Chernobyl (TV Mini Series)

Please Remain Calm (2019)

David Dencik: Mikhail Gorbachev

Photos 

Quotes 

• Valery Legasov : An RBMK reactor uses uranium 235 as fuel. Every atom of U-235 is like a bullet, traveling at nearly the speed of light, penetrating everything in its path: woods, metal, concrete, flesh. Every gram of U-235 holds over a billion trillion of these bullets. That's in one gram. Now, Chernobyl holds over three million grams, and right now, it is on fire. Winds will carry radioactive particles across the entire continent, rain will bring them down on us. That's three million billion trillion bullets in the... in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. Most of these bullets will not stop firing for 100 years. Some of them, not for 50,000 years.

  Michail Gorbatchev : Yes, and, uh, this concern stems entirely from the description of a rock?

  Valery Legasov : Yes.

• Valery Legasov : There is some good news. The air drops are working to douse the fire. There has been a reduction in radionuclide emissions, but the fire will nto be extinguished for at least another two weeks. There is also an additional problem. Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold simply because it is not on fire. In fact, the temperature will likely rise as a result of the blanket of sand we've dropped. The uranium will melt the sand creating a kind of lava which will begin to melt down through the shield below.

  Michail Gorbatchev : You have made lava?

  Valery Legasov : I anticipated this. I believe there was time to reinforce this lower concrete pad before the lava reached the earth and contaminated the ground water. But as it turned out, I was worried about the wrong thing. Uh, um... It was my understanding that these large water tanks under the tank were essentially empty. This is Ulana Khomyuk of the Byelorussian Institute. Thanks to her insight, we are now aware that the tanks are, in fact, full.

  Michail Gorbatchev : Of water. Why is that a problem, professor?

  Ulana Khomyuk : When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.

  Michail Gorbatchev : How significant?

  Ulana Khomyuk : We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a 30 kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. The entirety of the radioactive material in all fo the cores will be ejected at force and dispersed by a massive shock wave, which will extend approximately 200 kilometers and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev, as well as a portion of Minsk. The release of radiation will be severe, and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, most of East Germany.

  Michail Gorbatchev : What do you mean "impact?"

  Valery Legasov : For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of the food and water supply, a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects. I don't know how many deaths there will be, but many. For Byelorussia and the Ukraine, "impact" means completely uninhabitable for a minimum of 100 years.

  Michail Gorbatchev : There are more than 50 million people living in Byelorussia and Ukraine.

  Valery Legasov : Sixty, yes.

  Michail Gorbatchev : And how long before this happens?

  Valery Legasov : Approximately 48 to 72 hours.

• Michail Gorbatchev : Comrade Shcherbina, I want you do to go Chernobyl. You take a look at the reactor, you personally, and you report directly back to me...

  Boris Shcherbina : [speaking too soon]  Wise decision, comrade general secretary.

  Michail Gorbatchev : ...and take professor Legasov with you.

  Boris Shcherbina : Eh, forgive me, comrade general secretary, but I...

  Michail Gorbatchev : Do you know how a nuclear reactor works?

  Boris Shcherbina : [beat]  No.

  Michail Gorbatchev : No. Well then, how will you know what you are looking at? Meeting adjourned.

• Valery Legasov : But... we may have a solution. We can pump the water from the tanks. Unfortunately, the tanks are sealed by a sluice gate, and the gate can only be opened manually from within the duct system itself. So we need to find three plant workers who know the facility well enough to enter the basement here, find their way through all these ductways, get to the sluice gate valve here, and give us the access we need to pump out the tanks. Of course we will need your permission.

  Mikhail Gorbachev : My permission for what?

  Valery Legasov : Uh, the water in the ducts... the level of radioactive contamination...

  Ulana Khomyuk : They'll likely be dead in a week.

  Valery Legasov : We're asking for your permission to kill three men.

  [silence] 

  Mikhail Gorbachev : Comrade Legasov... all victories inevitably come at a cost.