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What Happened Inside Chernobyl Control Room During Explosion (Minute by Minute) - Video học tiếng Anh
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What Happened Inside Chernobyl Control Room During Explosion (Minute by Minute)
What Happened Inside Chernobyl Control Room During Explosion (Minute by Minute)
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0:00
60 Minutes to Zero Hour It’s like any other night in the control room
0:04
of Reactor Number Four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The room buzzes with life as machines
0:09
hum and lights flicker. Dials and gauges monitor the pressure and temperature inside the reactor.
0:14
25 year old Leonid Toptunov, is the senior control engineer tonight. He’s only been in the role for 2
0:19
months. And now, he’s overseeing a safety test - one delayed from the previous day. The goal is to
0:24
see if the reactor’s turbines can keep the water pumps running in the event of a critical failure.
0:29
Carefully, he begins lowering the reactor’s power. Toptunov’s eyes are fixed on the reactor’s output.
0:34
Beside him stands Alexander Akimov, the shift foreman… and Anatoly Dyatlov,
0:40
the plant’s deputy chief engineer. The men move through their normal procedures.
0:44
Everything feels routine. Everything feels safe. The workers inside belong to a special group of
0:49
experts providing power to a nation. But that feeling won’t last.
0:54
55 Minutes to Zero Hour The mood in the room changes.
0:57
The power is dropping too fast. The reactor is not acting the way the books say it should. Inside the
1:03
core, xenon gas is building up. It acts like a sponge, soaking up the tiny particles that keep
1:08
the nuclear fire going. Too much xenon, and the reactor starts to choke. Power collapses.
1:14
Akimov tells Dyatlov that they should stop and wait for the gas to clear. Dyatlov ignores the
1:19
warning. He snaps at Toptunov, ordering him to prepare for the test. Under the hard glare
1:24
of his superior, Toptunov gives in. It’s a move that will change history…
1:29
52 Minutes to Zero Hour The shrill of alarms fills
1:32
the control room. The power has dropped below the safety limit. Toptunov works the switches
1:37
as fast as he can. There’s only one way to bring the reactor back to a stable level.
1:41
They have to pull the control rods out. It’s the only way to force the reaction back up. But it’s
1:46
also extremely dangerous. 50 Minutes to Zero Hour
1:50
Toptunov removes the control rods. The screens show the power slowly starting
1:54
to climb back up… but it’s still far below what the test plan calls for.
1:58
Dyatlov says it’s enough. One mile away, in the town of Pripyat,
2:02
49,360 people are soundly asleep. They have no idea about the devastation coming their way.
2:09
45 Minutes to Zero Hour As Toptunov attempts to switch the reactor from
2:13
local to automatic control, the power doesn't just drop - it stops. The digital displays flicker. The
2:20
numbers tumble. The reactor is almost flat-lined. The center of the reactor is clogged with xenon.
2:25
Normally, the reactor would be shut down for 24 hours to allow the Xenon to decay. But tonight,
2:31
Dyatlov cannot wait. A successful test tonight could see him promoted to Chief
2:35
Engineer - and with it, a salary increase. He has no idea that heat is building at
2:40
the bottom of the reactor faster than the sensors can even track.
2:44
30 Minutes to Zero Hour Inside the reactor vessel,
2:47
beneath a 1,000-ton steel lid, the uranium fuel rods are now exposed. Water levels swing wildly.
2:53
The rods grow hotter and hotter - starting to glow red as the cooling water struggles
2:58
to keep up.The concrete floors begin to vibrate. Back in the control room, Dyatlov is satisfied.
3:03
They have managed to crawl the power back up. But what he doesn’t realize is that Reactor Four
3:08
is now a bomb with a ticking fuse. 22 Minutes to Zero Hour
3:13
It is 01:01 AM. In the rush to keep power up, Akimov and Toptunov unknowingly drain the last
3:19
bit of control they have left. Regulations demand a minimum number of control rods remain in the
3:24
core - effectively the reactor’s brakes. But the computer readout is flashing a warning - they’re
3:29
down to 18 rods. Close enough to disaster that one wrong move could tip everything over
3:34
Just minutes later, Akimov orders the activation of two additional main circulating pumps.
3:39
More water equals more cooling. But the result is a nightmare. The massive surge of cold water into
3:44
the core causes the steam pressure to plummet. Dyatlov demands the men bypass the automatic
3:50
shutdown signals that are screaming because of the low water levels.
3:54
The safety of the entire plant is now hanging by a thread.
3:58
20 Minutes to Zero Hour The reactor desperately needs water. Too little,
4:02
and the core will overheat and bend out of shape. Too much, and water can surge into the turbines,
4:06
shattering the blades. It’s a fine balance act. In the control room, alarms for low water blare.
4:12
Senior control engineer Boris Stolyarchuk doesn’t flinch. His eyes stay on the numbers. The plant is
4:18
required to hit its annual output target. That’s the job. That’s what matters.
4:23
15 Minutes to Zero Hour Inside the core,
4:26
a terrifying chain reaction is beginning. With most of the control rods withdrawn,
4:30
the bottom of the reactor has turned into a super-heated zone - temperatures climbing toward
4:34
1,300 degrees Fahrenheit (704 degrees Celsius). Steam bubbles begin forming in the cooling water.
4:38
In most reactors, those bubbles would slow the reaction down.
4:42
But in the Chernobyl reactor… they speed it up. It’s a deadly design flaw the engineers
4:47
were never told about - born from a cost-saving decision back in the 1960s.
4:51
Energy is building at the base of the reactor. And the men in the control room have no idea… they’re
4:57
minutes away from crossing the point of no return. 5 Minutes to Zero Hour
5:02
The control room is a flurry of activity as they prepare to begin the test. Alexander Akimov
5:07
and Leonid Toptunov work together, moving switches and turning dials - actions that
5:12
are quietly setting the stage for a nightmare. They’ve bypassed the emergency core cooling system
5:17
and disabled the low-power protection locks. It’s the only way to get the data Moscow demands.
5:23
The men think they’re in control. They’re wrong. In the turbine hall, Sasha Yuvchenko checks the
5:28
machinery as he moves deeper into the building - straight toward disaster. High above him,
5:32
Valery Perevozchenko, the foreman on duty, starts climbing the stairs toward the reactor hall.
5:38
He has no idea what he’s walking into. 1 Minute to Zero Hour
5:42
The test begins. The steam valves to Turbine Number 8 are shut. The
5:46
massive machine starts to wind down. In the control room, the men stare at the dials.
5:51
This is their narrow window. The moment they’ve been waiting for.
5:54
They’re counting on the turbine’s momentum - hoping it can keep the cooling pumps alive
5:59
until the diesel generators take over. As the pumps slow, the volume of water
6:03
flowing through the reactor drops. The water that remains begins to boil violently. Steam
6:09
bubbles form at the bottom of the core. Each bubble is a tiny pocket of disaster.
6:13
The reactor is now trapped in a lethal feedback loop. More steam means more
6:17
reactivity. More reactivity means more heat. More heat means even more steam.
6:22
In the control room, instruments begin to flicker with news the operators don’t want
6:26
to see. The numbers on the screens start to climb- faster… and faster…
6:31
And then they shoot upwards. 20 Seconds to Zero Hour
6:35
Akimov sees the jump. The power is climbing too fast, surging past the safety limits. He
6:40
doesn't panic. His training kicks in. The AZ-5 button is hit. The reactor
6:44
emergency protection system activates. It’s the emergency shutdown - the SCRAM command.
6:49
It’s supposed to end the test and stop the reactor cold. But tonight, it does the opposite.
6:54
As the rods begin to drop, the graphite tips hit the core first. And graphite doesn’t slow the
7:00
reaction down- it accelerates it. For a split second, the AZ-5 button acts as a kickstarter
7:05
The reactor’s power output explodes past anything the building was ever meant to handle.
7:10
In the reactor hall, Valery Perevozchenko stares at the massive
7:13
steel lid meant to keep the reactor sealed shut. And then he sees it. The fuel caps are moving.
7:19
A roar comes from the reactor. Valery doesn’t wait to understand it. He runs.
7:24
ZERO HOUR The control is rocked by a massive explosion.
7:28
Men are thrown off their feet. Dust falls from the ceiling as the building groans. Before anyone can
7:33
move, a second explosion tears through the plant. It’s equivalent to a 10-ton TNT detonation.
7:39
The force is so violent it rips the roof clean off the building, launching it nearly
7:43
100 feet (30.5 meters) into the air - before it crashes back down into the open mouth of the core.
7:48
The control room is suddenly filled with white dust and the scream of escaping steam. Ceiling
7:53
panels collapse raining heavy debris down on the men. A strange metallic taste floods their
7:58
mouths as radiation tears through the air. Six tonnes of nuclear fuel have just been
8:03
blasted into the night sky. 1 Minute After Zero Hour
8:07
Flashlight beams cut through the thick dust in the control room.
8:10
Alexander Akimov forces himself to believe the reactor is still intact - that the
8:14
explosion was just a minor gas blast, not the core. He stares at his gauges,
8:19
but they’re dead. The needles are frozen at the highest point or stuck at zero. A worker bursts
8:24
in from the turbine hall- there’s a fire Akimov alerts the fire station and the
8:28
chiefs of other departments, initiating emergency protocols to stabilize the plant.
8:33
It’s now a race against time. 5 Minutes After Zero Hour
8:37
Dyatlov is the first to stumble into the hallway, unable to comprehend the
8:40
devastation in front of him. Pieces of the core lie scattered on the ground, glowing in the dark.
8:45
In the control room, Akimov tries the internal phones. Nothing. The lines are dead. He has to
8:50
send men physically to make contact in the plant. A soot-covered Sasha Yuvchenko finds Dyatlov and
8:57
blurts out that the roof is gone. Dyatlov ignores him, barking an order to get to the cooling pumps.
9:02
Akimov sends junior engineers to the manual rod controls. He refuses to accept that the reactor is
9:08
gone. The men step into a labyrinth of pitch black corridors, where the air is a thick metallic soup
9:14
of scalding steam and radioactive dust. They wade through knee-deep water and climb over massive,
9:19
twisted steel beams. When they reach the reactor hall, the enormity finally hits them.
9:24
The roof is gone. Above them, the night sky is clear… filled with stars…
9:29
And rising from the shattered reactor is a shimmering pillar of violet-blue light.
9:34
The first firemen arrive at the plant. They have no radiation suit - only canvas coats,
9:39
gloves, and helmets. In front of them lies black gravel scattered across the ground,
9:44
and they start kicking it aside without a second thought. They believe they’re
9:47
walking into a normal rooftop fire. None of them realize it yet…
9:51
But they’re already dying. 10 Minutes After Zero Hour
9:56
Inside the control room, Akimov is still ordering water to be pumped into a reactor that has been
10:00
torn apart. He and Toptunov stay at their posts, breathing in radioactive dust, unaware their skin
10:06
is already beginning to blister and darken. The physical signs of radiation sickness
10:10
begin to hit. Operators start
10:12
to vomit uncontrollably. Their heads throb, the pressure building inside their skulls. Dyatlov,
10:18
still refusing to accept the truth, wanders the plant, stepping over pieces of the core
10:22
that have been blasted out of the building. Akimov starts calling for feedwater pumps,
10:27
trying to force water into a system that is dead. Someone notices the hydrogen problem.
10:32
Procedures start - venting, clearing - anything to stop a second disaster.
10:36
One mile (1.6 km) away, the people of Pripyat are woken by the sound of sirens.
10:40
From their balconies, they watch a rainbow of colors dancing over Reactor 4 - blues,
10:45
greens, and purples - mesmerized by the strange beauty of it all.
10:49
They don’t realize that invisible, deadly dust is already drifting down onto their streets.
10:54
20 Minutes After Zero Hour In the control room, Akimov calls his
10:58
superiors. He tells them the reactor is intact. That one lie will keep 50,000 people trapped in
11:03
the danger zone for more than a day. The engineers in that room are already doomed.
11:08
Akimov and Toptunov keep fighting - desperately trying to pump water into the core - unaware
11:13
the pipes are ruptured in several places. The water never reaches the reactor. It
11:18
floods the lower levels of the plant instead, turning everything it touches radioactive.
11:22
Anatoly Dyatlov rushes into the turbine hall and finally sees the damage for himself. Chunks of
11:28
graphite are scattered across the floor like black gravel - each block emitting lethal radiation.
11:33
He returns to the control room and writes in the logbook that the reactor is still in one piece.
11:38
Akimov realizes the truth. He looks through a broken wall at the smoke rising from the giant
11:44
hole in the building. He turns to Toptunov with a look of pure horror. Quietly, he says they did
11:49
everything right. He looks down at his hands. And in that moment, he knows they
11:53
aren’t going home. 60 min After Zero Hour
11:56
The fires and emergency lights reveal the full scale of the mess. The reactor building
12:01
is a hollow shell of twisted metal and smoke. The men in the control room are now so sick they can
12:06
barely stand. They are carried out by doctors who don't have the right gear to protect themselves
12:11
Sasha Yuvchenko - still on site - helps carry a coworker whose legs have given out. The air tastes
12:17
like blood now, metallic and thick. Beneath them, the reactor’s remains bubble and hiss - a pool of
12:23
melted fuel chewing through concrete. Hour 2
12:27
Two miles (3.2 km) away, plant director Viktor Bryukhanov has been jolted awake. When he reaches
12:31
the plant, he can’t believe his eyes. From a deep underground safety room,
12:35
Bryukhanov reads reports that make no sense - numbers that shouldn’t be possible. He listens
12:39
to Dyatlov's hurried account, still denying the core's destruction. It can’t be true. Bryukhanov
12:45
orders workers to check the radiation, but the tools they have aren’t strong enough to measure
12:50
levels this high. When the needles hit their highest mark, he dismisses the machines as faulty.
12:55
Deputy chief engineer, Nikolai Fomin, joins Bryukhanov in the bunker, looking over blueprints
13:00
and schematics. They order more water to be pumped in, hoping it will put out the hidden fire. In a
13:05
call to Moscow, Bryukhanov describes it as a small accident. He promises the fire is being contained,
13:11
and the reactor is safe. Meanwhile Dyatlov is still arguing with engineers over the readings.
13:16
Eventually, Dyatlov admits it - at least to himself. It’s too late. Outwardly,
13:20
he just barks orders, his voice cracking. Akimov and Toptunov are moved out by ambulance,
13:26
their bodies shaking with pain. On the way out, Akimov whispers instructions to the driver - still
13:31
trying to save a reactor that’s already gone. As the sun rises, a massive cloud of smoke
13:36
and radioactive debris looms over the plant - rising nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) into the sky.
13:42
6 Hours After Zero Hour Helicopters drop bags of sand and clay,
13:46
pilots risking their lives with every pass. The core’s heat melts the materials into a
13:51
glassy mess, but it buys time. The first cleanup workers arrive with tools, unaware
13:56
they’ve just stepped onto a deadly mission. Pripyat is quietly coated in radioactive
14:01
dust. Children play in it as it drifts down from the sky. Mothers hang laundry outside - and the
14:07
fabric soaks up radiation. Schools open like normal. Radiation spreads outward,
14:12
settling over nearby villages. 12 Hours After Zero Hour
14:16
The sky turns yellow with smoke. More helicopters join the emergency response,
14:20
dropping chemicals in a desperate attempt to smother the reaction.
14:24
Plant director Viktor Bryukhanov signs orders to move people out,
14:28
but delays keep the warning from spreading. Officials fear panic more than the poison.
14:33
Satellites spot the fire, alerting the West to what’s happening.
14:37
Hour 24 The fires are mostly out,
14:39
but the core is still simmering underground. Buses roll into Pripyat, and loudspeakers
14:44
announce the evacuation. People are told they’ll only be gone for three
14:48
days. Residents pack in minutes - leaving meals on the table, toys on the floor, doors unlocked.
14:54
They will never return home. Hour 48
14:57
The area surrounding Chernobyl becomes a ghost town under military control. Robots are sent in
15:02
and fail within minutes - fried by radiation. So men in heavy lead suits take their place,
15:08
working only a few minutes at a time before they have to leave.
15:11
Beneath the ruined reactor, teams tunnel through the earth and pour concrete, trying to stop the
15:16
melted core from reaching the groundwater. In the hospitals, the worst stage of the sickness
15:20
begins. Skin peels away. Organs start to fail. 600 miles (966 km) away in Sweden a nuclear power
15:26
plant detects a sudden spike. The wind is already carrying Chernobyl’s fallout across Europe.
15:32
72 Hours After Zero Hour A short update on national TV
15:36
admits there’s been an accident at Chernobyl and claims everything is under control.
15:40
Above the plant, helicopters fly overhead day and night, dropping more sand and boron - their
15:46
instruments screaming from the exposure. 10 Days After Zero Hour
15:50
The fires die out on May 6th. Helicopters have dumped more than 5,500 tons of sand, clay,
15:56
and lead, forming a hard crust over the smoking core. Emissions drop - but small leaks continue,
16:02
seeping into the soil. Cleanup workers continue to be on site,
16:05
working for a few minutes at a time to stay alive. Alexander Akimov died 15 days after the blast,
16:11
his body covered in blisters as his organs failed. Leonid Toptunov followed three days after that.
16:17
Anatoly Dyatlov survived the initial blast, but lived with radiation sickness for the
16:21
rest of his life. He was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp for his role in the
16:26
disaster. He died in 1995 - still blaming the Soviet design, not his own decisions.
16:31
The immediate death toll was 31. Long-term estimates range from 4,000 to 9,000 cancer deaths.
16:38
But the damage itself will last for millennia. Now go check Sasha Yuvchenko's incredible
16:43
story - "How I Survived Chernobyl". Or click on this video instead.
