Patients were denied pain relief, because it becomes impossible to inject morphine. During his first years at Chernobyl, he held positions of senior turbine management engineer and shift supervisor of the turbine hall. . . Scroll down to see how closely stills from the series represent the real events of the disaster. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union). While there are plenty of characters and moments in the HBO Chernobyl series that can't be linked directly to real people, a surprising portion of the cast is playing a very real person, many of whom died in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. A little under a minute after the beginning of the test, Dyatlov reports that Toptunov pressed the AZ-5 (scram) button to shut down the reactor upon completion of the test, and in accordance with maintenance which had already been scheduled for the weekend of April 2627. The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear disaster that occurred in the early hours of 26 April 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. [6], In 2008, Akimov was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, the then President of Ukraine.[7]. First, she had to see her husband slowly die of radiation poisoning and later gave birth to a baby whowasdiagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and congenital heart disease and died a few days later. In 14 days a person dies, explained Vasilys wife. He went to the turbine hall to survey the damage, saw scattered pieces of concrete, and returned to the duty room. Legasov committed suicide two years after the Chernobyl disastera 1993 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists attributed his death to disillusionment over "the Soviet failure to confront the flaws" in their reactors. Akimov was the shift supervisor on the night of the disaster. Chief engineer Fomin arrived in the block4 control room at 4:30a.m. Akimov reported an intact reactor and explosion of the emergency water feed tank. Series maker Craig Mazin explained that the intention was to make the events that unfolded in the show as true to the actual nuclear catastrophe as possible, according to a podcast he did about the series. Among the first squad of firefighters on the 3rd reactor's roof. He took over the shift at midnight from Tregub, who stayed on-site. In the seconds after pressing the AZ-5 button, the reactor descended into an uncontrolled reaction that pushed the thermal power output to at least 530MW, but Valery Legasov, in his report to the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated that the thermal power may have exceeded 30,000MW in the seconds before it exploded. The communication lines were cut during the explosion. Before the series came out, very few people were aware that Pripyat was the city that had to be evacuated after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, rather than Chernobyl itself which lies outside the 10-kilometer exclusion zone. He was initially opposed to conducting the test, but Dyatlov threatened his job. On 10 July 1984 Aleksandr Akimov was appointed to the position of shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 - 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 198. By the time accident investigator Sergei Yankovsky questioned him, Akimov could barely speak and was not able to provide much more information. His skin started cracking on his arms and legs. A flat and powerful thud shook the building; he and his assistant Pshenichnikov thought it was a water hammer occurring during a turbine shutdown. Chernobyl is the gripping new HBO drama people are rating higher than Game of Thrones. This actor is also famous for his acts in the BBC Robin Hood series. Brazhnik ran in from the turbine hall, reporting fire there. Head of the evening (previous) shift. [12] At 1:23:43a.m., Akimov pressed the AZ-5 button, to SCRAM the reactor. He overrode Akimovs and Toptunovs objections, threatening to hand the shift to Tregub (the previous shift operator who had remained on-site), intimidating them into attempting to increase the reactor power. He can be seen in the trailer, downplaying the threat of radiation on the site. Griffith Asia Institute. . Aleksandr Akimov has appeared in the following books: Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was the worst in history. The numbers vary, but it is estimated that the release of radiation took the lives of4,000 to 734,000 people. We have estimated Fomin was informed about the seriousness of the situation but he kept pushing the staff to, 12 Pictures Showing The Real People Involved In Chernobyl & The Actors Who Played Them In The Series. A year later he was exhumed and re-buried beside his 29 fellow workers at Moscow's Mitinskoe Cemetery.[17]. His body was never recovered and is entombed in the nuclear reactor's debris.[15][16]. Many children, she recalls, had "unexplained sickness" and quietly died in the years after. [13]. Akimov and his fellow workers were exposed to lethal amounts of radiation. 960 following. However, he eventually figured out that something is wrong and did everything in his power to control the situation. [1], In his personal life, Akimov enjoyed reading historical biographies and hunting. ", " 34 232 . He started to change; every day I met a brand-new person. He was portrayed by actor Aleksandr Khoroshko in the 2004 Zero Hour television series, by Alex Lowe in the 2006 BBC production Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster[8] and by Sam Troughton in the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Aleksandr was the shift supervisor of the night crew at the Chernobyl power plant, and was supervising the night of the disaster. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider According to Mazin, this was actually what Akimov said in real life. Gorbachenko returned to his post and changed clothes and shoes. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. Maryin sent the message further up the chain of command, to Frolyshev, who then calledVladimir Dolgikh, who calledGorbachevand other members of thePolitburo. Voice of Chernobyl: The Oral History of A Nuclear Disaster. Palamarchuk met Gorbachenko by the staircase on level+27, then they together found and recovered Shashenok's unconscious body.[23]. HBOs latest Chernobyl miniseries made us once again remember the tragic accident that happened back in 1986. As Director of the Chernobyl site, Bryukhanov was sentenced to ten years imprisonment but only served five years of the sentence. Parker says of ARS, "It's the worst way to die. Sam Troughton As Aleksandr Akimov, Shift Supervisor Of The Night Crew HBO When Akimov first heard something was wrong he didn't believe it. That's how names "Aleksandr" (m) and "Aleksandra" (f) are typically shortened to their diminutive in Russian when friends or family are using them. Beyond anything you can imagine. Conversely, in Russia he is often derided for not stopping the Soviet collapse, an event which brought a decline in Russias global influence and precipitated an economic crisis. Dyatlov did not report the destruction of the reactor, but speculated that the accident was due to some malfunction of the Control and Protection System. He stayed behind and had his crew turn on the emergency water pumps to flood the reactor sadly, the power source was inactive. This further increase in power caused the reactor to explode. He was then ordered to look for Valery Khodemchuk, but couldn't find him. Supervisor of the 12 to 8a.m. shift; after the disaster demoted, allowed to continue working in the plant while awaiting trial; Mobile laboratory in a vehicle at turbine8; first one to become sick; buried in, Stationed in room604, found pinned down under a fallen beam, with broken spine, broken ribs, deep thermal and radiation burns, and unconscious; died in hospital without regaining consciousness, SKALA computer operator, senior officer (SDIVT), block 3, Received fatal dose while surveying damage to the plant and assisting with restarting coolant flow to the reactorC, Present in the control room, deskP, at the moment of the explosion, controlling the feedwater and deaerator mechanisms. Coordinated firefighting efforts until the arrival of, Present in the control room at the moment of explosion; received fatal dose of radiation while attempting to enter the reactor hall to manually lower the control rods; posthumously awarded the. Main article: Aleksandr Akimov Akimov, the unit shift chief, was in charge of the test itself. The control rods, according to the synchro indicators, seized at a depth of between 2 to 2.5 meters (6ft 7in to 8ft 2in) instead of the entire core depth of seven meters (23ft), leaving the graphite displacers inserted into the reactor and accelerating reactivity. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Dyatlov believed the reactor was still intact even after seeing all the graphite scattered around. Aleksandr Akimov's net worth His wife Lyudmila remembers that even after he died, "They couldn't get shoes on him because his feet had swelled up. Tregub went to report the extent of damage to the control room. Due to advancing radiation poisoning caused by a dose of over 15Grays (4 being the LD50), they did not have the strength to open the valves on the sides. Sam Troughton, an English actor, performed the role of Chernobyl supervisor of the shift in the Chernobyl series by HBO in 2019. As the control rods dropped into the core, the graphite displacers that made up the last few meters of the rods introduced additional moderation and hence reactivity into the reactor system. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union . Internal telephone lines were disabled; Akimov sent Palamarchuk to contact Gorbachenko. The control rods had graphite moderators to speed up reaction and the other part of the rods were made of boron to decrease reaction. Running behind buses, howling for their owners: The Chernobyl pets who were left behind. Was radiation sickness as widespread as presented in the series? He witnessed the destruction of the reactor building from the broken windows of the deaerator gallery. Brazhnik, the senior turbine machinist operator, ran into the control room to report fire in the turbine hall. On the night of the disaster, Aleksandr Akimov was the shift supervisor. Fourteen days. She still lives in Ukraine. At the moment the reactor power slipped to 30MW, Dyatlov reported that he was out of the control room and inspecting equipment elsewhere in the plant. Alexander Akimov dating history Relationships. About. He was sentenced to ten years in a labor camp (and served five) for his role in the meltdown. In the following months, Alex Murdaugh left his law firm, which sued him . It was a hospital for people with serious radiation poisoning. The first director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov, died on October 13, 2021 at the age of 84. In 2008, Akimov was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, then the President of Ukraine. Shashenok received deep thermal and radiation burns over his entire body when the overpressure spike destroyed the isolation membranes and the impulse pipes of the manometers in his instrument room just before the explosion, which then demolished the room itself. Assessed the damage in and around the Turbine Hall following the explosion. , money, salary, income, and assets. Willsher says doctors saw a spike in cancers and leukemias, with many babies born with rare deformities. After the explosion, Akimov continued to disbelieve reports of the extent of the damage (including from Proskuryakov and Perevozchenko) and continued to insist the reactor was intact, relaying false information for hours. We know thatin the early hours of April 26, 1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine malfunctioned. Gorbachev is still active in Russias politics. Radiation scientists Ian Fairlie and David Summer estimated the final death count resulting from the explosion would likely fall between 30,000 and 60,000 people. In terms of how victims actually died,Maxwell explains, "death was a result of cell damage, internal bleeding and/or drowning in your own secretions follows, though not fast enough for those affected. Exposed to radiation dose of 390, Thermal plant automation and measurement, shift leader, Present in the control room when the reactor power dropped; returned to his office when power was stabilized, where he was in the moment of explosion, Arrived at 4:30a.m.; spent a month in the Moscow clinic; after the disaster stripped of, Worked the 4 to 12p.m. shift; stayed to watch the test; in control room at deskT with Kirschenbaum at the moment of explosion, Senior sergeant, first crew on the 3rd reactor's roof, Received fatal dose during attempt to extinguish fires on the roof of unit 3, Died two weeks later in Moscow Hospital6, Guarded a gate opposite to block4; stayed on duty until morning. He describes it as, "putting salt on a slug. At 3a.m., he began vomiting intensely; by 6a.m., he could no longer walk. Yuvchenko, together with the foreman Yuri Tregub, ran out of the building and saw half of the building gone and the reactor emitting a blue ionized air glow. The radiation counters went off-scale, and the high-range one burned out when switched on; the portable instruments were capable of showing at most 4roentgens per hour (36nA/kg), while the radiation on the roof ranged between 2,000 and 15,000roentgens per hour (18 and 130A/kg). By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. At some point he gave deathbed confessions stating repeatedly: I did everything correctly. Before he worked as a Shakespearean actor and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Photo. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. 8 comments. They shot in a city in Lithuania that was built around the same time as Pripyat, part of which was also in Ukraine. Orcid identifier 0000-0002-1977-1476. He and his crew then stayed and manually pumped the emergency feedwater into the reactor. Gorbachenko, a radiation monitoring technician, began his shift and checked in unit3; he skipped the check of unit4 as it was being shut down, so at the moment of the accident he was located in the duty room. In control room at deskT with Kirschenbaum at the moment of explosion. 'In Moscow, doctors are trying to save Alexander Akimov's life. I tried joking: Its convenient, you dont need a comb. Soon they cut all their hair, shared Lyudmila her experiences. Vasily died two weeks later. Normally, there is a strict ban on visits to the isolation ward but in hopeless cases the doctors make exceptions. For accounts of death from radiation poisoning, one needn't go so far back in history as to the Chernobyl accounts. Akimov, General Nikolai Tarakanov was the commander of the, Nikolai Fomin was the Chief Engineer who arrived in the Block 4 control room at 4:30 AM to assess the situation. He saw other colleagues that night whose skin turned bright red. It's not just their positioning in the dock that's the same; even the curtain in the background was recreated for the series. The only thing that saved me was it happened so fast; there wasnt any time to think, there wasnt any time to cry. Received a fatal dose whilst extinguishing fires on the roof of unit 3. Placed on firewatch at 6 AM by, Mobile laboratory in a vehicle at turbine8; buried in, Lieutenant, shift leader at the NPP Fire station. I don't understand why it happened." Unfortunately, this took a huge toll on him and he took his own life not long after the investigation was finished. At the moment of explosion close to the pumps; posthumously awarded the, In the control room with Akimov and Toptunov at the time of the explosion. Decided to stay in control room and help night shift carry out the test. Lyudmilla Ignatenko, pictured above, is the widow of firefighter Vasily Ignatenko, who was one of the first responders to the Chernobyl incident and died of acute radiation poisoning just weeks later. This may be, in part, why the hype around the HBO and Sky series about the disaster has been so substantial. The coolant started boiling in the reactor, and because of a combination of a positive void co-efficient and xenon burnout, the power began to increase dramatically. One day you move your arm and the skin will just fall off.". [Operator Leonid Toptunov] had literally turned white.". TheChernobyl liquidatorswere the civil and military personnel who were called upon to deal with consequences of the disasteron site. Despite this, Akimov, together with Toptunov, stayed in the plant. In 1996, he was posthumously awarded Hero of the Russian Federation by President Boris Yeltsin. Brazhnik, Akimov, Davletbayev, and Palamarchuk ran into the turbine hall, having seen scattered debris and multiple fires on levels0 and +12. And its all so very mine!. After the disaster, Dyatlov received a 10-year prison sentence but was released after serving five. He was producing stools 25 to 30 times a day, with blood and mucous. When he first received news that something was wrong, Akimov didn't believe it. The non-government organisation the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, estimated thedeath toll to be 734,000, with most due to related cancers. Sitnikov then assisted Akimov and Toptunov with feeding water into the reactor; the water, however, flowed through the severed pipes into the lower levels of the plant, carrying radioactive debris and causing short circuits in the cableways common to all four blocks. As of 2005 less than 50 deaths had been directly attributed to the disaster.