'Perhaps one of the guys survived thanks to my help': monologue of the widow of an engineer who died at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

3 June in the United States appeared on the screens of the final fifth episode of the acclaimed TV series “Chernobyl” from the American TV channel HBO. The series tells about the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the policy of the USSR in those days, the deaths of the liquidators, the lives of their relatives and much more.

Photo: shot from the official trailer for the Chernobyl mini-series,YouTube / HBO

At the end of the story, viewers will learn about the real causes of the explosion and why academician Valery Legasov, who was covering up the official Soviet version of the tragedy at the international level, committed suicide, writes “Medusa».

"The Price of Lies"

The series begins after 12 hours before the explosion - on April 12, 25, the Pripyat lives as usual: children run around the flowerbeds, adults smile at each other, Lyudmila Ignatenko chooses buttons at the fabric store, and her husband nurses the neighbor child. They became one of the main characters of the series, but at that moment they didn’t even suspect that in less than a day their life would change forever.

At this time, Anatoly Dyatlov is going to the station - tests of reactor safety have been scheduled for this day, and if everything goes well, everyone will be improved: the station's director, Viktor Bryukhanov, and the chief engineer of the station, Nikolai Fomin, and Dyatlov himself. For testing, you need to reduce the power - and in these hours the reactor is already working at half strength. But the test day will not work: Bryukhanov called from Kiev and asked to wait 10 hours. Dyatlov says that it is safe, and goes home to sleep.

After speaking at the IAEA conference in Vienna, Valery Legasov lives in Moscow - this is March of 1987. Legasov made a deal with the KGB and told the official version in Vienna: the reactor exploded due to an operator error. In return, he is waiting for the repair of all 16-RBMK operating in the country. Alexander Sharkov, Deputy Head of the 1 Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, personally promises him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the post of Director of the Kurchatov Institute. But only after the trial of Bryukhanov, Fomin and Dyatlov.

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Time runs. Legasov's hair begins to fall out. Ulyana Khomuk continues to insist that he tell the truth - if not in Vienna, then in court.

The trial takes place in Chernobyl. The first witness is Boris Shcherbina - he explains that in 1983, Bryukhanov signed a document on putting the exploded reactor into operation. But the document was forged - the tests did not complete. There was one problem: if something is de-energized at the station, the spare generators will start working only in a minute - an explosion may occur during this time. It was decided to compensate for the pause with energy from the still rotating turbine. But can it really work? This Dyatlov and checked - 26 April 1986, the fourth failed attempt of these tests.

On duty that night Toptunov and Akimov never participated in such tests. “Should I do something for the first time in my life and with Dyatlov over my soul?”, Then asked 25-year-old Toptunov, who worked at the station for only four months. Dyatlov shouted at operators and hurried them, for every objection he threatened with dismissal.

As a result, the operators could not maintain the balance of reactivity, explained Legasov to the court. Because of this, the RBMK turned into a red-hot bomb. There was only one way to stop the catastrophe - by pressing the button AZ-5. At this command, the rods from the boron were supposed to sink into the reactor and stop the process.

The button was pressed, and at that moment an explosion occurred - the cause was the graphite tips of the rods.

“But why?” Asked the judge.

"Why? For the same reason, why we are the only nation that builds water graphite reactors with a positive void coefficient. It's cheaper, ”answered Legasov, and admitted that his testimony in Vienna was a lie. He said that Dyatlov did not know about the malfunction of the reactor and that the lies of the authorities were to blame for everything. However, the scientist did not see support in the eyes of the jury.

After the meeting, Legasov was taken to an empty kitchen workshop. After a while Sharkov came there. He said that Legasov would not be shot: it would be foolish to do this after the performance in Vienna. But the head of the KGB promised him a lonely, inglorious life without rewards, confessions and friends. Legasov was put in a black "Volga" and taken from Chernobyl in front of his friends - Uliana Homyuk and Boris Scherbina, who was already very sick, they would not see them again. At this moment, a phrase sounds from a Legacy cassette: “Once upon a time, the price of truth frightened me. Now I will ask - what is the price of a lie? ”.

In the final credits - photos of real heroes and a story about what happened to them after the disaster. After the suicide of Legasov, everyone learned about the real causes of the catastrophe - and the reactors had to be repaired. Some scientists who spoke against the official version (their collective image in the series - Ulyana Homyuk) went to prison. Boris Scherbina died in 1990 year. Bryukhanov, Fomin and Dyatlov were sentenced to 10 years of correctional labor. After his release, Fomin returned to work at the nuclear power plant in Kalinin city. Woodpeckers died in the 1995 year, he was the 64 of the year.

The accident ruined the lives of thousands of families, among them was the family Anatoly and Elvira Sitnikov, who are also told in the series. After the series, the widow of Sitnikov told in detail about what she had to endure.

Monologue of the widow of the liquidator of the Chernobyl accident

In 1985, Anatoly Sitnikov became deputy chief engineer for the operation of the first and second power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. During the accident in the spring of 1986, Sitnikov examined the emergency fourth unit of the nuclear power plant. He received a lethal dose of radiation and died a few weeks after the disaster. His wife Elvira Sitnikova was with him at that time in Moscow and was caring for other liquidators.

She told the publication "Medusa»About her husband, about how work was carried out to eliminate the consequences of the accident and why she returned to work at the Chernobyl NPP after the accident.

“Here people live like human beings”

In April, 1975, my husband and I came from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Pripyat. At this time in the Far East still dust, dirt and cold. And they came here - everything is blooming. I told my husband then, look, here people live like human beings.

In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Tolya worked at a shipbuilding plant, he was very much appreciated there and did not want to be released. It was I who got him fired. I remember, I went to the party organizer, saying that because of the difficult climate, I constantly get sick children, and I have to raise them healthy for the state.

The first two years Tolya lived in Pripyat in a dormitory, and we with two daughters in Nikolaev with my brother. Then my husband was given an apartment, and we moved in with him.

Tolya oversaw the construction of the first power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then he was the shift manager of the reactor plant. He raved about atomic stations, could disappear for days at work. For all the time of life in Pripyat, we never took a car for a vacation. Once we agreed that we would go to the south together with the eldest daughter Ira, who had come from Moscow, where she studied at the energy institute. And suddenly, shortly before the trip, my husband told me: "The chief engineer does not let me go, because everyone is on vacation, but there is no one to work." I answered him: “They all rest in the summer, and you have never taken a vacation!”. “I hurt you don't understand me,” he said. In general, then covered our trip.

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He lived by work. One night he woke me up and, pointing to a non-existent appliance, said: “Watch him so that he does not go off-scale.” And then he collapsed on the pillow again. The next morning did not remember anything. And another time, Tolya suddenly woke up, rushed to the window ajar: "You see, the room is open, everything is being plundered, and we will not be able to pass the block!" I answered: "Sleep, sleep, I will follow instead of you." He lay down and fell asleep. And the next day he remembered nothing again.

I tell it because I want to show you how he was a man. He was rooting for his work, the station was his happiness. For the sake of production, he was ready to give his life. In the end, he gave it. As one of our friends said, he was a soldier, he was told - he did.

Photo: shot from the official trailer for the Chernobyl mini-series,YouTube / HBO

"Today, your husbands are taken away"

That night [from 25 to 26 on April 1986 of the year] he was called and woke up. He told me: "I went because something happened at the station." And he went there, although it was not his unit, he did not answer for him. I did not worry: more than once at the station something happened, but always - not serious. And I woke up in the morning: the cars were buzzing, the ambulances drove back and forth. And the radio is silent. Then the neighbors called me and said that there was something at the station ... We are not physicists and did not understand how serious the situation is. But just in case, I did not let my daughter go to school, although the day was exceptional.

Somewhere in the morning 11, I called the station and accidentally hit my husband. He said that by the oral order of the director [Viktor Bryukhanov] he had bypassed all the rooms adjacent to the reactor. He confessed to me on the phone: "I feel very bad, I vomit." I say: "Go to the medical center!" - "I can not go ...". And then I began to call the medical center. They told me that there were a lot of patients, so the husband should come to them himself. In the end, I persuaded them to pick it up.

And then a familiar doctor called me from the hospital and said: “Tonight, your husbands are being taken away, I don’t know where. Understand. And I rushed to the hospital. Already in the lobby, a doctor grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the street. “Tell me where my husband is!” I shouted to him. And he replied: "Not allowed, get out of here!". That was all so rude.

We [with other relatives] stood at the main entrance to the hospital, but at this time our husbands were quietly taken away from the black. And as I only guessed to turn into the yard ... I see - behind the hospital there is a bus, where they are taken. I shout: “Tolya, Tolya!”. And he comes to me like that sunburnt. I told him: “Tolya, everything will be fine! Where are you taking? ”-“ We do not know. Do not look for me, I will recover and I will come to you myself. " - "I still find you!".

I then asked him why he went to the fourth power unit, because he did not answer for him. And he answered me: “Do you understand who knew the block better than me? If it were not for us, Ukraine would definitely not exist, or maybe even half of Europe ... You must understand this. ” And how should I understand this? I was left with two children, my husband was being taken away, what should I do? Only then I understood. Perhaps, then, for the first time, he thought first about me and about the children, and only then about all the other people.

Somewhere in an hour, our husbands were taken on a plane to Moscow. It was an evening of April 26. Our house was on the outskirts of the city, he was the first from the station. And we saw how beautifully the Chernobyl NPP tube glows: a pillar of light rose into the sky. We did not understand what it was, we were not warned about radiation. Just April 26 from Kiev brought a car with cucumbers, which we did not have to get, beer. And it traded, knowing about the increased radiation background. People were walking on the street, the wedding was going on, everyone was dancing.

Later on trial I asked the director Viktor Bryukhanov why they didn’t immediately say on the radio that they had to close the windows and not let the children go. He shrugged: "I reported ...". To whom he reported, I was no longer interested. I think this is a big crime. It was for him that he had to be punished. As a result, those who suffered themselves were punished.

Messenger of Chernobyl victims

On the morning of April 27 we were announced on the radio that there would be a mass evacuation, we must get ready. And I had already bought a train ticket for the evening of April 27 to go after my husband to Moscow, because the doctors at the hospital eventually told the wives where their husbands were taken. Therefore, when the police began to walk through the apartments and knock on each door, I did not open. While everyone was leaving, my daughter and I sat quietly in the apartment, like mice. And in the meantime, buses with evacuees walked and walked along the street. Daughter counted 812 buses, and then she got bored.

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We left Pripyat with one suitcase. We took a few things, just to change clothes: panties, T-shirts. It was summer, it was warm, and we did not think that we were leaving for a long time. At first I didn't even want to take my savings. My owl was hanging on my wall in the apartment, and I shoved my chains and rings into it. Then the neighbor told me: “Are you out of your mind, take everything valuable with you, we don’t know how much we are leaving and who will be here”.

I arrived in Moscow on April 28 and right away to the eldest daughter in the hostel. There, all our children from Pripyat, who studied at the energy institute, rushed to me: “What happened? Why can't we reach our parents? ” I say: “You guys see me? I am alive? That's all alive, do not worry. " So I calmed them down a little.

The next day I found the hospital number 6, which put my husband. Of course, they didn’t let me close to him, the ban was tough. But I managed to pass him a note and received a reply from him. I remember driving back to the subway, sobbing sobbing and thinking: let the other passengers, what they want, they think, the main thing - my Tolya is alive.

Then, through our USSR Ministry of Energy and Electrification, I got access to the hospital: I wore newspapers for the children, bought them something, delivered letters, corrected blankets and pillows for them. When they found out that I was from the station, and even the wife of a man like Sitnikov, they were very happy, waiting for me as my own mother. They all lay in separate wards, they were not allowed to meet. I gave them news about each other, was between them as connected.

I remember in one of the chambers there was a guy named Sasha. I go to him once, and he shouts to me: “Elvira Petrovna, don't look, I'm lying naked.” I told him: “Oh, Sasha, you are shy of me, this is very good! So you live! ” And the next morning I was informed that he was dead. Immediately after that, I ran into the corridor with his wife, who had just come to him in Moscow. She rushed to me: "Well, how is my Sasha?". And my breath came down, how can I tell my wife that her husband is dead? And then, fortunately for me, the doctor called her into his office, and I was not able to inform her that Sasha was no more.

Photo: shot from the official trailer for the Chernobyl mini-series,YouTube / HBO

"Naprivozi husbands, and we are infected"

Nobody told me that because of the radiation one cannot touch the husband and the rest of the guys, that it is dangerous. But I myself knew it. I was not scared. You don’t think about it at all, especially when you have the closest person there. I had no idea how I would live without him. But many other people were afraid. One time a nurse screamed at me: “That you brought your husbands here, we will only get infected with them!”. I did not pay attention to her, it was important for me that my husband and all the other guys survived.

But Tolya gradually became worse and worse, he had pulmonary edema. I spent the last evening with him. At one point, he said: "You know what, go home ...". And what I was doing at home, nobody was waiting for me there. “You don't understand,” Tolya told me. - You have to get up at five in the morning and go to the guys, they really need you. While they are in the hospital, you should be here. ” After that, he called the doctor, he was given an injection, and he fell asleep.

The next morning I went to the hospital again and ran into a nurse in the corridor. She was one of those people who always want to be the first to report all the news. She said to me: "Oh, and your husband is dead!" It was 31 May 1986.

Tolya was buried at the Mitinsky cemetery in Moscow. I had nowhere to even buy a black scarf over my head, there was nothing in the shops. Then I called the ministry and said: "Let you be ashamed that I will go behind the grave of my husband without a headdress." And the next day we all brought black scarves.

At first I wanted to get some pills and sleep. Such a pain was. Then I discussed everything with myself: I have two sisters, both are very good women. You can give the children one of them, but she is very touchy. If offended, the week will not talk. My children will be gone. The second loves daughters too, but she loves cleanliness: take your shoes off here, come here. My children will not endure this, we have more freely. And then I realized that I need to live in order to raise the girls to their feet. That's all. That alone saved me. The kids pulled out.

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The day after the funeral, I was again in the hospital. Then one of the guys told me: “I cannot look you in the eyes, I am ashamed ... You just buried your husband and came here.” “It was he who asked me not to leave you,” I replied. I myself, maybe, could not. But it also helped me to return to life, because I was constantly busy. Perhaps one of the guys survived thanks to my help.

I remember that Sasha, who was being brought from Pripyat with my husband, lies in the intensive care unit. I approach him, and he loses consciousness. I told him: “Sasha, look at me, my good one. Do you recognize me? Sasha, remember, everyone has already left here, all long ago in a rehabilitation center. ”Blue "". “And Anatoly Andreevich?” Sasha asked me about my husband. I nodded, although Tolya was buried a long time ago. “Everyone has already got out, do you understand? Now you must. You are young and strong. ”

The time has passed. 26 April - on the next anniversary - I stood at the grave of my husband. And then someone behind me hugged my shoulders. I turn, and there Sasha. “Elvira Petrovna, how you pulled me out ...” - “It's not me, it's all Tolya ... He asked for help to all the guys.” In general, Sasha lived 20 more years.

Return to Chernobyl

Sooner, of course, I became a widow. I advised all young widows of Chernobyl victims: live, get married, live is alive! This is my age [45 years] that I preferred children and grandchildren. Yes, and I did not see men like Tolya. We lived together for 22 and a half years. And I think, God forbid every family live like this.

I felt so old back then, even now, in 77 years, I feel like I feel better. After the death of my husband, I was like a stone, my face was like a mask, I could not speak with anyone, could not sleep, was tormented. I broke down. After the death of her husband and the care of other Chernobyl victims in Moscow for two months she lay in the neurosis clinic, and after discharge she returned to Chernobyl, to the station, to the metrology laboratory, where she worked before the accident. I needed money to put the children on their feet so that they would not ask anyone for anything. Therefore, I had to earn both for myself and for their father. Before 1988, I worked in Chernobyl on a rotational basis - a month at the station, then a month - rest in Moscow.

Our laboratory was located on the second block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a concrete room. I do not know what kind of radiation was on the street. Why did I have to know this? I worked like a zombie: I got up at five in the morning, went to the dining room, then got on the bus that took us to the “dirty zone”, transferred to another bus and was on it to the station. She worked there for six hours and returned home. After work, I did not do anything, did not go anywhere. I know that Pugacheva came, but I did not go to her concert. I was in such a state that I was not in the mood for entertainment, I thought - to live or not. And how to get out of all this.

They say the pain subsides over time. Yes, it does not subside. She slows down. And you start to tell - and everything pops up again. Maybe if I married again, it would be a little comfort. And so - nothing passes. But I forgave everyone. You can not live all your life with the feeling that you did not forgive. Now everything is fine: I have wonderful daughters, of whom Tolya was very proud, four grandsons, a great-grandson. See, life goes on.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• In July, 2017, the creator of the series Game of Thrones, HBO, announced plans to shoot a mini-series about the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Then the start of filming was announced on 2018 year.
• The choice of location fell on Lithuania, because there, as in many former Soviet republics, there are many buildings and locations where the spirit of that time is still preserved. Several final episodes were shot in the summer of 2018, in Kiev.
• 7 May 2019, HBO announced the launch of the television mini-series "Chernobyl" manufactured by HBO and Sky.
• The series’s screenwriter was Craig Mazin, known from the films The Hunter and the Snow Queen, Without Feelings, Charlie's Angels, and directed by Juhan Renk (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad). He called this work the largest project in his career.
• The scenario is based on real events that have occurred since the accident for two years after it. The creators tried to recreate as accurately as possible all the costumes and scenery of that time and constantly consulted with the former residents of Pripyat and people from Ukraine.
• “We hope that viewers from Ukraine and Belarus will feel - we understood them correctly,” said Mazin. - Clothes, hairstyles, traditions, culture, everything is true. Thus, we show our respect. ”
• Craig Mazin has Ukrainian roots. He says it helped him to feel the depth of the tragedy. The creator of the series says that "Chernobyl" is not accidentally coming out right now.
• “The world should know the complete history of the Chernobyl catastrophe, which entailed such terrible consequences. The world must also know the names and faces of people who have so heroically behaved in the fight against an invisible deadly enemy, ”says Craig Mazin. “If we forget about the scary pages of history, they can happen again,” he adds.
• As a result, the Chernobyl series on the IMDb website received an 9,6 score from 10, and took the first line in the rating of "250 TV show with the highest rating of viewers", bypassing the iconic "Game of Thrones".

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