If We're seeing them out in the open now, it's because they want us to know.

Man : 

Comrade Shcherbina is on the phone.

GORBACHEV :

Put him through.

Well? 

SHCHERBINA :

The fire's nearly out.

The bubbler tanks are being drained.

We have successfully eliminated the risk of a thermal explosion.

Premier GORBACHEV :

And? 

SHCHERBINA :

The situation inside the core is deteriorating faster than anticipated.

The concrete pad will last for six to eight weeks, but after that, Legasov estimates a 50% chance that the fuel will breach the pad and melt down into the groundwater itself.

Premier GORBACHEV :

And where does this groundwater go? 

SHCHERBINA :

The Pripyat River, which feeds into the Dnieper.

The primary water supply for approximately 50 million people, not to mention crops and livestock, would be unusable.

We're recommending we install a heat exchanger under the pad to lower to core temperature and halt the meltdown.

And in order to do that, 

I'm told that we will need all of the liquid nitrogen in the Soviet Union.

Premier GORBACHEV :

Oh.

All right.

SHCHERBINA :

Yeah, and of course, we'll also need — 

Premier GORBACHEV :

Whatever you need, you have it.

That should be clear by now.

SHCHERBINA :

Yes.

Premier GORBACHEV :

Anything else?

SHCHERBINA :

No, no, no.

Premier GORBACHEV :

Thank you.

LUGASOV :

Yes.

I'd like to address the 30-kilometer exclusion zone.

Premier GORBACHEV :

Wait, what? 

Professor Legasov, is that you? 

What exclusion zone? 

SHCHERBINA :

Minor details, General Secretary.

Um, Premier Ryzhkov has determined that —

Premier GORBACHEV :

If he determined, 

then he determined.

Look, Professor Legasov, you are there for one reason only.

Do you understand? 

To make this stop.

I don't want questions.

I want to know when this will be over.

LUGASOV :

If you mean when will Chernobyl be completely safe, 

the half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years.

So perhaps we should just say, 

"Not within our lifetimes." 

SHCHERBINA :

I think you and I 

should take a walk.

LUGASOV :

It's late.

I'm tired.

SHCHERBINA :

We're taking a walk.

LUGASOV :

Was it it you want? 

An apology? 

Not gonna sit back and —

SHCHERBINA :

What will happen to our boys? 

LUGASOV :

Which boys? 

The divers? 

SHCHERBINA :

The divers, the firefighters, the men in the control room.

What does the radiation do to them precisely? 

At the levels some of them were exposed? 

LUGASOV :

Ionizing radiation tears the cellular structure apart.

The skin blisters, 

turns red, then black.

This is followed by a latency period.

The immediate effects subside.

The patient appears to be recovering.

Healthy, even.

But they aren't.

This usually only lasts for a day or two.

SHCHERBINA :

Continue.

LUGASOV :

Then the cellular damage begins to manifest.

The bone marrow dies, 

the immune system fails, 

the organs and soft tissue begin to decompose.

The arteries and veins 

spill open like sieves, 

to the point where you can't 

even administer morphine for the pain, 

which is unimaginable.

And then three days to three weeks, you are dead.

That is what will happen 

to those boys.

SHCHERBINA :

And what about us? 

LUGASOV :

Well, we've —

We've gotten a steady dose, 

but not as much of it.

Not strong enough to kill the cells, 

but consistent enough to damage our DNA.

So, in time cancer.

Or aplastic anemia.

Either way, fatal.

SHCHERBINA :

Well in a sense, 

it would seem we've gotten off easy then, Valery.

LUGASOV :

I've seen them before.

SHCHERBINA :

Now you know why 

I wanted to take a walk.

We can presume 

the work site is bugged.

And our rooms, even our bathrooms.

LUGASOV :

They've been here the whole time.

SHCHERBINA :

Of course they've been here the whole time.

But  if we're seeing them out in the open now, 

it's because they want us to know.