WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:19.364 --> 00:00:22.022 [alarm blaring] 4 00:00:26.095 --> 00:00:30.858 [speaking foreign language over speaker] 5 00:00:40.661 --> 00:00:43.388 [dramatic music] 6 00:01:22.944 --> 00:01:26.362 - [Narrator] On April 26, 1986, 7 00:01:26.396 --> 00:01:29.089 the catastrophe shook the whole of Europe 8 00:01:32.057 --> 00:01:34.404 and the world would experience a fatal day 9 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:37.097 that became engraved in its history. 10 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:44.414 A catastrophe that would turn an entire city 11 00:01:44.449 --> 00:01:47.590 into a post apocalyptic ghost town. 12 00:01:47.624 --> 00:01:50.386 [dramatic music] 13 00:02:10.716 --> 00:02:14.134 A disaster that revealed the true devastating nature 14 00:02:14.168 --> 00:02:17.102 of nuclear energy in the wrong hands. 15 00:02:17.137 --> 00:02:19.863 [dramatic music] 16 00:02:28.044 --> 00:02:30.805 This is the tragedy of Chernobyl 17 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:34.671 and the damages that left behind after a deadly fight 18 00:02:34.706 --> 00:02:36.639 against an invisible enemy. 19 00:02:48.651 --> 00:02:51.067 [calm music] 20 00:03:15.091 --> 00:03:17.921 This appears to be pristine wilderness, 21 00:03:20.648 --> 00:03:22.374 a world full of life, 22 00:03:28.553 --> 00:03:31.418 a quiet area where nature and wildlife is thriving. 23 00:03:34.386 --> 00:03:37.147 [dramatic music] 24 00:03:43.637 --> 00:03:46.226 This could be paradise on earth 25 00:03:49.401 --> 00:03:51.886 but it has a dreadful secret. 26 00:03:54.889 --> 00:03:57.823 [orchestral music] 27 00:04:03.484 --> 00:04:06.211 Ukraine, 1986. 28 00:04:06.246 --> 00:04:08.178 The Chernobyl nuclear power plant 29 00:04:08.213 --> 00:04:11.837 was one of the Soviet Union's largest nuclear power plants. 30 00:04:20.087 --> 00:04:24.367 Located 60 miles North of Ukraine's capital city of Kiev 31 00:04:24.402 --> 00:04:26.542 and near the border of Belarus. 32 00:04:37.346 --> 00:04:39.865 Chernobyl was about nine miles away 33 00:04:39.900 --> 00:04:43.110 and home to about 12,000 residents. 34 00:04:43.144 --> 00:04:46.044 [orchestral music] 35 00:05:20.389 --> 00:05:21.838 Closer to the plant, 36 00:05:21.873 --> 00:05:24.496 only two miles away from the reactors, 37 00:05:24.531 --> 00:05:27.361 the city of Pripyat was built in 1970 38 00:05:27.396 --> 00:05:29.398 as a home for the plant workers. 39 00:05:30.502 --> 00:05:32.435 This new city had high quality 40 00:05:32.470 --> 00:05:34.368 and modern high-rise buildings. 41 00:05:40.788 --> 00:05:43.619 Pripyat housed almost 50,000 people. 42 00:05:46.622 --> 00:05:50.073 It was lively and rich, full of talents, 43 00:05:50.108 --> 00:05:51.903 and goods were more available there 44 00:05:51.937 --> 00:05:53.801 than in any other parts of the Union. 45 00:05:57.149 --> 00:06:00.325 [lively upbeat music] 46 00:06:07.815 --> 00:06:09.817 Pripyat was the perfect execution 47 00:06:09.852 --> 00:06:12.268 of Soviet planning in ideology. 48 00:06:13.442 --> 00:06:14.926 It seemed to be promising, 49 00:06:19.033 --> 00:06:21.139 but its future wouldn't be the bright one 50 00:06:21.173 --> 00:06:22.382 that had been predicted. 51 00:06:27.041 --> 00:06:32.046 In the spring of 1986, its fate was sealed. 52 00:06:40.365 --> 00:06:43.092 [dramatic music] 53 00:06:46.923 --> 00:06:49.788 Inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 54 00:06:49.823 --> 00:06:53.413 there were RBMK-1000 type reactors. 55 00:07:00.212 --> 00:07:02.594 They would be proven to be highly dangerous 56 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:04.493 due to having a design flaw. 57 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:06.943 According to the workers, 58 00:07:06.978 --> 00:07:09.152 reactor number four was the best of all. 59 00:07:16.643 --> 00:07:19.439 It turned out they couldn't have been more wrong. 60 00:07:26.031 --> 00:07:28.758 [dramatic music] 61 00:07:38.250 --> 00:07:42.876 On 26th of April, 1986, at 1:23 AM, 62 00:07:42.910 --> 00:07:45.568 a catastrophe shook the whole of Europe. 63 00:07:50.055 --> 00:07:52.195 And the world would experience a fatal day 64 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:54.474 that became engraved in its history; 65 00:07:56.786 --> 00:07:59.409 a major nuclear accident. 66 00:08:03.344 --> 00:08:06.693 One of the worst manmade disasters of all time. 67 00:08:12.353 --> 00:08:15.529 The largest nuclear catastrophe to this day. 68 00:08:22.571 --> 00:08:27.299 [speaking foreign language over speaker] 69 00:08:56.121 --> 00:08:59.677 The amount of radiation was 400 times higher 70 00:08:59.711 --> 00:09:02.990 than what was released by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs 71 00:09:03.025 --> 00:09:04.613 in 1945. 72 00:09:14.036 --> 00:09:15.451 A radioactive cloud 73 00:09:15.485 --> 00:09:18.040 spread over the entire European continent. 74 00:09:22.044 --> 00:09:23.252 On that night, 75 00:09:23.286 --> 00:09:26.013 a routine safety check went horribly wrong. 76 00:09:29.672 --> 00:09:31.812 The reactor four exploded, 77 00:09:31.847 --> 00:09:35.851 ripping the 1000 ton roof off in the process. 78 00:09:35.885 --> 00:09:39.786 The power plant was shaken by two enormous explosions. 79 00:09:40.994 --> 00:09:42.340 During the test, 80 00:09:42.374 --> 00:09:45.067 inadequately trained personnel made fatal mistakes 81 00:09:45.101 --> 00:09:48.104 and violated safety protocols. 82 00:09:48.139 --> 00:09:51.625 Despite attempts to shut down the reactor entirely, 83 00:09:51.660 --> 00:09:55.767 a power surge caused a chain reaction of explosions inside. 84 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:01.428 Finally, 85 00:10:01.462 --> 00:10:03.706 the nuclear core itself was exposed 86 00:10:03.741 --> 00:10:06.157 causing a nuclear meltdown, 87 00:10:06.191 --> 00:10:09.367 spewing radioactive dust into the atmosphere. 88 00:10:27.696 --> 00:10:30.043 In the springtime of 1986, 89 00:10:30.077 --> 00:10:32.010 where flowers were supposed to bloom 90 00:10:32.045 --> 00:10:34.357 and nature come back to life, 91 00:10:34.392 --> 00:10:38.879 a whole ecosystem was disturbed, broken. 92 00:10:38.914 --> 00:10:41.675 [dramatic music] 93 00:10:57.760 --> 00:10:59.279 From then on, 94 00:10:59.313 --> 00:11:02.351 a relentless fight against an invisible enemy began 95 00:11:02.385 --> 00:11:05.250 putting thousands of lives on the line. 96 00:11:05.285 --> 00:11:07.494 The incident would turn out to be a milestone 97 00:11:07.528 --> 00:11:09.599 in the history of nuclear power, 98 00:11:09.634 --> 00:11:12.568 and the catalyst of the collapse of the Soviet Union 99 00:11:12.602 --> 00:11:13.983 as they tried to cover it up. 100 00:11:15.467 --> 00:11:18.885 The people became disillusioned with the Soviet ideology. 101 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:25.581 [dramatic music] 102 00:11:43.737 --> 00:11:47.430 The station immediately became unsuitable for human life, 103 00:11:47.465 --> 00:11:50.088 and this disaster will haunt its inhabitants, 104 00:11:50.123 --> 00:11:51.883 and have repercussions on the country 105 00:11:51.918 --> 00:11:53.643 for thousands of years. 106 00:11:53.678 --> 00:11:56.439 [dramatic music] 107 00:12:26.884 --> 00:12:29.645 [dramatic music] 108 00:12:40.656 --> 00:12:43.314 [alarm blaring] 109 00:12:44.867 --> 00:12:47.905 The explosions immediately killed two workers. 110 00:12:49.561 --> 00:12:52.357 They were the first to die within hours of the accident. 111 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:57.293 More than 100 were injured. 112 00:13:10.099 --> 00:13:12.792 [dramatic music] 113 00:13:18.314 --> 00:13:20.489 The first firemen to arrive at the scene 114 00:13:20.523 --> 00:13:22.594 battled the fire heroically 115 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:25.701 and without any adequate protective equipment 116 00:13:25.735 --> 00:13:29.774 unaware of the radiation seeping into the atmosphere. 117 00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:32.812 They poured tons of water on this strange fire, 118 00:13:32.846 --> 00:13:34.814 but nothing seemed to be putting it out. 119 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:41.993 Some began to lose consciousness. Others started vomiting. 120 00:13:44.754 --> 00:13:47.516 At least 5% of the radioactive reactor core 121 00:13:47.550 --> 00:13:49.656 was released into the atmosphere. 122 00:13:58.872 --> 00:14:01.737 People were urgently rushed to the nearby hospitals 123 00:14:06.397 --> 00:14:09.641 and all the contaminated clothes, footwear and bed linen 124 00:14:09.676 --> 00:14:10.746 were thrown away. 125 00:14:14.370 --> 00:14:16.096 Over the next coming weeks, 126 00:14:16.131 --> 00:14:20.273 on a total of 134 servicemen that were injured, 127 00:14:20.307 --> 00:14:22.965 28 firefighters and plant workers would die 128 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:24.864 from Acute Radiation Syndrome. 129 00:14:29.213 --> 00:14:32.457 Many more contracted serious illness. 130 00:14:41.121 --> 00:14:43.675 They were the first victims of Chernobyl. 131 00:14:50.337 --> 00:14:52.167 For the next several days, 132 00:14:52.201 --> 00:14:55.032 emergency crews desperately tried to contain the fire 133 00:14:55.066 --> 00:14:56.516 and radiation leaks. 134 00:14:59.381 --> 00:15:03.937 The death toll kept climbing. The fire was still burning. 135 00:15:10.150 --> 00:15:11.634 On the third day, 136 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:15.362 80 helicopters were sent from Moscow to put the fire out. 137 00:15:15.397 --> 00:15:16.639 When they arrived, 138 00:15:16.674 --> 00:15:20.057 the temperature made it impossible to get close. 139 00:15:20.091 --> 00:15:21.334 From the air, 140 00:15:21.368 --> 00:15:23.819 soldiers threw out 80 kilograms of sandbags 141 00:15:23.853 --> 00:15:26.408 into the blaze with their bare hands 142 00:15:26.442 --> 00:15:28.997 to fill up the reactors and smother the fire. 143 00:15:30.067 --> 00:15:31.551 In two days, 144 00:15:31.585 --> 00:15:36.314 2,400 tons of lead would also be dropped into the reactor. 145 00:15:41.181 --> 00:15:44.771 After a few missions, soldiers would start throwing up. 146 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:50.121 It was heroism. 147 00:15:52.261 --> 00:15:56.334 It had to be done. There was no better solution. 148 00:16:00.718 --> 00:16:01.995 During this operation, 149 00:16:02.030 --> 00:16:04.860 600 pilots were contaminated with radiation. 150 00:16:06.862 --> 00:16:09.002 There was despair and hopelessness 151 00:16:09.037 --> 00:16:12.281 as the situation seemed impossible to deal with. 152 00:16:14.076 --> 00:16:17.010 Flying around in helicopters wasn't enough. 153 00:16:17.045 --> 00:16:20.393 They needed to get closer and down into the core. 154 00:16:22.050 --> 00:16:23.396 But how? 155 00:16:23.430 --> 00:16:25.536 Something had to be done 156 00:16:25.570 --> 00:16:27.469 to keep the magma from melting down. 157 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.386 [dramatic music] 158 00:16:51.182 --> 00:16:53.115 They came up with a solution, 159 00:16:53.150 --> 00:16:55.635 but it would cause the loss of more lives. 160 00:16:57.085 --> 00:17:01.158 They built a 550 foot long tunnel below the reactor. 161 00:17:01.192 --> 00:17:05.955 The fire took 10 days and 250 firefighters to extinguish it. 162 00:17:06.853 --> 00:17:08.337 However, 163 00:17:08.372 --> 00:17:11.030 toxic emissions continued to escape into the atmosphere. 164 00:17:12.307 --> 00:17:15.379 Later on, the crews discovered something horrific; 165 00:17:15.413 --> 00:17:18.071 the most toxic mass on earth. 166 00:17:19.521 --> 00:17:24.043 A solid large radioactive mass of melted nuclear fuel, 167 00:17:24.077 --> 00:17:25.768 metal and concrete, 168 00:17:25.803 --> 00:17:28.599 located beneath the destroyed reactor four. 169 00:17:29.669 --> 00:17:31.740 The radiation readers made it clear 170 00:17:31.774 --> 00:17:35.606 that what was inside was something to be avoided. 171 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:37.953 They called it 'the Elephant's Foot'. 172 00:17:39.403 --> 00:17:41.991 Scientists believe that it is going to emit radiation 173 00:17:42.026 --> 00:17:43.821 for many centuries to come. 174 00:17:44.925 --> 00:17:46.099 In a month, 175 00:17:46.134 --> 00:17:49.033 10,000 miners would be sent to work there 176 00:17:49.068 --> 00:17:52.071 facing extremely dangerous conditions. 177 00:18:02.150 --> 00:18:04.876 [dramatic music] 178 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:25.104 A total of 600,000 rescuers, including firefighters, 179 00:18:25.138 --> 00:18:28.141 pilots, miners, and local volunteers, 180 00:18:28.176 --> 00:18:30.488 were sent from all over the union 181 00:18:30.523 --> 00:18:33.526 to fight against this terrifying invisible enemy 182 00:18:33.560 --> 00:18:35.183 and to clean up the disaster. 183 00:18:37.633 --> 00:18:41.016 These people would be called 'the liquidators'. 184 00:18:49.852 --> 00:18:52.579 [dramatic music] 185 00:19:06.835 --> 00:19:09.803 These men and women who fought a ruthless battle 186 00:19:09.838 --> 00:19:12.979 have now become almost forgotten heroes 187 00:19:13.013 --> 00:19:16.534 yet it is thanks to them that the worst was avoided. 188 00:19:16.569 --> 00:19:19.296 [dramatic music] 189 00:19:59.715 --> 00:20:02.891 [lively upbeat music] 190 00:20:11.210 --> 00:20:12.590 At the Kremlin in Moscow, 191 00:20:12.625 --> 00:20:15.110 eight hours after the disaster, 192 00:20:15.144 --> 00:20:18.803 Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, 193 00:20:18.838 --> 00:20:21.461 received very limited information on the situation. 194 00:20:22.842 --> 00:20:26.225 The first information consisted of accident and fire, 195 00:20:31.885 --> 00:20:35.234 but no word about an explosion. 196 00:20:39.065 --> 00:20:42.724 The reaction of Soviet government was controversial. 197 00:20:42.758 --> 00:20:44.243 For years, 198 00:20:44.277 --> 00:20:47.349 the secretive state tried to cover up what really happened. 199 00:20:47.384 --> 00:20:50.594 At first they ordered a complete media blackout 200 00:20:50.628 --> 00:20:53.562 only to avoid panic, they claimed. 201 00:20:53.597 --> 00:20:56.565 The less knowledge and the more silence, the better. 202 00:20:58.049 --> 00:21:01.363 But frightening gossips were already going around the city. 203 00:21:01.398 --> 00:21:04.124 The situation was underestimated. 204 00:21:12.029 --> 00:21:14.583 No one really knew the scope of the accident. 205 00:21:22.211 --> 00:21:24.283 Even doctors were strictly instructed 206 00:21:24.317 --> 00:21:27.389 not to tell the patients that something was wrong, 207 00:21:27.424 --> 00:21:29.322 and that they would lose their jobs 208 00:21:29.357 --> 00:21:30.979 if they said anything opposite. 209 00:21:34.741 --> 00:21:36.812 A few days after the accident, 210 00:21:36.847 --> 00:21:39.677 and despite alarming radiation levels, 211 00:21:39.712 --> 00:21:41.472 authorities still encouraged people 212 00:21:41.507 --> 00:21:44.026 to participate in May Day celebrations, 213 00:21:44.061 --> 00:21:47.892 even in areas they knew to be seriously contaminated. 214 00:21:52.069 --> 00:21:53.208 Disturbingly, 215 00:21:53.242 --> 00:21:56.487 all footage of May 1st, 1986, 216 00:21:56.522 --> 00:22:00.111 has now disappeared from the Ukrainian National Archives. 217 00:22:27.622 --> 00:22:30.901 In Pripyat, by early afternoon the next day, 218 00:22:30.935 --> 00:22:34.491 the radiation readings were already 15,000 times 219 00:22:34.525 --> 00:22:36.631 higher than usual. 220 00:22:36.665 --> 00:22:39.530 By the evening, it had increased even more 221 00:22:39.565 --> 00:22:42.947 creating a lethal dose for the inhabitants. 222 00:22:42.982 --> 00:22:46.365 They would die in only four days if they stayed. 223 00:22:52.612 --> 00:22:55.857 Even on photographs radiation was visible, 224 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.036 but the city's communication was cut 225 00:23:03.071 --> 00:23:04.486 and all roads were blocked 226 00:23:04.521 --> 00:23:07.178 to make sure no information left the municipality. 227 00:23:08.352 --> 00:23:10.043 Unaware of the disaster happening 228 00:23:10.078 --> 00:23:12.183 only three kilometers away, 229 00:23:12.218 --> 00:23:14.945 people continued to live their normal lives. 230 00:23:23.125 --> 00:23:26.025 Children continued to play in the radioactive sand 231 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:27.854 of the amusement parks 232 00:23:27.889 --> 00:23:30.685 while radioactive particles were falling on the grounds. 233 00:23:38.175 --> 00:23:40.936 [dramatic music] 234 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:50.774 By the evening of April 26th, 235 00:23:50.808 --> 00:23:53.052 windows and doors should have been sealed 236 00:23:53.086 --> 00:23:54.881 and iodide tablets swallowed. 237 00:23:59.886 --> 00:24:02.717 But such order had not been given. 238 00:24:08.377 --> 00:24:11.104 The government only started distributing iodide 239 00:24:11.139 --> 00:24:13.037 10 days after the explosion. 240 00:24:14.487 --> 00:24:16.420 Wrong doses were also administered to children. 241 00:24:17.386 --> 00:24:19.906 By that point, it was useless. 242 00:24:19.941 --> 00:24:23.116 Iodide can protect from thyroid cancer 243 00:24:23.151 --> 00:24:25.084 only if it's given in the right time; 244 00:24:25.118 --> 00:24:28.328 a maximum of 18 hours after exposure. 245 00:24:33.748 --> 00:24:37.579 - [Andrew] In Chernobyl, the population was not moved. 246 00:24:37.614 --> 00:24:40.996 The contaminated food stuffswere kept within the food chain 247 00:24:41.031 --> 00:24:42.515 for critical period 248 00:24:42.550 --> 00:24:44.517 and iodine tablets weren't handed out 249 00:24:44.552 --> 00:24:47.002 to protect the thyroid from thyroid cancer. 250 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:49.246 - [Narrator] It was chaos. 251 00:24:50.972 --> 00:24:53.112 Nobody had any training in radiation. 252 00:24:54.285 --> 00:24:56.943 At Chios National Medical Library, 253 00:24:56.978 --> 00:24:58.911 the librarians even received an order 254 00:24:58.945 --> 00:25:00.775 to take all the books from the shelves 255 00:25:00.809 --> 00:25:03.053 that contained the word radiation. 256 00:25:05.089 --> 00:25:07.402 The disaster was expanding. 257 00:25:10.785 --> 00:25:13.512 No one in the surrounding areas was evacuated 258 00:25:13.546 --> 00:25:16.894 until about 36 hours after the disaster began. 259 00:25:17.895 --> 00:25:19.414 By that time, 260 00:25:19.448 --> 00:25:21.692 many residents were already complaining about headaches, 261 00:25:21.727 --> 00:25:26.076 vomiting, and other early signs of radiation sickness. 262 00:25:26.110 --> 00:25:27.456 It was terrifying. 263 00:25:30.770 --> 00:25:33.497 But the situation turned critical. 264 00:25:33.532 --> 00:25:36.604 The evacuations of Pripyat commenced on the next day 265 00:25:36.638 --> 00:25:37.743 on April 27th. 266 00:25:47.407 --> 00:25:50.169 [dramatic music] 267 00:26:18.853 --> 00:26:20.613 The people living around Chernobyl 268 00:26:20.648 --> 00:26:22.960 were finally notified about the accident. 269 00:26:33.281 --> 00:26:34.938 But authorities falsely stated 270 00:26:34.972 --> 00:26:36.905 that they had it under control. 271 00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:40.460 And that the evacuation was only temporary. 272 00:26:40.495 --> 00:26:43.463 Only the most necessary belongings were needed. 273 00:26:43.498 --> 00:26:46.466 Personal documents and some food, they were told. 274 00:26:57.685 --> 00:26:59.134 In a matter of a few hours, 275 00:26:59.169 --> 00:27:01.205 people had to leave their homes, 276 00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:03.000 their entire lives behind. 277 00:27:08.627 --> 00:27:11.630 [calm upbeat music] 278 00:27:17.532 --> 00:27:22.364 They were told that they were leaving for three days only. 279 00:27:32.029 --> 00:27:34.135 They would never come back. 280 00:27:43.800 --> 00:27:46.872 The evacuation was a massive operation. 281 00:27:46.906 --> 00:27:50.599 49,000 people were forced to flee in under four hours. 282 00:27:50.634 --> 00:27:53.395 [dramatic music] 283 00:28:01.162 --> 00:28:04.579 Officials finally closed off the area by May 14th, 284 00:28:04.613 --> 00:28:07.962 establishing an exclusion zone around the reactor 285 00:28:07.996 --> 00:28:12.242 and evacuating another 116,000 residents. 286 00:28:16.453 --> 00:28:20.250 But it was too late. The damage was done. 287 00:28:21.941 --> 00:28:23.667 - Somebody at the top has to decide 288 00:28:23.702 --> 00:28:24.875 what's going to happen. 289 00:28:24.910 --> 00:28:26.256 But what I don't think will happen 290 00:28:26.290 --> 00:28:27.740 is that they will suddenly, as it were, 291 00:28:27.775 --> 00:28:29.638 come clean and become very open, 292 00:28:29.673 --> 00:28:31.744 allow international inspection itself. 293 00:28:31.779 --> 00:28:33.677 What is much more likely to happen is that 294 00:28:33.712 --> 00:28:35.230 in the course of time, 295 00:28:35.265 --> 00:28:38.509 new information will be released in dribs and drabs. 296 00:28:38.544 --> 00:28:40.857 But this will come out as they see fit. 297 00:28:40.891 --> 00:28:43.273 They're not going to suddenly open the doors 298 00:28:43.307 --> 00:28:45.275 to people to go in to see what's happened. 299 00:28:45.309 --> 00:28:46.966 And I don't think that they're going to accept 300 00:28:47.001 --> 00:28:48.588 international aid either. 301 00:28:51.074 --> 00:28:53.870 - [Narrator] People were moved to other regions in Ukraine, 302 00:28:53.904 --> 00:28:57.494 and most of the power plant workers were sent to Kiev. 303 00:28:57.528 --> 00:29:02.257 In total, some 350,000 people were evacuated. 304 00:29:10.679 --> 00:29:13.337 [dramatic music] 305 00:29:13.372 --> 00:29:16.099 No news about Chernobyl surfaced until the next days 306 00:29:16.133 --> 00:29:18.757 in the rest of the Soviet Union. 307 00:29:18.791 --> 00:29:20.241 In fact, 308 00:29:20.275 --> 00:29:22.036 the citizens only found out about the catastrophe 309 00:29:22.070 --> 00:29:24.314 via foreign communication channels. 310 00:29:26.626 --> 00:29:28.767 The Soviet media channels kept quiet 311 00:29:28.801 --> 00:29:30.734 until Sweden was the first country 312 00:29:30.769 --> 00:29:33.426 to detect that something disastrous had happened. 313 00:29:35.774 --> 00:29:38.052 This forced the Soviet government to come out. 314 00:29:43.298 --> 00:29:47.268 Such a massive disaster was impossible to hide for long. 315 00:29:51.237 --> 00:29:54.275 Radiation spread quickly around Europe, 316 00:29:54.309 --> 00:29:57.002 immediately affecting Scandinavian countries. 317 00:30:00.488 --> 00:30:02.490 It was only on the 14th of May, 318 00:30:02.524 --> 00:30:04.837 after the 1st of May celebrations, 319 00:30:04.872 --> 00:30:07.391 and three weeks after the accident, 320 00:30:07.426 --> 00:30:11.292 that Gorbachev decided to make a public announcement on TV. 321 00:30:11.326 --> 00:30:12.603 - Today on Soviet television, 322 00:30:12.638 --> 00:30:14.122 Mr. Gorbachev said the accident 323 00:30:14.157 --> 00:30:16.953 has deeply affected the Soviet people. 324 00:30:16.987 --> 00:30:19.610 And as he put it, disturbed world opinion. 325 00:30:19.645 --> 00:30:21.198 He told his fellow countrymen 326 00:30:21.233 --> 00:30:23.269 that the worst is now behind them. 327 00:30:23.304 --> 00:30:26.548 It has certainly taken Mr. Gorbachev a long time 328 00:30:26.583 --> 00:30:27.515 to go public. 329 00:30:29.344 --> 00:30:32.244 - [Translator] We were recently stricken by a disaster; 330 00:30:32.278 --> 00:30:35.005 the Chernobyl nuclear power accident. 331 00:30:35.040 --> 00:30:37.076 It deeply affected the Soviet people 332 00:30:37.111 --> 00:30:38.595 and disturbed world opinion. 333 00:30:38.629 --> 00:30:41.391 [dramatic music] 334 00:30:45.705 --> 00:30:48.501 - [Narrator] The news finally reached the entire country. 335 00:30:54.783 --> 00:30:56.855 - [Reporter] The white house says Mr. Reagan's attempt 336 00:30:56.889 --> 00:31:00.030 to discuss the situation with Mr. Gorbachev personally 337 00:31:00.065 --> 00:31:02.446 have been ignored by the Kremlin for four days. 338 00:31:04.586 --> 00:31:06.657 - They're usually a little close mouthed. 339 00:31:06.692 --> 00:31:09.108 [speaking inaudibly] 340 00:31:09.143 --> 00:31:11.490 - We don't think that they have provided 341 00:31:11.524 --> 00:31:14.355 as full and prompt information as they should have. 342 00:31:14.389 --> 00:31:17.772 Our own pictures give us information 343 00:31:17.806 --> 00:31:20.602 that suggests the casualty rates are higher 344 00:31:20.637 --> 00:31:23.019 than those that have been announced by the Soviet Union 345 00:31:23.053 --> 00:31:25.331 so far, by a good measure. 346 00:31:25.366 --> 00:31:28.127 [dramatic music] 347 00:31:54.464 --> 00:31:56.121 - [Narrator] As the crisis continued, 348 00:31:56.155 --> 00:31:59.158 more economic, technical, and scientific forces 349 00:31:59.193 --> 00:32:00.366 were mobilized. 350 00:32:06.476 --> 00:32:09.237 It was a frontline emergency situation. 351 00:32:14.933 --> 00:32:18.591 The radioactive cloud continued to drift over Europe. 352 00:32:20.179 --> 00:32:24.080 It soon reached the United Kingdom, France and Italy. 353 00:32:24.114 --> 00:32:26.668 The French authorities denied its presence. 354 00:32:31.501 --> 00:32:32.812 In Chernobyl, 355 00:32:32.847 --> 00:32:35.919 the radioactivity continued to climb. 356 00:32:35.954 --> 00:32:39.923 Millions of acres of forest and farm land were contaminated. 357 00:32:39.958 --> 00:32:42.374 And although many people were evacuated, 358 00:32:42.408 --> 00:32:44.963 hundreds of thousands more remained. 359 00:32:58.148 --> 00:33:02.601 Animals were also highly contaminated and left abandoned. 360 00:33:02.635 --> 00:33:07.295 Nobody took care of them. Their owners wouldn't return. 361 00:33:07.330 --> 00:33:09.711 Special hunting squads were formed, 362 00:33:09.746 --> 00:33:13.439 killing cats, dogs and all other animals because of the fear 363 00:33:13.474 --> 00:33:15.683 that they would keep spreading the radiation. 364 00:33:29.283 --> 00:33:32.251 Soon, but unfortunately not soon enough, 365 00:33:32.286 --> 00:33:34.150 the entire world realized 366 00:33:34.184 --> 00:33:37.015 that it was witnessing a historic event. 367 00:33:49.889 --> 00:33:52.271 [calm music] 368 00:34:09.254 --> 00:34:12.188 34 years after the disaster, 369 00:34:12.222 --> 00:34:16.675 the area of Chernobyl remains uninhabitable and abandoned. 370 00:34:16.709 --> 00:34:20.092 Although Pripyat is safe enough for a brief visit, 371 00:34:20.127 --> 00:34:22.888 the cleanup was a massive operation. 372 00:34:22.922 --> 00:34:26.236 It took years and involved hundreds of thousands of people. 373 00:34:27.410 --> 00:34:28.894 Today, surprisingly, 374 00:34:28.928 --> 00:34:32.277 there are still about 120 people who self settled 375 00:34:32.311 --> 00:34:34.831 and are still living in the exclusion zone. 376 00:34:36.246 --> 00:34:38.869 Around 8 million people live in the contaminated areas 377 00:34:38.904 --> 00:34:41.838 of the Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. 378 00:34:42.804 --> 00:34:44.358 For all these years, 379 00:34:44.392 --> 00:34:46.429 they've been living on contaminated land 380 00:34:46.463 --> 00:34:47.740 and radioactive food. 381 00:34:53.160 --> 00:34:56.715 This is an issue that has been systematically ignored. 382 00:35:11.316 --> 00:35:12.524 - [Joseph] In takes after 383 00:35:12.558 --> 00:35:14.871 was a very long time to decontaminate. 384 00:35:14.905 --> 00:35:16.355 You know that the one test in the beginning 385 00:35:16.390 --> 00:35:19.117 must have been many years ago, over 30 years ago. 386 00:35:19.151 --> 00:35:20.325 It took years 387 00:35:20.359 --> 00:35:22.879 before the people could go back there 388 00:35:22.913 --> 00:35:24.260 and even then it was not allowed 389 00:35:24.294 --> 00:35:26.538 to eat the food growing there. 390 00:35:26.572 --> 00:35:29.472 It may take years and years before it goes back to normal. 391 00:35:57.327 --> 00:36:00.227 - [Narrator] The consequences are still felt nowadays. 392 00:36:08.545 --> 00:36:09.891 Among humans, 393 00:36:09.926 --> 00:36:12.204 radiation induced illnesses and cancer deaths 394 00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:14.448 were expected in the longterm, 395 00:36:14.482 --> 00:36:18.176 including thyroid cancer, birth defects, mutations, 396 00:36:18.210 --> 00:36:22.973 and deformations, intellectual and physical disabilities, 397 00:36:26.598 --> 00:36:28.496 and overall pain and suffering. 398 00:36:32.328 --> 00:36:35.193 [machine beeping] 399 00:36:45.168 --> 00:36:48.309 [lively upbeat music] 400 00:36:57.663 --> 00:37:01.219 Livestock and wildlife were also highly affected. 401 00:37:28.315 --> 00:37:31.076 [dramatic music] 402 00:37:52.408 --> 00:37:53.616 In West Germany, 403 00:37:53.650 --> 00:37:55.963 down syndrome peaked for nine months in 87. 404 00:38:09.148 --> 00:38:11.323 The United Nations Scientific Committee 405 00:38:11.358 --> 00:38:13.463 reported that more than 6,000 children 406 00:38:13.498 --> 00:38:17.295 developed thyroid cancer after being exposed to radiation. 407 00:38:22.058 --> 00:38:24.336 [people laughing] 408 00:38:24.371 --> 00:38:26.269 Although some experts have recently claimed 409 00:38:26.304 --> 00:38:30.204 that there is no evidence of a major public health impact 410 00:38:30.238 --> 00:38:32.413 attributable to radiation exposure 411 00:38:32.448 --> 00:38:34.760 20 years after the accident. 412 00:38:39.489 --> 00:38:40.697 - [Woman] The Princess of Wales 413 00:38:40.732 --> 00:38:42.078 had asked to visit these children. 414 00:38:42.112 --> 00:38:43.907 They're all suffering from diseases 415 00:38:43.942 --> 00:38:47.221 which can't be treated effectively in the Soviet Union. 416 00:38:47.255 --> 00:38:49.327 Three like four year old myself, 417 00:38:49.361 --> 00:38:51.190 have cancers which appear to be connected 418 00:38:51.225 --> 00:38:52.606 with the Chernobyl disaster. 419 00:39:08.449 --> 00:39:11.210 [dramatic music] 420 00:39:36.546 --> 00:39:38.134 - [Narrator] The liquidators were incapable 421 00:39:38.168 --> 00:39:40.274 of going back to a normal life. 422 00:39:46.625 --> 00:39:49.248 They were all victims of the Chernobyl syndrome. 423 00:39:53.045 --> 00:39:56.394 The ones who survived were disabled or unable to work. 424 00:39:58.396 --> 00:39:59.880 - [Translator] Even robots couldn't work 425 00:39:59.914 --> 00:40:02.469 on top of those buildings because of the radiation. 426 00:40:02.503 --> 00:40:03.746 And so they sent people. 427 00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:05.782 It was so dangerous the men never stayed 428 00:40:05.817 --> 00:40:08.095 more than 20 to 40 seconds up there. 429 00:40:08.129 --> 00:40:10.338 Otherwise they'd get completely irradiated. 430 00:40:22.454 --> 00:40:23.869 - [Woman] Anatoly Vinucor used to work 431 00:40:23.904 --> 00:40:26.320 as a hospital attendant in the area. 432 00:40:26.354 --> 00:40:29.392 He was sent to the site just minutes after the explosion. 433 00:40:31.290 --> 00:40:34.017 - [Translator] The doctors found radiation burns on my face, 434 00:40:34.052 --> 00:40:36.675 in my thoracic cage, and in my throat. 435 00:40:36.710 --> 00:40:38.125 I could hardly eat. 436 00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:40.196 I looked through my window all day long. 437 00:40:40.230 --> 00:40:42.129 I saw a car that drove big black bags 438 00:40:42.163 --> 00:40:43.441 straight to the cemetery. 439 00:40:45.201 --> 00:40:46.409 - [Woman] Today, 440 00:40:46.444 --> 00:40:47.928 Anatoly suffers from a dozen illnesses, 441 00:40:47.962 --> 00:40:50.344 all as a result of the exposure to the radiation. 442 00:40:50.378 --> 00:40:52.553 And with a small pension to live on, 443 00:40:52.588 --> 00:40:55.763 he struggles to cope with the medication expenses. 444 00:40:55.798 --> 00:40:57.662 The Association Sawyers Chernobyl 445 00:40:57.696 --> 00:41:00.768 offers financial support to victims like Anatoly. 446 00:41:00.803 --> 00:41:03.219 Its president says that many of them have the impression 447 00:41:03.253 --> 00:41:04.462 they have been forgotten. 448 00:41:05.946 --> 00:41:07.499 - [Translator] Medical help to the people of Chernobyl 449 00:41:07.534 --> 00:41:08.949 has shrunk eight fold. 450 00:41:08.983 --> 00:41:11.330 Today it's only 6 million pruveners. 451 00:41:11.365 --> 00:41:14.506 That's equivalent to 20 Euro cents per person per year. 452 00:41:14.541 --> 00:41:16.819 The Ukrainian government has no respect. 453 00:41:24.033 --> 00:41:25.621 - [Narrator] According to the military, 454 00:41:25.655 --> 00:41:28.244 out of the 600,000 liquidators, 455 00:41:30.004 --> 00:41:31.489 10% have died 456 00:41:35.562 --> 00:41:38.185 and 200,000 are disabled. 457 00:41:41.637 --> 00:41:44.398 [dramatic music] 458 00:41:48.298 --> 00:41:51.681 The real amount of radiation these people are exposed to 459 00:41:51.716 --> 00:41:53.959 has never been revealed to them. 460 00:41:58.585 --> 00:42:00.518 There were a lot of lies 461 00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:04.522 and only a few realized the scope of these lies. 462 00:42:07.697 --> 00:42:10.700 On the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, 463 00:42:10.735 --> 00:42:15.291 on the 27th of April, 1988, Valery Legasov, 464 00:42:15.325 --> 00:42:17.673 the chief of the commission investigating it, 465 00:42:17.707 --> 00:42:20.434 and who had worked so hard to unveil the truth, 466 00:42:21.608 --> 00:42:23.782 decided to end his life. 467 00:42:36.830 --> 00:42:38.625 He had recorded and hidden the tapes 468 00:42:38.659 --> 00:42:41.662 blaming engineer Anatoly Dyatlov, 469 00:42:41.697 --> 00:42:43.457 who was in charge of the safety test 470 00:42:43.491 --> 00:42:45.873 that resulted in the disaster, 471 00:42:45.908 --> 00:42:47.944 and other superiors for the incident. 472 00:42:58.196 --> 00:43:00.232 - [Mike] We are going to talk this afternoon 473 00:43:00.267 --> 00:43:02.821 about the impact of Chernobyl 474 00:43:02.856 --> 00:43:06.376 something of the order of 40 or 45 deaths might be expected 475 00:43:06.411 --> 00:43:09.483 in all subsequent years, as a result of this accident. 476 00:43:15.178 --> 00:43:17.802 [dramatic music] 477 00:43:23.980 --> 00:43:25.154 - [Narrator] To this day, 478 00:43:25.188 --> 00:43:27.639 only 59 deaths have been officially recorded 479 00:43:27.674 --> 00:43:29.676 and attributed to the disaster. 480 00:43:30.815 --> 00:43:33.783 The exact actual human cost of Chernobyl 481 00:43:33.818 --> 00:43:35.474 will never really be known. 482 00:43:37.718 --> 00:43:40.031 There is little reliable data. 483 00:43:42.792 --> 00:43:45.105 The full consequences of the accident, 484 00:43:45.139 --> 00:43:47.176 including impacts on health, 485 00:43:47.210 --> 00:43:49.627 remain highly debated and understudied. 486 00:43:51.836 --> 00:43:56.495 Most estimates range from 4,000 to 93,000 deaths. 487 00:44:06.609 --> 00:44:09.612 In the first few months following the catastrophe, 488 00:44:09.647 --> 00:44:12.477 Pripyat became a conservation reserve. 489 00:44:15.825 --> 00:44:18.517 Flowers were planted along the pavements. 490 00:44:18.552 --> 00:44:20.658 Goods were still in the shops. 491 00:44:20.692 --> 00:44:23.695 And even the traffic lights continued to work. 492 00:44:23.730 --> 00:44:27.388 But there was no cars and no sign of human life. 493 00:44:28.735 --> 00:44:29.943 As time passed, 494 00:44:29.977 --> 00:44:33.049 the city became more and more empty, and silent. 495 00:44:34.223 --> 00:44:36.501 Some old inhabitants illegally climbed back 496 00:44:36.535 --> 00:44:38.779 into their own homes to see if they could find 497 00:44:38.814 --> 00:44:40.885 the belongings that they'd left behind, 498 00:44:42.058 --> 00:44:44.889 only to realize that nothing was there, 499 00:44:44.923 --> 00:44:46.649 and that it was all over. 500 00:44:48.030 --> 00:44:51.481 People came to rob the shops and stole what was left. 501 00:44:51.516 --> 00:44:54.864 People still take things from the dead city as souvenir. 502 00:44:58.592 --> 00:45:01.560 Pripyat may well be the last place on earth 503 00:45:01.595 --> 00:45:05.564 to conserve a little Soviet Union in its 1980s state. 504 00:45:06.911 --> 00:45:09.914 Now, trees and plants have grown in the middle of the roads 505 00:45:09.948 --> 00:45:12.537 and are reclaiming the whole town. 506 00:45:12.571 --> 00:45:14.194 The flowers are gone. 507 00:45:14.228 --> 00:45:16.196 The Soviet apartments are crumbling. 508 00:45:17.059 --> 00:45:18.992 The 1st of May parades' posters 509 00:45:19.026 --> 00:45:20.752 still decorate the buildings. 510 00:45:24.860 --> 00:45:28.829 The amusement park with the bumper cars were never used. 511 00:45:28.864 --> 00:45:30.969 And the Ferris wheel that never turned 512 00:45:31.004 --> 00:45:33.661 has become an iconic symbol of the disaster. 513 00:45:38.632 --> 00:45:41.669 In the areas just outside the exclusion zone, 514 00:45:41.704 --> 00:45:44.189 people are beginning to resettle. 515 00:45:44.224 --> 00:45:46.916 The deadly disaster of Chernobyl and the ghost town 516 00:45:46.951 --> 00:45:49.919 had left behind fascinated many people. 517 00:45:49.954 --> 00:45:54.441 Surprisingly, it even became a tourism hotspot. 518 00:45:54.475 --> 00:45:58.997 In 2011, Ukraine opened up the area to tourists. 519 00:45:59.032 --> 00:46:00.550 The town gives us a glimpse 520 00:46:00.585 --> 00:46:04.313 of what a real post-apocalyptic world looks like. 521 00:46:04.347 --> 00:46:07.799 Deserted towns, abandoned buildings, 522 00:46:07.834 --> 00:46:12.804 overgrown streets, high grass, rusty vehicles. 523 00:46:13.701 --> 00:46:16.912 Everything crumbling, breaking, 524 00:46:16.946 --> 00:46:20.536 and among these, wild animals. 525 00:46:20.570 --> 00:46:22.020 It attracts numerous tourists 526 00:46:22.055 --> 00:46:23.953 who are interested in its history, 527 00:46:23.988 --> 00:46:28.406 in its danger, and in immersing themselves in the past. 528 00:46:29.441 --> 00:46:30.822 In fact, 529 00:46:30.857 --> 00:46:33.169 the exclusion zone was ranked the most exotic place 530 00:46:33.204 --> 00:46:36.517 for tourism in the world by Forbes in 2009. 531 00:46:37.691 --> 00:46:40.659 The zone is visited by more than 70,000 people 532 00:46:40.694 --> 00:46:43.801 from all around the world every year. 533 00:46:43.835 --> 00:46:46.493 This place of tragedy became a legend. 534 00:46:46.527 --> 00:46:49.807 It is popular among photographers and authors. 535 00:46:49.841 --> 00:46:53.707 It is also featured in movies and video games. 536 00:46:53.741 --> 00:46:55.157 Even the illegal visitors 537 00:46:55.191 --> 00:46:58.367 began to sneak into the no-go zone. 538 00:46:58.401 --> 00:46:59.851 Hunters and explorers 539 00:46:59.886 --> 00:47:02.336 who were looking for an adrenaline rush 540 00:47:02.371 --> 00:47:05.512 or hoping to find scary scenes and objects 541 00:47:05.546 --> 00:47:08.653 still enter the sites that are strictly prohibited. 542 00:47:09.827 --> 00:47:11.276 It is said that the town will fall 543 00:47:11.311 --> 00:47:15.522 completely into ruin on its own in the next 20 years. 544 00:47:15.556 --> 00:47:18.180 The city that was once so full of life, 545 00:47:18.214 --> 00:47:20.768 only left eerie memories. 546 00:47:20.803 --> 00:47:24.082 The city that once represented hope and triumph 547 00:47:24.117 --> 00:47:27.637 represents today, destruction and defeat. 548 00:47:29.087 --> 00:47:33.574 Pripyat was removed from the maps. It became a dead city. 549 00:47:34.161 --> 00:47:35.611 However today, 550 00:47:35.645 --> 00:47:38.338 it seems that nature has started to come back to life again. 551 00:47:55.355 --> 00:47:58.530 [lively upbeat music] 552 00:48:03.466 --> 00:48:06.090 The impact on the surrounding forest and wildlife 553 00:48:06.124 --> 00:48:08.955 also remains an area of active research. 554 00:48:11.371 --> 00:48:13.960 In the immediate aftermath of the accident, 555 00:48:13.994 --> 00:48:17.549 an area became known as the 'red forest'. 556 00:48:17.584 --> 00:48:19.137 The high levels of radiation 557 00:48:19.172 --> 00:48:21.691 colored the pine trees reddish brown 558 00:48:21.726 --> 00:48:26.041 after absorbing such deadly high levels of radiation. 559 00:48:26.075 --> 00:48:28.112 It had to be cut down. 560 00:48:29.941 --> 00:48:32.979 The area's still believed to be the most contaminated land 561 00:48:33.013 --> 00:48:34.463 on the planet. 562 00:48:34.497 --> 00:48:36.637 Land that will take thousands of years 563 00:48:36.672 --> 00:48:38.018 to become healthy again. 564 00:48:41.539 --> 00:48:45.301 Today, the exclusion zone is eerily quiet. 565 00:48:45.336 --> 00:48:48.373 But it also appears full of life. 566 00:48:48.408 --> 00:48:52.170 Mother nature began to reclaim this place. 567 00:48:52.205 --> 00:48:55.518 The region is filled with a variety of wildlife and forest 568 00:48:55.553 --> 00:48:57.624 that have thrived and creeped in 569 00:48:57.658 --> 00:48:59.660 without interference from humans. 570 00:49:00.523 --> 00:49:01.731 Other wild creatures 571 00:49:01.766 --> 00:49:04.010 that the people were so determined to keep out 572 00:49:04.044 --> 00:49:06.184 started reappearing. 573 00:49:06.219 --> 00:49:08.600 Brown bears were seen for the first time 574 00:49:08.635 --> 00:49:11.258 after being absent for over a century. 575 00:49:12.397 --> 00:49:16.470 Wolves, deers, lynx, beavers, boars, and elks 576 00:49:16.505 --> 00:49:19.059 have been seen to run free in the dense woodlands 577 00:49:19.094 --> 00:49:21.406 that now surround the silent power plant. 578 00:49:31.692 --> 00:49:34.454 The man-made disaster that ruined this place 579 00:49:34.488 --> 00:49:38.423 turned it into a unique sanctuary for wildlife. 580 00:49:48.882 --> 00:49:51.540 But despite the dense vegetation, 581 00:49:51.574 --> 00:49:55.406 and even though this could appear as pristine wilderness, 582 00:49:55.440 --> 00:49:57.063 it is not. 583 00:49:57.097 --> 00:50:01.067 It is still a contaminated deserted wasteland. 584 00:50:01.101 --> 00:50:03.828 The area has recovered to some extent, 585 00:50:03.862 --> 00:50:05.968 but is far from returning to normal. 586 00:50:07.452 --> 00:50:10.248 The animals are still radioactive. 587 00:50:10.283 --> 00:50:13.044 Yet due to the exclusion of human activity, 588 00:50:13.079 --> 00:50:15.391 there are a lot more of them now, 589 00:50:15.426 --> 00:50:17.738 and they are ruling the place. 590 00:50:18.912 --> 00:50:21.708 This is the bittersweet paradox of this place. 591 00:50:23.399 --> 00:50:25.125 Three decades later, 592 00:50:25.160 --> 00:50:28.922 it is not certain how radiation still is and will be 593 00:50:28.956 --> 00:50:32.167 affecting wildlife in the years to come. 594 00:50:32.201 --> 00:50:34.617 But it seems that nature can triumph; 595 00:50:36.136 --> 00:50:39.001 even when man has done its best to destroy it. 596 00:50:41.417 --> 00:50:43.868 The Chernobyl power plant continued operating 597 00:50:43.902 --> 00:50:45.490 after the accident. 598 00:50:45.525 --> 00:50:48.183 More than 10,000 people work there 599 00:50:48.217 --> 00:50:50.357 and appropriate conditions had to be provided 600 00:50:50.392 --> 00:50:52.808 somewhere near the reactors. 601 00:50:52.842 --> 00:50:55.121 It took the government about a month to decide 602 00:50:55.155 --> 00:50:57.433 what to do with the damaged reactor. 603 00:50:58.503 --> 00:51:00.954 On May 20th, 1986, 604 00:51:00.988 --> 00:51:04.130 they finally decided to conduct a unique project. 605 00:51:04.164 --> 00:51:07.547 It was going to be hidden and sealed. 606 00:51:07.581 --> 00:51:10.584 An enormous reinforced concrete and metal structure 607 00:51:10.619 --> 00:51:13.967 was built around the damaged Unit Four. 608 00:51:14.001 --> 00:51:16.935 The sarcophagus intended to act as a shield 609 00:51:16.970 --> 00:51:19.283 to contain the radiation. 610 00:51:19.317 --> 00:51:23.080 The giant structures' construction took seven months. 611 00:51:23.114 --> 00:51:25.220 This was an enormous challenge 612 00:51:25.254 --> 00:51:28.430 where humans could work for only a few minutes at a time 613 00:51:28.464 --> 00:51:31.226 without receiving a fatal dose of radiation. 614 00:51:32.399 --> 00:51:33.711 In 1988, 615 00:51:33.745 --> 00:51:35.402 Soviet scientist revealed 616 00:51:35.437 --> 00:51:39.268 that it had only been designed to last for 20 to 30 years. 617 00:51:40.269 --> 00:51:41.512 The Chernobyl power plant 618 00:51:41.546 --> 00:51:44.860 finally shut down completely in 2000. 619 00:51:44.894 --> 00:51:48.657 However, the sarcophagus condition was deteriorating. 620 00:51:48.691 --> 00:51:50.141 It began crumbling down 621 00:51:50.176 --> 00:51:53.282 and at a high probability of collapsing. 622 00:51:53.317 --> 00:51:57.321 The magma at the reactors core was still a threat. 623 00:51:57.355 --> 00:52:00.427 The government had to come up with a replacement. 624 00:52:00.462 --> 00:52:03.016 What remains of the reactor is now inside 625 00:52:03.050 --> 00:52:06.985 a massive 32,000 ton steel containment structure 626 00:52:07.020 --> 00:52:09.160 deployed in 2016. 627 00:52:10.644 --> 00:52:14.959 The new safe confinement began being built in 2010 628 00:52:14.993 --> 00:52:17.272 to cover the first sarcophagus. 629 00:52:17.306 --> 00:52:20.275 At that point it became the largest land-based object 630 00:52:20.309 --> 00:52:24.727 ever moved by humans, costing $2.3 billion. 631 00:52:26.281 --> 00:52:30.595 The area is safer, but still highly radioactive 632 00:52:30.630 --> 00:52:34.944 and will likely remain as such for up to 20,000 years. 633 00:52:36.705 --> 00:52:38.603 Both Chernobyl and Fukushima 634 00:52:38.638 --> 00:52:41.399 were level seven nuclear accidents, 635 00:52:41.434 --> 00:52:43.539 but the health consequences in Japan 636 00:52:43.574 --> 00:52:45.679 were much less severe. 637 00:52:45.714 --> 00:52:47.129 In part, 638 00:52:47.164 --> 00:52:49.959 because there was far more radiation released at Chernobyl. 639 00:52:49.994 --> 00:52:52.169 And because the Soviet plant's reactor 640 00:52:52.203 --> 00:52:55.310 was not surrounded by any containment structure 641 00:52:55.344 --> 00:52:58.485 so radiation escaped freely. 642 00:52:58.520 --> 00:53:02.179 The disaster sparked criticism of the Soviet government. 643 00:53:02.213 --> 00:53:05.941 It also fueled a global anti-nuclear movement. 644 00:53:05.975 --> 00:53:07.460 Countries combined their efforts 645 00:53:07.494 --> 00:53:10.290 to fight against such deadly consequences. 646 00:53:10.325 --> 00:53:11.843 Yet today, 647 00:53:11.878 --> 00:53:15.709 the disaster and its lessons seem to be fading from memory 648 00:53:15.744 --> 00:53:20.369 but it is still a global problem and it isn't over yet. 649 00:53:20.404 --> 00:53:23.234 11 RBMK nuclear reactors 650 00:53:23.269 --> 00:53:25.478 are still in use in the world today. 651 00:53:26.306 --> 00:53:28.791 All of them in Russia. 652 00:53:30.103 --> 00:53:32.933 Although they were all modified for safety, 653 00:53:32.968 --> 00:53:35.073 experts are still researching ways 654 00:53:35.108 --> 00:53:37.731 to prevent further nuclear disasters. 655 00:53:39.285 --> 00:53:41.597 On contrary to public belief, 656 00:53:41.632 --> 00:53:43.772 nuclear energy is still considered 657 00:53:43.806 --> 00:53:48.121 the safest energy source in comparison to other fossil fuels 658 00:53:48.155 --> 00:53:51.711 like coal, which is by far the most dangerous. 659 00:53:52.850 --> 00:53:55.473 But it doesn't come without a risk. 660 00:53:55.508 --> 00:53:58.373 Renewable energies are still not talked about enough 661 00:53:58.407 --> 00:53:59.270 in Ukraine. 662 00:54:00.444 --> 00:54:03.516 Chernobyl also led to an economic fallout. 663 00:54:04.413 --> 00:54:05.966 It has been estimated to cost 664 00:54:06.001 --> 00:54:09.729 around $235 billion in damages. 665 00:54:10.764 --> 00:54:13.042 The politicians were unprepared 666 00:54:13.077 --> 00:54:16.563 and unable to effectively handle the aftermath. 667 00:54:16.598 --> 00:54:19.635 It undermined faith in the whole system. 668 00:54:19.670 --> 00:54:21.844 Gorbachev himself claimed that the accident 669 00:54:21.879 --> 00:54:25.296 was perhaps the real cause of the Soviet Union collapse. 670 00:54:30.370 --> 00:54:32.786 Chernobyl revealed the potential dangers 671 00:54:32.821 --> 00:54:37.343 and the true devastating nature of nuclear energy. 672 00:54:37.377 --> 00:54:40.829 Chernobyl is a lesson for the present. 673 00:54:40.863 --> 00:54:43.901 It warns us about the challenges and high consequence risks 674 00:54:43.935 --> 00:54:47.284 of our ever evolving modern society. 675 00:54:47.318 --> 00:54:49.458 As technology keeps progressing, 676 00:54:49.493 --> 00:54:52.392 it is important that we assess and manage the risks 677 00:54:52.427 --> 00:54:54.981 that are big in scale and complexity. 678 00:54:56.293 --> 00:54:59.572 We need to be able to anticipate a global catastrophe. 679 00:55:00.676 --> 00:55:02.022 Chernobyl was one of the worst 680 00:55:02.057 --> 00:55:05.785 manmade and terrifying disasters in history. 681 00:55:05.819 --> 00:55:08.615 Tens of thousands of lives were ruined 682 00:55:08.650 --> 00:55:12.136 and too many people lost loved ones because of it. 683 00:55:12.170 --> 00:55:14.380 But Chernobyl taught us more importantly 684 00:55:14.414 --> 00:55:16.692 about the cost of lies 685 00:55:16.727 --> 00:55:18.867 by highlighting the flaws of the system 686 00:55:18.901 --> 00:55:21.559 that revealed how they can lead to disaster. 687 00:55:21.594 --> 00:55:23.354 And how the way we tell information 688 00:55:23.389 --> 00:55:26.253 about what really happened, can cause harm. 689 00:55:27.393 --> 00:55:29.291 If anything has been learned, 690 00:55:29.326 --> 00:55:31.362 it is that response to such a disaster 691 00:55:31.397 --> 00:55:36.402 needs to be based on clear facts, on science, and not fear. 692 00:55:38.231 --> 00:55:42.166 Being transparent in today's society is a necessity 693 00:55:42.200 --> 00:55:44.271 because the truth may be elusive, 694 00:55:44.306 --> 00:55:46.826 but consequences certainly won't. 695 00:55:47.999 --> 00:55:50.347 We're all part of the same planet. 696 00:55:50.381 --> 00:55:52.383 And when a world disaster happens, 697 00:55:52.418 --> 00:55:54.281 it's countries and their populations 698 00:55:54.316 --> 00:55:56.180 deserve to know what is happening 699 00:55:56.214 --> 00:55:58.769 in order to avoid what happened at Chernobyl. 700 00:56:00.218 --> 00:56:03.360 Proper knowledge, protocol and equipment is necessary. 701 00:56:08.399 --> 00:56:10.401 It is also a great reminder 702 00:56:10.436 --> 00:56:13.784 that we must steer future generations from any risk 703 00:56:13.818 --> 00:56:17.270 of another nuclear apocalypse. 704 00:56:22.309 --> 00:56:27.314 The past cannot be undone, but we can learn from it. 705 00:56:28.177 --> 00:56:29.627 Chernobyl is a grave reminder 706 00:56:29.662 --> 00:56:33.251 of the power of nuclear energy in the wrong hands 707 00:56:33.286 --> 00:56:35.771 and the consequences of lies. 708 00:56:36.772 --> 00:56:39.534 [dramatic music]