WATER drips down from the ceiling, plinking into puddles on the concrete floor. The barest amount of daylight filters in through the small windows in the classroom doors.
Khomyuk heads up a staircase to the second floor, and:
466 INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - CONTINUOUS 466
Peeling paint. Toppled chairs in a corner. Debris. Cards feature letters of the alphabet ring the walls, interspersed with framed pictures of Soviet dignitaries.
A fluorescent light half-hangs from the ceiling, suspended by a few remaining wires.
SHCHERBINA and LEGASOV - are waiting on the landing.
SHCHERBINA I'm sorry for all this. But we needed to speak to you without...
The KGB listening. She understands. She climbs up the stairs to them. All three are bundled up against the cold. Shcherbina looks at Legasov. Tell her.
LEGASOV
They're putting Dyatlov on trial. And Bryukhanov. And Fomin. We're going to be called for expert testimony. All three of us. But before that happens—
SHCHERBINA The Central Committee is sending Legasov to Vienna. It's the headquarters of the International--
KHOMYUK
Atomic Energy Agency, I know what's in Vienna--
(to Legasov) What are they asking you do to?
LEGASOV
Tell the world what happened.
She feels a quick excitement. And fear. The promise of revealing the truth. And then a flicker of resentment. Because she's done the work. And he'll be the one in Vienna.
KHOMYUK
Well then you should know what happened.
She opens her file folder. Hands him a report and additional pages as she speaks...
KHOMYUK
I've constructed a timeline. Minute by minute. Second by second in some places. Every decision. Every button press. Every turn of a switch.
SHCHERBINA And? Are they guilty?
Legasov is flipping pages. Reading. Scanning. Absorbing.
KHOMYUK
Yes, of gross incompetence, violation of safety regulations, recklessness beyond belief... but the explosion? I'm not sure.
And now Legasov closes her report. He's seen enough already. His worst fear confirmed.
SHCHERBINA What do you mean you're not sure?
She's bored of dealing with Shcherbina. He won't comprehend. Not quickly enough at least. She turns back to Legasov.
KHOMYUK
I've analyzed the data. Toptunov was telling the truth. They shut the reactor down, and then it exploded.
She hands him the journal article from her file folder.
KHOMYUK
I think this article may have the answer. But two pages have been removed.
Then she sees on Legasov's face— foreknowledge. And guilt? She realizes:
KHOMYUK
You know what they are. You've seen them before.
LEGASOV
Please believe me when I tell you-- I did not know it could lead to an explosion. None of us knew.
KHOMYUK (anger rising) None of you knew what.
Legasov lifts two toppled chairs into position, then slowly sits down. Khomyuk sits in the other.
LEGASOV
In 1975 at the RBMK reactor in Leningrad, a fuel channel ruptured. The operators pressed AZ-5, but instead of the power immediately going down, for a brief moment— it went up.
KHOMYUK How is that possible?
LEGASOV
That was the very question asked by a colleague of mine named Volkov. He's the one who wrote this article.
(to Shcherbina) When the RBMK runs at low power, as it was that night, it's notoriously unstable. Prone to— swings— in reactivity. Under normal circumstances, control rods can compensate for that.
KHOMYUK Under normal circumstances.
(her report) The Chernobyl staff stalled the reactor during the test. They pulled almost all of the control rods to bring the power back up.
LEGASOV
This is what Volkov learned from Leningrad. If the boron rods are completely withdrawn from the core, when they're put back in, the first thing into the reactor isn't boron. (beat)
It's graphite. The boron control rods have graphite tips that displace water and steam. Reactivity doesn't go down. It goes up. Dramatically.
Khomyuk leans back. In shock. But Shcherbina can only stand there dumbly, waiting for an explanation.
LEGASOV
Imagine there's a fire in a building. You turn on a hose, but instead of water coming out, it sprays petrol instead.
SHCHERBINA Then why in god's name did they push that button?
KHOMYUK (finally understands) They didn't know.
And now Shcherbina takes another chair and sits. My god...
LEGASOV
Volkov warned the Kremlin ten years ago. But there must be no doubt about the supremacy of the Soviet nuclear industry.
SHCHERBINA (realizing) The KGB classified it as a state secret.
Yes.
LEGASOV
When I saw the reactor blown open, I still didn't think it could be this flaw in AZ-5... because the flaw will not lead to an explosion unless the operators have first willfully pushed the reactor to the edge of disaster.
SHCHERBINA So it is their fault.
LEGASOV
Yes.
KHOMYUK But not only their fault.
LEGASOV
No.
KHOMYUK
And is that what you're going to say? In Vienna? Valery, you have to tell the truth. All of it.
SHCHERBINA You can't possibly be that naive.
KHOMYUK
There are 16 RBMK reactors running right now in the Soviet Union. We have to fix them, and the only way to make that happen is to go public. In Vienna, in the West, and force the Central Committee to take action.
SHCHERBINA What you are proposing is that Legasov humiliate a nation that is obsessed with not being humiliated.
Shcherbina swallows his anger. Then, to Legasov:
SHCHERBINA We can make a deal with the KGB. You leave this information out in Vienna, and they quietly allow us to fix the remaining reactors.
KHOMYUK
A deal. With the KGB. And I'm naive...
Legasov doesn't know how to respond. Caught between the two of them. Between his heart and his mind.
SHCHERBINA Valery, they will go after your friends, your family--
KHOMYUK
You have a chance to talk to the world. If it were me—
SHCHERBINA But it isn't, is it. I have been a part of this system for 44 years, so listen carefully. I have known braver souls than you, Khomyuk. Men who had their moment and did nothing, because when it is your life and the lives of everyone you love, your moral conviction doesn't mean a damn thing. It leaves you. And all you want in that moment is not to be shot.
A few seconds. Then she turns calmly to Legasov.
KHOMYUK Do you know the name Vasily Ignatenko?
Legasov shakes his head no.
KHOMYUK
He was a fireman. He died two weeks after the accident. I've been looking in on his widow. She gave birth today. A girl. (beat)
The baby lived four hours. She had 28 roentgen. They said the radiation would have killed the mother, but the baby absorbed it instead. Her baby. (quietly)
We live in a country where children have to die to save their mothers. The hell with our names and the hell with your deals. Someone has to start telling the truth.
Legasov looks at them. Khomyuk, who is right. And Shcherbina... who is also right. And only he can decide,
TARAKANOV (V.O.) Congratulations, comrades.
467 EXT. MASHA - DAY 467
Completely clean of debris. Two men emerge onto the roof. One carries a metal POLE. The other has a cylindrical case strapped to his back.
TARAKANOV (V.O.) You are the last of 3,828 men.
468 EXT. REACTOR SITE - CONTINUOUS 468