[23], With the first draft of Legasov's report received by the Central Committee, some were shocked and one minister forwarded it to the KGB with the recommendation that the authors be prosecuted. [7] Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko called for immediate evacuation of Pripyat, which Legasov supported, as the situation was expected to deteriorate in the town, and this decision was approved by Shcherbina. In a just After two years at the plant, he finally joined the Kurchatov Institute. At the time, Soviet Union [citation needed] Extracts from his tapes were published in Pravda in May 1988. Both Soviet nuclear scientist Valery Legasov (played by Jared Harris) and Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina (played by Stellan Skarsgrd) are real people; however, Soviet nuclear . disaster as an inevitable apotheosis of the USSRs economic system. [3] [4] [5] Ele frequentou a escola secundria em Kursk. [28] He was very disappointed that he was the only member of his Chernobyl team that did not receive the award "hero of socialist labor". Similarly repetitive and ridiculous are the many scenes of heroic scientists confronting intransigent bureaucrats by explicitly criticizing the Soviet system of decision-making. Both leaders have promised to make their countries great again, and they have a way of alighting on the same points of reference. Bryukhanov was accused of mismanagement and that operator error was the primary cause of the accident, while design flaws were also a factor. Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko had repeatedly criticised it. Assessment of the problem and implementation of operations had to be undertaken by the government commission. He saw his main goal was not in justifying the Soviet Union and hide certain information, but, on the contrary, to educate the world community on what to do in such situations, Inga told Russian newspaper, MK. His report was noted for its great detail and relative openness in discussing the extent and consequences of the tragedy,[24] disclosed to Western media some defects in the RBMK reactor design such as the positive void coefficient, as well as problems with operator training. This made some of his colleagues jealous, she adds. The 1986 Chernobyl crisis was undoubtedly one of the worst nuclear disasters of all time. Neither Tass nor the evening television news broadcast Vremya on Friday gave the cause or place of death. His specialty was physical chemistry, he worked on explosives, she explains(in Russian). There was nothing sane about Chernobyl. And when I visited the Chernobyl station after the accident and saw what was happening there, I myself drew a precise and unequivocal conclusion, that the Chernobyl disaster is an apotheosis, the pinnacle of all the mismanagement that has been carried out for decades in our country. https://legasovtapetranslation.blogspot.com/. He was assigned to compile a report for the International Atomic Energy Agency about the causes and aftermath of the accident. Those tapes sound like rambling of a very depressed man suffering from PTSD, because that's exactly what they are. And cut the phone lines. "[11], While the initial Soviet investigation put almost all the blame on the operators, later findings by the IAEA found that the reactor design and how the operators were informed of safety information was more significant. The real Valery Legasov. Glimmers of this understanding appear in the HBO series, too. [5][7] Despite lacking information about the state of the reactor, Legasov proposed and managed the effort to extinguish the reactor fire which would otherwise release a massive amount of radiation,[11] although the team was in continual discussions with other scientists by telephone. The truth doesnt care about our needs or wants - it doesnt care about our For her other books, Alexievich interviewed people about their experience of the Second World War, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was the stories of those who suffered that most interested Alexievich. The Soviet system of propaganda and censorship existed not so much for the purpose of spreading a particular message as for the purpose of making learning impossible, replacing facts with mush, and handing the faceless state a monopoly on defining an ever-shifting reality. Chernobyl is a 2019 HBO miniseries based on the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. The conference was attended by more than 800 scientists and . Shasharin, said that "The personnel had no idea . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. But how did an inorganic chemist and radiochemistry expert find himself dealing with nuclear disaster? Father checked the numbers over and over again. people. Aleksandar Mishkov / published 3 years ago. He allegedly committed suicide. He was 51. [5] During 1953, he proposed reforms to the Komsomol committee to address what he perceived as indifference and passivity of its members. Valery legasov was a nuclear physicist. By the morning of April 26 and Legasovs arrival, the fire has been extinguished, but a massive amount of radioactive elements were being pumped into the atmosphere and what was left of the reactor continued to pose a serious threat. Legasov, with only a few anomalies. There are so many different interpretations of how and why this happened, that it is . Anatoly got a call via the vertushka [the nickname for a closed state telephone line]. 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. Born in 1936 in Tula (173 km south of Moscow), Valery chose his career path early on. All rights reserved. On May 5, he already showed signs of radiation sickness (nuclear tan and hair loss) and by May 15, cough and insomnia began to kick in. [2] In 19491954, he attended School No. Save. Before I get to what the series got so terribly wrong, I should acknowledge what it got right. He took this role in order to gain practical experience that would be the basis for later research. D. Mendeleev University Of Chemical Technology Of Russia, Political Parties: there, and was exposed to 100 REM (Roentgen Equivalent Man) - four times the allowed maximum of 25 REM. He wanted to make sure all of the information was absolutely true.. Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was a Soviet inorganic chemist and a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Does someone know which of his tapes I can find them in or whether he actually said them or not? When one looks at the chain of events, why someone acted in this way and another in that way and so on, it is impossible to point to a single culprit, an initiator of all the unpleasant events that led to the crime. The one noticeable mistake in this respect concerns the series makers apparent ignorance of the vast divisions between different socioeconomic classes in the Soviet Union: in the series, Valery Legasov (Jared Harris), a member of the Academy of Sciences, lives in nearly the same kind of squalor as a fireman in the Ukrainian town of Pripyat. One of the first to grasp the scale of the catastrophe, Valery Legasov was on hand to mitigate the consequences. Legasov's suicide and cassettes in the trash basket - exaggerations on screen . Unlike other characters, she is made upaccording to the closing titles, she represents dozens of scientists who helped Legasov investigate the cause of the disaster. But this caused a storm in the Ministry. He was eventually released and returned to Valery Legasov : There was nothing sane about Chernobyl. That is how we keep the people from undermining the fruits of their own labor. This statement has everything: the bureaucratic indirectness of Soviet speech, the privileging of fruits of labor over the people who created them, and, of course, the utter disregard for human life. The Belarusian scientist Ulyana Khomyuk (Emily Watson) is even more confrontational than Legasov. Valery Legasov: Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. [7], After 10 May, the situation had somewhat stabilized and Legasov was able to spend less time at the accident site but still frequently visited. - MagicalQuote. Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was born on September 1, 1936, in Tula, Russian SFSR, into a family of civil workers. April 30, 1988. Press J to jump to the feed. It was almost by accident that he found himself included in the state commission on response to the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, his daughter Inga Legasova recalls. He just happened to be where he was in the food chain of Soviet science, where someone is important enough to appear before the government . work. [5] While Legasov attempted to include all the top scientists in the new organization, many objected to Legasov being given a top leadership position, considering him an upstart. MagicalQuote. The real-life story is a bit different. Like in 1941, but even worse, Legasov later recalled. We never see these pets through the eyes of their owners. ~ Valery Legasov. The series begins with Legasov's suicide which is . He came to the conclusion that the explosion was a result of a number of factors, including the reactors constructive flaws and human factor - the staff was unaware of the flaws and that the tests they had carried out could have provoked an explosion. [5], the information I had convinced me that not everything was well in the development of nuclear energy, as it seemed to me Science organizations began to weaken, not strengthen. He was also concerned at the lack of safety literature distributed to the population. For some reason, many believe that my father was disappointed by the fact that he wasnt awarded. [13] Working on reactor design was taboo for a chemist in the institute but he focused instead on related technologies, as well as assisted with the management of the institute. I am writing an informative speech on Chernobyl. Instead, thousands of people came to Kiev, on Because it is a chain that links to itself allowing operation of stations without an external localisation shelter. As expected, this story has become surrounded by many different rumors. Valery Legasov. He was in charge of investigating the nuclear disaster . The answer is NO. It was not the first time that he attempted suicide. Just hours after he reported to the Chernobyl disaster In the final episode, Legasov, testifying as a witness, tells a Soviet court that the disaster happened because the tips of the control rods were made of graphite, which sped up the reaction, when . Initially, it was head of state Mikhail Gorbachev who should have done it, but the leader decided it should be Legasov, a scientist who had worked at the site. Valery Legasov was born in September 1, 1936 in Tula in the Soviet Union to a Russian family. of the show. I have to start the part where I create my memoir. Perhaps in response to this, Legasov received criticism of his leadership and his handling of the containment of the Chernobyl reactor and was ostracized by some of his fellow scientists. 2023 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. During this time he married a woman . I must resign. No one leaves. Here are some quotes for you to read about the Chernobyl incident as described in the series. I would very much like to ask to make such a statement that, as of today, we do not have safe nuclear energy, or a concept of safe nuclear energy, or even a concept of a safe nuclear reactor that is completely ready[7], He had a lengthy stay in hospital during the fall of 1987, including experiencing acute appendicitis,[31] during which he attempted suicide. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. His move was well executed and probably was the biggest PR/ propaganda victory during late Cold War, but the steps Legasov took to achieve it was very unpopular in the higher circle of scientists in his country, who thought that Legasov has revealed too much in Vienna. Moreover, the measures that can be taken to prevent this from happening are known. Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was born on 13 March 1961, in the Brahin District of the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian SSR. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. A lady is nothing very specific. Harris' character is based on the real Legasov, a Soviet Union nuclear physicist who . Also, his attempts to establish a industrial safety system authority made him a darling to no one in science. As if the subject matter of Chernobyl wasn't dark enough, the HBO miniseries began with the suicide of the man who led the investigation of this nuclear accident . He was a patriot and grieved for what that happened, for the country, for people that suffered His empathy was disturbed and, it seems, it did eat him up from the inside., Plus, as she recalls, the radiation sickness didnt make it easier. (?) [7], Excessive hierarchy has always been contraindicated for science, it stifles it. A happily married father of two grown children, Valery Legasov was 49 years old at the time of the accident and approaching the pinnacle of his career at the top of the Soviet scientific . [7], I was interested in comparing the real dangers, the real threats that nuclear energy carries to the threats of other energy systems. Feb 24, 2022. [1] After the meeting, Scherbina told him that he could work from Moscow but was quickly ordered back to Chernobyl. The IAEA report made a huge impact and father instantly became very popular. But he wasnt, he wasnt an ambitious man, his daughter believes. [29], As a national hero at the time of his death,[27] Legasov's suicide caused shockwaves in the Soviet nuclear industry.