[. His wife Lyuba is at his side.'. "The Chernobyl catastrophe is depicted in a very powerful way, as a global catastrophe that absorbed huge numbers of people. 0000011604 00000 n Whilst he was in hospital. Ultimately, though, he is happy the show has refocused attention on the disaster and the scale of damage caused. The nurses let me in. "They took off their clothes, but not like it was shown in the film, not right down to nothing," Mr Breus insists, also pointing out that their role was ultimately not significant to the story. 30 33 Related Topics Chernobyl Ukraine Europe Place 33 comments Best Add a Comment ApprehensiveFarmer17 2 yr. ago Akimov had 100% of his skin burnt by radiation. Everyone stay calm. Biography [ edit] You could see the equipment and pumps exposed. [1], Leonid Toptunov was born on 16 August 1960 in Mykolaivka, Buryn Raion, Sumy Oblast. "Radiation exposure, red skin, radiation burns and steam burns were what many people talked about but it was never shown like this. Always nice to see new programs about this :). Also, emotions and mood at that time are shown quite precisely, both among the personnel and the authorities. Just found this on Sky. They pumped water into the reactor core, which was the right thing to do at the moment but the wrong thing to do in a long run. "I've never heard there was a crowd of people who went to watch the fire at night," he says. For Russian football coach and player, see, This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is. Thank you! He has only two weeks left to live. It is the worst human-induced accident that the Earth has ever seen, to say the least of it. Thats your job, randomly spouting INSAG reports. 6 in Moscow, where Alexander Akomv is suffering towards death. [] And the last thing that I want this show to do is to scare people about nuclear power. Ill say its him until proven otherwise! 9:23 into the video, to me it looks like him, Oh God. Is there any other reports regarding Akimov? On the night of April 26, 1986, Alexander Akimov was at work as the shift supervisor of the night crew of Chernobyl Plant Unit Four. During the test, Akimov called for the AZ-5 (scram) button to be pressed to shut down the reactor, and Toptunov operated the button. 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. "It was clear they felt sick. [3] Due to a design flaw, the descending control rods momentarily accelerated the nuclear reaction and caused the reactor to explode. They were nothing like that. In the hours after the explosion, he spoke to Oleksandr Akimov, the shift leader at the No. 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. There have been reports that the skin on his legs fell off like a sock when trying to stand. In preparation, Anatoly Dyatlov ordered the power to be reduced to 700 MW, as the test plan stipulated. He's growing weaker, wheezes, can hardly talk anymore. The digging only pushed radioactive material deeper into the soil and closer to the water table, so that contamination spread even further., Today, only two buildings are left standing, one of which is the former kindergarten, where children were not evacuated until 36 hours of exposure. They didnt have a clue. At least 5,000 people were badly affected at the time, while women who were pregnant were simply told to have abortions. Akimov tries reassuring his even more shellshocked colleague, reactor engineer Leonid Toptunov, that they did everything right. According to Sources: Akimov suffered severe Leg Burns and the high amount of radiation caused it face to slowly dissolve away. 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. Elk were contaminated, and the moment their bodies were thrown in a quarry after being stripped of their heads and fur was captured on camera. 0000001084 00000 n 'Chernobyl' HBO Cast: Who Plays a Real Person? Their True Story There was one in particular where the floor sloped down, so it was lower than the entrance to the door, and the idea was that youd go into that room, and they would fill it with water, up to your knees or so, so you couldnt sleep. 3, Firefighters pictured in 1986 before cleaning debris from the roof of the No. So from that Im assuming those could be pretty true about him, especially skin being so delicate because of the radiation. This further increase in power caused the reactor to explode. "They took off their clothes, but not like it was shown in the film, not right down to nothing," Mr Breus insists, also pointing out that their role was ultimately not significant to the story. He was entirely black, due to skin necrosis, but I never read anywhere that he had no face left, Jesus Christ he mummified, that sounds horrific. 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. The body of one of them, Valery Khodemchuk, was never recovered from the reactor debris. A member of staff at the plant . Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? 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. He got a mild type of acute radiation syndrome, a doctor said. They were very pale. "My chances are small", he told his colleagues "But if I survive this, one thing is sure: I will never work in a power plant again. During his studies of the reactor documentation, he mentioned to his friend, Sasha Korol, that control rods may, in certain circumstances, accelerate rather than slow the reaction. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. In the days that followed, 32 people died at Chernobyl, and many more suffered radiation burns. 0000005085 00000 n Vasily Ignatenko, depicted in the series, was among the first firefighters sent to tackle the blaze. But no matter how strict he was, he was still a high-level professional.". Vasily Ignatenko, depicted in the series, was among the first firefighters sent to tackle the blaze. The shows creators havent managed to keep track of all the little things (even though their attention to detail is why many people fell in love with the miniseries in the first place): Valery Legasov, the character played by Jared Harris, drinks his vodka from a large glass in small sips, as if it were whiskey, and everyone in the cast keeps addressing each other as comrade in complete seriousness. The Real Chernobyl: Q&A With a Radiation Exposure Expert I'll try and find it. It was just awful, and right in the middle of a city.. There is little doubt that ARS patients, and those with severe skin injury, have Its as if the showrunners saw it all happen with their own eyes. The Accident at Chernobyl: What Caused the Explosion? When the situation got out of control, the AZ-5 button was pressed. The reason was the reactors unstable condition due to low electrical network power. 04:00 - Further fire fighting units arrive from Chernobyl, Polesskoe and Kiev. Ive never heard anything about his face, only his skin blackening and shriveling. Also, emotions and mood at that time are shown quite precisely, both among the personnel and the authorities. 03:30 - Telyatnikov contacted Akimov, asking what was happening to his firemen; Akimov sent him a dosimetrist. . Tatiana Ignatenko was a collective farm fieldworker, and Ivan Ignatenko a tractor, and later truck . What happened to Akimov Chernobyl? - Quora Some Chernobyl leaders built their defense on their bones. We dont think of our own death. Their skin had a bright red colour. (k[YUWvP The Chernobyl nuclear accident is one of the most shocking and devastating catastrophes of modern times. Dr. Gale treated patients who had suffered such a high exposure to radiation that even a bone marrow transplant could not save them. moustache is a struggling, wispy version of Akimov's. TOPTUNOV No, that's not--Akimov signals Toptunov not to argue. Remember this scene? "In hospital, I was treated with a guy who biked to that bridge in the morning on 26 April to watch it. 0000010565 00000 n Aleksandr Akimov Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family 0000013685 00000 n 3, Firefighters pictured in 1986 before cleaning debris from the roof of the No. Once more his temperature increases and then he falls into coma. Twitter: @thecheish. Only a Second World War survivor can imagine a similar scene.[4]. Just days after the initial disaster, the wind changed direction and began blowing high levels of radiation in the direction of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. "There are many stereotypes shown, typical of Western portrayal of the Soviet Union," argues Oleksiy Breus. He sent a letter to his parents and left a note on where to find him in Moscow. Who is the man on the time stamp on 9:20? ax1N58[zR)8WN}+|[x? Experts were unable to make an exact reading, as 200 meters (656 ft) above the reactor, radiation levels had reached 1,500 rems, but the counters were not capable of reading any higher than 500 rems. Aleksandr Akimov and Leonid Toptunov - But Valery Alekseyevich Stayed "When he was present at the block, it created tension for everyone. "The miners are shown as tough guys who are not afraid of anything, but not the power plant workers.". DYATLOV (to the room) This is an emergency. Chernobyl S1E1 "1:23:45" / Recap - TV Tropes 4. [5], In 2008, Toptunov was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, then the President of Ukraine.[6]. Warning: This story contains plot details from the miniseries. But while many have complimented the show's attention to detail, he believes it is also one of the downsides of the TV series. Some of the events he witnessed that morning were realistically depicted in the show, he says, but others he describes as fiction. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. xb```a``vb`e`} @V h r `0+Q -`5B@e GS:a/(r_g|8)|Z (a_x@ &d Mr Breus worked with many of the individuals portrayed and has given his verdict of the series. After two episodes, with the initial fire extinguished and early panic beginning to subside, the focus shifts to questions about why the reactor exploded and who was responsible for the disaster. [. Dyatlov ordered Toptunov and Akimov to raise the power to the requisite 700 MW. Thanks for the tip off. In 2008, Akimov was posthumously awarded with what they called the 3rd degree Order for Courage. He is reported to have stated that he believed he had done everything correctly. How would I find another job after that?". Within two weeks, both Mr Akimov and Mr Toptunov had died in a Moscow hospital of acute radiation syndrome (ARS). A member of staff at the plant from 1982, he became a witness to the immediate aftermath on the morning of 26 April 1986. "The miners are shown as tough guys who are not afraid of anything, but not the power plant workers.". Press J to jump to the feed. 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. He points to a few inaccuracies in the TV portrayal. ", Most of the firefighters were pouring water on the damaged reactor, he says. And still the shift leader is ruminating if the catastrophy was his fault: "What have we done wrong? This is some other smaller problem.. Lyuba tries to cheer her husband up, she brings him pictures that their children drew. He wanted a promotion which was promised to him in case of a successful test. Likewise Toptunov was Lyonya. Unknown to Akimov, during his work he was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation that was later determined to be 15 Gy. 1953. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. He died of radiation sickness two weeks after the accident at the age of 33. Founder of Crime Viral community since 2015. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. August 25, 2022 askans. On April 26th, 1986, at 1:23 am, Alexander Akimov did what he and thousands of other nuclear plant operators have been trained to do. A few hours later Akimov is dead. 0000014730 00000 n Are Sky and HBO's miniseries "Chernobyl" historically accurate? Aleksandr Akimov and Leonid Toptunov did their best at saving the situation. In that moment, standing where Dyatlov, and [Nikolai] Fomin, and [Viktor] Bryukhanov stood it was very chilling. But I have to ask about his legs. 0000018917 00000 n Aleksandr Akimov | Fact and Fiction Wiki | Fandom He was portrayed by Michael Colgan in the 2006 BBC production Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster[7] and by Robert Emms in the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, 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, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, Mother who killed her five children euthanised. And also being under that same piece of sky, you start to feel a little closer, in a sense, to who they were. At 1:23 AM, the reactors power levels surged, and the events that followed led to an explosion which released more than 50 tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere.[1]. However, it is about respecting it for what it can do. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. "It was our job," says Oleksiy Ananenko, who was on shift at the time, while the others had been ordered in by their manager. His family was informed that his death was the only reason he was not prosecuted for the accident. <]>> Shift leader Borys Baranov died in 2005, while Valery Bespalov and Oleksiy Ananenko, both chief engineers of one of the reactor sections, are still alive and live in the capital, Kiev. It's now a museum. Continue Reading 6 2 More answers below Michael Karnerfors In 2014, Michael Donnelly, chairman of Chernobyl Childrens Appeal, said, These children are forced to suffer through no fault of their own. Lyudmillas story appears in Svetlana Alexievichs book, Voices From Chernobyl, where she says, None of the doctors knew I was staying the night with him in the compression chamber. Can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 5ft 2" or at home reading true crime magazines. Unfortunately, the first five years after the accident, the details were kept secret, but now the scientists and activists have the access to archives. 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'. Found an error? Pretty sure its true, the story of his face being gone came from just before he died while they were questioning him. 1156/2008 of 12 December 2008", https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/en/1156/2008/sp:max100, Shift supervisor of Night shift at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Sam Troughton, an English actor, performed the role of Chernobyl supervisor of the shift in the Chernobyl series by HBO in 2019. This later became known as the "Bridge of Death" after reports that those who stood there allegedly died from radiation sickness. The control rods had graphite moderators to speed up reaction and the other part of the rods were made of boron to decrease reaction. 0000009438 00000 n 0000001006 00000 n Chernobyl survivors assess fact and fiction in TV series The reactor power level had been reduced, preparing for a planned safety test. Withdrawing a dangerous number of control rods, the operators could only reach 200 MW due to xenon poisoning. Witnesses reported he dried, or his body was mummified alive. A member of. As we moved through it, we were aware that there were the ghosts of history around us, Mazin said. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. 0000008353 00000 n Read about our approach to external linking. Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster - Wikipedia Nah Im good. There were fears that "lava" from the molten reactor could reach the water, triggering a further, potentially far more powerful explosion. His father was involved in the Soviet space program and during his childhood, he was surrounded by scientists and engineers.[2]. Oleksiy Breus says the accident helped reveal the substantial flaws of the Soviet system. 21 0 obj <> endobj BBC Ukrainian Hours after the world's worst nuclear accident, engineer Oleksiy Breus entered the control room of the No. 0000017865 00000 n I don't understand why it happened. Akimov eventually succumbed to acute radiation syndrome two weeks after the disaster at the age of 33. I've never seen any reliable source for anything regarding his face. Russians and Ukrainians have watched it via the internet, and it has had a favourable rating on Russian film site Kinopoisk. The Chernobyl disaster is one of the most famous nuclear catastrophes in the world, but not many people know that if it hadn't been for one man, the damage would have been much worse. He was the third child of Tatiana Petrovna Ignatenko and Ivan Tarasovish Ignatenko. As we know from the official data, Akimov is wrongfully accused of being responsible for the accident. In the shows podcast, writer and executive producer Craig Mazin shared some details about filming the third episode of Chernobyl, revealing that two scenes were cut from the start that would have introduced supervisor Anatoly Dyatlovs son, who died of leukemia at the age of 10, years before the Chernobyl disaster.