The story in brief
At 1:23 one April morning, the button meant to stop a reactor blows it apart. Firemen climb onto the roof in canvas, a young city lives a whole Saturday beside an open core, and Moscow says nothing until alarms ring in Sweden. Then up to 600,000 people bury the ruin, and the secret helps bury the Soviet Union.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
The Test
A safety test, a night shift that never prepared it, and the one button meant to make everything safe.
Sources: IAEA, INSAG-1 (1986) and INSAG-7 (1992); Dyatlov’s memoir (1995); Soviet Life (1986)
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
Fire on the Roof
Firemen in canvas on a burning roof, a control room that will not believe its own eyes, and a city still asleep.
Sources: IAEA, INSAG-1 (1986); UNSCEAR 2000, Annex J; The decree of 25 September 1986
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
Thirty-Six Hours
A whole Saturday of ordinary life beside an open reactor, and a city told to pack for three days.
Sources: The Pripyat evacuation announcement (1986); Legasov’s memoir; UNSCEAR 2000
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Chapter 4 · 6 min
The World Finds Out
A chemist’s shoes set off an alarm in Sweden, and Moscow has to say something.
Sources: The Politburo minutes and the TASS statement (1986); UPI (1986); Gorbachev’s address of 14 May 1986
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Chapter 5 · 6 min
The Liquidators
Pilots over an open core, three men in a flooded basement, soldiers with shovels on a roof, and a tomb of concrete.
Sources: UNSCEAR 2000; IAEA, INSAG-7 (1992); The Chernobyl Forum (2005); Gorbachev, Project Syndicate (2006)
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- Anatoly DyatlovDeputy Chief Engineer · Ran the Test · Ten Years in Prison
- Leonid TelyatnikovFire Chief · Hero of the Soviet Union · Survivor
- Boris ShcherbinaDeputy Prime Minister · Head of the Commission · Emptied Pripyat
- Armand HammerOilman · Friend of Lenin · Brought Help to Moscow
- The LiquidatorsPilots, Miners, Soldiers · Up to 600,000 · They Buried the Ruin
- Valery LegasovChemist · The Commission’s Scientist · The Man Who Briefed Vienna
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The End”. By the end of it, you can tell how forty years of standoff ended almost without a battle.
Sources
- IAEA, INSAG-1 (1986) and INSAG-7 (1992)
- The Politburo minutes and the TASS statement (1986)
- UNSCEAR (2000, 2008)
- Gorbachev (2006)
