Only five days after the explosion, May 1, 1986, the Soviet authorities at Chernobyl made a terrible discovery: the active zone of the reactor exploded still afloat. The core contained 185 tons of nuclear fuel and nuclear reaction continued at an alarming rate.
Under these 185 tons of molten nuclear material was a tank with five million gallons of water. The water used at the power plant as a coolant, and the only thing that separates the nucleus from the melting of the reactor water was thick concrete slab. Afloat active zone slowly burns the plate, down to the water flow in the glow of molten radioactive metal.
If it is white-hot, melting reactor core touched the water, it would have caused massive steam explosion contaminated by radiation. The result could be a radioactive contamination of much of Europe. According to the number of victims first Chernobyl explosion would look like a minor incident.
Three men volunteered to help, knowing that it will probably be the last thing they do in their lives. They were senior engineer, mid-level engineer and shift supervisor. The problem was the shift supervisor to keep an underwater lamp, so that engineers can identify valves that require open.
The next day, the Chernobyl trio donned gear and plunged into a deadly pool.
The pool reigned pitch darkness, and the light waterproof flashlight in a shift supervisor, said to have been lackluster and periodically quenched.
Advance in the muddy darkness, the search does not yield results. The divers tried to finish the radioactive swimming as soon as possible: every minute immersion isotopes freely destroying their bodies. But they still have not found the drain valves. And so the search continued, even though the light might go off at any time, and above them could link up the darkness.
Lantern really burnt, but it was already after him caught the ray tube out of the darkness. Engineers have noticed it. They knew that the pipe leading to the very gate valves.
Divers in the darkness swam to the spot where the pipe saw. They grabbed it and began to climb, grabbing hands. There was no light. There was no protection against radioactive, highly damaging to the human organism ionization. But there, in the darkness, were two latches, which could save millions of people.
Divers discovered them, and water gushed out. Pool quickly began to empty.
When the three men returned to the surface, their job was done. NPP staff and the soldiers greeted them as heroes and as such they really were. It is said that people literally jumped for joy.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of people rescued three people.
Over the next three days, they began to appear inevitable and unmistakable symptoms of radiation sickness. After a few weeks, all three of them died.
The men buried in lead coffins sealed with lids. Even deprived of their life, their bodies were soaked through radioactive radiation.
Many heroes were the exploits for the sake of the other, with only a small chance of survival. But these three men knew that they had no chance. They peered into the depths, where they were waiting for certain death. And immerse yourself in them.
Their name was Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalov and Boris Baranov.
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