Genrikh received less serious burns as he was protected by the windowless room. Akimov died two weeks later from radiation poisoning. [10] Dyatlov then returned to control room4 and ordered Akimov to call the daytime shift and get people to the affected unit; namely Lelechenko, whose crew had to remove hydrogen from the generator8 electrolyzer. The reactor power level had been reduced, preparing for a planned safety test. But what really happened to the men and women closest to it? Sam Troughton as Aleksandr Akimov, night shift supervisor at Chernobyl 19 Credit: HBO 19 Sam Troughton has been in Robin Hood and The Town before becoming a star of Cherynobyl. Image via HBO. "Imagine scores of people slowly being microwaved to death over the period of weeks and that is a good indication of the effects of ARS," he adds. The bones of your body, he says, "decompose as you become a seeping, foul smelling soup of human material". Yuvchenko, an engineer, was in his office between reactors 3 and 4, on level 12.5; he described the event as a shock wave that buckled walls, blew doors in, and brought a cloud of milky grey radioactive dust and steam. Perevozchenko ran into the control room, reporting the collapse of the reactor top. The harrowing true story of Chernobyl's Vasily Ignatenko and his pregnant wife Lyudmilla. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. At 3a.m., Bryukhanov called Maryin, the deputy secretary for thenuclear powerindustry, reporting Akimovs version of the situation. Sam Troughton plays Aleksandr Akimov. On the night of 26 April 1986, Akimov was on duty as the shift supervisor of the 4th power unit. [4] Approximately three seconds after the initiation of the scram, the reactor underwent a power excursion, rising to 520 MW (thermal). He and his crew then stayed and manually pumped the emergency feedwater into the reactor. The recipient of a wide range of awardsincluding theNobel Peace Prizehe was widely praised for his pivotal role in ending the Cold War, curtailing human rights abuses in the Soviet Union, and tolerating both the fall of MarxistLeninist administrations in eastern and central Europe and thereunification of Germany. In terms of how victims actually died,Maxwell explains, "death was a result of cell damage, internal bleeding and/or drowning in your own secretions follows, though not fast enough for those affected. Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories. 2010-2023 DeMilked. It was a hospital for people with serious radiation poisoning. The Chernobyl miniseries really tried to accurately show just what people had to experience during the disaster and we think they completely nailed it. He is a member of famous with the age 33 years old group. [27] Some members of the government commission were concerned that melting fuel would reach the water and spread contaminated steam around the site, possibly even leading to an explosion. Alexandr Akimov Profile page. Both subsequently died of radiation poisoning. The show's creators haven't 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 . Orcid identifier 0000-0002-1977-1476. His body was never recovered and is entombed in the nuclear reactor's debris.[15][16]. Aleksandr Akimov Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Akimov : r/chernobyl - reddit [7] Dosimetrist Samoilenko reported that radiation levels in the lefthand and central sections of the control room were 500-800 R/s (micro-Roentgen per second), while readings were off the charts (over 1000 R/s or 3.6 Roentgen per hour) on the righthand side of the control room. Vasily was one of the first responders to the fire. Aleksandr Akimov. Only 18 days later he told the rest of the world exactly what happened and many countries condemned him for withholding the truth for so long. They shot in a city in Lithuania that was built around the same time as Pripyat, part of which was also in Ukraine. Among the first squad of firefighters on the 3rd reactor's roof. Another flat thud followed, accompanied by lights going out, the control panel of unit4 losing signal, latched double doors being blown apart by the blast, and black and red powder falling from the ventilation; emergency lights then switched on. [2] During his stay, he discussed possible causes of the accident with Toptunov and Dyatlov but they were mystified. Was radiation sickness as widespread as presented in the series? In 1976, Shcherbina became a member of theCentral Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unionand kept the position until his death. 6,246 followers. Fomin, the chief engineer, arrived in the block4 control room at 4:30a.m. He was producing stools 25 to 30 times a day, with blood and mucous. After the disaster, Dyatlov received a 10-year prison sentence but was released after serving five. Sitnikov then assisted Akimov and Toptunov with feeding water into the reactor; the water, however, flowed through the severed pipes into the lower levels of the plant, carrying radioactive debris and causing short circuits in the cableways common to all four blocks. The character of Vasily Ignatenko dying of radiation sickness. Griffith Asia Institute. [7] Fomin replaced him at his post with Anatoly Sitnikov. HBO's Chernobyl miniseries cast includes both characters based on real people and composite characters based on several individuals (like Emily Watson's Ulyana Khomyuk). [8] Dyatlov ordered Akimov to send Toptunov and Kirschenbaum (everyone but Stolyarchuk and Akimov[3]) to the Unit 3 control room because they were of no further use, but Toptunov ultimately returned to the control room to retrieve the operator's log and remained on duty at Unit 4. Series maker Craig Mazin said in a podcast that the intention behind the show was to make the scenes as true to the actual events of the nuclear catastrophe as possible. Sergeant, Kibenok's unit. Breus recalls seeing the shift leader and the operator on duty during that time, and remembers, "they were not looking good, to put it mildly. He is married to his wife, Rozaliya Iyudovna, and has a son and a daughter. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 - 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. Akimov, the unit shift chief, was in charge of the test itself. Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov,[24] the SIUR trainees from other shifts, were present to watch Toptunov. His wife, Lyudmila, spoke to Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian journalist, about her husband's death. He passed away in 1995. Proskuryakov shone a flashlight around the corner into the reactor hall, which later resulted in severe burns appearing on his hand. He later spent a year in the Moscow hospital receiving blood and plasma transfusions and received numerous skin grafts. Genrikh, an operator of the control room on level+36, was taking a nap in a windowless room adjacent to the control room. By now Akimov's wife Lyuba was allowed to come to Moscow. The power was stabilized at 200MW at around 1:00a.m., and the turbine rundown test was begun. He can be seen in the trailer, downplaying the threat of radiation on the site. The reactor stalled unexpectedly during test preparations, however, reportedly due to a mistake made by Leonid Toptunov. At some point he gave deathbed confessions stating repeatedly: I did everything correctly. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Individual involvement in the Chernobyl disaster - Wikipedia Firefighter Vasily Ignatenko was one of 28 first responders, including Power Station employees, who died from radiation in the weeks following the explosion. Alexander Litvinenko, anyone? In the corridor, he met Genrikh and Kurguz and sent them to the medical station. Received a lethal dose whilst trying to extinguish the small bitumen and graphite fires on the roof. Head of the evening (previous) shift. In 1987, he was posthumously named a, Turbine control senior engineer (SIUT), deputy head of unit4 turbine section, Present in the control room, deskT, at the moment of explosion; in charge of switching off the turbo generator8 and starting its spindown, Present in the control room at the moment of explosion; received fatal dose of radiation during attempt to manually lower the control rods as he approached the reactor hall; posthumously awarded the, At the central control room with Lelechenko; at the moment of explosion just arrived to the block4 control room, Scalded by radioactive steam entering his control room; his colleague, Oleg Genrikh, was spared the worst and survived, SKALA computer operator, electromechanic (DES), block3, Plant worker, deputy chief of the electrical shop, Received fatal dose during switching off the electrolyzer, Guarded spent fuel storage-building construction site, about 200 meters (660ft) from block4, At the moment of the explosion in the control room; in charge of issuing the simulated Maximum Projected Accident signal on Metlenko's command, At the moment of explosion present with two assistants in the N area of the control room, at the, Morning shift, helped Akimov and Toptunov opening the valves to feed water to the reactor through steam separator drums and main circulation pumps, Received fatal dosage of more than 1,000rad during firefighting and stabilizing the turbine hall; posthumously awarded the, Received fatal dose of radiation during attempt to locate and rescue Khodemchuk and others, approached the reactor hall together with Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov; posthumously awarded the, Firefighter from HPV-2, assisted in firefighting efforts on the roof the turbine hall. He was one of 27 firefighters who died of ARS in the three weeks after the Chernobyl disaster. Raising power after this point put the reactor into a potentially dangerous state, unbeknownst to the operators. The control rods, according to the synchro indicators, seized at a depth of between 2 to 2.5 meters (6ft 7in to 8ft 2in) instead of the entire core depth of seven meters (23ft), leaving the graphite displacers inserted into the reactor and accelerating reactivity. Later, before the trial, Fomin suffered a mental breakdown and tried to kill himself by breaking his glasses and slitting his wrists with the shards[citation needed]. Level36 was destroyed, covered with rubble. 8 comments. On 10 July 1984 Akimov was appointed to the position of shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4. Exposed to radiation dose of 390, Thermal plant automation and measurement, shift leader, Present in the control room when the reactor power dropped; returned to his office when power was stabilized, where he was in the moment of explosion, Arrived at 4:30a.m.; spent a month in the Moscow clinic; after the disaster stripped of, Worked the 4 to 12p.m. shift; stayed to watch the test; in control room at deskT with Kirschenbaum at the moment of explosion, Senior sergeant, first crew on the 3rd reactor's roof, Received fatal dose during attempt to extinguish fires on the roof of unit 3, Died two weeks later in Moscow Hospital6, Guarded a gate opposite to block4; stayed on duty until morning. About. Where Legasov is the principled scientist, Skargard's character, the real-life Deputy Prime Minister Scherbina, represents the reluctant Soviet government. [29], Two decades after the accident, the Chernobyl Forum Report showed that the first responders and clean-up workers, who were the people exposed to the highest level of radiations, still had the highest rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. On the night of April 25th and the early hours of April 26th, there had been 160 personnel on duty across the facility, while 300 more workers were on site at the building site of reactors 5 and 6. Leonid Toptunov (Robert Emms) operated the control rods, which included a design flaw that lead to the disaster, during the test. Alexandr Akimov Profile | Griffith University The Chernobyl nuclear accident is one of the most shocking and devastating catastrophes of modern times. Khodemchuk, the night shift main circulating pump operator, was likely killed immediately; he was stationed in the collapsed part of the building, in the far end of the southern main circulating pumps engine room at level+10. That makes Chernobyl not just a dramatization, but also a memorial to their heroism, mistakes and suffering. Researchers are divided on how fatal the Chernobyl disaster ultimately was.