No-one's Answering The Phone

(WIND BLOWING SOFTLY) 

(DOSIMETER CLICKING FAINTLY) 

(MAN READING POEM IN UKRAINIAN, OVER RADIO) 

(MAN CONTINUES READING POEM OVER RADIO) 

(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES) 

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) 

(TURNS OFF RADIO) 

GUY :

You work too hard.

KHOMYUK: 

Where is everyone? 

GUY :

Oh, they refused to come in.

KHOMYUK: 

Why? 

GUY :

It's Saturday.

KHOMYUK: 

Why did you come in? 

GUY :

I work too hard.

It's boiling in here.

(opens window)

(DOSIMETER ALARM BUZZING) 

(closes Window)

(BUZZING STOPS) 

KHOMYUK: 

Eight milliroentgen.

GUY :

A leak? 

KHOMYUK: 

No.

It would've gone off before.

It's coming from outside.

GUY :

The Americans? 

(WIND BLOWING) 

(MACHINES HUMMING) 

(WHIRRING) 

(PRINTER CLACKING) 

KHOMYUK: 

Iodine-131.

It's not military.

It's Uranium decay, 

U-235.

GUY :

Reactor fuel? 

KHOMYUK: 

Ignalina.

GUY :

Maybe, uh, 240 kilometers away.

(ROTARY PHONE DIALING) 

(LINE RINGS) 

KHOMYUK: 

Yes, this is Ulana Khomyuk with the Institute of Nuclear En —Looking for? 

(MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER PHONE) 

All right, stay calm.

MAN 

(OVER PHONE) : 

Don't tell me to stay calm.

(MAN CONTINUING INDISTINCTLY) 

KHOMYUK: 

They're at four. It's not them.

Who's the next closest? 

GUY :

It's Chernobyl, 

but that's not possible.

They're 400 kilometers away.

That's too far for eight milliroentgen.

They'd have to be split open.

KHOMYUK: 

Maybe they know something.

(ROTARY PHONE DIALING) (LINE RINGING) 

KHOMYUK:

(Takes one and hands The Guy a bottle of pills.)

Iodine.

GUY :

Could it be a waste dump? 

KHOMYUK: 

No. We'd be seeing other isotopes.

GUY :

Nuclear test? 

Uh, new kind of bomb? 

KHOMYUK: 

We'd have heard.

That's what half our people work on here.

GUY :

Something with the space program like a satellite or..? 

[ You KNOW What it Is — You said so yourself. ]

(LINE RINGING) 

KHOMYUK: 

No one's answering the phone.

FOMIN: 

It's overkill.

Pikalov's showing off to make us look bad.

BRYUKHANOV: 

It doesn't matter how it looks.

Shcherbina is a pure bureaucrat, as stupid as he is pigheaded.

We'll tell him The Truth in the simplest terms possible.

We'll be fine.

BRYUKHANOV :

Pikarov! Comrade Shcherbina, Chief Engineer Fomin, 

Colonel General Pikalov, 

and I are honored at your arrival.

FOMIN :

Deeply, deeply honored.

BRYUKHANOV: 

Naturally, we regret the circumstances of your visit, 

but, as you can see, we are making excellent progress in containing the damage.

FOMIN :

We have begun our own inquiry into the cause of the accident, and I have a list of individuals who we believe are accountable.

BRYUKHANOV: 

Professor Legasov, 

I understand you've been 

saying dangerous things.

FOMIN: 

Very dangerous things.

Apparently, our reactor core exploded.

Please, tell me how an RBMK reactor core explodes.

LUGASOV :

I'm not prepared to explain it at this time.

FOMIN :

As I presumed, 

he has no answer.

BRYUKHANOV: 

It's disgraceful. Really.

To spread disinformation 

at a time like this.

FOMIN :

As I presumed, 

he has no answer.

BRYUKHANOV: 

It's disgraceful. Really.

To spread disinformation 

at a time like this.

SCHERBINA :

Why did I see graphite on the roof? 

Graphite is only found in the core, 

where it's used as a neutron flux moderator.

Correct? 

BRYUKHANOV: 

Fomin, why did the Deputy Chairman see graphite on the roof? 

FOMIN :

Well, that that can't be.

Comrade Shcherbina, my apologies, 

but graphite, that's not possible.

Perhaps you saw burnt concrete.

SCHERBINA :

Now there you made a mistake —

because I may not know much about nuclear reactors, 

but I know a lot about concrete.

Comrade, I assure you —

I understand.

You think Legasov is wrong.

How shall we prove it? 

Our high-range dosimeter just arrived.

We could cover one of our trucks with lead shielding, mount the dosimeter on the front.

Have one of your men get as close to the fire as he can.

Give him every bit of protection you have.

But understand that even with lead shielding, it may not be enough.

Then I'll do it myself.

Good.

(TIRES SCREECH) 

(ENGINE REVVING) 

(CHAINS SHATTERING) 

He's back.

It's not three roentgen.

It's 15,000.

BRYUKHANOV: 

Comrade Shcherbina 

What does that number mean? 

It means the core is open.

It means the fire we're watching with our own eyes is giving off nearly twice the radiation released by the bomb in Hiroshima.

And that's every single hour.

Hour after hour, 20 hours since the explosion, so 40 bombs worth by now.

Forty-eight more tomorrow.

And it will not stop.

Not in a week, not in a month.

It will burn and spread its poison until the entire continent is dead.

Please escort Comrades Bryukhanov and Fomin to the local party headquarters.

Thank you for your service.

Comrade —

You're excused.

Dyatlov was in charge.

It was Dyatlov!

“I think all branches of science have to move cautiously these days. It's not just giant nuclear weapons that can destroy the world. 

As a microbiologist, I can tell you even the tiniest organisms can still tear you a new one.”