The State: by the year 2000 we want to increase energy production by 500%.

The Crew in 1986: Let's increase it by 500000% before sunrise

After 40 years, this is still heartbreaking.

I was in Kiev when Chernobyl happened, I did fly from Borispol (Kiev airport) to Moscow on Saturday the 28th and from Moscow to Kastrup (Copenhagen) and then on to Brussels (home). When I arrived in Kastrup somebody asked me where I came from and when I told him he wondered what the Russians said about the elevated radioactivity. I told him that I did not know anything, in other words, nobody in the USSR knew about Chernobyl, the explosion of a nuclear reactor. I am 81 years old now so I guess I survived the radioactivity. I di go to my doctor who gave me iodide tablets which probably saved my life.

24,000 years.. let that sink in a minute

For those who want the translation at 22:55 here it is:

"For the attention of the residents of Pripyat! The City Council informs you that due to the accident at Chernobyl Power Station in the city of Pripyat the radioactive conditions in the vicinity are deteriorating. The Communist Party, its officials and the armed forces are taking necessary steps to combat this. Nevertheless, with the view to keep people as safe and healthy as possible, the children being top priority, we need to temporarily evacuate the citizens in the nearest towns of Kiev region. For these reasons, starting from 27 April 1986, 14:00 each apartment block will be able to have a bus at its disposal, supervised by the police and the city officials. It is highly advisable to take your documents, some vital personal belongings and a certain amount of food, just in case, with you. The senior executives of public and industrial facilities of the city has decided on the list of employees needed to stay in Pripyat to maintain these facilities in a good working order. All the houses will be guarded by the police during the evacuation period. Comrades, leaving your residences temporarily please make sure you have turned off the lights, electrical equipment and water and shut the windows. Please keep calm and orderly in the process of this short-term evacuation."

Source: https://issuu.com/weili18034512/docs/legasov_and_chernobyl_book/s/29408885#:~:text=For%20the%20attention%20of%20the,necessary%20steps%20to%20combat%20this.

This disaster is a good illustration of how totalitarian states value human life. In Sweden, all daycare centers and schools were informed of the risks, long before the Soviet citizens were told what had happened. Children in the densely populated, wealthy areas north of Stockholm were not allowed to go outdoors after scientists tested sandboxes and soccer fields and found them contaminated. My wife was pregnant, and had to stay indoors for a month to avoid risking birth defects. And this was more than 1,200 kilometers from Kiev. Considering how many millions of Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles faced significantly worse risks but were not told anything because of the arrogance and ignorance of the paranoid Kremlin, it says a lot about how ruthless these totalitarian states are.

Who is watching it on the 40th anniversary of Chernobyl on 26 April?

My grandma actually was one of the "survivors", basically after the explosion, After the pripyat evacuation day they started bringing people from the tragedy, and they brought them in like hospitals with no one else, the rules were that you needed to for every 1-4 hours diagnose a patient, and write what they have in their body down, now my grandma's friends went there, they said they served good food and red wine there (It regenerates blood) my grandma wanted to go there, but grandpa did not let her go, after tons if arguing the news there that everyone died there (the patients, grandma's friends and workers at the hospital) and there was also the manager (or someone else) who worked there an Entire year (everyone died there after an year and more) he died too, because radiation had spread everywhere thats how strong it was
My grandpa saved my grandma and its still svary to hear that story

So today it has been 40 years. I remember I was a kid  standing in the vegetable garden with my mom when my dad came out of the house and said something about it. For some reason we took it very seriously. So a few months passed. My mom and dad loved planting vegetables and were very successful . Being in a small town in Northern Italy, I guess the cloud made it all the way here. Well....that year NOTHING grew ,,,and I mean NOTHING! Not a carrot not an eggplant.  Weird.

"When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we cannot even remember it's there, but it is still there."
"Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth, sooner or later, the debt is paid."
- Valery Alekseyevich Legasov - Chernobyl Ep-5 Vichnaya Pamyat.

The control rods did not get stuck, they went in but because the tips were covered with graphite tips which caused the power to go even more higher and caused the explosion

Only 23,960 years now. Book your travel plans soon to avoid the rush.

Radiation is TERRIFYING!!!... you just feel HEAT..like "wow that thing is warm!  Kinna feels good". Yet your being TORN APART AT A MOLECULAR LEVEL!!!....jesus

I was 7 yo when this accident happened. I remember watching it on tv in Istanbul. There was no precautions whatsoever. We all continue our lives as usual although poisonous air was flowing in the wind. I remember a government official saying Turkiye was not affected. No one should be worried about it while drinking his black tea (cay) in the blacksea area of the region in front of tvs claiming tea plants were not affected. Unfortunately the same officer passed away from cancer ina couple years later. No one knows how many Turkish people died from this accident.

Subtitles would be nice in portions of video

One of the WORST nuclear/societal disasters EVER. RIP to those who were effected by it.....

No one can live there in 24k years, insane.

I especially liked the lengthy Russian language announcement (radio?) at around minute 24 which had no translation to English and was accompanied by a graphic of a squiggly green line.  Way to go, documentarians.

This lacks so much information about HOW Swedes discovered this. Forsmark had a major alarm believing they had a leak due to workers trigging alarm going into the plant. Sensors outside also alarmed. Swedish airforce were involved taking samples from the air with A32 Lansen airplanes with huge filters collecting samples that was analyzed. All this came up with only one answer, this a meltdown and the weather were analyzed with winds. So they kind of had the Chornobyl plant on the map already when they confronted Moscow with this. Only after this Moscow said they had some kind of problem but nothing bad.  I think it is sad to leave all this information out, it is so important for the history!

I was 9 years old living in the lake district in the UK when Chernobyl happened (yes, I'm old), and they told us we couldn't play outside (yes, HBO was right on that) and they marked sheep with blue dye because it couldn't be sold. Local milk had to be poured down the drains.