The document provides a review of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. It summarizes each episode, describing the events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the response efforts. Key events include the explosion at Reactor 4, the evacuation of Pripyat, and the sacrifices made by firefighters, miners and clean up workers. The review praises the series for its historical accuracy and depiction of the human costs of the disaster.

1. First Semester Integrated Programme of Master of Planning
CB2- Environmental Planning
Docuseries Review
Chernobyl (HBO)
Ashwin S. Prabhu
Jacky Vijaykumar Bajaj
Prasad Dipak Thanthratey
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

2. INTRODUCTION:
Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the April 1986 nuclear plant disaster which occurred in
the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, expressing the stories of the people who caused
the disaster and those who responded to it. The series depicts some of the lesser known stories of the
disaster, including the efforts of the firefighters who were the first responders on the scene, volunteers,
and teams of miners tasked with digging a critical tunnel under Reactor 4- the source of radiation.
The miniseries is based in large part on the recollections of Pripyat locals, as told by Belarusian Nobel
laureate Svetlana Alexievich in her book Voices from Chernobyl. The abundance of long shots and the
ominous musical score really underline the seriousness and bleak reality of the situation.
Episode 1 “1:23:45”
An ominous orange glow in the distance signals the reactor core blowing and is followed by a
shockwave of roaring danger as the men and women in the City of Pripyat brace themselves.
Meanwhile, the men at the nuclear plant struggle to work out what’s happened whilst vomiting blood.
The core has been completely destroyed but Gorbachenko Nikolai demands the workers bring in the
day shift to help pour water through the core even though it’s been completely destroyed. While the
firefighters arrive on scene and try desperately to put the fire out, a hospital nurse in the distance asks
whether they stock Iodine, which they don’t. Back at the plant, one of the firefighters nurses a burnt
hand after handling a broken piece of graphite. The rest of the firefighters head inside to try and contain
the fire while the day workers arrive and discuss what might be happening. Meanwhile, underground
in a bunker, the executives and directors discuss the blast and try to cover up the severity of what’s
happened. General Pikalov downplays any notion of evacuating the city, while another one of the
Directors calls for the military to arrive and close off the city.
With the lockdown in full swing, the Ukranians continue with their day like normal on the next day.
The final shot pans across a pavement with laughing children skipping to school while a bird falls to
the ground and dies from radiation poisoning.
Chernobyl is shocking, harrowing, sickening television. It’s a harsh reminder of just how bad this
disaster was and does the history justice with its use of time stamps and well-shot imagery.
Episode 2 “Sand and Boron”
7 hours after the explosion, irradiated victims pile into the hospitals while a commission is called with
Professor Legasov to discuss the situation. Angered by the apathy shown by the other members,
Legasov pleads with the commission to evacuate the area. After trying to explain nuclear energy to the
other members, they eventually agree to fly a helicopter over to Chernobyl with Legasov and another
member of the board, determined to get to the bottom of the misinformation being spread. As the
helicopter approaches the plant, Legasov’s wide-eyed stare says it all. He tells the men not to get any
closer – he can see the core has been exposed thanks to an eerie, blue-glow emanating from the plant.
On the ground, the plant directors tell them they’re mistaken in what they’ve seen and vehemently deny
that any graphite is on the roof or the ground. After accusing them of misinformation, Legasov manages
to obtain a high-level reading thanks a lead-coated vehicle driven up to Chernobyl Plant. The reading
is 15,000 roentgens (Roentgen is a legacy unit of measurement for the exposure of X-rays and gamma
rays). Now realizing the seriousness of their situation, Legasov tells them they need to drop sand and
boron on the core to try and extinguish the flames. As the helicopters begin their drops, coded messages
get through to Ulyana Khomyk, a nuclear physicist, about the operation. Getting nowhere with the
politicians, she decides to visit the area herself.
36 hours after the explosion, Pripyat’s 49,000 residents are finally evacuated courtesy of hundreds of
coaches piling into the city. With the town now an eerie relic of what it once was, Khomyk arrives and
quickly informs Legasov and the others that they’ve made a mistake – the water tanks in the plant aren’t

3. empty. As dread sets in, Legasov realizes the seriousness of the situation and calls for an emergency
meeting with the commission. With this newfound knowledge that these water tanks will cause mega-
tonnes worth of damage, Legasov asks the board for permission to allow 3 workers to go in and
manually open the tanks to release the water, subsequently saving the country. Unfortunately, this also
means sending the men to their deaths. The episode then ends with the 3 brave souls stepping forward
for the greater good and heading inside the watery, radioactive reactor where their flashlights go out.
Episode 3 “Open Wide, O Earth”
Picking up where it left off, the three men emerge from the depths of the plant, successful in their
mission. After challenging the officials on their evacuation efforts, Legasov asks for more resources to
stop the core overheating before taking a walk with Shcherbina, explaining the horrifying effects of
radiation.
In Moscow, men are gathered to help with the ongoing works at Chernobyl. With over 100 miners
shipped off to the plant, they’re tasked with digging underground to set up a heat exchange for the core.
“We need at least 400 men for this,” One of the miners replies sternly, staring the men in the face while
schematics scatter their table. His request is denied but he gets to work nonetheless, showing the
relentless work ethic of these brave souls. 9 days after the explosion, the workers are still continuing
to work hard, digging outside. Sweat clinging to their brows, one of the miners requests fans to help
ventilate the area but the offer is refused due to the toxic dust in the air.
In Moscow, the officials congratulate one another for a job well done, knowing the tunnels are nearing
completion thanks to the efforts of the miners. However, Legasov updates them on the current situation.
The long-term effects are far worse at Chernobyl and require a massive country-wide effort to put right.
They need to destroy all animals, evacuate men, raze the Earth and build a structure around
Chernobyl to contain the core – no simple feat to say the least.
Meanwhile, the brave men who fought the Chernobyl fire are all dead and as they bury the bodies in
steel caskets and consume them in concrete, Ignatenko looks on with dread as she starts to realize the
seriousness of the situation.
Episode 4 “The Happiness of All Mankind”
4 months after the explosion, the core is still exposed and radiation continues to be a danger to all those
around the area.
The clean-up operation is in full swing. Trees are bulldozed to the ground, pets rounded up and killed
and at the heart of it, a teenager arrives to help out while Legasov discusses the best way to deal with
the core. While the team are busy working, Ulena goes searching for answers and, more importantly, to
find out just what happened when the core exploded.
Cut forward to September 1986, Legasov and the others discuss the best way of dealing with the core
– settling on using robots to try and clear the graphite from the roof. Unfortunately, they fail. With
things looking bleak, they call on the help of a team of people to clear the graphite instead. With minimal
time and forced to move quickly, this incredibly tense segment sees the men taking it in shifts to clear
the graphite with shovels, scrambling across the debris and working together to complete the mission
at hand.
Cut forward to December 1986 in Pripyat, with Ignatenko starting to feel the effects of the radiation.
Clutching her stomatch in pain, she doubles over in the snow and is rushed to hospital. It turns out the
radiation was absorbed by the baby and not her, consequently killing the unborn child, with the final
shot of her this episode staring blankly into the distance.

4. The episode then ends with Legasov, Boris and Ulana joining forces and determined to tell the truth in
Vienna at a commission that’s been actioned.
Episode 5 “Vichnaya Pamyat”
We begin in Moscow 1987, where Legasov is thanked for a job well done- having lied to the
International Committee but it’s a bittersweet gratitude. Despite an imminent promotion, the reactor
still hasn’t been fixed and worse, Legasov’s hair has begun to fall out – the consequence of exposure to
the radiation. As he contemplates what to do next, Ulana pleads with him to tell the truth at the Russian
Committee.
The meeting then starts, with all main players attending and after a brief scientific explanation from
Boris, Ulana takes to the stand and talks us through the human cost of what happened that night.
Interspersed around these moments, we cut back and actually see what happened before the explosion.
Ultimately though, the fingers are pointed at Dyatlov as the man responsible. After losing power and
failing a safety test, he ordered the engineers to raise the power for another test that night. He’s defiant
too, despite pleas from his colleagues and messages from the computer recommending shutting down
the reactor. He threatens to fire the workers if they don’t follow his command but this leads to lies in
the committee, with Dyatlov telling them he wasn’t even in the room when they actioned this.
As things become heated, Boris coughs uncontrollably into a handkerchief prompting them all to take
a short recess. When they return, we jump back to the events of the night again, seeing the devastating
impact of Dyatlov’s actions as Legasov talks us through the nuclear reaction. He pauses momentarily,
enough time to allow Dyatlov to spew his anger at the truth, spinning it as lies and propaganda but Boris
stands and demands they let Legasov continue talking, which he does. An impassioned speech about
the Union then follows before we see that final, fateful moment when the reactor exploded.
After the committee, Legasov is reprimanded, promised by officials that his statement means nothing
and that he will fade away into oblivion, stripped of his scientific duties in all but title. We then end the
series with a final monologue from our scientist as we cut to see everything that happened to these
characters in the following years after Chernobyl.
The plant operators' town of Pripyat was evacuated on 27 April (45,000 residents). By 14 May, some
116,000 people that had been living within a 30-kilometre radius were evacuated and later relocated.
About 1000 of these returned unofficially to live within the contaminated zone. In the years following
the accident, a further 220,000 people were resettled into less contaminated areas, and the initial 30 km
radius exclusion zone (2800 km2
) was modified and extended to cover 4300 km2
.
The Chernobyl Forum report says that people in the area have suffered a paralysing fatalism due to
myths and misperceptions about the threat of radiation, which has contributed to a culture of chronic
dependency. Some "took on the role of invalids." Mental health coupled with smoking and alcohol
abuse is a very much greater problem than radiation, but worst of all at the time was the underlying
level of health and nutrition. Apart from the initial 116,000, relocations of people were very traumatic
and did little to reduce radiation exposure, which was low anyway. Psycho-social effects among those
affected by the accident are similar to those arising from other major disasters such as earthquakes,
floods, and fires.
Chernobyl ends like it begins; with a beautifully written episode and a shocking, humbling reminder of
just how devastating this disaster was, its depiction of the truth and respectful portrayal of the true
events. It’s ultimately what will makes Chernobyl as one of the best mini-series out there and the reason
it’s been so highly regarded by critics and audiences alike. Legasov says it best at the end of this episode
with a message that’s echoed throughout the five episodes – what is the human cost of lies?
It ends with a statement that the show was dedicated to those who "suffered and sacrificed."