Photons Be Free
Aleksei Davidovitch sat in the front seat of his car, driving to his workplace, the nuclear reactor Chernobyl, just outside of Pripyat, Ukraine. It was 12:40 at night, just minutes before what would soon become one of the most fatal nuclear disasters in history. He came to a stop in the parking lot of the reactor and walked to the door. Showing his ID to the night guard, he walked into the facility.
Aleksei nodded his greeting to the reactor operator, Victor Degtyarenko, sat down at his console, and began to work. He was going to begin to test the reactor in just under a half an hour, at 1:00 AM, but first he needed to make sure that everything was warmed up and ready. He started up sections reactor, then shut them down just as quickly. Satisfied that everything was in order, he told Victor, “Well, Victor, it’s your turn to check the pumps!” Victor groaned, and walked down to check the pumps. Aleksei checked his watch, it was 12:58, most of the other workers were here by now, so he called out to his boss, Anatoly Kharlampiyovych, “Boss, Victor’s in postiton, should I start the reactor?”
Kharlampiyovych responded, “Go ahead!” Aleksei started up the pumps, and retracted the control rods, and started the familiar hum of the reactor. Suddenly, he heard a sound that was new to him, the screaming of dying men. Aleksei checked the power levels, there was a power spike in progress, it would destroy the reactor and spread radiation into the air! Aleksei looked down at the pumps, where Victor was and to his horror he saw his friend there, lying on the ground dead with his face scalded as the reactor went into meltdown. Looking toward Kharlampiyovych, he saw that the same fate had befallen him, but one of his colleagues, Oleg Genrikh had escaped. Fire department trucks rushed to the scene outside, as firemen ran into the reactor with hoses. Aleksei realised that every second he stood there, he was being irradiated and ran the risk of being killed by radioactive steam. He quickly shut down the reactor, so that fires wouldn’t increase, and headed for the exit.
Aleksei ran like his life depended on it, which of course it did, and was in view of the exit, thinking “I’m going to make it! I’m going to live!” When all of the sudden he collapsed, and vomited on the floor. He realized what was happening, he had gotten a fatal dose of radiation poisoning. It would be later found out that he had received over 50 Sv by standing next to the reactor for more than ten minutes. He collapsed over as his vision went blank for the last time.
The following is a list of names of those who were killed during Chernobyl:
- Akimov, Aleksandr Fyodorovich
- Ananenko, Alexei
- Baranov, Anatoly Ivanovich
- Baranov, Boris
- Bezpalov, Valeri
- Brazhnik, Vyacheslav Stepanovych
- Degtyarenko, Viktor Mykhaylovych
- Dyatlov, Anatoly Stepanovich
- Hanzhuk, Nikolai Aleksandrovich
- Ignatenko, Vasyli Ivanovych
- Ivanenko, Yekaterina Alexandrovna
- Khodemchuk, Valery Ilyich
- Khrystych, Leonid Ivanovych
- Kibenok, Viktor Mykolayovych
- Konoval, Yuriy Ivanovych
- Kudryavtsev, Aleksandr Gennadiyevych
- Kurguz, Anatoly Kharlampiyovych
- Lelechenko, Aleksandr Grigoryevich
- Lopatyuk, Viktor Ivanovich
- Luzganova, Klavdia Ivanovna
- Novyk, Aleksandr Vasylyovych
- Orlov, Ivan Lukych
- Orlov, Varsinian
- Perchuk, Kostyantyn Grigorovich
- Perevozchenko, Valery Ivanovich
- Popov, Georgi Illiaronovich
- Pravik, Vladimir Pavlovych
- Proskuryakov, Viktor Vasilyevich
- Savenkov, Vladimir Ivanovych
- Shapovalov, Anatoliy Ivanovych
- Shashenok, Vladimir Nikolaevich
- Sitnikov, Anatoly Andreyevich
- Telyatnikov, Leonid Petrovich
- Tishchura, Vladimir Ivanovych
- Titenok, Nikolai Ivanovych
- Toptunov, Leonid Fedorovych
- Vashchuk, Nikolai Vasilievich
- Vershynin, Yuriy Anatoliyovych
- Vorobyov, Volodymyr Kostyantynovych
- Yunhkind, Oleksandr Yevhenovych
List courtesy of Wikipedia
Many of the firefighters were killed by radiation poisoning because they didn’t have proper gear to wear.
