The commission is assembled, waiting, including Legasov, Shcherbina and Khomyuk, who sits with them.
Gorbachev enters. Weary. Visibly stressed. Everyone rises and sits back down quickly as he takes his seat.
GORBACHEV
I have ten minutes. Then I'm back on the phone. Apologizing to our friends. Apologizing to our enemies.
He glares at Legasov and Shcherbina.
GORBACHEV Our power comes from the perception of our power. Do you understand the damage this has done? Do you understand what's at stake? (beat)
Boris.
SHCHERBINA Professor Legasov will deliver our briefing.
Gorbachev leans back. This isn't the stubborn, bull-headed Shcherbina he knows. This man seems sullen, defeated...
Legasov stands up, eager to draw attention from Shcherbina.
LEGASOV
We do have— some— good news. The air drops are working to douse the fire. There has been a reduction in radionuclide emissions, but the fire will not be extinguished for at least another two weeks.
Gorbachev hangs his head. Two weeks.
LEGASOV
There is also-- an additional problem.
Gorbachev slowly raises his eyes. There's more?
Legasov opens a document binder in front of him. Everyone in the room has the same one in front of them. As Legasov turns pages, so do they, en masse.
The first page is a CROSS SECTION of the REACTOR.
LEGASOV
Nuclear fuel doesn't turn cold simply because it's not on fire. In fact, the temperature will likely rise as a result of the blanket of sand we've dropped.
(MORE)
LEGASOV (cont'd) The uranium will begin to melt the sand around it, creating a kind of-- lava-- which will begin to melt down through the shield below.
GORBACHEV You've made... lava.
LEGASOV (clears his throat) I had anticipated this. I believed we had time to reinforce this lower concrete pad before the lava reached the earth and contaminated the groundwater. But as it turns out, I was worried about the wrong thing.
Legasov turns the page. We now see a closer section of the
blueprint, focusing on the core and the pools underneath.
LEGASOV
It was my understanding the large water tanks under the reactor were essentially empty.
(gestures to) This is Ulana Khomyuk of the Byelorusian Institute. Thanks to her insight, we are now aware that the tanks are, in fact, full.
GORBACHEV (impatient) Of water. What exactly is the problem here, Legasov?
Legasov nods to Khomyuk who rises. He sits down.
KHOMYUK (the blueprint page) When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.
The word "explosion" sits there for a moment. Then:
GORBACHEV How significant?
A beat. Then:
KHOMYUK
We estimate between two and four megatons.
The men in the room react. My god.
Khomyuk flips to the next page. The room flips along with her. The snap of papers moving.
This is a map of the Pripyat/Chernobyl region. She makes a CIRCLING gesture on the page with her finger.
KHOMYUK
Everything within a 30 kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the other three nuclear reactors at Chernobyl. The entirety of radioactive material in all of the cores will be ejected at force, and dispersed by a massive shockwave-She flips to the next page, and the room follows in turn. A larger map. Byelorusia and Ukraine.
KHOMYUK
--which will extend approximately 200 kilometers and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev as well as a portion of Minsk.
Gorbachev lowers his head to his hand. Can't look. Doesn't want to hear any more.
Khomyuk flips to the next page. The room follows. A map of Europe and Asia.
KHOMYUK
The release of radiation will be severe, and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Byelorusia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, and most of East Germany.
She sits down. Report concluded. Gorbachev takes a moment to absorb this, then:
GORBACHEV What do you mean "impact"?
LEGASOV
For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of water and food supplies, and a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects. I don't know how many will die, but— many.
He hesitates, then:
LEGASOV
For Byelorusia and Ukraine, "impact" means completely uninhabitable. For a minimum of one hundred years.
The men in the room are staggered.
GORBACHEV There are fifty million people in Byelorusia and Ukraine alone.
LEGASOV
Sixty. Yes.
GORBACHEV How long before this happens?
LEGASOV
Approximately 48 to 72 hours.
Khomyuk watches their panic rise. Good. Panic is appropriate.
LEGASOV
But— we believe we have a solution.
Legasov flips to the next page. A larger schematic of the power plant. The room flips along.
LEGASOV
We can pump the water from the tanks. Unfortunately, they're sealed off by a sluice gate, and the gate can only be opened manually from within the duct system itself. We need to find three plant workers who know the facility well enough to enter the basement here, find their way through all these ductways, get to the sluice gate valve here, and give us the access we need to pump out the tanks. (beat)
Of course we'll need your permission.
GORBACHEV Permission for what?
LEGASOV
The water in these ducts-- the level of radioactive contamination--
KHOMYUK (just say it) They'll likely be dead in a week.
LEGASOV
We're asking your permission to kill three men.
Gorbachev considers that. Turns to a GENERAL. Some kind of silent communication between the two of them. Then:
GORBACHEV Comrade Legasov. All victories inevitably come at a cost. Sometimes we count this cost in rubles. (beat)
Sometimes we count it in lives.
259 EXT. PRIPYAT - VARIOUS - MORNING 259
We SILENTLY DRIFT through the empty city...
INSIDE CLASSROOMS - the desks are in an orderly grid. Soviet propaganda on the wall. Lessons on the chalkboard.
OUTSIDE - tired, faded clothes hang from a drying line.
IN THE HOSPITAL - the wide, empty corridor. And now different views. Equipment, beds, files... all scattered about. A steady DRIP from a cracked IV bottle.
A BENCH ON THE STREET - a simple carving in the soft wood. A worn pencil.
IN AN APARTMENT - a pair of old shoes next to an unmade bed.
A RESTAURANT - food still on tables, right where it was left.
THE FERRIS WHEEL - creaks gently in the breeze.
We PAN SLOWLY across the desolate ghost city until we land on: the POLISSYA HOTEL.
260 INT. HOTEL BANQUET ROOM - MORNING 260
Shcherbina sits behind a table. Legasov stands next to him, pointing at the same facility schematic we just saw.
LEGASOV
--and open the sluice gate valve here.
Legasov turns away from the schematic to face: THE MEN - about thirty of them in civilian clothes, sitting on fancy banquet chairs, and staring back at him. Grim.
LEGASOV
There are multiple valves, so we'll need two to three men who know the basement layout-- and of course any volunteers will be rewarded. A yearly stipend of 400 rubles...
The men stare back at him. Unmoved. Legasov tries again.
LEGASOV
And for those of you working in reactors 1 and 2, promotions—
PLANT EMPLOYEE Why are reactors 1 and 2 still operating at all?
Murmurs of agreement.
PLANT EMPLOYEE My friend was a security guard that night. Her father tells me she's dying. And we've all heard about the firemen. Now you want us to swim underneath a burning reactor? Do you even know how contaminated it is?
LEGASOV
I don't have an exact number...
PLANT EMPLOYEE You don't need an exact number to know if it will kill us. But you won't even tell us that. So why should we do this? For what? 400 rubles?