed.

Men, material, lunar rovers.

Who else could have
done these things?

They heard me,
but they listened to you.

Of all the ministers
and all the deputies...

entire congregation
of obedient fools...

they mistakenly sent
the one good man.

For god's sake, Boris,

you were the one
who mattered most.

Ah, it's beautiful.

Comrade Legasov.

The time is 38 past midnight.

The reactor is nearly shut down.

The operators of Reactor 4
are locked on a path

that leads directly to disaster.

There's no way to turn back.

They do not yet know it,
but the die is cast.

At 30 megawatts,
xenon is still being created,

but none of it is burning away.

The reactor is
drowning in poison.

To make matters worse,
the reactor isn't hot enough

to produce sufficient steam.

The only way to safely raise
power from this state

is to do it very, very slowly

over the course of 24 hours.

But Dyatlov wants it done now.

Akimov and Toptunov have
only one course of action.

They begin pulling
control rods out.

Dozens at a time.

Halfway out,
three-quarters of the way out,

still, the power does not budge.

So they begin pulling
them all the way out.

There were 211 control rods
in Reactor 4.

Akimov and Toptunov
completely withdrew 205.

Remember... control rods are
the brakes on this car.

Of 211 rods, only six
now remain in the reactor.

As for the fuel,
it's gone cold,

so the negative
temperature coefficient

is no longer weighing
down the reactivity.

But even still, the xenon
poisoning is so strong,

the best they can do is raise
the power to 200 megawatts.

The control rods are out.

The emergency system
has been disconnected.

The only thing keeping
the reactor in check

is water and xenon.

It's one in the morning.
The test is minutes away.

I'm sorry, this is
all we can get.

It's 200 megawatts.
We've pulled almost everything out.

If that's all we have,
that's all we have.

- But the test requires 700.
- Stolyarchuk, let's get ready.

- Switch on pump 4.
- No, wait a second.

Stolyarchuk...
- We have barely enough steam as it is.

The turbine is going too slow for the
test to deliver any valid results.

- It's enough.
- And if we add more water, there will be even less...

I said it's enough.
I know what I'm doing.

Stolyarchuk.

Main Pump 4,
connected.

We should warn Khodemchuk.
The pipes are gonna be...

Never mind him.
Kirschenbaum?

The steam in the separator drum
is too low... five atmospheres.

All right, let's all help him.
Get it up as best you can.

We should stop.

Turn that fucking
thing off.

You have 15 minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

They may as well
have had 15 days.

The problem they were facing
was not solvable.

The power was too low,
the water was too high.

The test was already ruined.

The results would
have been useless,

but Dyatlov didn't care.

All he wanted to do was
report a completed test.

1:22 a.m.

Less than two minutes remain.

Yuvchenko, a mechanical
engineer, is in his office.

Perevozchenko,
reactor section foreman,

is in the refueling hall,

high above the 1,000-ton
steel reactor cover.

Degtaryenko and Khodemchuk,

circulation operators,
are in the pump room.

None of them have been told

about the test.

None of them know
what is about to happen.

At 1:22 and 30 seconds,

Toptunov sees a report

from the reactor's
SKALA computer system.

Based on the absence
of sufficient control rods,

the computer is recommending
that the reactor be shut down.

Well, of course
it's saying that.

It doesn't know
we're running a test.

All right, comrades.

Another few minutes,
it will all be over.

Kirschenbaum, when you're ready.

We did everything right.

Oscillograph on.

Closing Number 8
throttle valve.

Generator rotor
beginning rundown.

1:23 and four seconds.

With every decision,

they have pulled this reactor
back like a slingshot,

further than anyone
has ever pulled,

now the test begins.

The pumps are shut down,
and they've let go.

The pumps stop moving water
through the reactor.

Uranium fuel is now
unchecked by fresh coolant,

unchecked by control rods.

The balance immediately swings
in the opposite direction.

In less than a second,

reactivity increases.

Inside the core,

the remaining water is
quickly converting to steam.

A void is being created.

There is no fresh water
to replace it.

Steam increases reactivity,

increases heat, increases steam,

increases reactivity.

The remaining xenon decays away.

The power is rising.

There's nothing left to stop it.

1:23 and 35 seconds.

We have a power surge! Sasha!

What did you do?!

1:23 and 40 seconds.

In every control room of every
nuclear reactor in the world,

there is a button
with one single purpose...

to "scram," or instantly
shut down, the reaction.

In Soviet reactors,
that button is called AZ-5.

You press AZ-5,
all of the control rods insert at once,

and the reaction
is stopped dead.

But...

What are you waiting for,
Legasov? Tell your lies.

Comrade Dyatlov, you will
not be warned again.

- Or what?
- For god's sake, Dyatlov.

Legasov's already
given it away.

- He said before, there was no way to avoid what was coming.
- Comrade Dyatlov.

- He knows something. She knows something.
- Comrade Dyatlov.

I know what you are,
Valery Alexeyevich.

- You're a liar.
- We've heard enough for today.

The defendants will be
remanded in custody.

- Court will...
- I... I haven't finished.

I still have more
evidence to give.

It's not necessary.
Your testimony is concluded.

- Your Honor.
- Court is now adjourned.

- We will resume tomorrow with...
- Let him finish.

Comrade Shcherbina...

Let him finish.

Dyatlov broke
every rule we have.

He pushed a reactor
to the brink of destruction.

He did these things believing
there was a failsafe.

AZ-5, a simple button
to shut it all down.

But in the circumstances
he created, there wasn't.

The shutdown system
had a fatal flaw.

At 1:23:40, Akimov engages AZ-5.

The fully-withdrawn
control rods

begin moving back
into the reactor.

These rods are made of boron,
which reduces reactivity,

but not their tips.

The tips are made of graphite,
which accelerates reactivity.

Why?

Why?

For the same reason
our reactors

do not have containment
buildings around them,

like those in the West.

For the same reason
we don't use

properly enriched fuel
in our cores.

For the same reason
we are the only nation

that builds water-cooled,
graphite-moderated reactors

with a positive
void coefficient.

It's cheaper.

The first part of the rods
that enter the core

are the graphite tips.

And when they do,
the reaction in the core,

which had been rising,
skyrockets.

Every last molecule
of liquid water

instantly converts to steam,

which expands and ruptures
a series of fuel rod channels.

The control rods in those
channels can move no further.

The graphite tips are
fixed in position,

endlessly accelerating
the reaction.

Chernobyl Reactor 4
is now a nuclear bomb.

1:23:42.

Perevozchenko looks down

on the enormous steel lid
of the reactor...

...and sees the impossible.

The control rod
and fuel channel caps,

which each weigh 350 kilograms,

are jumping up and down.

He runs to warn
the control room.

But there's nothing he can do
to stop what is coming.

1:23 and 44 seconds.

The steam blows more
fuel channels apart.

We do not know
how high the power went.

We only know the final reading.

Reactor 4,

designed to operate
at 3200 megawatts,

went beyond 33,000.

The pressure inside the core
can no longer be held back.

At long last, we have arrived.
1:23:45, explosion.

In the instant the lid is thrown
off the reactor, oxygen rushes in.

It combines with hydrogen
and super-heated graphite.

The chain of disaster
is now complete.

Comrade Dyatlov!

Comrade Dyatlov!

No one in the room
that night knew

the shutdown button
could act as a detonator.

They didn't know it,

because it was kept from them.

Comrade Legasov,
you're contradicting

your own testimony in Vienna.

My testimony in Vienna
was a lie.

I lied to the world.

I'm not the only one
who kept this secret.

There are many.

We were following orders,

from the KGB,
from the Central Committee.

And right now, there are 16
reactors in the Soviet Union

with the same fatal flaw.

Three of them are still running

less than 20 kilometers
away at Chernobyl.

Professor Legasov, if you mean
to suggest the Soviet State

is somehow responsible
for what happened,

then I must warn you, you are
treading on dangerous ground.

I've already trod
on dangerous ground.

We're on dangerous
ground right now,

because of our secrets
and our lies.

They're practically
what define us.

When the truth offends,
we lie and lie

until we can no longer
remember it is even there.

But it is still there.

Every lie we tell incurs
a debt to the truth.

Sooner or later,
that debt is paid.

That is how an RBMK
reactor core explodes.

Lies.

Valery Alexeyevich Legasov,

son of Alexei Legasov,

Head of Ideological Compliance,
Central Committee.

Do you know what
your father did there?

Yes.

As a student, you had a
leadership position in Komsomol.

Communist Youth, correct?

- You already know.
- Answer the question.

Yes.

At the Kuchartov Institute,

you were the Communist
Party secretary.

In the position,
you limited

the promotion
of Jewish scientists.

Yes.

To curry favor
with Kremlin officials.

You're one of us, Legasov.

I can do anything
I want with you.

But what I want most is
for you to know that I know.

You're not brave.

You're not heroic.

You're just a dying man
who forgot himself.

I know who I am,
and I know what I've done.

In a just world,
I'd be shot for my lies,

but not for this,
not for the truth.

Scientists...

and your idiot obsessions
with reasons.

When the bullet
hits your skull,

what will it matter why?

No one's getting shot,
Legasov.

The whole world
saw you in Vienna.

It would be embarrassing
to kill you now.

And for what?

Your testimony today will not
be accepted by the State.

It will not be
disseminated in the press.

It never happened.

No, you will live,

however long you have,

but not as a scientist,
not anymore.

You'll keep your title
and your office,

but no duties,
no authority, no friends.

No one will
talk to you.

No one will
listen to you.

Other men,
lesser men,

will receive credit for
the things you have done.

Your legacy is
now their legacy.

You'll live long enough
to see that.

What role did
Shcherbina play in this?

None.

He didn't know
what I was gonna say.

What role did
Khomyuk play in this?

None.

She didn't know either.

After all you've said
and done today,

it would be curious
if you chose this moment to lie.

I would think a man
of your experience

would know a lie
when he hears one.

You will not meet
or communicate

with either one
of them ever again.

You will not communicate
with anyone

about Chernobyl ever again.

You will remain so immaterial
to the world around you

that when you
finally do die,

it will be exceedingly hard to
know that you ever lived at all.

What if I refuse?

Why worry about something
that isn't going to happen?

"Why worry about something
that isn't going to happen?"

Oh, that's perfect.

They should put that
on our money.

To be a scientist
is to be naive.

We are so focused on
our search for truth,

we fail to consider how few
actually want us to find it.

But it is always there,
whether we see it or not,

whether we choose to or not.

The truth doesn't care
about our needs or wants.

It doesn't care
about our governments,

our ideologies,
our religions.

It will lie in wait
for all time.

And this, at last,
is the gift of Chernobyl.

Where I once would fear
the cost of truth,

now I only ask:

What is the cost of lies?