In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. 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. Sitnikov is often reported to have visited the roof of Unit 3 to look down into the destroyed central hall, but this is disputed and no report to this effect was made back to the bunker. Received a fatal dose whilst extinguishing fires on the roof of unit 3. The corridor to the deaerator galleries was full of steam and white dust. And . The stairs on the right side were damaged; he managed to escape by the stairs on the left. 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 1986. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? During the test, Akimov called for the AZ-5 (scram) button to be pressed to shut down the reactor. Passed away due to acute, Firefighter from HPV-2, fought fires on the roof of the turbine hall. He then returned to search for his comrades. [2] Toptunov and Akimov received a bone marrow transplant in an attempt to restore their immune systems. The non-government organisation the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, estimated thedeath toll to be 734,000, with most due to related cancers. The character of Vasily Ignatenko dying of radiation sickness. Fomin attempted to kill himself before the trial by slitting his wrists with the shards of his broken glasses. Akimov was born in 1953 in the Soviet Union. I don't understand why it happened." 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. The three would later die in the Moscow hospital. Yuvchenko meanwhile suffered serious beta burns and gamma burns to his left shoulder, hip and calf as he kept the radioactive-dust-covered door open. [28][bettersourceneeded], Despite wading through contaminated water, all three survived the mission, and in 2018 were awarded the Order For Courage by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Died on May 16th. Propaganda from the time - the Soviet Union trying to downplay the explosion, and the United States trying to exaggerate it - has made the figures near impossible to determine. Tregub went to report the extent of damage to the control room. They had to cut up the formal wear, too, because they couldn't get it on him, there wasn't a whole body to put it on.". FirefighterVasily Ignatenkos wife, Lyudmila,went through tough times after the accident. Perevozchenko led Dyatlov and Aleksandr Yuvchenko on a brief and unsuccessful search for Khodemchuk, in corridors where the 1000 R/s dosimeters maxed out. [4] Approximately three seconds after the initiation of the scram, the reactor underwent a power excursion, rising to 520 MW (thermal). [27] Some members of the government commission were concerned that melting fuel would reach the water and spread contaminated steam around the site, possibly even leading to an explosion. Parker says of ARS, "It's the worst way to die. 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. Akimov worked with his crew in the reactor building after he learned the extent of the accident. Running behind buses, howling for their owners: The Chernobyl pets who were left behind. Dolgikh subsequently called General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and other members of the Politburo. Cookies help us deliver our services. Collaboration Network. Skin just slips off. Due to limitations of available instruments, they seriously underestimated the radiation level. The reactor stalled unexpectedly during test preparations, however, reportedly due to a mistake made by Leonid Toptunov. [1], In his personal life, Akimov enjoyed reading historical biographies and hunting. We know thatin the early hours of April 26, 1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine malfunctioned. He went to the control room and with Anatoly Dyatlov went outside to survey the reactor building. Despite the warning that the "suicide squad" would die within a week of entering the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, two of the three are still alive. By the time accident investigator Sergei Yankovsky questioned him, Akimov could barely speak and was not able to provide much more information. In 1984, he became vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers and as such was in charge of dealing with theChernobyl disaster outcome in 1986, acting as crisis management supervisor. Google Scholar. [4][pageneeded][2], He was admitted to Pripyat Hospital but was quickly transferred to Moscow Hospital 6. According to his wife Lyudmila, who was at his side while he died,Ignatenko excreted blood and mucus stools more than 25 times a day, before eventually coughing up pieces of his own internal organs. The harrowing true story of Chernobyl's Vasily Ignatenko and his pregnant wife Lyudmilla. Read more: Real-life characters in HBO's 'Chernobyl' on the moment they found out about the world's worst nuclear-power-plant accident. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled for years to have their participation officially recognized. Genealogy profile for Alexander Akimov. The first director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov, died on October 13, 2021 at the age of 84. his younger brother is donating bone marrow but the transplant can't stop the decay of the tissue. At first Akimov did not believe that the reactor had actually exploded. On the night of the disaster, Aleksandr Akimov was the shift supervisor. But what really happened to the men and women closest to it? 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station went critical on April 26, 1986, the resulting explosion spewed radioactive material all over the facility and across the Ukrainain border into Belarus. The image above shows a block of graphite used as a moderator at nuclear power plants like the one in Chernobyl. 155 posts. The Chernobyl nuclear accident is one of the most shocking and devastating catastrophes of modern times. She also recalls his skin cracking and boils all over his body. In 1996, he was posthumously awarded Hero of the Russian Federation by President Boris Yeltsin. On the night of April 25th and the early hours of April 26th, there had been 160 personnel on duty across the facility, while 300 more workers were on site at the building site of reactors 5 and 6. 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. While both men were returning from Unit 3, Perevozchenko was called to the Unit 4 control room, arriving shortly after the explosions. Beyond anything you can imagine. [1] In testimony at the trial, several witnesses recalled Dyatlov remaining in the room at this point,[2] but did not report any disagreements or "serious discussions" related to the increase in power or at any other point during the test.[3]. He died of radiation poisoning on May 11, 1986 in Moscow. After the accident, many people tried to cover up what happened in the plant but Legasov was one of the few people who was open about the events. Where Legasov is the principled scientist, Skargard's character, the real-life Deputy Prime Minister Scherbina, represents the reluctant Soviet government. In 14 days a person dies, explained Vasilys wife. The burns started to come to the surface," said Lyudmila. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. A day after the second anniversary of the incident and one day ahead of announcing the findings of his investigation into the causes of the disaster, Legasov took his life. Anatoly Dyatlov was the deputy chiefengineer who supervised the test that lead to the explosion. 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. Series maker Craig Mazin said in a podcast that the intention behind the show was to make the scenes as true to the actual events of the nuclear catastrophe as possible. Aleksandr Akimovs income source is mostly from being a successful . [2] Raising power after this point put the reactor into a potentially dangerous state, due to design flaws in the reactor unbeknownst to the operators. The lights went out. Before he worked as a Shakespearean actor and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was found guilty of criminal mismanagement in 1988 for his role in causing the disaster, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. There are 20+ professionals named "Aleksandr Akimov", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. 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. He ordered continuous feeding of water into the reactor, which was already in progress by emergency pump2 from the deaerators. He is not dating anyone. Despite this, Akimov, together with Toptunov, stayed in the plant. He then went to the control room of Genrikh and Kurguz and found it empty; vomiting and losing consciousness, he returned to the control room to report on the situation. Four hundred is a lethal dose. Sam Troughton as Aleksandr Akimov, night shift supervisor at Chernobyl 19 Credit: HBO 19 Sam Troughton has been in Robin Hood and The Town before becoming a star of Cherynobyl. They shot in a city in Lithuania that was built around the same time as Pripyat, part of which was also in Ukraine. The increased reactivity caused coolant water in the reactor to rapidly vaporize into steam. Akimov Chernobyl HBO Actor. Internal telephone lines were disabled; Akimov sent Palamarchuk to contact Gorbachenko. Palamarchuk unsuccessfully attempted to contact Sashenok in room604, then ran around the turbo generator8, down to level0 and urged the two men from the Kharkov mobile laboratory, assigned to record the turbine8 vibrations, to leave; they, however, had both already received a lethal radiation dose. Something something strange has happened.". Who is Alexander Akimov dating? [13], The explosion occurred, the air filled with dust, power went out, and only battery-powered emergency lights stayed in operation. 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. The test was completed and the AZ-5 ("scram") button was pressed to shut the reactor down. By hitting sign up agree Demilkeds Terms of Service, Don't show this - I already like Demilked, 20 Of The Most Stunning National Costumes Worn By The Contestants Of Mister Global 2022 Pageant, 20 Funny Posts From People Trying To Grow Their Own Food, 30 Of The Funniest Memes On Classical Art As Shared In This Online Group, 30 Innovative Ideas Designers Used To Make A Product Awesome, How Differently The Same Ugly Location Looks To A Professional Photographer Vs. His body was severely contaminated by radioactive water. In 2005, theWorld Health Organisation estimated the number of deaths potentially resulting from the accident could reach up to 4000 people. Was radiation sickness as widespread as presented in the series? ( ) His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. He took over the shift at midnight from Tregub, who stayed on-site. The window in the control room was broken and the lights went out. Dyatlov stated that Akimov and Toptunov were already raising power upon his return, and that had they not done so, he would have ordered them to. [8] Dyatlov ordered Akimov to send Toptunov and Kirschenbaum (everyone but Stolyarchuk and Akimov[3]) to the Unit 3 control room because they were of no further use, but Toptunov ultimately returned to the control room to retrieve the operator's log and remained on duty at Unit 4. As the rods were being inserted, the graphite tips of the control rods accelerated the reaction, creating neutron flux in the bottom of the core. 1156/2008 of 12 December 2008", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aleksandr_Akimov&oldid=1139543798, Unit shift supervisor of Unit 4 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:35. This is where Anatoly Dyatlov, Aleksandr Akimov, Aleksandr Kudryavtsev, and Viktor Proskuryakov were working on that fateful night in April 1986. . 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. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union). On the night of 26 April 1986, Akimov was on duty as the shift supervisor of the 4th power unit. Shashenok was found unconscious in room604, pinned under a fallen beam, with bloody foam coming out of his mouth. Gorbachev tried to hide facts about the Chernobyl disaster for over two weeks. Yuvchenko, an engineer, was in his office between reactors 3 and 4, on level 12.5; he described the event as a shock wave that buckled walls, blew doors in, and brought a cloud of milky grey radioactive dust and steam. Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union. Sam Troughton As Aleksandr Akimov, Shift Supervisor Of The Night Crew HBO When Akimov first heard something was wrong he didn't believe it. She also recalls his skin cracking and boils all over his body. That's how names "Aleksandr" (m) and "Aleksandra" (f) are typically shortened to their diminutive in Russian when friends or family are using them. The reactor control panel indicated no water flow and failure of pumps. He stayed behind and had his crew turn on the emergency water pumps to flood the reactor sadly, the power source was inactive. 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. [48], This article is about the actions and recollections of individuals on duty during the disaster. Patients were denied pain relief, because it becomes impossible to inject morphine. Telegram sent by Valery Ivanovich Perevozchenko, Head of the Reactor Unit 2 of the Chernobyl NPP, to his wife Zoya Zakharivna from the 6th Clinical Hospital (Moscow) on May 11, 1986. Meeting two men there, together with them he went to search for Vladimir Shashenok, found him unconscious in a damaged instrument room and carried him down. Many children, she recalls, had "unexplained sickness" and quietly died in the years after. Aleksandr Akimov was born on 6 May 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union). G42 6.13, Gold Coast Campus. 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. The HBO miniseries includes many of the real people operating the reactor at the time of the meltdown. 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. At 3a.m., Bryukhanov called Maryin, the deputy secretary for thenuclear powerindustry, reporting Akimovs version of the situation. , money, salary, income, and assets. Tissue is breaking down. While it may seem as though the script for this scene was exaggerated by the scriptwriters for dramatic effect, in actual fact, many of the lines in the series were actually said in the control room on April 26, 1986. While not all the details in the series are 100% historically accurate the nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk, for example, is a fictitious character the series' team made a real effort to recreate scenes, storylines, characters, and even individual conversations as faithfully as possible. Another flat thud followed, accompanied by lights going out, the control panel of unit4 losing signal, latched double doors being blown apart by the blast, and black and red powder falling from the ventilation; emergency lights then switched on. He is currently believed to be single without a girlfriend. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. They tried to pump water into the exposed reactor core until the morning. Post continues below. In 1976, Shcherbina became a member of theCentral Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unionand kept the position until his death. This may be, in part, why the hype around the HBO and Sky series about the disaster has been so . Among the first squad of firefighters on the 3rd reactor's roof. When he first received news that something was wrong, Akimov didn't believe it. [16] A report by the Associated Press at the time, citing Soviet newspaper Pravda, claimed that Shashenok was buried two days later at a village near Chernobyl. A year later he was exhumed and re-buried beside his 29 fellow workers at Moscow's Mitinskoe Cemetery.[17]. "[29] Ananenko and Bespalov received their awards in person, while Baranov, who died in 2005 of a heart attack, was awarded his posthumously. First firefighter to arrive on the scene. Played by Jared Harris in HBO's Chernobyl, Valery Legasov was chief of the commission investigating the Chernobyl disaster and a prominent member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Raising power after this point put the reactor into a potentially dangerous state, unbeknownst to the operators. International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:35, Individual involvement in the Chernobyl disaster Aleksandr Akimov, "The World; Life After Death: Chernobyl Today", INSAG-7 The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1, "Presidential Decree No. He ordered everyone to evacuate to the backup control room, but no other operators left the room and Dyatlov soon countermanded his instructions. One day you move your arm and the skin will just fall off.". After the explosion went to survey the plant from the outside first with Yuvchenko and then with Dyatlov. The recipient of a wide range of awardsincluding theNobel Peace Prizehe was widely praised for his pivotal role in ending the Cold War, curtailing human rights abuses in the Soviet Union, and tolerating both the fall of MarxistLeninist administrations in eastern and central Europe and thereunification of Germany. He began his career at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in September 1979. Willsher says doctors saw a spike in cancers and leukemias, with many babies born with rare deformities. 960 following. In 1979, Akimov began working at the . See the Chernobyl cast compared to their real-life counterparts and read their stories in the gallery below! Breus recalls seeing the shift leader and the operator on duty during that time, and remembers, "they were not looking good, to put it mildly. 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. When he first received news that something was wrong, Akimov didn't believe it. TheChernobyl liquidatorswere the civil and military personnel who were called upon to deal with consequences of the disasteron site. Maryin sent the message further up the chain of command, to Frolyshev, who then calledVladimir Dolgikh, who calledGorbachevand other members of thePolitburo. Viewers don't need to see what remains of shift supervisor Alexander Akimov's face watching the reaction in Dr. Khomyuk's eyes is more than enough. The reactor power level had been reduced, preparing for a planned safety test. With his face already tanned by the radiation, he went to the dosimetry room and asked Gorbachenko for radiation levels; Gorbachenko left with Palamarchuk to rescue Shashenok while Perevozchenko went through the graphite and fuel containing radioactive rubble on level10 to the remains of room306 in an unsuccessful attempt to locate Khodemchuk, close to debris emitting over 10,000roentgens per hour (90A/kg). Realizing the magnitude of the disaster, Dyatlov suspended coolant supply to the reactor,[6] although pumping of water would be resumed by order of Chief Engineer Nikolai Fomin around dawn. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. He is currently single. Valery Legasov, played by Jared Harris on the show, wasthe deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. Alexander Litvinenko, anyone? Lyudmila, wife of the firefighter Vasily Ignatenko, faced a heartbreaking two weeks watching her husband die in agony. Maryin sent the message further up the chain of command, to Frolyshev, who then called Vladimir Dolgikh. References This page was last edited on 1 March . Sergeant, Kibenok's unit. Akimov heard reports of massive reactor damage, but did not believe it, and as a result, relayed false information about the state of the reactor for hours thereafter. He was sentenced to ten years in a labor camp (and served five) for his role in the meltdown. Fire engine driver, one of the first firemen on the scene. Bryukhanov, the plant manager, arrived at 2:30a.m. Akimov reported a serious radiation accident but intact reactor, fires in the process of being extinguished, and a second emergency water pump being readied to cool the reactor. Vasily Ignatenko, the fireman who dies in the series leaving behind his pregnant wife, was based on a real man by the same name. Akimov and Toptunov spent several hours turning valves; the radioactive water in room712 was half submerging the pipeline. [21][20] Yuvchenko died of leukemia in November 2008, aged 47.[22]. [2] By 28 April, the symptoms of radiation sickness had mostly worn away. By now Akimov's wife Lyuba was allowed to come to Moscow. [2] Akimov's condition quickly worsened. Genrikh, an operator of the control room on level+36, was taking a nap in a windowless room adjacent to the control room. During his first years at Chernobyl, he held positions of senior turbine management engineer and shift supervisor of the turbine hall. Viktor Smagin went in to open the third valves, spent 20minutes in the room, and received 2.8 grays. Even to this day, efforts are being made to contain the radiation as the old sarcophagus that was built around the reactor is beginning to deteriorate. I tell the nurse: Hes dying. And she says to me: What did you expect? [19][20] They returned to the building and met Valeri Perevozchenko and two junior technicians, Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov, ordered by Dyatlov to manually lower the presumably seized control rods. Valery Legasov was the deputy director of theKurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy who was also responsible for, Lyudmila Ignatenko was the wife ofVasilyIgnatenko , a firefighter. as well as other partner offers and accept our. He describes it as, "putting salt on a slug. Gorbachenko returned to his post and changed clothes and shoes. Dyatlov was the deputy chief engineer at Chernobyl and the supervisor for the disastrous experiment that resulted in the April 26 explosion. The fallout from the accident and the Soviet government's response compounded into one . This post originally appeared on Business Insider Deutschland and has been translated from German. He ordered Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov to lower the jammed control rods by hand (rubble initially prevented them from carrying out these orders), which Dyatlov recalls as his only mistaken command from that night.