Professor Legasov will deliver our briefing.
There is some good news.
The air drops are working to douse the fire.
There's been a reduction in radionuclide emissions, but the fire will not be extinguished for at least another two weeks.
There is also an additional problem.
Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold simply because it is not on fire.
In fact, the temperature will likely rise as a result of the blanket of sand
we've dropped. The uranium will melt the sand, creating a kind of lava
which will begin to melt down through the shield below.
You have made lava?
I anticipated this. I believed there was time to reinforce
this lower concrete pad before the lava reached the Earth
and contaminated the groundwater.
But as it turned out, I was worried about the wrong thing.
Uh...
It was my understanding that these large water tanks under the reactor were essentially empty.
This is Ulana Khomyuk of the Byelorussian Institute. Thanks to her insight, we are now aware that the tanks are, in fact, full. Of water.
Why is that a problem, Professor?
When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize
approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.
How significant?
We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a 30-kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl.
The entirety of the radioactive material in all of the cores will be ejected at force
and dispersed by a massive shock wave, which will extend approximately 200 kilometers
and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev as well as a portion of Minsk.
The release of radiation will be severe and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine,
Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania, and most of East Germany.
What do you mean "impact?"
For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of the food and water supply,
a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects.
I don't know how many deaths there will be, but many.
For Byelorussia and the Ukraine, "impact" means completely uninhabitable
for a minimum of 100 years.
There are more than 50 million people
living in Byelorussia and Ukraine.
Sixty, yes.
And how long before this happens?
Approximately 48 to 72 hours. But we may have a solution.
We can pump the water from the tanks. Unfortunately, the tanks are sealed shut by a sluice gate,
and the gate can only be opened manually from within the duct system itself.
So, we need to find three plant workers who know the facility well enough to enter the basement,
here, find their way through all these duct ways, get to the sluice gate valve here,
and give us the access we need to pump out the tanks.
