If not for their feat, all of Europe would have suffered from Chernobyl
It would seem that everything has already been written about the Chernobyl accident. However, even 15 years after this most terrible man-made disaster in the history of mankind, facts that have not been published before suddenly “emerge”. The former firefighter Vladimir Trinos, who got to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the first hours after the reactor explosion, told us his story.
"After the explosion, our motorcade stood for about forty minutes at the crossroads in the Red Forest, because they did not know where to direct the cars"
- In 1986, I was a driver, commander of the department of the Kyiv military fire department of special equipment N 27. On April 26, I was on duty. At two o'clock in the morning our unit received a signal from Chernobyl. Not knowing what happened there, almost everyone who was on duty went to put out the fire. At five in the morning we were already near the second fire station at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. When we drove up, ten kilometers away we saw a pink-crimson glow above the station. It was just beginning to get light, and this unnatural glow was very impressive. I had never seen anything like it before.
Until the beginning of the seventh morning, we stood near the unit, almost a few hundred meters from the blazing reactor, and then we were sent to Pripyat. Nobody knew anything. We could judge what was happening only by the fragments of information heard over the radio station. We heard that there were victims, but how many of them and what exactly happened, they didn’t really know. I remember that at the crossroads in the "Red Forest", near the famous pine tree in the shape of a trident, which became the symbol of Chernobyl, we stood for about forty minutes: the column of cars stopped - they did not know where to direct us. Then it turned out that in this place there was such a strong backlash of radiation that later we drove through this intersection at maximum speed. And on April 26, we returned home only in the evening.
- Why were you torn from Kyiv and kept uselessly for half a day under radioactive radiation?
- That's how it was supposed to be. We were alerted. Firefighters came from all over the area. Our three cars remained at the station. The dosimetrist froze, and they took away all the uniforms and even certificates from us - so they "blew". In Kyiv, they said that on May 6 we were leaving for Chernobyl to pump out water. They warned that this work must be done quickly and accurately, and held several training sessions in Kyiv. Already in Chernobyl, they learned more specifically what kind of work was to be done. After the explosion at the power unit, water from the cooling system fell under the destroyed reactor. It was necessary to urgently get to the special emergency drain valves, open them, and then the water itself would go to special reservoirs. But the room with valves after the fire was also completely flooded with radioactive water. It had to be pumped out as quickly as possible - during the extinguishing of the fire, sand and lead ingots were thrown onto the reactor, and under all this weight it could settle ... Then no one really knew how much was left in the reactor after the explosion, but they said, that if its contents come into contact with heavy water, a hydrogen bomb will be obtained, from which at least the whole of Europe will suffer.
The room with valves was located directly under the reactor. Can you imagine what the background radiation was like there! We had to lay a hose line one and a half kilometers long, install a pumping station and pump water into septic tanks.
- Why were you chosen?
- Healthy hardy young people were needed. The sick would not survive. I was 25 years old and I was a professional sportsman.
- So you got there completely healthy.
- Of course. Over one hundred percent! Before sending us there, they conducted an experiment - they tried to throw up their sleeves from a helicopter, but it didn’t work out. Only humans could handle this. Manually.
After the fire, we were the first to get there. There was no one around, only service personnel worked at the station itself. It was quiet. A very beautiful place - the railway bridge, the Pripyat, which flows into the Dnieper ... But this idyll was disturbed by an eerie sight - a light smoke rose from the reactor, abandoned equipment stood around, including fire engines with dents from lead blanks that fell on the equipment. And right on the ground were pieces of graphite thrown out of the reactor by an explosion: black, iridescent in the sun.
"We were given chemical protective suits, respirators and caps"
The operation began on May 6 at 20.00 firefighters from Bila Tserkva. Vladimir Trinos remembers their names: Major Georgy Nagaevsky, Petr Voitsekhovsky, Sergey Bovt, Mikhail Dyachenko and Nikolai Pavlenko. With them were two people from Kiev, Ivan Khudorley and Anatoly Dobryn. They installed the pumping station three times faster than the regulations - in five minutes. So, that's how long they spent under the torn apart reactor. Around midnight, Alexander Nemirovsky joined them, and at five in the morning - Vladimir Trinos. Every two hours, three of them ran to the reactor to refuel the continuously running machines with fuel, change the oil, and monitor the regime. One could, of course, try to send a diver to the valves, but for him this would mean certain death. Therefore, the firemen continued to pump out the water.
At two o'clock in the morning, an armored personnel carrier carrying out radiological reconnaissance drove over the arms and cut them fifty meters from the reactor. The contaminated water began to flow straight onto the ground. Sergeants N. Pavlenko and S. Bovt rushed to fix the unfortunate breakdown. The mittens were uncomfortable, so the guys took them off and twisted the fire hoses with their bare hands, crawling on their knees in radioactive water...
After fourteen hours of continuous operation, the pumping station failed, and a new one had to be installed waist-deep in radioactive water.
- They worked on time, faster than the norms, - V. Trinos continues his story, - They took these sleeves with water, pressed them to the chest, like children, and dragged them. At first we were in L-1 rubber chemical protective suits and respirators. Then, I remember, it was so hot. The mineral water ended, and we drank water right at the station from the tap. I had seven exits in 24 hours. After each exit, the costumes were changed, and it was necessary to walk a kilometer and a half (and in some places - preferably by running) to the administration building in order to wash there. The water from the shower looked like peas falling on my head. On the evening of May 7, Anatoly Dobryn became ill. He began to talk, and the ambulance took him from the station to Chernobyl. There, Tolya began to feel sick and vomit, and he was taken to Ivankov, on a drip.
In addition to us, there were dosimetrists and very young soldiers at the station - they brought us gasoline. At about four in the morning on May 8, we got to the valves, and we were replaced by Major Yuri Gets with his group. When we finished our work, a lot of people and equipment immediately appeared at the station! We started clearing everything. Before that, it was just us and the staff.
"In Ivankovo we were greeted like cosmonauts"
Until the firefighters finished their work and the danger was not over, Mikhail Gorbachev was silent, making no statements. Every half an hour they reported to him how the work of the guys was progressing ... After official thanks, they were immediately sent to Ivankov for a blood test. As Georgy Nagaevsky recalls, the city met them as cosmonauts. “People pulled us out of the car and carried us to the hospital, the whole road was strewn with flowers. If we had not pumped out the water in time, Ivankov would have been evacuated. Buses were already ready, people packed their things.
The grateful people of Ivankovo made us so drunk with champagne that I only got home in an unconscious state on May 9th. Then the head of the UGPO in the Kyiv region was Triputin, he could not stand drunkenness, but then he himself told me: "Zhora, you will go to Vyshneve, go to the workshops, take a can of alcohol there and "treat" ...
On May 18, 1986, the Kyivska Pravda newspaper wrote about the heroic firefighters: “They managed to pump out water from under the damaged reactor. Each of them, at a crucial moment, acted as his conscience prompted ... After completing the task, they were all examined by doctors, they were granted short-term vacations. The government commission gave a high assessment to the actions of the firefighters."
But instead of the promised vacation, the people of Kiev were taken to Kyiv, to the hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they lay for 45 days. It was bad for everyone. “The state of fatigue, weakness were incomprehensible to us,” recalls V. Trinos, “because we were all young and healthy. Of course, we knew what radiation was, but it doesn’t bite, except perhaps some kind of metallic taste in the mouth. Throat I was so swollen that I could not speak, as if with a severe sore throat. I lost seven kilograms in a day at the station. In general, after Chernobyl, I never gained the previous weight, and the weakness never went away. I tried to return to sports - after all, I was only twenty-five, but I had to come to terms with the fact that life was irrevocably divided into two halves: before and after April 1986.
In hospitals, for the first time, we encountered the fact that no one needs them. Firstly, then there was an unwritten decree not to diagnose radiation sickness. New standards for irradiation were introduced, everything was hushed up. The official dose of my exposure is 159 roentgens. And how much really?
In 1992, in the sanatorium in Pushcha-Voditsa, firefighters from Belaya Tserkov went on a hunger strike, and only after that they were noticed. And at such moments I immediately begin to get nervous - this is unpleasant and does not make sense. In the 25th Kyiv hospital, one doctor told us right in the eye: "What are you doing, anyway, in five years you will begin to die out slowly!".
"On New Year's Eve 1987 I was awarded the Order of the Red Star"
- When you went to Chernobyl to pump out water, was there any thought to refuse?
- Not. Then they knew the word "must". Besides, I was just doing my job. Now it is difficult for young people to understand this, because there is no longer that oppressive ideology and a person has the right to choose: if he realizes the degree of risk, he will either immediately refuse or go for it for an appropriate fee. And then no one even thought to refuse. For me, everything was simple and clear - this is not heroism, but a working moment. There was, of course, a psychological burden. It crushed the unknown. But the political department worked very clearly. The authorities came to "support morale", and then immediately appeared publications under the headings: "Heroes in the ranks", awards, smiles, flowers ...
On May 18, 1986, the Kyivska Pravda newspaper wrote: “Everyone works here without written instructions and orders. And things are going smoothly, without disruptions. the first machines with cement, lead, and other materials. Today we are ahead of schedule by more than 600 tons."
True, I must pay tribute to my superiors: on New Year's Eve 1987, they gave me a two-room apartment in Troyeshchina. And then we were all awarded the Order of the Red Star. In addition to Ivan Khudorley, he received the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
- And what is it, there were not enough stars?
- Probably ... In 1993, I was dismissed for health reasons due to permanent sick leave. I have already visited almost all the capital's hospitals, I am undergoing treatment in sanatoriums. Now, for example, I am undergoing a re-examination for disability at the Institute of Neurosurgery, and not only in it, but in all medical institutions. This is an annual procedure for me, because lifelong disability is given from the age of 45, and I am still young.
Such a sad story...
- And Chernobyl is sadness. He left nothing good for anyone. Of those who were with me at the station, fortunately, all are alive. But there was some kind of dull resentment towards this system, which used healthy young people, and then threw them out. Although they do not forget me in my native part, they always help me, invite me to the holidays. And we traditionally meet with the guys who were at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on May 8th. I hope we all get together next year.
Time inexorably runs forward... The hands of the clock cannot be turned back, just as it is impossible to change what has already happened. In memory, as if on film, there are events that the past quarter of a century could not cover with a black veil of oblivion. This is an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant ...
In the spring of 1987, I quit the Kurgan depot, where I worked as an assistant electric locomotive driver in column No. 2, and got a job as a gas cutter in the Vtorchermet organization. Immediately after the dismissal, about a month later, I took out the first summons from the mailbox. Then there were still attempts by the military registration and enlistment office in this way to hand me a summons. And, no matter how much I ignored the actions of the Soviet RVC in the city of Kurgan, nevertheless, one summons found its addressee. I don't remember exactly when it was, I think it was late summer. The summons was handed to me by the head of the Vtorchermet shop, Vysotsky, and the military registration and enlistment office staff found me at work. I had to go to a medical examination, which I successfully passed on 07/23/1987. Good. The expectation began when I would be called to liquidate the Chernobyl accident. And it happened on my birthday - November 11, 1987. All of us were sent for a second medical examination to the regional military registration and enlistment office. After her adventures, they let her go home for a few hours. Hastily celebrated his birthday, and around 18-00 he arrived at the mobilization point in the regional military registration and enlistment office. We were lined up in the courtyard of the military registration and enlistment office, the check began. After that, they announced that there were extra people to recruit and those who did not want to go, let them take a step forward. While I was considering whether to leave or not, the action had already taken place: I remained in the ranks.
Two trolleybuses approached the military registration and enlistment office, and we drove to the central station. The wives came to the train passing through the Kamensk Uralsky station. There were not so many of them, but my wife Katerina was among the mourners. Looking at her face through the glass of the car, I carefully looked into her eyes and wanted to see in them whether she understood the essence of what was happening. Then I didn't see it. Maybe neither I nor she herself realized the tragedy of what had happened and, of course, did not know what would happen next. Although I knew perfectly well what danger awaited me. I had some knowledge about the effects of radiation on the human body, because I once graduated from the "training" (military unit 11570, Kamyshlov, Sverdlovsk region in the fall of 1974 - in the spring of 1975 in the military specialty "reconnaissance chemist") .
The train started off... Farewell, Kurgan! No one sang in the carriage, those who rode nearby, everyone got to know each other. For a quarter of a century, the names and surnames of those with whom, by the will of fate, I then went to the place of the accident were erased from my memory. Under the sound of wheels, fate took us farther and farther from home, where our families, relatives, friends, and work remained. At st. Kamensk-Uralsky - transfer, and we are already on our way to the station. Chelyabinsk. This is how my next birthday passed, and then I turned 31 years old ...
The night has passed. In the morning we arrived at the central station of Chelyabinsk, waited for several hours and, finally, boarding the train. There "partisans" - Chelyabinsk residents - join us. Around lunchtime, we arrived at the central station of Zlatoust, lined up and walked uphill to the place of further deployment of military unit 29767. The place where our unit was located (if several barracks could be called a part) was located next to the territory of the chemical. battalion. It was a former summer camp for pioneers or athletes. After the sharp minds of the "partisans", he was given a name. I can’t write how it was pronounced, but it’s not by chance that there is a saying in Russian: “Not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.” So here is the "folk" name, and in this case "partisan" - the most accurate ... Construction, roll call. The officers read out the names of who is sent where. I ended up in the 1st company, where we were later trained in the military specialty "chemist-degasser". Company Commander Captain Rybalko - Liquidator of the Chernobyl accident. Political officer, Major Khokhlov - Liquidator of the Chernobyl accident. The names of those whom I remember.
We are directed to the first barracks. Issuance of uniforms with further "adjustment" of it. Having received a duffel bag, a bowler hat, a mug, a spoon, I am ready to serve the Fatherland again. I list the names, names of those who remained in my memory. Valery Zhuravlev (Vargashi village), Alexander Parshukov (Kurgan), the late Vladimir Bragin (Lebyazhye village), Alexei Fedotov (Lebyazhevsky district), Vyacheslav Degusar (Kurgan city), Chelyabinsk residents Anatoly Chigintsev, Nikolai Evsikov served with me. That's all the names that remained in memory.
We began to settle down and get to know each other better. It was cold in the barracks, in some places a finger went through a gap in the floor, the batteries barely warmed up. When frost hit below -30, it became quite cold. Slept in shoes, jackets and hats. Something had to be done about the heating. At that time, the boilers were stoked by conscripts who lived next to us. Seeing many of them during the day, one could be horrified at how dirty they were. The cook who prepared food for us was blacker than a cauldron. Their discipline was lame on both legs, what the comrade commanders were doing in this unit is not difficult to guess.
I can't say the same about our officers. Everything was within the limits of the Charter of the Military Service.
So we proposed to the command of the unit to put our guys in charge of the heating boilers, those who were engaged in this work in civilian life. Such were found. After the first visit to the stoker, it became clear why the batteries were not heated: the wiring was done incorrectly, and the stokers from conscripts slept on the boilers while on duty. Volodya Bragin and I were welders, and after the revision of the heating system, we proposed to redo it. Which is what they did in the first place. Then he and I started welding heating work in the new dining room.
We ate in the open air, only later we moved to a cold barracks - a dining room. They fed terribly, but hunger is not an aunt, they ate this gruel too.
The cold in the barracks soon came to an end - the heating system began to work. The stokers, recruited from our guys, worked conscientiously. In the barracks, we soon covered the floor with chipboard. Work began in the Lenin room, classes were organized to train personnel in the military specialty. When it was warm outside, they were engaged in tactical and technical training.
We, with Volodya Bragin, Valery Zhuravlev and other guys, had to do welding and metalwork in the new canteen under construction. So the days went by. We got to know the officers of our company better. They asked them what they did while serving at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. They answered us briefly and simply: "Come to the station - you will find out everything yourself." It turned out that Major Khokhlov served with Colonel Shamin in the Ural regiment in Chernobyl. Shamin was my company commander in the "training" during the military service. And my first desire after what was said, of course, was to get into the Ural regiment and be sure to meet with my commander. It turned out that Valery Zhuravlev's older brother, Viktor, together with Major Khokhlov, served in the Ural Regiment as a driver. Some time after arriving home from service, Victor died. Valery lost his older brother...
These days the first losses appeared among us - the liquidators. Families lost breadwinners, husbands, fathers, sons. But then we did not yet know that fate was preparing for us many more trials and losses ...
December 20. General construction. We are read an order about who, where and to what unit is distributed. Then the Zlatoust night station was waiting for us. On the platform - all of our three companies and the mourners. A quick farewell to the officers of our company without a brass band - everything was done quietly. Boarding a passenger train, and we follow to the capital of Ukraine - the city - the hero of Kyiv. Arrived. We are building to the forecourt area. Little wait. Surprisingly, almost nothing remained in the memory of that moment, I can’t even remember all the beauties of the Kyiv railway station - everything has been erased. Then the Ikarus buses arrived, and here we are heading to the city of Bila Tserkva. Tens of thousands more liquidators of the Chernobyl accident have passed and will follow the same route. And this stream will stop only in 1991. There was a terrible war to eliminate the disaster. And the officials, having taken all the bureaucratic measures, do not now recognize that we took part in the hostilities, but all because you have to pay money for this and provide benefits. The measure of everything now in our society is money, and not honor, respect, the observance of Laws and Constitutional Law. Although the ITU certificate, which was issued to me much later, after receiving disability, says: “Disability group: second. Cause of disability: injury, received in the performance of military service duties, associated with the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. All this was waiting for us after the liquidation of the accident: illness, loss of friends, humiliation, trials, the struggle against bureaucratic arbitrariness ... And then the city of Belaya Tserkov was waiting for us, where bloody battles took place during the Great Patriotic War, where our fathers and grandfathers fought to the death and won. Now we also had to win and prove that we are worthy of their descendants.
The buses arrived in the afternoon at the territory of the military unit, where we were placed for several hours. Checking documents, roll call, building. Then covered motor vehicles "Ural" approached. The command sounds: “By cars!” And again the road that leads us to see with our own eyes, to know, to experience the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. ... A few hours of travel, and we arrived at the deployment point of the 25th brigade in the village of Orannoe, Ivankovsky district, Kyiv region. We waited a long time until we were assigned to military units. There was no snow. The damp, penetrating wind instilled in the soul an anxiety that was still incomprehensible at that time. For shelter from the weather there was one tent, there was no stove, but it was possible to hide from the wind. Slowly, our group decreased, representatives (“buyers”) shouted out their names and then they took us to their unit. We, the last six, were the last to be taken after midnight.
The 87th bath and laundry battalion was located next to the 25th brigade, three hundred meters opposite. On the one hand - a pine forest, on the other - a swamp. We passed through the checkpoint. Accompanied us. sergeant from the "hozvzvod". We went into the last tent with a capacity of forty people. A tarpaulin, lightly stained with soot, was stretched over a frame of pine poles, there were no windows. There were two potbelly stoves - one at the entrance, and the other - at the end of the tent. On the edges of the tent were beds in two tiers. One light bulb was on, but it did not add mood. The sooty ceiling hung darkly above us. But it was heated, and after a long stay in the cold, we finally found ourselves warm. They began to get acquainted with those who were in the tent. These were several people who had recently arrived from the second shift from Pripyat. We were shown where the washbasin is. It was also heated in the same way as the tents, only with water heating. The soul became easier when we refreshed ourselves with water and felt the aroma of fragrant soap.
After a pleasant procedure, we went into the tent, the foreman was "stunned" by our appearance. We were all wearing the same white T-shirts. On the chest we wore an emblem invented by us in Zlatoust. It was painted by the artist - designer Slava Digusar, he stayed in the Urals to complete the design of the Lenin room. We have redesigned the emblem of the American Green Berets. The skull, on it is a green beret with a cockade against the background of spread wings. We replaced the cockade with the “Caution: Radiation” sign, and wrote “CHERNOBYL” in large letters on the wings. The eyes of the senior sergeant sparkled, and he loudly shouted: "Let's wave! On two new vests!" I agreed. We were the same complexion - the deal happened instantly. So my T-shirt went as a gift to the nephew of the foreman ...
Lights out, a short nap, getting up, toilet procedures and the first breakfast. What we saw in our dining room in Zlatoust and what we saw here was like heaven and earth. The food differed both in their variety of products and in the quality of cooking, which was important when working in areas with radiation load. After a long dry meal (and these were soldiers' dry rations), hot and fresh food came to our taste.
After breakfast - morning divorce. We were divided into companies, the companies went to work in shifts, there were three of them: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They worked seven days a week in the city of Pripyat, on the territory of a former bakery. There were mobile laundry complexes "schooners". More on that later.
We have not yet been sent to the station, I went on duty at the headquarters, my fellow countryman Alexander Parshukov took over the commander's UAZ and drove a battalion commander named Pasichka called up from the reserve. Chelyabinsk residents Kolya Evsikov went on duty at the checkpoint, Anatoly Chigintsev was appointed a bread cutter in the dining room, Alexander - he forgot his last name - was appointed to the position of medical instructor, his duties included issuing vitamins and keeping records of the liquidators who left for the station, and also invite doctors on time to take blood. The control was carried out every two weeks.
The main heroine and favorite of the battalion was the goose Jackdaw. She paced around the battalion, vigilantly watching the violators of discipline and peace. A special place was allotted for her and a booth was built, and the duty officer at the headquarters was responsible for feeding Jackdaws. Galka also had a gander, but before our arrival he was stabbed to death by a demobilization from Donbass, fried for a snack before leaving - thus taking another small dose of radiation. Funny funny things sometimes happened with Galka, here is one of them. When one of the personnel in the battalion expressed his emotions loudly, the goose ran in that direction, loudly flapping its wings and pinching the troublemaker's legs. That is what happened this time as well. There was a morning divorce. After the battalion commander addressed the personnel, the chief of staff took the floor. The people did not like him for his bad temper and foppish antics. He was given the exact nickname - "The Cigarette End" - because of his constant mocking antics. After the divorce, the catchphrase often flew out of his mouth: “Operation“ Cigarette End. This meant one thing: everyone to go and collect cigarette butts scattered by unscrupulous smokers. Galka did not like him either, but all because he liked to force and shout at his subordinates, walking along the line. There was nothing serious or intelligent in the moralizing. Out of order, sometimes jokes flew in his direction, and he became even more annoyed. That's what happened this time as well. At the cry of the chief of staff, a goose flew out and, bending its neck, rushed towards him. From all the "run-up" she crashed into a screamer, which he did not expect, Jackdaw advanced, pinched his pants with her beak, and he tried to dodge her blows and retreated. There was a friendly laughter and shouts from the ranks: “Serve him right! Jackdaw, atu him, atu! The chief of staff quickly retreated towards his tent. Soon he was demobilized. A new chief of staff has arrived - a far cry from the previous one. Later, when I was appointed dosimetrist of the battalion, I checked the plumage of the goose with a special device that captures and measures the radiation of beta particles. The indicator turned red, which meant that the level of pollution exceeded the norm.
On December 31, I was appointed duty officer at the checkpoint, and after dinner I took over the duty. New 1988 had to be met one on one. After 12 o'clock, one of the guys brought me a festive treat at the checkpoint. Eating sweets and drinking Pepsi, I wrote a letter home. In the morning they changed me. The old year was replaced by a new one, and the work to eliminate the accident at the nuclear power plant did not stop for a single minute. Columns of cars after columns carried people to and from shifts. The battalion was located next to the road, and when any column moved towards the station or back, it was clearly audible in the territory of the battalion. The movement did not stop around the clock.
"I left without even saying goodbye to my dying husband."
“On the night of April 27, 1986, when I was on duty at the Donetsk city hospital N25, where I worked as a nurse in the therapeutic department, I received an order: “Immediately leave for Kyiv,” recalls Valentina Mamzina, patronage nurse of the Donetsk branch of the regional Red Cross. - Therapist Valentin Frantsev and I immediately went by ambulance to the building of the Donetsk City Executive Committee, from where doctors were sent "to Kyiv", as indicated on the business trip.
Valentina Egorovna only managed to leave a note at work asking her colleagues to call her home and warn her daughters. After all, at the same time, her husband-heart was in the hospital. Leaving, Valentina Yegorovna did not even have time to say goodbye to him. She did not know that she would no longer find her husband alive.
We were told to take food with us only for three days, - continues Valentina Yegorovna. - On the way we stopped at the store, bought bread, sausages. And already before departure, we were given six boxes of mineral water in each car. At work, I had a dress just given to me by my husband, so I grabbed it. I thought in my free time to take a walk around Kyiv.
Valentina Mamzina became slightly worried only when she saw how, seeing off the ambulances, the then head of the city health department baptized each batch of medical workers with the words: "Come back alive."
On the very first day after the Chernobyl disaster, 61 medical workers from Donetsk were sent to Pripyat. However, nurse Mamzina is still sure that even knowing where they were being taken, she could not help but go. For her, that would be perjury. "We're in the military," she explains.
"Ambulances" went to Kyiv by country roads and accompanied by traffic police. At dawn, in the dense forest, the military dressed the doctors sent from different cities in protective suits and took an oath from them: to follow orders and keep everything they saw secret.
Hiding in the basement of the Chernobyl first-aid post from radiation, people almost drowned
Valentina Egorovna worked in the exclusion zone for 20 days. She was sent either to evacuate the population, or to work in the hospitals of Pripyat and nearby villages. But most of all I remember the first Chernobyl night, which almost cost Mamza's life.
A command was received: "The car overturned, six people were seriously injured, a team of doctors is urgently needed for the operation." Doctor Frantsev and Mamzina went to Pripyat. The emergency reactor was visible directly from the windows of the first-aid post where the operation took place. Operated by a team of 11 doctors. They barely had time to “sew up” the last patient, when they called the operating room: “Everyone should immediately evacuate to the basement, now they will cover the emergency reactor, those who remain on the surface may get burns.” 30 medical liquidators from Donetsk and Kyiv went down to the basement, and the military locked them up there.
Suddenly, water gushed into the dungeon, and now my interlocutor recalls with a shudder what she experienced. - I was already up to my neck in the water and almost lost consciousness when the water began to subside.
It turned out that the soldiers, who were working with underground utilities, accidentally knocked down the valve on the water conduit. Luckily, they were able to fix the accident quickly. None of the doctors drowned, although they had a chance to swim in radioactive water.
Every day, Valentina Egorovna's health condition worsened: a metallic taste appeared in her mouth, constant nausea and headache. But the nurse continued to work: she assisted in the operating room, helped to evacuate the population, fed an endless stream of migrants and liquidators with a special iodine solution, which they were sure to "pass" through the hospital.
All pregnant women had abortions at short terms, women in labor with babies were evacuated to Odessa, - recalls Valentina Yegorovna. - Then I did not try to pay attention to the mood of people - everyone already knew what had happened, and outwardly behaved calmly. But now, remembering the migrants, I'm just numb: some people left their homes only with documents and ... cats in their hands. Many of them didn't even have time to pick up the kids for the trip, as they were at work when their kids were taken to the "clean zone" straight from the kindergarten. Cattle were driven towards our cars, which, they say, were then destroyed. And leaving Pripyat, we saw that the houses locked by the owners had already been broken into by marauders, beautiful villages turned into a terrible desert ...
After 20 days, Valentina Yegorovna herself was evacuated - she started bleeding from her nose and ears. The dose of radiation she received was 52.3 rems! (The maximum allowable annual exposure rate for workers at nuclear power plants is 2 rem, for civilians - 0.5 rem.) Chernobyl. The level of radiation in her blood was twice the norm! The evening dress, never worn, had to be burned.
Doctor Valentin Fedorovich and I arrived in Donetsk in everything foreign, like beggars, - recalls Valentina Mamzina. - When radiation was measured on things, the belt on my evening dress was especially “phony”, and for some reason Frantsev had the most radiation accumulated in his socks. They also burned all the brand new ambulances in which our group arrived from Donetsk.
The general practitioner Valentin Frantsev died a year after the tragedy in his native city hospital L 25 in the arms of his permanent assistant nurse Mamzina.
Valentina Yegorovna recalls the terrible events with reluctance. She says that even when she, along with other "liquidators", was invited to Pripyat two years ago to shoot the film "Black True Story", already at the entrance to the city she became ill, the same obsessive nauseating taste appeared in her mouth. And besides, upon returning home from that protracted business trip "to Kyiv," she had to learn that three days after her departure, her husband died in the hospital. Medical workers who worked in the exclusion zone were not allowed to keep in touch with their relatives, and daughters could not tell their mother about the grief that befell them.
Marking the date of the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, we publish the story of a man who, in the same year, 1986, visited the Exclusion Zone as a liquidator of the consequences of the accident.
I will try to write about the liquidation of the accident on Chernobyl as a member of it. I write only what I myself witnessed, if from other people's words, I will write so. Sorry for so many words, it just happened.
About myself: we had a military department at the university and we, biologists, were trained as chemical officers. Upon graduation, he was awarded the rank of reserve lieutenant, after 10 years he received the rank of art. lieutenant, and my entire term of service in the army was 75 days - the time that I participated in the LPA (liquidation of the consequences of the accident) at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Hearing about the accident, I realized that sooner or later I would be there, in the military specialty. I read a lot from the available literature (then nobody heard about the Internet, and it didn’t even exist). I thought about why in Japan people who survived the radiation exposure during the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still alive, and I realized that one of the main reasons is the traditional tea drinking since childhood.
He began to "rummage" in the properties of tea and read somewhere that it removes radiation. True, in Japan they traditionally drink green tea, while we have black tea, but the essence is the same. I loved it before and drank a lot. In parts, they drank at least a liter daily. There is an opinion that alcohol also removes radiation, yes, this is true, but the nuance is that you need to drink alcohol BEFORE irradiation, and after that it is completely useless, unlike tea.
At the beginning of November 1986, I was summoned to the district military registration and enlistment office and told that I might have to go to special collections for LPA, they sent me to the district clinic for a medical examination.
It so happened that I became the only person among the liquidators of the district who had a medical examination before the trip. Those who were called up before me were raised at 2, some at 4 in the morning and immediately sent through the military enlistment office to the zone, they were given 10 minutes for training. Those who were sent after me were not examined, because It came to the Central Administration not to conduct any examinations.
I was declared absolutely healthy. I remember the head of the polyclinic said: “Maybe you should write some kind of illness? We'll treat you later." To which I replied (I was young, ideological): "I swore an oath to defend the Motherland." He sighed and signed: "Fit without restrictions."
On November 28, they called me to the district military registration and enlistment office and said that I was called up for special training camps, sending to the regional military registration and enlistment office tomorrow, at 4 in the morning. On the 29th, we, 10 reserve officers from different parts of the region, were sitting in the hall. The deputy regional military commissar spoke before us and said that we were being called up for special meetings to eliminate the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He added that we can cancel the trip, but…
“…the prosecutor of the region is sitting next to me, a criminal case will be initiated against all those who refuse according to the law “On military duty”” (!!!). For reference: this is from 3 to 5 years in prison.
Naturally, there were no refusals.
Appointed a leader of the group. It turned out to be the only member of the CPSU among us, the head of one of the restaurants in the regional center. We were taken by bus to Krasnoznamenka, a military unit, where they dressed all those liable for military service going to the Zone. There they had a conversation with us and announced appointments to positions.
It turned out that eight people were required, and there were ten of us. That is, two were "superfluous". One was weeded out immediately, he had three children. It so happened that one of the two had to be sent home - me or a guy from my own village. They asked questions: communists? - no, Komsomols? — both, who wants to go voluntarily? - silence. Then they tossed a coin. I had to go home. Then it instantly flashed through my head: “When I return, how can I prove that I didn’t chicken out, that they sent him to the Zone, and not me?” And he said let me go. They asked the second: “Do you mind?” The guy didn't mind, of course. That's how I got on the list.
(By the way, when I returned home, I had to tell people that it wasn’t the parents who “got off” the guy, and that he didn’t chicken out, but simply turned out to be superfluous).
In general, the next morning we were dressed in a soldier's uniform, given dry rations, issued travel documents and sent to Odessa, saying that a representative of the regional military registration and enlistment office would meet us there and help with train tickets.
We've arrived. No one meets us, after two hours they decided that there was nothing to wait for and took the tickets themselves. About 15 minutes before the departure of the train, a panting lieutenant colonel flew in, found out that we had already taken tickets, said well done and ran away. On the 1st in the morning we arrived in Fastov, then by train to Belaya Tserkov, where we learned from demobilized "partisans" where to go to the transit point.
We got there. In a large 2-story barracks, there were 2-tier beds everywhere, it was full of "partisans", both soldiers and officers. Our senior found us some kind of nook, told us to wait and went to look for the authorities. He returned about an hour later, said that no one was waiting for us here, no one needed us, but in an hour a convoy would go to the 25th brigade (also a transit one), we would go with them.
Building, we are in the ranks, but a separate group. There is a group of officers, checking the papers, checking the commands. They reached us - and who are you, you are not on our list, looked at the documents - to hell with you, if you want to go - go, but we are not responsible for you.
At about 5 pm we arrived at the 25th, everyone was sorted out, and we are sitting. Hour, two, three, five... No one fed us either in Belaya Tserkov or in the brigade, they ate what they took from home. They all threw them on the common table, and when they had eaten, dry rations were used. The senior went to the headquarters to contact the regiment, he was told that a call sign was needed for communication, which we did not know. They said they didn't know either. They lied, of course.
At half past eleven in the night, a "bobby" came for us. It turned out that the head of the regiment's auto service was waiting for a replacement, and among us was his reliever, he called the brigade several times, he was told that there were no officers (although we had been sitting there for several hours). Finally, he went to his colleague from the brigade and he told him that there were officers. He is on his "bobby", and behind us. In general, on the 1st at 12 at night we were in the unit. We were brought to the headquarters, assigned to positions, each took his shift - to bring us up to date. On the 3rd they had already gone home.
Military unit 44316, or, as it was called, the Odessa Regiment, was located near the village of St. Falcons. In general, the Zone is a conditional concept: at the very beginning, the military drew a circle with a compass on the map (the center of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant) with a radius of 10 km, then with a radius of 30 km, they were accordingly surrounded by barbed wire. Hence the names: "10-km zone", "30-km zone".
Along the perimeter, 30 km away, as I was told later, there were 30 regiments or special battalions with special equipment from all military districts of the USSR. In the first days after the accident, “conscripts” were sent for liquidation, but then someone got the idea that they would get sick and that they would then have to be responsible for them, so all the “conscripts” were returned back. Instead, they began to call on "partisans" ("the wisest decision": let the civilians have a headache later).
In fact, guys from Moldova, Crimea, Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson regions were supposed to be called up to our regiment, but for some reason they also got from other places. When I arrived, I found from the North Caucasus (there were guys from Maykop in my platoon), in mid-December - replenishment from the Donetsk and Lugansk (then Voroshilovgrad) regions, mostly miners, in mid-January - replenishment from the Sverdlovsk region. (Russia).
Replenishment was every 2 weeks, 250 people each, the next day the same number went home. They were called up at the age of 25 to 45 years (up to 25 - the body grows, there could be a replacement of calcium during bone growth with strontium, after 45 - the deposition of salts, the same strontium), those who dealt with radiation in the "citizen" were immediately returned .
When I was in one of the replenishments, there was an X-ray technician, he was sent home the next morning, saying: “Then you won’t be able to work in your specialty for a year, there’s nothing for you to do here!”.
In general, there were all normal people in the unit, from the regiment commander to the private (from the commander of the company and above - regular officers, there were many who had gone through Afghanistan, hereinafter - "partisans"). No one demanded to salute, they communicated with each other on "you" ("partisans"). No attention was paid to the cleanliness of collars and hair, although the guys kept themselves as clean as possible. If a slob came across, they quickly brought him back to normal. There was not a single fight in my entire time in the regiment, if anything, anyone came to the rescue, despite the rank and position.
The part had its own store, where things were sold that were unseen at that time. Although by that time I had been on business trips in Kyiv, Moscow, Leningrad, I had not seen the vast majority of this on free sale. Vietnamese pineapples in syrup (800 g jars), Romanian cookies in 200 g packages (very tasty), Hungarian canned tomatoes, canned Bulgarian cucumbers, sprats, constantly Indian tea, Fanta, Pepsi-Cola, condensed milk, even a jar of black caviar lay , Soviet wrist watches "Electronics", Romanian leather sneakers, etc.
Anyone who remembers Soviet times knows that at that time, even in the regional centers, the shelves of shops were half empty. And there is so much abundance. If someone tried to climb out of line, he, despite the title, was immediately put in his place.
The food was very good. The diet of a private and an officer differed only in that, respectively, 90 g and 120 g of butter, 1 and 2 boiled eggs, were put on the day. Everything else is the same. Oil, sugar, grapes, apples lay on the tables in bulk, everyone took as much as they wanted, there was still left (grapes and apples were supplied by the Crimea in the form of patronage), canned fish was only in oil, the stew was real and a lot, borscht is very tasty, no one has ever heard of combined fat and bones instead of meat in borscht and soups, there has never been “shrapnel” (barley). Every day everyone was supposed (and given out) 200 g of juice (grape, apple, peach), cocoa or coffee, tea, hard cheese, main courses were always with a bunch of meat or fish. Moreover, everyone is the same: both officers and privates. When I returned home after such a meal, at first I had a feeling of hunger, the food was so good there. Yes, and they served in our regiment, unlike the others, for 2 months (in others it even reached 6 months).
I was appointed to the position of commander of a separate platoon, reporting directly to the chief of staff. Of course, it was more difficult than as part of a company: to keep records of the platoon's radiation doses, conduct political information, and be present on the rise (a month later I gave up on this - chronic lack of sleep). In addition, my duties included writing reports for work (in the evening at the headquarters of the assignment, how much and from whom to send, in the morning, before 7 in the morning, hand over the list of people leaving for the headquarters), and submissions for promotion, dismissal. But, at the same time, there was a relative independence from others.
It saved me that in the platoon all the adults who had passed the emergency, kept order themselves and prompted me. There was only one emergency: after a month of service, two guys imagined themselves to be “old men” and said that now they would not remove the snow, heat the stove and be on duty in the tent. I had to use power: I told them that I didn’t mind, that they were, yes, “old men”, but they would also leave for a “citizenship”, like “old men”: not in 60 days, but at least 120. Like a grandmother whispered. Nobody else tried.
Replacement submissions were written when a person gained 15 roentgens, usually it was in a month and a half, so everyone tried to get a “dose” as soon as possible, by the time of departure, 20-24 roentgens were collected. We, the officers, were strictly warned that the maximum dose could be no more than 24.99 roentgens, if you put 25 or more, then the military prosecutor's office will deal with those who put it. So I had to "chemise". The guys knew, but understood and no one objected.
Speaking of dosage. When we felled the "red" forest, the first to go were dosimetrists (also "partisans"). At the site where they were supposed to work, the background was measured - above the snow (and it was 30-40 cm thick) using the envelope method: measurements at 5 points (at the edges and in the center). Then the average dose was taken (it was 0.45 roentgens per hour), they worked in two shifts for 4 hours. Naturally, after felling trees and trampling down the snow, the background increased, but no one measured it. For 4 hours they put a dose of 0.6 x-rays, more was impossible (0.45x4 how much would it be?).
About cars. There was practically no service, as such, if something broke, the guys took a bottle of vodka and went to the "sump". The sump guard was from our regiment, and they took what they needed from those cars
For reference: a sump is an object where contaminated equipment was driven, a burial ground is property buried in the ground.
About burial grounds. It is not known how many and where they are in the Zone. This was especially clearly seen in the example of our unit: the regiment commander went out, chose the place he liked (of course, without consulting with hydraulic engineers, etc.), a pit was dug there approximately 200x100 m and a depth of 2 m. Everything that needed to be buried was brought there, they sent two dozen strong guys with sledgehammers to smash bulky things. When the pit was filled up to 0.5 m from the surface, it was covered with earth. Its location was not marked on the maps, and when one was filled, a new pit was dug, etc.
It so happened that in addition to trips with your platoon, sometimes you had to be a substitute, and it was interesting to see something new yourself. My first trip was to Chernobyl, where they decided to prepare 2 five-story buildings for a hostel.
We've arrived. Doors of entrances are sealed up, opened with militia. We were told that only radiators and plumbing should remain in the apartments, the rest should be thrown away, including wallpaper. A dump truck drove up to the window, everything was thrown out from the 1st to the 5th floors. The dump truck filled up - another one drove up, they finished the opening - they started another one. Things were taken to the burial grounds.
I paid attention myself, then specifically asked the guys - there were no valuable things in the apartments: fur hats, fur coats, color TVs, crystal, good carpets, other valuables. But people were leaving in a hurry, they could not take it all out, and the entrances were sealed. Where did it all go is a rhetorical question. Some TV sets (b/w), with a more or less large screen, the guys, having first checked the instruments against the background, took them to the unit, to the tents. Almost everyone had a TV, they watched there.
Then there were trips to the PUSO-2 (this is the PUSO of our regiment), for a replacement. There was practically no work for me there, the soldiers knew their job well, the role of an officer was, if anything, to settle conflicts with those whose cars were washed.
At the end of December, I was “lucky” and went to Pripyat for 4 days. Pripyat itself was fenced with a thorn with an alarm, when it was triggered, a special group was supposed to arrive, but this was not the case with me. The only entrance was from the side of Yanov, 2 policemen were constantly on duty there, and 2 officers came for the day - a major and a lieutenant colonel.
Another small digression, so that it would be clearer later - then I was 34, I had been divorced for 7 years, i.e., I did not need to fear that my actions would be “recouped” on my family, I was sociable by nature, the pocket didn't fit. He could start a conversation on an equal footing with regular officers, both his own (chief of staff and regiment commander, special major, colonel and lieutenant colonel - post. Representatives of the district headquarters at the unit), and with strangers. Somehow, seeing a UAZ driving with the number “B” in the sign, he stopped him, some colonel was sitting there, started a conversation with him with the words “Hello, are you from the Belarusian district?” (I studied at the university in Minsk). I don’t know whether he was either taken aback by such impudence of the starley, or just a normal person, but he calmly replied that he was from Moscow, and what was the matter. I replied that I saw "B", and I studied there, I apologized for stopping. He said it was nothing to worry about and left.
So about Pripyat. The ministers of defense of the socialist countries, headed by the Minister of Defense of the USSR, were supposed to go there as part of an excursion, so we had to clear the streets of the route along which they would move from snow. They sent 3 watering machines. There were no shovels at all, they dug through the entire fleet, but did not find a single one.
They put the cars on a ledge and began to brush off the snow on the side of the road with brushes. Cleared up by the end of the day. And at night it snows again. And so 3 days cleaned. On the 4th day, we arrived in Pripyat at 5 in the morning, made two circles, suddenly a dozen cars with "partisans" appeared, they began to shovel snow with shovels. Well, we moved out to some kind of nook, took a nap for an hour, then started cleaning again. Actually, all the work was done before us, we just cleaned it up.
Suddenly a UAZ rushes and words from it into a megaphone, of which only “5 minutes” and “was not” were censored. Everyone jumped into the cars together, and we sped off somewhere into the forest. After an hour and a half, we were told that we could return in parts.
What I remember: it was terrible. A beautiful modern city, the lights are on in the shops, there is a K-750 motorcycle in the household store (a huge shortage at that time), a lot of bicycles, clothes are drying on the balconies, fish is dried in some places, flowers on the windowsills, curtains and ringing silence. Not a single bird, not a single animal, no one at all.
However, I did see animals. Once we had lunch with the guys from the Baltic regiment (me and the drivers were also struck by their long hair and what they ate without taking off their hats and pea jackets). They cleaned the greenhouses, someone wanted to run them, secondly - with the guys from the Carpathian regiment (there was borscht with finger-thick combined fat for lunch, they put me, as a guest, some kind of bone with lard, barley with fish in tomato sauce and compote, I remember because then I started having wild heartburn). So, the entire living population of Pripyat came to the "dining room": 3 dogs (a mongrel, a German shepherd, a collie) and a cat. They sat side by side, peacefully. When they took out food and put it in piles, each ate only his own, not trying to take something away from a neighbor, having eaten, they ran away somewhere.
On the way to Pripyat, we passed near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (I was not at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant itself), I remember that the roof of the 3rd unit was dotted with rooks, but not a single bird on the sarcophagus (it was completed in November, before my arrival).
A week before the new year, all trips were stopped, except for PUSO-2, “bad” work began in the unit: snow removal, repairs, painting (in 30-degree frost!). Unfamiliar guys came up to me (later it turned out to be miners) and said:
- Commander (somehow such an appeal took root in the unit when soldiers addressed “partisan” officers), we know you, talk to the leadership, why are we sitting here uselessly? If there is no work, then let us go home, work is waiting for us there. Otherwise, we'll start buzzing.
I asked, why don't they tell their commanders?
- Yes, we said, but they do not want to go.
Thank you guys for throwing me under the tank. But they "reassured":
“Don’t be afraid, we will help you out if anything happens.”
How they were going to do it, I do not know, but I had to go. Went to the chief of staff, told. He first climbed "in the barrel" (they say, I will send them to the tribunal). I had to say that these are not conscripts, but adults, that 250 miners cannot be sent to the tribunal, and they are not afraid of anything after the mines. I don’t know how they decided, but on the same day the entire regiment was gathered in the club, the unit commander spoke, said that now there is no work in the Zone for anyone. And that they, from the chief of staff, go to the sector headquarters every day, knock out work, but for now you have to be patient. People understood, the conversations stopped.
And on December 31, the good news: again a gathering at the club and an announcement that there is work to cut down the “red” forest. The whole of January fell, starting with the 1st. Two shifts of 4 hours, seven days a week. In a month, they harvested as many as 7 hectares. Not because they didn’t, just from the equipment there was only 1 (one!) Chainsaw per part, the rest was two-handed saws and axes. Having felled the tree, it was necessary to chop off all the branches, cut the trunks by 3 meters, load the trunks and branches onto dump trucks - and everything was done by hand (!).
There were many townspeople who never held saws and axes in their hands. Who knew how - taught others. Trees felled only by those who could do it well, there were always a few people on the safety net, no one was allowed close to the possible place of the fall. And all this on their own, without commands of officers, if someone tried to command, they "sent" away. When I was sent to the three letters of the regimental commander, because. he almost sent soldiers to where the tree was supposed to fall. And he was not offended, did not send to the "lip", because. realized that he was wrong.
As I said, there were TVs in every tent. In addition, there was billiards in the club with big balls made of bearings, every evening there was a movie in the club. Moreover, the films are mostly new (at that time). Concert brigades came a couple of times and once amateur performances from St. Sokolov. There the girl walked in the aisle in something like a nightgown. Whispering began, because the men had not seen living women for 2 months. So the regiment commander stood in the aisle with his back to the stage, crossed his arms and looked at the soldiers. There was complete silence.
There was a hairdresser, a photographer, a tent-shower, where everyone was washed after work. Everything is free. I didn’t take a camera, although I’ve been shooting since I was 14, because. we were first at the district military registration and enlistment office, then at the regional military enlistment office, and then - and in the unit they warned that it was impossible to take him. That if they notice how someone is filming, it will be regarded as espionage.
Therefore, these photos (of the soldier) were taken by the photographer of the unit, and the photo of the sarcophagus was presented to me. By the way, some special concrete was used there and it is really black, I saw it on the way to Pripyat.
About vodka. They drank vodka in part. A day later, an UAZ went to Kyiv for vodka, they brought 5-6 boxes. Drivers said that although there was always a queue for alcohol, they were always let through without a queue, because. "The liquidators need vodka more." But they drank little vodka, mostly they took it for birthdays: 1-2 bottles per platoon (30 people). Basically, everyone drank strong tea (not chifir!). Well, here I already carried out the appropriate campaigning. Tea was brewed in a 3-liter bottle, water was boiled with a "folk" boiler: two blades from a "safe" razor at the bottom, each with a separate wire - and into an outlet. Between the blades is a regular eraser. Actually, as chemists will correct, it was not boiling, but hydrolysis of water, but at the same time a large amount of heat was released, which led to boiling. Tea was thrown into boiling water. On the day everyone drank at least a liter of tea, tea drinking mostly took time. Outerwear (cotton tunic and trousers, boots, hat, pea coat) was not changed for us. What they received when changing clothes in Krasnoznamenka, they worked in that, and returned from the Zone in that.
Everyone was in the unit for 60 days, no more. Why do I have 75? When he submitted a report for a replacement (as well as "his own", for 2 weeks), he got to the chief of staff, who signed all the reports: both for soldiers and officers. He immediately called me, tore up the report in front of me and said that I would leave on the same day with him. I don’t know what business he had, but he also spent 75 days in prison. So we went to Kyiv in one car: he, I and 2 career officers. There we got rid of him, or rather, he ran away on his own business, and we went to the dining room, ate, drank 50 g of vodka goodbye, their trains left earlier, mine - late at night, saw everyone off and began to wander around the station.
I got acquainted with some sergeant-"partisan" from another unit. They wandered and talked. We look, some general is walking, drilling us with his eyes. We looked at him and continued to calmly walk on, not saluting (for what reason?). We see that he ran up to the patrol, proves something to them, they answer him something, but we went further.
We knew that the patrols had received the strictest orders from Moscow: under no circumstances should the "partisans"-liquidators be detained. The exception is if he is completely drunk. And then - take this, and, carefully, without offending, let him sleep, feed him in the morning and put him on the train. Therefore, when we passed by the patrols, they turned away and began frantically lighting a cigarette. Poor fellows, they probably smoked several packs a day because of us.
I got to Krasnoznamenka, took my things (the bag was completely flattened), but went home in uniform and boots. In Odessa, I took a ticket for my bus. I'm going, I'm napping. Released in Nikolaev. I’m standing, smoking, and suddenly some passenger from my bus, in civilian clothes, starts to find fault with me:
- Why are you not dressed according to the charter ?!
I answer that it doesn't matter to him. He began to make noise:
“Now I’ll call the police and the patrol!”
- Well, call.
He again:
- Submit your documents!
- And who are you yourself to show me the documents?
In the end, he showed his own, turned out to be some kind of major. I also showed mine, so that I would fall behind. The major, it seems, calmed down a little, but continued to mumble with displeasure: they say, why am I dressed like that, not according to the charter. I had to "send" him to the Minister of Defense, and ask him why he dresses everyone in soldier's clothes. Only then did the warrior finally calm down. Or maybe just out of breath...
There were no more adventures on the way home.
Was it scary? Yes it was. To everyone who just got into the unit. It was doubly so for me, because, I repeat, we were trained in the military commissar as platoon commanders of radiation-chemical reconnaissance and dosimetric control. Plus, during these 7 months from the moment of the accident to my call, I read a lot of things. But after a few days (maximum a week) everyone calmed down, especially since the radiation is not visible, and outwardly the landscape was no different from the usual, uncontaminated one. The only thing that could indicate the non-standard situation was that everyone in the unit was constantly coughing. Even in a dream. There was a metallic taste in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of. As the doctors said, this is from a radioactive isotope of iodine. As soon as I left the zone, the cough disappeared.
I don’t know about other platoons, but I mercilessly drove my people only for respirators. God forbid, someone went to the zone without Petal: there were both obscenities and threats. True, this was only at the very beginning, with those who I inherited from the former platoon commander, but everyone quickly realized that this was for their own good. A week later, none of mine went out without a respirator, and did not pay attention to the banter from the "heroes" who flaunted the fact that they were not afraid of radiation and worked without "Petals".
The second rule that I introduced is that after work, before entering the tent, it is mandatory to carefully shake out hats and pea coats, wash boots (before frost) and wipe them with snow (after frost). But then the guys did not resist: they realized that they would have to breathe less muck.
There was a guy in my platoon who was terribly afraid of radiation, but he also found a job: he became an eternal orderly at headquarters. And he was very pleased that he did not go anywhere. Moreover, no one laughed at him, everyone understood that the guy had a phobia.
About a dozen or one and a half domestic geese took root in the unit, but no one tried to kill them. Firstly, they were fed, as in a good restaurant, and secondly, as the dosimetrists said, the geese fonili. There was a dog, she gave birth to 6 puppies in my presence, they went on an excursion to them, looked for the consequences of radiation, but found nothing. Ordinary puppies, no deviations from the norm, all survived, one puppy was later taken by one of their regular officers.
Somewhere at the end of January, a soldier from my platoon (I don’t remember my last name) approached me and said that he had no documents. He is from the Sverdlovsk region, when they were transported through Sverdlovsk, there was a parking lot, they had to stand for 6 hours, he asked the accompanying officer to take a couple of hours off to see his father, whom he had not seen for 10 years. All the documents were in that officer’s bag. I returned an hour later, and the train had already left. So he (already in uniform and absolutely without documents) on his own, at his own expense, on planes, trains, buses, rides, got to Kyiv, from there to Bila Tserkva, the 25th brigade, to the unit. I found my own way!
He arrived the next day after his own, that is, he was only a day late. But the officer with his documents had already left. At first he was silent, then, having found out about me, he approached me. I asked him why he didn't want to approach the chief of staff? He hesitated, then said that he had been convicted three times and was afraid that the military prosecutor's office might take him away. And there is a new term, already as a recidivist. What was to be done? I went to the chief of staff, he was furious at first, then calmed down and sent to the special officer to decide. First, I went to the special officer, told everything, then he called the soldier, without letting me out of the office, listened to him, asked who he was called with, sent an orderly to call everyone, then asked everyone, while not letting anyone out.
At the end of the conversation, there were more than a dozen of us in the office. After listening to everyone, he let me go, he told me, go to the chief of staff, let him make a request for the return of documents. And so they did. Three weeks later they made a second request, tk. documents did not arrive. I don't know how it ended - I left earlier. But before leaving, he asked everyone - both his replacement, and the new chief of staff and early. political department, and clerks - so that if the documents do not arrive, they would write out a separate certificate to the guy that he really was in the unit and took part in the LPA. These were the people! But he could easily hide, sit out, make new documents for himself in a different name, but the man went to fulfill his duty.
Somehow, after another replenishment, a purebred gypsy from the Saratsky district of the Odessa region came to me. I remember it because in the beginning, the Saratov district escaped me all the time. Some kind of atypical was the gypsies, not the way they are presented in films and books - reckless and reckless fellows. This one was timid, shy and executive. At this point, the entire platoon stood up for him, and everyone else realized that laughing and making fun of the gypsies is dangerous for themselves: not physically, but simply mentally killed. But as he came timid, he left for demobilization.
I happened to meet them once. I don’t remember why, but we were standing outside the unit. The soldiers (not mine) and I, the only officer, were talking, warming ourselves by the burning slope. The frost then reached 35. And suddenly we see 5 very young people skiing, in overcoats (we were all only in pea jackets), earflaps are lowered, tied under the chin, in gloves (we don’t have hands without them, for some reason freezing). We came closer, we look - they are all, judging by their appearance, from somewhere in Central Asia. Trembling, frozen. They saw me, got scared, began to salute, stutter. The guys calmed them down really quickly. It turns out that their unit guards the 30-kilometer thorn and they go to see if there are any gaps. And then they froze, saw a fire, decided to warm themselves. Then, so timidly, looking askance at me, they asked me to light a cigarette. Immediately everyone took out cigarettes, gave them everything that we had. They warmed up and left. And we were sad and sorry for them. Well, we are adults, but why poison the youth?! And even more so to send to the cold those who are not used to it ...
Under me, new storage units (food and clothing) were built. All building materials - bricks, cement, sand were brought to the unit from the construction sites of the fifth and sixth units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A grocery storekeeper came up to me and said that the walls of the storehouse were phony, and that he had told the chief of food about this, but he brushed it off.
I took the DP 5-A from the guys and went to check it. Indeed, fonilo, and very strong - about 0.3 roentgen per hour. I go to the chief of staff, I say, he brushes off, begins to threaten: they say, if you raise this topic, I will send such a letter to your work, not a single prison will accept it.
I had to go to the doctors. They understood perfectly, because we all eat from that warehouse. In order not to let me down, they arranged a radiation test for absolutely all the premises of the unit: tents, officers' trailers, the officers' barracks, the club, the dining room and the actual warehouses. They revealed, in addition to warehouses, a whole bunch of glaring things. They reported to the chief medical officer (career lieutenant colonel). In the evening at the meeting, he took the floor and issued it. The commanders of the companies (including me) and the chief of food, and the chief thing, and the chief of staff received scoldings. In general, the next day, clean wood was brought to the unit, from somewhere near Malin, the regimental sawmill started working in three shifts, the warehouses were sheathed inside with 50-mm boards. The background has fallen off. The chief of staff then looked askance at me for a long time, but I made innocent eyes and answered that I, too, had received a scolding.
Somewhere in early December, we were given storage dosimeters. They had to be attached to the belt with a cord at the level ... In a word, you yourself understand what. There were one dosimeters for each officer, and one for each group of working soldiers (5-7 people). They warned that one costs 70 rubles, and that they will have to pay 3 times for the loss (the salary of an engineer was then at the level of 120 rubles). I hung it too.
Three days later I approached our chemist-dosimetrist (professional lieutenant), I ask, how can I find out the dose? It turns out that before being given to us, each dosimeter (it contains some kind of silicon plate that changes color depending on the irradiation) had to be inserted into a special device, the accumulated dose was recorded in it, the journal noted to whom and with what dose the accumulator was given out. Before leaving again, each device must be inserted into the device and the actual dose received is determined in this way. But since such a device is the only one and is located at the headquarters of the Zone, then no one has done such procedures and is not going to do it. Naturally, I immediately returned the device back, my guys did the same, and behind them the whole regiment.
It was like that. About two weeks before their demobilization, the command (commander regiment, chief of staff, chief of staff and other “tops”) sent 2 “scows” (“Kamaz” with a long trailer) to their units at the place of service. Everyone sent what they had accumulated. To Moldova - only with boards, to the Crimea, Odessa - equipment (diesel power plants, generators, engines, televisions, refrigerators, washing powders, string bags in bales, each bale of 1000 pieces, etc.). Moreover, all this was taken from those warehouses of the fifth and sixth blocks, i.e. pretty phony. I am sitting in a room at the club, drinking tea with the guys, talking. Suddenly, a lieutenant colonel bursts in, I have never seen him like this before or since: furious, continuous cursing, threats and ran away. I ask the guys what's wrong with him, and one of them says:
— So he saw the generator near the club.
- So what? I ask.
“So he sent scows today, so he’s mad that this one didn’t notice.
And it must happen that while the scows were on the way, the military prosecutor's office showed up at the unit with an unscheduled check. After checking a lot, they asked, where are the scows? They were told that they were transporting timber from Malin, now on the way, they showed fake orders. When the guys returned, they were not even allowed into the tents from the car park, sent on duty to collect and bring their things, they immediately issued “demobilization” documents, put them in an UAZ and - to Kyiv. But after all, we were in the unit, and everything was in sight. So we knew. When I returned home, I immediately warned relatives and acquaintances not to buy anything in the commission, even the steepest deficit, because. all this, most likely, will be brought from the Zone, glaring.
In February, a colonel came to our unit, who started right after the accident. We were all then gathered in the club to listen to his stories. In particular, he said that at first his unit was placed 500 meters from the station, on the edge of the "red" forest. But about a week later, some curious person took and measured his freshly laid “heap”: its background was 2 roentgens per hour. Within an hour after that, the unit moved to its current location. I can imagine what doses they grabbed during this time.
Two liquidators from my area were on the roof of the third block for two minutes, dropping pieces of graphite and uranium from the roof into collapse. According to their stories, from overalls they were given only the type of lead-coated swimming trunks (they were heavy), from the rest of the protection - “Petal” (cotton-gauze bandage) and a raincoat from OZK (combined arms protective kit). Before that, everyone was shown in the photo what he should do so as not to interfere with others. According to the siren, they jumped out onto the roof, managed to throw down 3 shovels, again the siren, running back from the roof.
One liquidator worked in the summer of 1986 inside the third block of the station. They washed the walls of the premises from radiation with rags. He said that after work (a 4-hour shift) a full shower, they go naked to the dosimetrist, he measures the body and again drives into the shower. After the 4th shower, he waved his hand: all the same to no purpose.
In general, in my district, out of 35 liquidators in 1992, 15 survived. Many did not live to see their pensions, even early ones, from Chernobyl.
The biggest thing I did there was to shut down the ZAS (classified communications equipment) in the unit for an hour and a half. This connection should be round-the-clock and constant, its absence even for 5 minutes is an emergency. And here for an entire hour and a half and no consequences! And the bottom line is that on that day, for the first time in the USSR, a documentary about Vysotsky was supposed to be on TV at 23:00. But that channel was jammed by a working ZAS, and in the entire part. And I myself wanted to see the guys too, because it was about Vysotsky himself for the first time!
I had to use all my ingenuity and cunning. He started in three days, went from company commanders to the head of the political department, special officer, representatives of the district. Why didn't I tell them! Although they themselves knew him and loved his songs. In general, the most important thing - the colonel from the representatives of the district, together with the special officer, gave the command to stop ZAS for the duration of the film. True, they insured themselves, each through their own channels - they informed their colleagues that in which case they urgently called the phone, they put as many as 3 people near the phone. And now the linen room is packed, the TV is turned on, there are ripples and noise on it. And suddenly a clear picture, good sound. We watched to the end, just ended - they turned on the ZAS. Immediately they call their own, if there was anything. Luckily for everyone, nothing happened during the hour and a half. There were other minor adventures, but they do not deserve special attention.
At the end of each month, the regiment was awarded such thanks and thanks on behalf of the district headquarters to 200 people (there were about 1000 in the regiment). About 150 more people were sent letters of thanks on behalf of the unit to work. So it was necessary to try very hard not to get gratitude. But it was this one that was valued the most, because of the photograph of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (it was almost the only unclassified photo at that time. At least, I have not seen anything like it). In my platoon, absolutely everyone received such gratitude and letters to work. It’s better not to tell what it cost me, but I think that they all really deserved it. Normal commanders of other companies and platoons did the same.
To have such a pass was, as they would say now, prestigious, so I “made” it for myself, and even with the stamp “300”. For which he paid. One evening, when everyone was resting, I was sent to a part of the Trans-Baikal District for some sample documents. I copied them for two hours, and all because at that time only I from the "partisans" had such a pass. By the way, in that part I was amazed: it was winter, and the paths and the parade ground were cleared of snow, there was a fungus, under it there was a sentry, everyone saluted, even soldiers to soldiers, when I was taken to headquarters, the soldiers jumped up and stretched out at attention ". It turns out that due to the fact that they are brought over several thousand kilometers, kept here for 6 (six!) months, they receive their dose in 2 months, and then a real drill, as in the usual part with conscripts. And this is with adult "partisans"! How they envied us when I told about our life!
It came in handy when I accompanied the “demobilizations” to Kyiv three times and once met in Kyiv a new regimental commander, a staff officer and several officers with them. The trip to Kyiv was like a reward: to see people in civilian clothes, women, children, city transport - it was like a miracle.
It was issued so that we would not mistakenly overdose. From time to time it fell apart into 4 parts, and the paint burned out, but it is still possible to make out.
These were issued to everyone, from a soldier to a colonel. True, now the vast majority of certificates for payment do not, they were handed over to the accounting department, and somewhere in 2000-2002 there was an instruction to withdraw them from the accounting departments and destroy them. I kept it only because kind people warned me in time to pick it up, and a photocopy remained in the accounting department. And the chief accountant went to meet me.
I do not want to upload material under my nickname, not because I am afraid of something. Moreover, they did not demand any non-disclosure agreement from us, either in writing or orally. I just don't consider myself a "hero who saved the world." It so happened that I became a liquidator, but this is not my merit and not my desire. I hope you understand me.
In April 1986, Vadim Vasilchenko went to the fifth grade of the Pripyat secondary school - a few years before that, my mother got a prestigious job at a nuclear power plant and the family moved to a small, calm town. Pripyat is a satellite of the nuclear power plant, an analogue of our Kurchatov. They even looked alike: high-rise new buildings, wide avenues, flowering flower beds...
“That day at school they gave us potassium iodide tablets, explaining that there had been a minor release at the station,” Vadim recalls. - On the way home, we discussed rumors about the accident with classmates, finding out what could have exploded there: a barrel of gasoline, or maybe a whole tank. We decided that since the fire was not visible, nothing terrible had happened. It was Saturday, ahead - the day off and the children chased the ball on the street until the evening. “The next day, military equipment appeared in the city,” says an eyewitness. “That's when it got scary. We understand that something serious has happened.”
The first to leave Pripyat were all the authorities. The evacuation of ordinary residents began only two days later, when they had already received the maximum dose of radiation. Loudspeakers worked on the streets - people were explained that they would return home in a few days and that they should take only the most necessary with them. There was a terrible crush on the buses - panic began in the city ...
Late in the evening of April 27, Gennady Anokhin, head of the medical service of the Air Force of the Kyiv Military District, was summoned to the headquarters. The helicopter, which had just returned to base, recorded a release of radiation in the fire zone at a nuclear power plant. “We urgently left for the airfield,” recalls Gennady Aleksandrovich, who is now from Kursk. - We guessed that the equipment can also emit phony. But when they brought the device to the helicopter, they did not believe their eyes. It immediately became clear that something out of the ordinary had happened in Chernobyl.” The crew turned out to be contaminated with radiation not only flight suits, but even underwear. “I ordered to collect all the clothes in bags, but what to do next? the doctor sighs. “It is impossible to throw it away, even more so to burn it.” The pilots said that they twice flew through the black cloud that rose above the nuclear power plant. Moreover, the cabin door was open - the chemist measured the level of radiation overboard.
The next morning, Gennady Anokhin was already in Pripyat. “Even on the way, I noticed the rows of buses,” he shares his impressions. “The city is empty – a sad and unsettling sight.” There was no clear plan of action - before Chernobyl, no one could have imagined the possibility of a disaster of this magnitude. “A 40-ton steel cap was dropped from the reactor of the 4th power unit,” says Anokhin. “Only one thing was clear: the reactor had to be cooled.” Bags of sand, gravel, marble chips and lead were dropped from helicopters. To do this, it was necessary to fly exactly over the place of the explosion. At an altitude of 200 meters, the radiation reached 1000 roentgens. Radiation sickness develops after a dose of 100 roentgens per hour. 600 units - instant death.
“It was necessary to determine the maximum allowable dose for the liquidators,” says Kuryanin. - I repeatedly sent requests to Moscow, but did not wait for an answer. I had to take responsibility. He suggested, as in wartime, a maximum of 25 roentgens. By the way, now the Japanese government has set a limit for its liquidators at 250 millisieverts (about 25 roentgens). The Japanese explain: this is how much the survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki received on average, it is at this level of exposure that the first signs of radiation sickness appear. In Chernobyl, the first crews chose their maximum in three days. They were removed from flights, new ones took their place. The pilots tried to protect themselves. Someone found sheets of lead and lined the chair with them. Soon all the liquidators were flying only in such lead seats.
“Alcohol also protects against radiation by binding free radicals that destroy the body,” says the doctor. - And now they say that you should drink Cabernet or other dry wine. All this is not true - vodka is the best. But for this method to be effective, you must take alcohol before the flight. And how to put a drunk pilot at the helm? Every morning the pilots were given tablets containing iodine. “Specialists of the Institute of Space Medicine by that time had developed a lot of means that protect against radiation,” notes the Kurian. - These are special suits, and medicines. But the center did not agree to send all this for the Chernobyl victims. One scientist, at his own peril and risk, brought a secret drug. He handed me a bottle, 50 tablets in total, they should have been given to those who received especially high doses.
Attempts to hide the truth about the accident from the public interfered with work. Anokhin recalls how it became necessary to measure the level of radiation in the destroyed reactor. There is only one way to do this: drop a sensor from a helicopter into this hell. The pilot hovered over the fourth block and kept the car in this state for eight minutes. “We calculated that during this time he could receive from 8 to 12 X-rays,” says Ankhin. - I wrote it down on the card - 12. And the lieutenant general from the headquarters attacked: “Why are you indicating high doses?” Twice he tried to remove me from work. Another scandal erupted when Anokhin ordered the pilots who had taken their dose to be sent to a sanatorium near Kyiv. The authorities were afraid that they would tell vacationers about Chernobyl, who would spread the news of the accident throughout the USSR.
Hoarse voices and red faces - all the liquidators acquired these distinctive signs already on the third day of work. The radioactive particles settled on the skin and vocal cords, causing burns. Coniferous forest near the station dried up the next morning after the accident. They called it the Red Forest. “I flew over it, took measurements. The needle of the dosimeter jumped like crazy. It went off scale in some places. This meant a radiation level above 500 roentgens, ”recalls the Kurian.
Leonid Orlov first visited Chernobyl in 1985, a year before the fatal accident. For the head of the First Department of the Kursk NPP, business trips to other plants were in the order of things. Moreover, the Kursk and Ukrainian stations were practically twins: they were built according to the same project. “I used to look out of the window at the inner territory - and I already feel uneasy, as if I never left Kurchatov,” recalls Leonid Rodionovich. He returned to Chernobyl at the end of May 1986 - it was required to replace the head of the First Department of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, who had received his dose. “Together with colleagues, I processed classified information related to the accident, brought it to the heads and specialists of the nuclear power plant,” Orlov succinctly describes the purpose of the trip.
At first, I had to live and work in the building of the city party committee, it was there that the headquarters of the USSR Ministry of Energy was located to eliminate the accident. There was a catastrophic lack of time - they slept in the same room where they worked with papers. “A pile of mattresses was piled up in the corner,” recalls Leonid Rodionovich. - We checked them with a dosimeter - the background is terrible! The most "dirty" ones were thrown away, and those that "rang" less, somehow settled down. True, only for a few nights. Later we were moved to a pioneer camp where many liquidators lived.” Every day they were taken by bus to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and back. Upon returning, everyone was checked by dosimetrists - instead of wearing out clothes and shoes, they were given new ones. “I was struck by a whole mountain of discarded shoes,” says the Kurian. “Looks like it just came out of the store.”
In the administrative premises of the nuclear power plant, the beautiful furniture, bought shortly before the accident, had to be urgently replaced with simple furniture without fabric upholstery. All window openings were covered with lead sheets. In order to somehow reduce the exposure, metal cabinets were moved close to them.
“It is a pity for the young soldiers whom the military enlistment offices threw “on the embrasure” of the fourth block,” recalls Orlov. “They had no idea what radiation was and what danger they were exposing themselves to.” Once he observed such a picture: two soldiers stood on the street of Chernobyl with their protective "petals" removed, tore cherries in the front garden and ate with appetite. The guys dismissed the remark about the danger of radiation: “Yes, it was nonsense, it rained yesterday, it washed everything away.” In fact, everything is exactly the opposite: precipitation only increases the general background. Another case - a curious soldier begged the driver of a concrete truck to take him on an "excursion" to the fourth block. I got out of the cabin and calmly went to see what kind of shelter they were building over the rector. The dosimetrists, riding in an armored personnel carrier protected by additional sheets of lead, were shocked when they saw the "tourist". He was hurriedly dragged into an APC and taken away.
The largest dose of radiation was received by firefighters, who were the first to come to put out the "fire" at the station. They did not let the fire spread to the third block, but paid for it with their own lives. “From the means of protection - a canvas robe, mittens and a helmet, and they kicked pieces of graphite off the roof with their feet,” says Leonid Rodionovich. 28 people were sent by plane to Moscow, to the sixth radiological hospital. Where they lay, even the walls went off scale. “Later, I had a chance to talk with the medical staff of the clinic,” says Kuryanin. “They have never been to Chernobyl, but they received their dose of radiation. They were irradiated by the very dying firefighters they cared for...”
“It was as if I was on another planet, but with scenery from our reality,” liquidator Vyacheslav Smirnov described his first impression of Chernobyl. In January 1987, the military began to withdraw from the danger zone, replacing them with civil defense specialists. The head of the combat training department, Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov, left Kursk for Ukraine in February. The fourth block by that time was covered with a sarcophagus, but there was a lot of work left. “We were clearing the neighboring roof, on which fragments of the hull fell after the explosion,” says our fellow countryman. “It was necessary to remove the roofing material and thermal insulation, which were terribly phony.” Some "spots" emitted 200 x-rays. It was possible to stay near such zones for a maximum of half a minute, so they worked in turns, quickly changing. After some time, the invisible and inaudible killer - radiation - learned to identify by smell. “Already 10 kilometers from the station, there was a smell of ozone - this radiation ionized the air,” says Smirnov. - Constantly tickled in the throat - radioactive particles burned the mucous membranes.
Kuryanin recalls how he got access to a secret journal, where they recorded all the emergencies that occurred during these months. “I read how the crew of the Mi-8 helicopter died. The machine touched the cable of the crane with a propeller and fell directly into the reactor. Terrible disaster,” he sighs. - I was also surprised by the “thick-headedness” of the authorities. In the spring of 1987, I saw a construction team in the Red Forest - they were laying rails to the unfinished fifth and sixth blocks. After everything that happened, they still planned to launch them. ”
“Upon returning to Kursk, I went to the bathhouse - I had such a habit,” Vyacheslav Vasilyevich shares. And he lost consciousness. The body could not recover for a long time. In the sun it became bad, constantly tormented by headaches, osteochondrosis, and began to disturb the stomach. Before the business trip I was fond of kayaking, I had to forget about it. There was simply no strength to carry the kayak ... "
25 years ago, more than three thousand people from Kursk were sent to eliminate the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. About 600 are no longer alive. “It's a shame that the state first adopted a law providing for benefits and compensation to liquidators, and then actually reduced them to zero,” one of our interlocutors sighs.
For cinematographers, the Kursk nuclear power plant has long become an understudy of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It's not even that the experiment to quickly shut down the reactor, which entailed such catastrophic consequences, was originally planned to be carried out at our station. It's just that the scenery is suitable - as mentioned above, both stations were built according to the same project. The Americans were the pioneers. The feature film "The Last Warning", which tells about the international cooperation of doctors helping Russia to eliminate the consequences of Chernobyl, was partially filmed in Kurchatov. Filming of the main episodes related to the accident took place at the KuNPP itself. But the picture did not receive a response from a wide audience. Then there were several documentaries, they were made for the next anniversaries. This year the film crew was brought to Kurchatov by journalist and writer Vladimir Gubarev. The film, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, was created by those who were directly involved in the aftermath of the accident. The author of "Monologues about Chernobyl" notes: "We wanted to tell about Chernobyl in a different way than they have told so far. Those people were not considered heroes for a long time, and we tried to correct this mistake.”
The closed city of Pripyat is gradually becoming a new tourist center. The cost of a one-day excursion from Kyiv is from 70 to 400 dollars per person, you can arrange a departure from Moscow. A kind of attraction was made from the exclusion zone. After the release of the game "Stalker. Call of Pripyat” there are still more people who want it - gamers go in droves to see “live” what they see on the computer monitor every day. Our first hero Vadim Vasilchenko also managed to repeat this route several times. Only he does not need guides: in Pripyat, the city of his childhood, it is difficult for him to get lost. “I found my house and apartment,” Vadim smiles sadly, “even some of the furniture was left there ...” April 1986 forever divided his life into two large segments: before and after. Like the lives of hundreds of thousands of former Soviet citizens: Chernobyl residents and liquidators.
There was something about the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 that still keeps an atmosphere of mystery around the exclusion zone. And the reason for this was, rather, not a meeting with a couple or two zombies at the barbed wire, but the violent fantasy of science fiction writers. So what is Chernobyl? We will consider interesting facts about the Chernobyl zone and my personal memories.
I intentionally did not retouch this photo, only lightened it a little.
The graininess on it is the effect of radioactive radiation.
At the time of the disaster, I was 18 years old. I could get to the station as a liquidator while serving in the Soviet army, as my friend Oleg did. He then spent several months recovering in the hospital. I know nothing about his fate after 1992. I hope you are still alive and well.
But at that time I entered the military school. Therefore, this cup has passed me by.
After graduating from college, I joined the people who had been there.
In 1993-94, I participated in the flight and monitoring of the "Sarcophagus" object.
During this time 4 times. Twice we were joined by international observers.
We flew around the area of the "Sarcophagus" object at a certain height in a helicopter and measured the radiation level by lowering instruments on a cable. Why this was done - I can’t say, because. All measurements were taken from the ground too. Moreover, there were a lot of sensors on the object itself. More for effect, probably flew.
There was no crazy background there, as it sometimes slipped in the media. Everything was within the normal range. The truth and the norms there were a little different, adjusted for the catastrophe. But still, it was possible to stay for some time without harm to health. At that time, the remaining units of the nuclear power plant were still operating. And the staff there changed every 2 or 4 weeks. I don't remember now.
We entered the station from the western side, departed from the city of Korosten. The sight of the "Sarkfag" made an unforgettable impression. A little to the west was the object "Duga", a radar station in the city of Chernobyl-2. It's really something! I have never seen such huge antennas! Even from a height of 500-700 meters - this is a grandiose sight.
In fact, it is difficult to convey all your feelings. But, then, I felt a little involved in all those tragic events of 1986.
Below, I want to give some facts that I did not find on the "chips".
Perhaps I searched badly, so do not judge strictly for the "boyany".
We will begin to study interesting facts about Chernobyl from the moment of the disaster itself. The assessment of the scale of the Chernobyl disaster is estimated, among other things, by the amount of released radioactive material. To represent the consequences of the accident, the amount of radioactive material released is compared to the first use of a nuclear weapon.
So, we know that the atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant released 500 times more destructive mass. The amount of radioactive materials was 50 million curies.
The first victims of radiation were firefighters, who went without special protection to put out the fire in the fourth reactor. Since the station was operating at the time of the accident, there were many people there. 134 of them received radiation sickness while at work for the first time after the release. About 30 people died from radiation sickness within the first month. 600 thousand people were called to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Many of them received more or less radiation dose.
In addition to the liquidators, a huge number of residents of countries whose territories are closest to the current exclusion zone suffered. In total, more than 8.4 million people were exposed to radiation in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (then united USSR). Such is the scope of the consequences of the catastrophe. Since then, Chernobyl has become a ghost town. Interesting facts, which we will talk about next, are amazing.
Although the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located on the territory of Ukraine, most of the victims are in Belarus. This was due to the direction of the wind at the time of the disaster. The agricultural lands of Belarus turned out to be unsuitable for cultivation. The country had to abandon them, which led to a serious loss in the economy. What other interesting facts about Chernobyl and the entire exclusion zone are known to mankind?
Under the Chernobyl sarcophagus (shelter over the fourth power unit of the nuclear power plant), more than 95% of the radioactive material was conserved. Considering that the large-scale consequences of the accident are due to the spread of a small part of the hazardous substances, the importance of the sarcophagus is excessive. Construction of a new shelter is already underway. Billions of dollars have been allocated to it. This shelter is almost finished. But more on that in the next post.
In our perception, the exclusion zone is a territory forbidden to people. In the case of Chernobyl, this is justified. The radiation danger was waiting for people here and is still waiting, which means, according to logic, they should not be here. But people live in the restricted area! These are the interesting facts thrown at us by modern Chernobyl.
those who dared to return home to the fenced-off territories, today we call self-settlers. According to 2014 data, about three hundred people live in Chernobyl and the towns and villages belonging to this region. Mostly these are old people who did not want to change their place of residence in 1986.
We now know that swarms of zombies don't walk under the blackening trees of Chernobyl. There is beautiful nature and living, overwhelmingly absolutely normal animals. Moreover, self-settlers live in the exclusion zone - people who dared to stay in their homes far from civilization. On this note, we leave Chernobyl. Interesting facts do not end there, because the atmosphere of mystery is created by the visitors of the zone themselves. It is replenished with graffiti, reflecting the fantasies of people. And in these creations on the street walls there is definitely something sacred. Now it remains to be decided whether the city of Chernobyl, Pripyat and other places of the radiation zone are worth visiting, or should they be left, as expected, as an exclusion zone.
Shot from the series "Chernobyl"
The first episode of the HBO mini-series Chernobyl aired on May 6. In total, the creators of the project filmed five episodes. Most of the heroes are real historical characters, the locations are as similar as possible to those that were in 1986 in Pripyat, Minsk and Moscow, the events are recorded with maximum accuracy - both significant, such as at first glance small ones - such as dead birds falling from the sky or a radioactive forest turned red overnight.
Critics praise "Chernobyl" for the details - props, costumes, household items and the absence of the very "spreading cranberries" that so often accompanies films about the Soviet Union. Interest in the tape is heightened, both in the West, where little is known about the 1986 disaster, and in the former Soviet republics. At the same time, interest is growing in the historical basis of the series: over the past 30-odd years, the memory of this event, alas, has been thoroughly erased. Today, the exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant is perceived more as a place for an extreme tourist and an opportunity to travel into the past than a monument to one of the worst man-made disasters.
Skillfully pumping up the atmosphere from episode to episode, the creators of the series wanted to convey an important message to their viewers: the consequences of Chernobyl could have been much more serious if it were not for the heroism of Soviet citizens, many of whom risked their lives to prevent further spread of radiation.
For everyone who, after watching the Chernobyl series, would like to learn more about the historical basis of this tape and about how the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant lives today, we have collected the most interesting materials that were published in different years on the Mercy website. .ru".
Shot from the series "Chernobyl"
There are a lot of memories of people who ended up in the area of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The largest set of such testimonies is the book of the Nobel laureate, Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich "Chernobyl Prayer". By the way, it was from her that the story of firefighter Vasily Ignatenko and his wife Lyudmila was borrowed for the script of the Chernobyl series (actors Jesse Buckley and Adam Nagaitis play them in the film).
The story of how a young woman, being pregnant, nursed her husband and until the last was next to him, how she buried him in a lead coffin, holding shoes in her hands (they couldn’t put on shoes on the deceased - his legs were so swollen from radiation burns) opens Aleksievich's book, and in the film this line also occupies a significant place.
But everyone who survived Chernobyl has his own details and moments of memory. The liquidator of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident Tatyana Rudnik, for example, says that when leaving Pripyat, she took clothes with her, which later became a real source of danger. After all, no one explained to people what radiation is and how many little things you need to take into account in order to protect yourself from it.
Pripyat, 2007. Photo: Konstantin Shapkin
“When we were leaving, columns of the military were walking towards us, completely in the form of chemical protection. And we went even without gauze bandages. On the way we were stopped, checked the level of radiation, forced to change clothes. But somehow I kept my denim skirt. Then, already in August, I was diagnosed with a very high level of radiation. They began to find out where I was and what I was doing, and found out that the skirt was “fonit”.
They did not explain the safety rules to those who were in the immediate vicinity of the reactor - and if they did, they often did not make sure that all instructions were strictly followed.
“Recruits were sent, they served in the army for four days. At the nuclear power plant near the entrance to the administrative building lay blocks of graphite. Naturally, they "shone". It had to be removed. Conducted briefing to the commander of the regiment. Regiment commander - company commander. The commander conducted a briefing for the soldiers. They made special picks with a long handle so that this graphite could be crushed, and shovels with a long handle to load it into the car. Condition: as soon as you remove it, you will receive 1,000 rubles and demobilization. What did they do? They took these graphite blocks on their chests and into the car. Naturally, the radiation dose turned out to be colossal,” says Vladimir Komarov, who was appointed chief engineer of the nuclear power plant after the accident.
About why foreign robots instantly burned down in Chernobyl, how to deal with radiation with glue, and what scenarios for the development of events the liquidators assumed in the early days - in the material
Shot from the series "Chernobyl"
Not only the inhabitants of Pripyat, Chernobyl and neighboring villages and villages suffered. Residents of other cities who were mobilized to the scene of the tragedy suffered - the military, chemists, firefighters, civil defense specialists who were involved in the elimination of the consequences of the accident at the nuclear power plant. The inhabitants of the territories through which the radioactive cloud formed after the explosion passed were affected. Muscovites also suffered, although the capital was more than 800 kilometers from Pripyat and Chernobyl. The first to take the blow were the doctors who met and treated the victims - firefighters who put out the fire on the night of April 26, station employees and other victims who died in the first month from acute radiation sickness.
The paramedic of the Moscow ambulance Lyubov Krugova was not in Chernobyl, but she received the victims, the first liquidators of the accident, who were taken from Pripyat to the capital by a special plane. While the young woman was driving in a car with one of them, she managed to receive a serious dose of radiation. “We drove up to the emergency room of the “six” (radiological hospital No. 6, in which all the victims of the accident lay - ed.). A nurse jumps out and shouts: “What are you talking about, we are clean!”. I didn't understand what she meant. She examined herself: did she suddenly get dirty when she lifted the patient? We were transferred to a special detention center. And then we saw the dosimetrist. I just raised my hands to the dosimeter - it turned out that the dose was already high, ”says Krugova.
Pripyat, hotel "Polesye". 2007 Photo: Konstantin Shapkin
“Nevertheless, I went home. Our shift is over. And radiation ... Until you encounter it, you don’t really understand something. And I felt fine.
But already along the way it seemed to “fail”. I rode the bus in a circle until the driver noticed me and dropped me off at the right stop. But even then I attributed everything to fatigue, but I worked for a day.
Change again the next day. I barely got to work, and I was immediately sent to the sixth city ... It turned out that I received a good dose. Legasov saw me there (Valery Legasov, Deputy Director of the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy and a member of the government commission for the liquidation of the Chernobyl disaster. Actor Jared Harris plays in the HBO series - ed. note).
He ordered that all contaminated items be taken out of my apartment. Dosimetrists took away three bags of things. They said that they take away only the most “dirty”, and much more irradiated”.
Shot from the series "Chernobyl"
There is a scene in the TV series Chernobyl in which physicist Valery Legasov, a member of the government commission to eliminate the disaster, reports on the possible consequences of an explosion at a nuclear power plant to members of the Politburo and Mikhail Gorbachev. "Thousands will die - in the near future, and then - tens of thousands," says the scientist. The consequences of the tragedy really turned out to be postponed, several generations suffer from it.
Muscovite Olga has two sick children who were born in the early 90s, after their father worked in Chernobyl after the accident. The woman did not immediately understand that they had health problems. “In infancy, Tosha cried all the time, and Masha had eyes like glass until she was a year old. And she always asked for hands - I thought, you never know, maybe she's being naughty, maybe she wants to be closer to her mother. But when she began to speak, she began to complain: "The legs hurt, the legs hurt." And Toshi had a headache. It started when he was two years old. Both of them are such optimists for me - and Tosha at first did not want to show that he was not feeling well, he ran and played all the time. And only then he began to say: "Mom, my head hurts all the time - as soon as I wake up and until the evening." He was about nine years old when we went to the neurologist, and Tosha said: "The whole head hurts, as if there was a fever in the head." And after the examination, the neurologist tells me right in front of the children: “We can’t help you,” the woman says.
Olga's husband died in 2005, the family lives on a survivor's pension, since he had the official status of a liquidator of the Chernobyl accident. But to prove that the children suffered from the consequences of this tragedy is not possible. Until recently, Olga's children were denied even disability, although both the daughter and the son have a lot of rather difficult diagnoses.
The problem exists, and it is quite difficult, and in the legal field it is almost insoluble. “The chairman of the Kostroma organization of “Chernobyl victims” said that if my children are given disabilities, this will be a precedent. And a huge number of the same children of the liquidators will rush to receive a disability, ”Olga complains in our material“ Doctors have said more than once: “You can defend dissertations on your children, your children are so interesting for doctors, they have so much…”
The problem of "Chernobyl" children, unfortunately,
From left to right: Deacon Fyodor Kotrelev, Archpriest Nikolai Yakushin and priest Father John, who arrived from a neighboring (but already outside the exclusion zone) village. Photo: Konstantin Shapkin
In 2007, the journalists of our publication went to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - Deacon Fyodor Kotrelev, a correspondent for the Neskuchny Sad magazine, and Konstantin Shapkin, a photographer for the Mercy.ru website. Together with the rector of the Chernobyl Church of St. Elijah the Prophet, Archpriest Nikolai Yakushin, Father Fyodor Kotrelev served a prayer service on the anniversary of the accident right next to the disaster site - hundreds of meters from the fourth power unit.
There are photos to remember this event. Devastated Pripyat, where time has stopped, villages of self-settlers, graffiti left by stalkers in the exclusion zone. Monument to the liquidators of the accident. And a photo of the bell, which every year on the night of April 26 rings as many times as many years have passed since the disaster. "Sound of sorrow. Stop and bow your head. Before you, the Drevlyane land is in sorrow from a nuclear catastrophe. Bow your head before the people who lived here for centuries and scattered like sand all over the world. God, help us sinners overcome this misfortune,” reads a poster located at the memorial. is an icon painted shortly after the catastrophe. On it are the Savior, the Mother of God and Archangel Michael, and below them are the souls of the dead Chernobyl victims and the liquidators of the accident: a fireman in a respirator, a station worker, a pilot, a nurse. On the horizon, behind the outlines of the exploded station, one can see the glow of sunrise, the star Wormwood flies in the sky.
“When a liturgy is served near Chernobyl, the radiation recedes”
Psychiatrist Georgy Savov worked in Chernobyl two years after the tragedy, in 1988. He says that those who were then in the Zone had problems not only with physical health, but also with mental health. “As a psychiatrist, I had to see people quite often,” the doctor admits.
“It was in Chernobyl that I first thought about God. True, I was baptized only a few years later, in 1999, but today I have no doubt that everything cannot be attributed to the human factor. The Chernobyl tragedy is the result of not only negligence, but also lack of spirituality. Patriarch Pimen said in those terrible days: “So the devil lit a candle for himself,” says Georgy Saovov.
In the "exclusion zone". 2007 Photo: Konstantin Shapkin
Interestingly, in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, radiation pollution does not spread in the same way - there are "clean" places - it's safe there, but there are "dirty" ones, where dosimeters go off scale and you can't be. Chernobyl priest Nikolai Yakushin, rector of the church of Elijah the Prophet, the only one in the Chernobyl closed territory where they serve from time to time, notes that his church is a “bright spot”, while there is quite serious pollution around.
Father Nikolai keeps a diary of miraculous healings and constantly measures radiation. He said: “You approach the temple with a dosimeter - the dosimeter goes off scale. In the temple, the level of radiation is much lower, and during the liturgy, the dosimeter shows almost the norm.”
Frames from the series "Chernobyl" from hbo.com
