Following is a transcript of the video.
Narrator: HBO’s new miniseries, “Chernobyl,” chronicles the 1986 nuclear crisis in Ukraine. It is a dramatization, so while many of the occasions depicted in the series are real, there are some discrepancies with the ancient accounts.
Here are 12 of them.
See that thick pillar of black smoke that’s coming out of the power plant? It makes for an ominous shot, but in reality, it was more likely thin trails of white vapor that were escaping from the reactor.
In the first episode, “Game of Thrones” enthusiasts might have identified Donald Sumpter, the actor who played Maester Luwin. It turns out that his character in “Chernobyl,” an elderly Bolshevik named Zharkov, is fictional. His speech urging the government not to sound the alarm about the twist of fate is also a fabrication.
Kharkiv: No one will leave. And cut the phone lines. Contain the spread of disinformation.
Narrator: That’s not to say there weren’t efforts to engage data dissemination without delay after the crisis. But we don’t know if what Zharkov says here, as it should, reflects the government’s logic at the moment.
Chernobyl is the biggest twist of nuclear fate to date, but according to Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear energy expert at Greenpeace, Legasov’s comparison between Chernobyl and Hiroshima is meaningless.
Legasov: The fire we’re watching with our own eyes is giving off nearly twice the radiation released by the bomb in Hiroshima.
Narrator: The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was so devastating because of the number of people who suffered direct exposure to radiation. At Chernobyl, on the other hand, radioactive curtains enter the environment and disperse, so their health effects were more indirect and long-term.
In the second episode, a helicopter crashes while flying over the open reactor. There was a helicopter crash after Chernobyl, but the series moved that event forward in time. The twist of fate occurred in October of that year, months after finishing putting out the fire.
Among the fictional characters in the series, the most central is Ulana Khomyuk, the scientist at the Belarusian Institute of Nuclear Energy. Khomyuk went to Chernobyl uninvited, interrogated factory supervisors in their hospital rooms, and soon found herself in the presence of the Secretary General. Gorbachev. If this story seems unrealistic to one person, it is because Khomyuk was imagined as a composite character representing the many scientists who led the cleanup efforts. Its genre is realistic, like that of the USSR. had an impressive track record of educating women in STEM roles.
In the second episode, Khomyuk warns the council that a second explosion may occur, expelling even more radioactive curtains from the core with a force of up to four megatons. According to Haverkamp, this estimate is probably exaggerated. The rest of your description doesn’t hold up either.
Khomyuk: And probably fatal for the entire population of kyiv, as well as part of Minsk. And it will be all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and, at most, East Germany.
Narrator: The claim that all of Europe is affected is based on many assumptions. As Haverkamp says, this scenario could occur simply if all the molten corium touched groundwater. But when the corium begins to melt, it does so in a very asymmetrical manner. So, if the second explosion had occurred, it would be quite difficult to wait for its consequences.
As part of the effort to prevent the steam explosion that Khomyuk warned about, three patriotic volunteers dive into radioactive water to open the tank valves. The show takes a few liberties here. According to one of the divers, Alexei Ananenko, they didn’t all volunteer for the job. Ananenko was an engineer at the plant who simply happened to be on duty that day when his supervisor assigned him to the mission. He was told he could refuse the assignment, but he was the only person on the shift who knew the location of the valves, leaving him with effectively no choice but to join the team of divers.
In one of the series’ more comical moments, the miners digging the tunnel underneath Unit 3 strip naked to cope with the heat. It’s possible that a few of the miners actually did this, but even the show’s writer and creator, Craig Mazin, said that there were some varying accounts of how much clothing got taken off.
One of the resources Mazin consulted was “Midnight in Chernothroughl,” a book based on real-life accounts of the twist of fate compiled by journalist Adam Higginbotham. In an interview with Inverse, Higginbotham said the display exaggerated the Soviet government’s denial and delayed reaction.
His e-book describes how the investigation into Chernobyl began almost immediately on several fronts. 36 hours after the explosion, reactor specialists traveled to Chernobyl from Moscow and were able to temporarily identify the most likely cause of the accident. Therefore, as Higginbotham said, it is not necessary for a whistleblower seeking out a whistleblower to realize the causes. But raising awareness about the upheavals that led to Chernobyl took Soviet scientists several years of hard work and research.
Sadly, the friendship we see develop between Boris Shcherbina, chairman of the Chernobyl commission, and Valery Legasov, the chief scientific investigator, was largely an imagined one. The duo’s scenes together show their growing bond, but there’s no evidence that any of these scenes actually happened.
Nor was Legasov the martyr portrayed by Jared Harris, raising his voice at Gorbachev and brazenly defying the KGB chief. We have no explanation for thinking that the trial of Dyatlov and the other two factory managers was as theatrical as at the end, when Legasov denounced his government before a room of officials.
Legasov committed suicide two years after the explosion and dictated a definitive letter reflecting on the liquidation effort he had led. But in that message, he didn’t ask “What’s the charge of lying?”, the show’s catchphrase, or summary questions about the meaning of truth.
Legasov: The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, we will no longer understand reality.
Narrator: Legasov had specific grievances related to the control of Chernobyl, which he defined in detail in his message.
Did we do anything? Let us know in the comments.
Here is a transcript of the video.
Narrator: HBO’s new miniseries, “Chernobyl,” recounts the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine. It’s a dramatization, so while many events depicted in the show are based in reality, it had a few discrepancies with historical accounts.
Here are 12 of them.
See that thick pillar of black smoke that’s coming out of the power plant? It makes for an ominous shot, but in reality, it was more likely thin trails of white vapor that were escaping from the reactor.
In the first episode, “Game of Thrones” enthusiasts might have identified Donald Sumpter, the actor who played Maester Luwin. It turns out that his character in “Chernobyl,” an elderly Bolshevik named Zharkov, is fictional. His speech urging the government not to sound the alarm about the twist of fate is also a fabrication.
Kharkov: Nobody leaves. And cut the phone lines. Contain the spread of misinformation.
Narrator: That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some effort to contain the spread of information in the immediate aftermath of the meltdown. But we don’t know if what Zharkov says here accurately reflects the government’s rationale at this point in time.
Chernobyl is the biggest nuclear accident to date, but according to Jan Haverkamp, a senior nuclear-energy expert at Greenpeace, Legasov’s comparison of Chernobyl to Hiroshima doesn’t quite make sense.
Legasov: The fire we see with our own eyes emits almost twice as much radiation as the Hiroshima bomb.
Narrator: The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was so devastating because of the number of people directly exposed to the radiation. In Chernobyl, on the other hand, radioactive substances enter the environment and are dispersed, so their health effects have been more indirect and long-term.
In the second episode, a helicopter crashes while flying over the open reactor. There was a helicopter crash after Chernobyl, but the series moved that event forward in time. The twist of fate occurred in October of that year, months after finishing putting out the fire.
Among the fictional characters in the series, the most central is Ulana Khomyuk, the scientist at the Belarusian Institute of Nuclear Energy. Khomyuk went to Chernobyl uninvited, interrogated plant supervisors in her hospital rooms, and soon found herself even in the presence of General Secretary Gorbachev. If this story seems unrealistic to a single person, it is because Khomyuk imagined him as a composite character representing the many scientists who led the cleanup efforts. Her gender is completely realistic, as the USSR had an impressive record of educating women for STEM roles.
In the second episode, Khomyuk warns the council that a second explosion may occur, ejecting even more radioactive curtains from the core with a force of up to four megatons. According to Haverkamp, this estimate is probably exaggerated. The rest of his description does not hold up either.
Khomyuk: And probably fatal for the entire population of kyiv, as well as part of Minsk. And it will be all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and, at most, East Germany.
Narrator: The claim that all of Europe is affected is based on many assumptions. As Haverkamp says, this scenario could occur simply if all the molten corium touched the groundwater. But when the chorium begins to melt, it does so in a very asymmetrical way. So, if the second explosion had occurred, it would be quite difficult to expect its consequences.
As part of the efforts to save the steam explosion that Khomyuk had warned about, three patriotic volunteers immerse themselves in radioactive water to open the reservoir’s valves. Visualization takes some liberties here. According to Alexei Ananenko, one of the divers, not all of them volunteered for this work. Ananenko was an engineer at the plant who happened to be on duty the day his manager assigned him the task. He was told that he could simply refuse the mission, but he was the only user of the equipment who knew the location of the valves, which still left him no option to sign up for the diving team.
In one of the most comical moments of the series, the miners digging the tunnel under Unit 3 strip naked to deal with the heat. It’s imaginable that some of the young people actually did this, but even the show’s editor and creator, Craig Mazin, said there were different accounts about how much clothes he took off.
One of the resources Mazin consulted was “Midnight in Chernothroughl,” a book based on real-life accounts of the twist of fate compiled by journalist Adam Higginbotham. In an interview with Inverse, Higginbotham said the exhibition exaggerated the Soviet government’s denial and delayed reaction.
His book describes how the Chernobyl investigation began without delay on several fronts. Within 36 hours of the explosion, reactor specialists traveled to Chernobyl from Moscow and were able to temporarily identify the most likely cause of the accident. Therefore, as Higginbotham said, it is not necessary for a whistleblower to seek to discover the causes. But raising awareness about the upheavals that led to Chernobyl took Soviet scientists several years of hard work and research.
Unfortunately, the friendship we see emerging between Boris Shcherbina, chairman of the Chernobyl commission, and Valery Legasov, scientific leader of studies, was largely imaginary. The duo’s scenes show their upcoming bond, but there is no evidence that any of those scenes ever happened.
Legasov was also not quite the martyr figure that Jared Harris depicts, raising his voice to Gorbachev and openly challenging the head of the KGB. We have no reason to think that the trial of Dyatlov and the other two plant managers involved any of the theatrics seen in the finale, when Legasov denounces his government in front of a room of officials.
Legasov did die by suicide two years after the explosion, and he did dictate a final letter reflecting on the liquidation effort he spearheaded. But in this message, he didn’t ask, “What is the cost of lies,” the show’s tagline, nor did he contemplate any abstract questions about the meaning of truth.
Legasov: The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, we will no longer understand reality.
Narrator: Legasov had specific complaints regarding the control of Chernobyl, which he outlined in detail in his message.
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
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