Chernobyl (TV Mini Series)

Please Remain Calm (2019)

Emily Watson: Ulana Khomyuk

Photos 

Quotes 

• Garanin : I must tell you, this is why no one likes scientists. When we have a disease to cure, where are they? In a lab, noses in their books, and so Grandma dies. But when there isn't a problem, they're everywhere, spreading fear.

  Ulana Khomyuk : I know about Chernobyl.

  Garanin : Oh?

  Ulana Khomyuk : I know that the core is either partially or completely exposed.

  Garanin : Whatever that means.

  Ulana Khomyuk : And that if you don't immediately issue iodine tablets and then evacuate this city, hundreds of thousands of people are going to get cancer, and God knows how many more will die.

  Garanin : Yes, very good. There has been an accident at Chernobyl, but I've been assured there is no problem.

  Ulana Khomyuk : I'm telling you that there is.

  Garanin : I prefer my opinion to yours.

  Ulana Khomyuk : I'm a nuclear physicist. Before you were Deputy Secretary, you worked in a shoe factory.

  Garanin : Yes, I worked in a shoe factory. And now I'm in charge.

  [Raises his glass of vodka] 

  Garanin : To the workers of the world.

• Valery Legasov : There is some good news. The air drops are working to douse the fire. There has been a reduction in radionuclide emissions, but the fire will nto be extinguished for at least another two weeks. There is also an additional problem. Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold simply because it is not on fire. In fact, the temperature will likely rise as a result of the blanket of sand we've dropped. The uranium will melt the sand creating a kind of lava which will begin to melt down through the shield below.

  Michail Gorbatchev : You have made lava?

  Valery Legasov : I anticipated this. I believe there was time to reinforce this lower concrete pad before the lava reached the earth and contaminated the ground water. But as it turned out, I was worried about the wrong thing. Uh, um... It was my understanding that these large water tanks under the tank were essentially empty. This is Ulana Khomyuk of the Byelorussian Institute. Thanks to her insight, we are now aware that the tanks are, in fact, full.

  Michail Gorbatchev : Of water. Why is that a problem, professor?

  Ulana Khomyuk : When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.

  Michail Gorbatchev : How significant?

  Ulana Khomyuk : We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a 30 kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. The entirety of the radioactive material in all fo the cores will be ejected at force and dispersed by a massive shock wave, which will extend approximately 200 kilometers and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev, as well as a portion of Minsk. The release of radiation will be severe, and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, most of East Germany.

  Michail Gorbatchev : What do you mean "impact?"

  Valery Legasov : For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of the food and water supply, a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects. I don't know how many deaths there will be, but many. For Byelorussia and the Ukraine, "impact" means completely uninhabitable for a minimum of 100 years.

  Michail Gorbatchev : There are more than 50 million people living in Byelorussia and Ukraine.

  Valery Legasov : Sixty, yes.

  Michail Gorbatchev : And how long before this happens?

  Valery Legasov : Approximately 48 to 72 hours.

• Marina Gruzinskaya : Kurchatov Institute Laboratory Four.

  Ulana Khomyuk : Marina Gruzinskaya, it's Ulana Khomyuk from Minsk.

  Marina Gruzinskaya : Oh, yes, how nice of you to phone. It's been too long.

  Ulana Khomyuk : [in code]  It has. I was actually calling about our friend. You know, the one in the country.

  Marina Gruzinskaya : Oh, yes, of course.

  Ulana Khomyuk : I wanted to see how he's doing. It's so hot there right now.

  Marina Gruzinskaya : [in code]  Yes, it's extremely hot, but his nephews are flying down, and they always bring cool weather.

  Ulana Khomyuk : Oh, which nephews?

  Marina Gruzinskaya : [in code]  Simka, who's 14, and little Boris, who's five.

  Ulana Khomyuk : [in code]  Well, that's wonderful. Though children can make you even hotter when they're crawling all over you. Maybe I should visit them.

  Marina Gruzinskaya : No, they don't want visitors. I'm sorry, um, I have to get back to work. It's very busy right now. Goodbye.

  Ulana Khomyuk : [to Dmitri]  They're dropping sand and boron on the fire.

  Dmitri : It's what I would do.

  Ulana Khomyuk : Yes, I'm sure it is.

• Valery Legasov : But... we may have a solution. We can pump the water from the tanks. Unfortunately, the tanks are sealed by a sluice gate, and the gate can only be opened manually from within the duct system itself. So we need to find three plant workers who know the facility well enough to enter the basement here, find their way through all these ductways, get to the sluice gate valve here, and give us the access we need to pump out the tanks. Of course we will need your permission.

  Mikhail Gorbachev : My permission for what?

  Valery Legasov : Uh, the water in the ducts... the level of radioactive contamination...

  Ulana Khomyuk : They'll likely be dead in a week.

  Valery Legasov : We're asking for your permission to kill three men.

  [silence] 

  Mikhail Gorbachev : Comrade Legasov... all victories inevitably come at a cost.

• Ulana Khomyuk : [having run a quick test on a sample of dust wiped off the window]  Iodine 131. It's not military. It's Uranium decay, U-235.

• Dmitri : You work too hard.

  Ulana Khomyuk : [Waking up]  Where is everyone?

  Dmitri : They refused to come in.

  Ulana Khomyuk : Why?

  Dmitri : It's Saturday.