However, they didnt know about the faults that had been made during the construction of the reactor. During the evening of April 25, engineers made several fatal mistakes, including disconnecting Reactor No. Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov (Ukrainian: , Russian: ; 16 August 1960 14 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the senior reactor control chief engineer at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov ( Ukrainian: , Russian: ; 16 August 1960 - 14 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the senior reactor control chief engineer at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster . "The operators were afraid of him," Mr Breus agrees. The original footage was probably taken at reactor 4 control room during the time our guys were on crew, that's why many of them can be seen. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? He stayed behind and had his crew turn on the emergency water pumps to flood the reactor - sadly, the power source was inactive. The events of Chernobyl made me focus on my own mortalityon all our mortality. TV Shows. It seemed a good idea at the time, but it wasnt. A few hours later Akimov is dead. "A thin stream the firemen poured probably evaporated before it even reached reactor.". . The level of radiation in the Chernobyl zone is still the same today as it was in 1986.[9]. moustache is a struggling, wispy version of Akimov's. TOPTUNOV No, that's not--Akimov signals Toptunov not to argue. In an attempt to contain the disaster, helicopters dumped lead slabs weighing 40 kilograms (88 lb) each on the reactor, followed by several tons of radiation absorbing-sand. Those who take the responsible and leading posts are usually the ones to blame for the failures. The guy that posted it was a Radiation Specialist and had access to records of a lot of the Chernobyl victims. Yes, i thought the same about Razim Davletbayev. August 25, 2022 askans. He and his crew then stayed and manually pumped the emergency feedwater into the reactor. Biography Akimov was born in 1953 in the Soviet Union. Continue Reading 6 2 More answers below Michael Karnerfors And Oleksiy Breus sees their portrayal as "not a fiction, but a blatant lie". It took 3.5 hours to evacuate. I think you mean Aleksandr Akimov at Chernobyl, who was the shift supervisor on the night of the disaster. Before coming to Soviet Ukraine, he installed reactors into submarines at a shipbuilding plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he was once exposed to a nearly fatal dose of radiation. But Chernobyl continues to hit its mark, from a bonafide miners joke (Whats as big as a house, burns 20 liters of fuel every hour, puts out a shit-load of smoke and noise, and cuts an apple into three pieces? Not really regarding to Akimov specifically, but in my book Im reading the wife of the firefighter who stayed by his side all the way described lots of horrific side affects from the radiation, and he wasnt even in the same situation as Akimov. Chernobyl engineer Oleksiy Breus, then and now, beside the backdrop of the TV portrayal of the disaster, By Viacheslav Shramovych and Hanna Chornous, Mr Breus revisited the reactor's control room 20 years after the disaster struck, Viktor Bryukhanov (left) sits alongside deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov (orange shirt) and chief engineer Nikolai Fomin during a trial over the accident, British actor Adam Nagaitis played Vasily Ignatenko, one of the first firefighters on the scene of the disaster, The view of the damaged building from the roof of reactor No. Months after the Chernobyl disaster, the radioactivity had spread to Galsjo Forest in Sweden. Police roamed the streets wearing gas masks, but the residents were kept in the dark and only heard rumors. The dogs have been driven out of the woods by the wild wolves that habitat the area. ", "Possibly, Anatoly Dyatlov became the main anti-hero in the show because that was how he was perceived by the power plant's workers, his subordinates and top-management, in the beginning. 4 reactor, Oleksiy Ananenko (then and now) with a scene from the TV series showing the three workers wearing respirators, The TV series portrays how 400 miners were involved in digging the tunnel under the damaged reactor, The TV series shows Pripyat residents watching events unfold on what was later nicknamed the "Bridge of Death", The damage caused to the facility by the biggest nuclear disaster in history, Chernobyl mini-series review: 'It stops you sleeping', Chernobyl disaster: 'I didn't know the truth', Craig Mazin maintains that Dyatlov in particular was a "real bully", The people who moved to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus. The HBO miniseries includes many of the real people operating the reactor at the time of the meltdown. Very awesome. Their skin had a bright red colour. [4] They were found by other workers and taken to the infirmary. Only a Second World War survivor can imagine a similar scene.[4]. More than 500,000 residents in Ukraine were ultimately forced to leave their homes. And also being under that same piece of sky, you start to feel a little closer, in a sense, to who they were. 4 reactor, Oleksiy Ananenko (then and now) with a scene from the TV series showing the three workers wearing respirators, The TV series portrays how 400 miners were involved in digging the tunnel under the damaged reactor, The TV series shows Pripyat residents watching events unfold on what was later nicknamed the "Bridge of Death", The damage caused to the facility by the biggest nuclear disaster in history, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. Miners were brought in to dig a tunnel under the reactor to create a space for a heat exchanger, to stop the molten core melting through the concrete pad and contaminating the groundwater, threatening millions of lives. Their skin had a bright red colour. He has only two weeks left to live. 2023 BBC. On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the northern part of Soviet Ukraine, an event which today is widely known as the Chernobyl disaster. Hes not a man anymore, but a reactor. There were fears that "lava" from the molten reactor could reach the water, triggering a further, potentially far more powerful explosion. "Its high rankings show that people are still interested in Chernobyl. A member of staff at the plant from 1982, he became a witness to the immediate aftermath on the morning of 26 April 1986. 43 0 obj<>stream 04:00 - Further fire fighting units arrive from Chernobyl, Polesskoe and Kiev. When I finished my shift, my skin was brown, as if I had a proper suntan all over my body. It was just awful, and right in the middle of a city.. Akimov tries reassuring his even more shellshocked colleague, reactor engineer Leonid Toptunov, that they did everything right. The story of the reactor's catastrophic explosion, as told in an HBO/Sky miniseries, has received the highest ever score for a TV show on the film website IMDB. 0000015771 00000 n He was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and died two weeks after the explosion. Toptunov, along with non-essential personnel, was dismissed. He points to a few inaccuracies in the TV portrayal. He's growing weaker, wheezes, can hardly talk anymore. Miners were brought in to dig a tunnel under the reactor to create a space for a heat exchanger, to stop the molten core melting through the concrete pad and contaminating the groundwater, threatening millions of lives. The nurses let me in. Dyatlov ordered Toptunov and Akimov to raise the power to the requisite 700 MW. The actor playing Alexander Akimov, for instance, was never even put in makeup to depict the loss of his face. At least 5,000 people were badly affected at the time, while women who were pregnant were simply told to have abortions. "A big cup, vodka, KGB everywhere.". Does anybody know what the sources the author of this article could have used? FromBudapesttoBishkek. They were very pale. One after the other, like giant beetles, kilometre after kilometre. Some of the events he witnessed that morning were realistically depicted in the show, he says, but others he describes as fiction. He wanted a promotion which was promised to him in case of a successful test. Alexander Akimov worked with other employers in the reactor after the explosion. Theres something wrong with you.. This should come as no surprise that the reasons for the explosion are being thoroughly investigated. He was talking about another operator Brazhik. Toptunov had literally turned white.". There were fears that "lava" from the molten reactor could reach the water, triggering a further, potentially far more powerful explosion. The buses which escorted the residents out of Pripyat spread the radiation to wider areas. Always nice to see new programs about this :). Warning: This story contains plot details from the miniseries. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. My body parts not covered by clothes - such as hands, face and neck - were red". "Their characters are distorted and misrepresented, as if they were villains. Vasily Ignatenko was just 25 when he succumbed to slow death via radiation poisoning after fighting the fires of Chernobyl. In this article, we will tell you about the supervisor of the shift, Aleksandr Akimov, and his role in the accident. 0000009438 00000 n The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear disaster that occurred in the early hours of 26 April 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine.The accident occurred when Reactor Number 4 exploded and destroyed most of the reactor building, spreading debris and radioactive material across the surrounding area, and over the following days and weeks, most of mainland Europe . What interviewer? List of battleships of the United States Navy, Individual involvement in the Chernobyl disaster#Aleksandr Akimov, Articles containing Russian-language text, Articles needing page number citations from January 2020, Articles incorporating text from Find a Grave.com, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, People associated with the Chernobyl disaster, https://chnpp.gov.ua/ru/about/labour-glory-ru/geroi-likvidatory, "The World; Life After Death: Chernobyl Today", https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/22/weekinreview/the-world-life-after-death-chernobyl-today.html, https://books.google.com/books?id=7gQ0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT419&dq=Aleksandr+Akimov+15+Gray&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt66vNt5zmAhXOZd8KHeqdAWAQ6AEwAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=Aleksandr%20Akimov%2015%20Gray&f=false, https://books.google.com/books?id=ayhKAQAAIAAJ&q=Aleksandr+Akimov+I+did+everything+correctly&dq=Aleksandr+Akimov+I+did+everything+correctly&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiw3Mu4ypzmAhWRct8KHYs9DFUQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg, "Presidential Decree No. It was a cruel time.[7]. On 10 July 1984 Aleksandr Akimov was appointed to the position of shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4. I havent seen this one yet, looking forward to watching! In the hours after the explosion, he spoke to Oleksandr Akimov, the shift leader at the No. Although it has been more than three decades since the Chernobyl disaster, there are many still suffering the consequences today. He got a mild type of acute radiation syndrome, a doctor said. ", "Possibly, Anatoly Dyatlov became the main anti-hero in the show because that was how he was perceived by the power plant's workers, his subordinates and top-management, in the beginning. 0000001084 00000 n endstream endobj 22 0 obj<> endobj 23 0 obj<>/Encoding<>>>>> endobj 24 0 obj<> endobj 25 0 obj<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]>> endobj 26 0 obj<>stream ", By now Akimov's wife Lyuba was allowed to come to Moscow. "In hospital, I was treated with a guy who biked to that bridge in the morning on 26 April to watch it. [4] He left the control room but decided to return out of a sense of responsibility. Everyone stay calm. The roles of three key personalities lie at the heart of the story: Plant director Viktor) Bryukhanov, chief engineer Nikolai Fomin and deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov. Is it Kovalenko? "I've never heard there was a crowd of people who went to watch the fire at night," he says. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. I don't understand why it happened. Akimov eventually succumbed to acute radiation syndrome two weeks after the disaster at the age of 33. Their faces were only partially covered by respirators, so they could speak to each other, they were not offered a reward, and they were not clapped on their successful return. Unfortunately, it takes these tragic events to impress this on us.[6]. See a comparison with a very old photo of Stolyarchuk: https://bit.ly/3wBuX2S Pay attention to the "indentation" of the line of his moustache on the right side of the face. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? The Accident at Chernobyl: What Caused the Explosion? Underreported stories. Panting. Hours after the world's worst nuclear accident, engineer Oleksiy Breus entered the control room of the No. The ears look different to me, but I may be wrong. The goal was to test the system for preventive maintenance in case of a real power shutdown. 04:30 - Chief engineer Fomin arrived in the Block 4 control room. Menu. [] And you can start to feel how people would say, Okay, for sure, its not like the reactor blew up. His wife Lyuba is at his side.'. "The reactor looked so damaged, it seemed there was nothing else to do there.". [4], In 2008, Akimov was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, then the President of Ukraine.[5]. When the operators pushed the red button, the reactor didn't stop but exploded.". 0000002865 00000 n Two more workers died because of injuries. "It was just our work. Some dogs have been fitted with radiation sensors and GPS receivers, which help to map the radiation levels across the exclusion zone.[8]. My body parts not covered by clothes - such as hands, face and neck - were red". "I saw the damage at reactor No. his younger brother is donating bone marrow but the transplant can't stop the decay of the tissue. g][^b'v@2RPROza"e =-2Ik053NC=~k{'H|(V>a!Y^5idI1OLgx]zdO f6D*@=7'9 Later this perception changed.". Hours after the world's worst nuclear accident, engineer Oleksiy Breus entered the control room of the No. Firefighters were also asked to help clear radioactive debris from the roof after the fire was extinguished. They are also used for research on diseases including rabies. This actor is also famous for his acts in the BBC Robin Hood series. 0000011604 00000 n One of the most dramatic scenes in the miniseries shows three power plant workers volunteering to go into an underground tunnel beneath the damaged reactor to open a vital drainage valve. Children are shown playing in the radioactive dust, which falls from the sky like snow. I know he has been brought up alot in discussions especially about his face. They were very pale. The reason was the reactor's unstable condition due to low electrical network power. Because what it can do is savage. Nevertheless, Mazin says the creators wanted to avoid abusive filmmaking and decided not to show the absolute extremes of radiation sickness. Photographer Igor Kostin recalled, The clever ones also added a vine leaf for extra comfort.[5]. . Dyatlov could be Tolya, Scherbina could be Borya, Legasov could be Valera, etc. Some Chernobyl leaders built their defense on their bones. 2023 BBC. But while many have complimented the show's attention to detail, he believes it is also one of the downsides of the TV series. "The miners are shown as tough guys who are not afraid of anything, but not the power plant workers.". Radioecologist Sergey Gaschak explained, Animals dont seem to sense radiation and will occupy an area regardless of the radiation condition.[10]. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. "A big cup, vodka, KGB everywhere.". The city held its annual May Day parades as the government assured citizens everything was normal. Fresh perspectives. You could see the equipment and pumps exposed. Yes, it's Kovalenko, standing next to Akimov. The miniseries has shed the suspense of its first two installments, when the story unfolded like a disaster movie, and it now wants to know the reason for this tragedy. "For example, that useless secrecy, which became one of the reasons behind the Chernobyl disaster. When I finished my shift, my skin was brown, as if I had a proper suntan all over my body. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why half of India's urban women stay at home. In ablaze, he does indeed talk to Akimov and how much he wanted to live.. but Read wasn't talking about Akimov when he said about skin falling off his legs. A subreddit to discuss the Chernobyl Disaster that happened on the night of April 26, 1986, and the Exclusion Zone that isolates the city of Pripyat from the rest of the world. [11] They were found guilty of gross violation of safety regulations which led to an explosion. [4] He worked with Akimov to manually open water valves in an attempt to increase water supply to the reactor, during which time they began to experience symptoms of acute radiation syndrome. Witnesses reported he dried, or his body was mummified alive.
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