Secrets of Chernobyl: Valery Legasov

It's April 1988. In Moscow, the sun sets over a grand, two-story house. Shadows from the nearby trees and their early spring leaves paint the faded, pale pink bricks a sad shade of gray. The home belongs to Valery Legasov, a 51-year-old Soviet scientist and one of the few surviving men who, in 1986, witnessed the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl. But Legasov is dying, and he knows it. In these last two years since the explosion, his body has been poisoned by radiation.

and he estimates that he has just weeks left to live. His dark hair is thin and patchy, his frame is skeletal, and his translucent skin sags over his gaunt face like a ghostly mask. Every few minutes, his aching body rattles with an echoing cough. The knowledge that death is just around the corner is perhaps why, as he sits slumped at his desk,

Legasov knows it's finally time to admit the truth. His conscience burns with dark secrets and disturbing realities about Chernobyl that are too dangerous to be expressed publicly. He has knowledge that could drown the USSR in international scandal, charge it with abhorrent, unthinkable crimes, and rip apart the very reputation of the Soviet Union.

However, there's just one thing preventing Legasso from spilling these secrets. You see, revealing what he knows would not only punish the nation he once loved, but would also threaten his own life. He'd either be killed by the KGB or sentenced to spend his remaining days in a cruel Russian prison before his body gives out. But Legasov is a man who believes in the greater good.

He trusts that his own life is just a small sacrifice to pay for the enlightenment of others. He needs the world to learn the damning secrets he witnessed. And so he slots an empty tape into his recorder. waits a few seconds, then begins. I would never have guessed in my whole life that at the age of 51, I'll have to reach back to memories of my life, recollections of the tragic...

Unclear and tangled events. With the tape whirring noisily in the background, Legasov plunges into terrifying truths about Chernobyl. He hopes that his words will finally obliterate two long years of lies, deceit, confusion, and cover-ups. During the next few weeks, Legasov will tirelessly detail what really happened at the nuclear power plant. He'll put his life and reputation at risk as he unearths the inept state response to the global catastrophe.

But how did Legasov, an academic, professor, and family man, get caught up in the deadly fallout at Chernobyl? What secrets have the Soviets been concealing for all these years? And what really happened in the devastating disaster that threatened all humankind? At the moment of death, people often have an overwhelming need to get their biggest secret off their chest. From murder, fake identities, illicit affairs, and even government cover-ups.

This show dives deep into the world's most explosive deathbed confessions. This is the story of Valery Legasov, one of the Soviet Union's greatest scientists, and the dangerous... worldwide scramble to win the nuclear race. It's about the events at the Chernobyl power plant, a man-made disaster like none the planet had ever before experienced.

the questionable actions of a secretive state who prioritized their public image over the lives of their countrymen, and the deathbed confession from a scientist who had witnessed it all. I'm Estefania Hageman. And this is Deathbed Confessions.

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Valery Legasov is born in 1936 in Tula, a large town 100 miles south of Moscow. His parents are proud members of the socialist regime and raise their son to be the same. But Legasov is more than the average Soviet comrade. He's special. He shines both academically and socially, achieving perfect grades in all of his subjects.

He even represents his school as secretary for their Komsomal Committee, a communist organization for youths. Lagasif continues on his path of excellence after graduating at the top of his class. He studies nuclear energy at the Menzeliv Moscow Institute, works at a Siberian chemical plant for two years, completes his PhD at the renowned School of Atomics in Kurchatov,

before finally settling on a steady career as an academic. In 1981, aged just 45, Legasov becomes one of the youngest people ever to gain entry into the USSR Academy of Science. and holds both the state laureate and Lenin prizes. All who meet him agree that Valery Legasov is destined for scientific greatness.

In addition to being one of the Soviet Union's greatest scientists, Legasov is also a family man. He dotes on his wife and their two young children, taking them to visit theaters, attend recitals, and explore art galleries. When he has a spare moment alone, Legasov enjoys writing poetry and reading literature from around the world. His life seems to be one of achievement, stability, and enjoyment.

He truly believes in the power of the USSR and is dedicated to helping his beloved nation become the most scientifically advanced in the world. However, an event will soon occur that crushes Legasov's patriotic ideals and fills him with fury and frustration at his country's governance. In 1961,

the Soviet Union achieved international admiration as the first country to launch a man from Earth into outer space. But this scientific milestone came at a price. As the national focus shifted onto space travel and exploration, the Soviets quickly neglected their interest in nuclear energy. They perhaps believed they'd already conquered this sector with the creation of the world's first power station in Obinsk in 1954. Over the next 20 years,

Europe and America developed their own power plants and successfully harnessed nuclear energy. They were soon able to boast impressive new technologies that surpassed the Soviets' achievements. But the Soviet Union refused to accept defeat. Throughout the 1970s, they commissioned a series of nuclear reactors, known as RBMK-1000 models.

These were unique to the Soviets and not seen anywhere else in the world. To get the reactors up and running as soon as possible, seven colossal individual power stations were hurriedly constructed across the Soviet Union. However, their desperation to reclaim nuclear dominance was reckless. You see, in their haste to catch up with the Western world, the Soviet officials cut numerous corners.

They chose to work with unreliable, cheap equipment, used archaic scientific methods, and ignored advice from experts if it threatened their race to the top. It will just be a matter of time until the Soviets' ambitious nuclear plans backfire. Instead of creating a world-leading energy sector, they'll be faced with global shame and humiliation.

5 a.m., 26th of April, 1986. In Moscow, the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is awoken by a telephone call. He's informed that there's been a fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. But the reactor is allegedly still intact, and emergency services are already working to put the flames out.

It sounds as though everything is under control, but Gorbachev can't help but worry. He's aware that disruption to a major power station is a national problem, as households all around the country will be without electricity. So, as a precaution, he organizes a small state committee to travel over to Chernobyl later that day. Headed by Valery Legasov, Gorbachev tasks them with identifying the causes of the fire.

and finding out how to limit its effect on the nation. No one in the committee is yet aware of the enormity of the situation. Gorbachev has simply passed on the message that a minor accident has occurred. And so at 2.30 p.m., the committee members hurriedly wave goodbye to their families and prepare for what they believe will be a brief field trip. 8 p.m., 26th of April.

400 miles away, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the atmosphere is a sinister contrast to the relaxed tranquility of Moscow. Panic and confusion pollute the crimson air. Hundreds of workers and firefighters rush around aimlessly, trying to understand what's happened and how to respond to the steadily burning fire.

Several plant workers insist that the radioactive core from one of the reactors has split wide open, following a safety test performed earlier that evening. Based on the readings from their equipment, Its exposed center is reportedly spewing out thousands of tons of toxic radiation into the atmosphere, poisoning the lungs of everyone who breathes in.

A nuclear explosion of this ferocity is unheard of in the history of the world. If it's true, then roughly 400 times the amount of radiation released by Hiroshima is currently being pumped into the air. placing the people of the Soviet Union in grave and imminent danger. However, it surely cannot be true. The on-site state officials vehemently counter each and every terrifying claim.

labeling them as ludicrous, deceitful lies. They reassure everyone that it's impossible for a core to explode, and stress that the radiation levels are safe. They repeat that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. After all, in a state built on secrets, what else can they do? 11 a.m., 27th of April, six hours since the explosion.

Just three kilometers away from the chaos of Chernobyl, residents of Pripyat are going about their normal business. Although at this point they believe it's just a small fire, there's a slight sense that something is amiss. Children are being fed iodine tablets at school, which they're told is to counter mild radiation. Roads are sprayed in frothy water to decontaminate the area, and the air hangs with a metallic taste.

Troublingly, rumors are starting to spread that many firemen still haven't returned home from last night. But other than these small hiccups, the mood remains largely calm. Locals trust that police and authorities are sorting everything out at the power plant.

Even when a female voice crackles through loudspeakers and announces an immediate evacuation, the people of Pripyat do not worry. They're informed that they'll only be away from their homes for three days due to unforeseen high radiation levels. They're encouraged to take only a few essential belongings. For now, locals in Pripyat trust that it's just a small fire, and officials in Moscow refuse to believe it's anything serious.

But back in Chernobyl, emergency services and scientists silently fear the worst. At 10am on April the 28th, over 48 hours since the explosion, the Soviet government receives alarming news. Forsmark Power Station, a nuclear plant in Sweden, has recorded extremely high levels of radiation. Swedish authorities have traced the origin of this radioactivity to Chernobyl. This means that the fire Gorbachev was told not to worry about is somehow powerful enough to send toxic fumes over 700 miles away.

Now the Soviets begin to panic. It seems as though the plant workers were right and the impossible has occurred. The reactor's core has split wide open. Everyone within 300 miles of Chernobyl is in mortal danger. But instead of pouring all their efforts into saving the people of their country, the characteristically secretive state focuses on saving face.

A nuclear disaster of this scale could crush them and hand ideological victory straight to the Americans. So they act quickly and begin a ruthless propaganda mission to protect their communist regime. On one of their televised news channels, a black and white photo of the Chernobyl power plant is shown. It was allegedly taken just moments after the accident. But in the photo...

There are no flames, plumes of smoke, or circling radioactive clouds. In fact, the station looks spotless and completely normal. The Soviets use this picture to counter any reports of a fire or explosion, and condemn them as entirely unfounded lies. Even when areas in Scandinavia and West Germany report that they're experiencing extraordinarily high levels of radiation, Soviet officials insist it's not from Chernobyl. According to official news updates,

The trouble has passed. No one is allowed to know what really happened at the power plant, or what the effects are on the rest of the world. That is until one week after the mysterious Chernobyl explosion. The communist magazine, Pravda, starts telling a slightly different story. Its article explains that there has been a fire and explosion in one of the nuclear reactors at Chernobyl.

and that toxic radiation is now polluting the air they breathe and the water they drink. However, maintaining the official line that everything is fine, the article happily concludes that all is under control.

This version of events will be the closest anyone gets to hearing the truth for another four months. In the weeks following the meltdown, Chernobyl becomes the de facto home to thousands of scientists, soldiers, doctors, officials, and laborers as they conduct a monumental cleanup process.

Led by renowned Soviet scientist Valery Legasov, helicopters empty thousands of tons worth of sand and lead onto the reactor. These heavy compounds cool down the core and minimize the risk of a further chain reaction. Next, Legasov orders 400 miners to dig a tunnel beneath the reactor and fill it with concrete. This will prevent the contamination of groundwater and indirectly save millions of lives.

Every single instruction Legasov gives, and each decision he makes, is entirely unprecedented. Nowhere in the world has ever dealt with an explosion of this size in toxicity. and the Soviet scientists are simply playing an educated guessing game. As an accomplished chemist himself, Legasov is well aware that he's being exposed to deadly amounts of radiation.

Yet still, he works tirelessly through the long, hot days and dark nights, aware that his selfless actions are necessary to prevent global contamination. Thousands of individuals drastically shorten their lives by participating in the Chernobyl cleanup mission. It's likely that most have no idea of the fatal risks of radiation. However...

This heroic narrative is not the story the Soviet Union sells to the rest of the world. The international community instead receives reassuring statistics. Only 31 individuals have died. Many frontline workers have been released from hospital, and the immediate trouble has already cleared. As the Soviets continued to spin this outrageously optimistic version of events,

Worry begins to brew that no one will ever know the answer to what really happened at Chernobyl on April the 26th. To quell suspicion that the Soviets are hiding important information about Chernobyl,

Gorbachev arranges for a group of his scientists to speak to the international community. He organizes several nuclear experts to appear at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency event, otherwise known as the IAEA. The discussion is being held in Vienna in August of 1986, and world leaders hope it will be a chance for the Soviets to finally come clean about Chernobyl.

However, not all of Gorbachev's scientists will be as loyal to the Soviet Union as he hopes. One man will deviate from the state's party line and offer the international community a shocking glimpse. into what actually happened. The house seems vacant, but you're not alone. This October, Parkast invites you to celebrate the spookiness of the Halloween season with all new episodes of Haunted Places.

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Leaders from 62 different countries hope that Gorbachev's policy of transparency is genuine and that the specialists in front of them will finally tell the truth about Chernobyl. One such expert is Valery Legasov. He's been a part of Chernobyl from the very start of the accident four months ago, and is perfectly placed to give the speech in Vienna. Naturally, the Soviets are certain of Legasov's loyalty to the state.

They believe he'll follow the narrative that Soviet officials have been spinning for weeks now, that the blame falls entirely on the mistakes of incompetent individual workers. You see, this storyline allows the Soviet Union to escape largely unscathed, as all of the criticism will fall on a handful of easily disposed laborers. At first, Legasov sticks to the script.

He states that the explosion was caused, ironically, by a safety test where plant workers switched off all protective features in order to conduct their experiment. These actions, which they knew to be reckless, pushed the reactor to its limit. Efforts to shut it down subsequently failed, leading to the explosion. So far, so good. Legasov has placed the blame on the plant workers themselves.

However, his story doesn't end there. Legasov also implies that there was another power at play. The Soviet state itself. This is where his speech delves into dangerous territory. Lagosev explains that the RBMK-1000 reactors at Chernobyl were archaic, faulty accidents waiting to happen. They were crippled by such serious design flaws.

that it became impossible to prevent an explosion once the reactor had spiraled out of control. To make matters worse, the RBMK reactors at Chernobyl used graphite-tipped control rods. This cheap material is disastrous for controlling nuclear fission. Instead of maintaining a steady reaction, the graphite itself reacted with the unstable core and created a colossal explosion.

The RBMKs also had almost no containers around their cores. This safety feature is imperative by law in all Western reactors, as it prevents radioactive fumes from escaping into the atmosphere if any fire or leak occurs. Legasov explains that the combination of cheap, useless control rods and a lack of a secure container enabled the Chernobyl fire to escalate uncontrollably.

He dedicates hours of his report describing in detail the scientific failures of the reactors. His explanations draw gasps of horror from members of the audience as they realize the inevitability of Chernobyl. Next, Legasov criticizes the poor training of the operators. He explains that many of the workers were unqualified to use the machinery they were given, and had no idea how to deal with the emergency.

He states that because of unforgivable neglect by the scientific management, the plant workers had no hope of ever safely dealing with Chernobyl. Before finishing, Legasov presents the audience with a tragically revealing video. He plays a 25-minute videotape, titled 26 April, which brings to life the true horrors and chaos that encircled Chernobyl from the moment the Corps exploded. Despite the horrors they've just seen,

Legasov's presentation is riveting. Amazed by his findings and grateful for his truthfulness, the audience erupts in applause. Finally, the international community has been given a detailed,

factual account of the events. But from the moment he finishes speaking, a dangerous insinuation hangs in the air. Legasov's speech has made the terrifying suggestion that the Soviet state was at fault for the events of Chernobyl. The implication is brave, honest, but also reckless. Although it impresses the international community who named Legasov as their Person of the Year and declare him to be one of the world's top 10 scientists, his welcome at home is far from warm.

Viewing Legasov as a traitor to the state who deliberately spilled national secrets, his professional life is torn to shreds. When a list of scientists are awarded the Hero of Socialist Labor title for their exemplary work during the Chernobyl accident, Legasov's name is omitted. He's excluded from a seat on the council of the Kurchatov Institute.

when his peers vote 129 to 100 against him. They conveniently forget that just months ago, he was the first deputy of this very organization. But that's not all. In order to ensure he can never work again, cruel rumors spread throughout the country that Legasov is a delusional alcoholic whose scientific work should not be trusted.

Because he dared to speak the truth about Chernobyl and admit that the Soviet Union may have also been at fault, Legasov's life is ruined. However, unbeknown to the Soviets,

Lagossov intends to go further than his speech in Vienna. At the conference in August, he simply implied that the state was at fault, but didn't give conclusive evidence of their guilt. He'll later admit that, Now that his professional career has been eradicated, and his body is plagued by radiation sickness, Legasov will finally reveal all. of the Soviets' shameful secrets from Chernobyl in a series of haunting deathbed confessions. It's now April 1988.

Two years have passed since the horrors of Chernobyl, and Valery Legasov is nearing the end of his life. He's decided to record his memoirs and finally give the world the full truth about what happened at the infamous nuclear disaster. So he places a tape in the recorder sitting on his desk. Then, with just the sound of the birds outside for company, he begins.

Lagosif plunges into a series of confessions about his firsthand experiences at the explosion. For over four hours, he reveals facts that have never before been heard. and accounts that would make the Soviet authorities shudder. One such secret he divulges is the disturbing truth that the Soviets knew all along.

that an accident at Chernobyl was not only possible, but highly likely. You see, what Legasov didn't mention at Vienna was that the Soviet state knew all about the flaws and dangers of the RBMK reactors. In 1984, two years before the explosion, he himself had told them. Lagosov frequently warned the Soviet authorities about the lack of robust containers around the RBMKs. They're cheap.

graphite-tipped rods, and various other design flaws that made them highly dangerous. He informed senior science officials that new security methods must be introduced. and the structure of their nuclear power plants reconsidered before it was too late. But his pleas fell on deaf ears. Although Anatoly Pavlovich Alexander, president of the USSR Academy of Science,

and one of the most powerful scientists in the Soviet Union agreed with Legosov's complaints, he refused to act upon them. He was too afraid to challenge the terrifying authority of the Soviet state. And so, Valery Legosev was forced to watch helplessly as the nation dug its own grave. Regretfully, he admits that both he and the state knew that they were moving towards Chernobyl.

Slotting a new tape into his recorder, Legasov spills more secrets. He continues by explaining that, far from the clean and orderly black-and-white photo the Soviets proudly showed the world, Chernobyl was in fact a scene straight out of a disaster movie. Legassov recalls being up in the air at 8.30 p.m. on the 26th of April, 1986.

and how he stared out of the plane's window and was met with a chilling sight. The sky was glowing a shade of blood-red crimson. Below, on the scorched ground, troops of men were chaotically running around in all directions. panic-stricken and confused about what they were witnessing. Legasov makes a chilling comparison to the bleak scenes of World War II and admits, quote, There was such unpreparedness, such disorder, such...

fear. Legasev's confessions go on to break down the Soviet myth that the Chernobyl cleanup was a smooth, well-organized process. He can remember certain instances in which effective leadership of the committee was impossible. The first such event he describes was the evacuation of Pripyat. By law, an emergency evacuation...

has to be imposed when radiation levels reach or surpass 75 REM. Any count below this leaves the decision up to local authorities. Desperate to maintain the facade that everything was under control? Leaders in Pripyat were reluctant to begin an evacuation. They continually measured the radiation at just 25 REM and refused to take advice from the scientists who warned that this figure would quickly rise.

And it does. Unfortunately, due to faulty measuring instruments, it's not known exactly how much radiation the citizens of Pripyat have already been exposed to. But finally, at around 11 a.m. on April 27th, over 24 hours since the explosion, leaders finally sound the alarm. Men. Women. and children are instructed to leave their homes. Oh, what fun! Holiday invites are arriving, and Nordstrom has your party fits covered.

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He remembers a story he overheard from a plant worker who was working at Chernobyl minutes before the explosion. Allegedly, during the safety test. The worker was confused about which instructions he should follow as several were crossed out in a thick red line. However, when the worker asked a senior colleague about this, he was told to simply follow everything in front of him.

and take no notice of the crossings out. In another instance, Legasov recalls watching a group of soldiers trundle straight through radioactive material. None of them had individual Geiger counters on them. instruments used to detect radiation, and were instead given rough estimates on how much they were exposed to from their commander. And perhaps most infuriatingly of all,

Legasov discloses a frustrating encounter he experienced with Soviet authorities in the press. On April the 29th, three days after the explosion, he attempted to organize a press event. He invited journalists, reporters, and filmmakers from all over the USSR to visit Chernobyl.

The aim of this gathering was to provide the people of the Soviet Union with helpful and informative advice on how to exist in the aftermath of a radioactive disaster. For example, he wanted to teach them the importance of preparing uncontaminated food and drink measuring radiation levels, and wearing appropriate and protective clothing. However, Legasov sadly laments that this ambitious idea turned into an absolutely useless project.

Although many journalists arrived at the power plant, they were only interested in discovering what had happened, not how to deal with it. They collected material that would be valuable for academic, historical, and archival purposes. but nothing that would be of any short-term help to those affected. And so, the people of the USSR were left with no day-to-day guides on how to conduct their new lives.

Valery Legasov concludes his confessions on April 27, 1988. It's exactly two years and one day since the explosion at Chernobyl. Although he's recorded hours worth of invaluable information and stories that would classify as state secrets, his courage ends with their retelling, and he cannot bring himself to publish his tapes.

During his final recording, which he performs as an interview with an anonymous friend, Legasov utters a sinister warning. But this is not for publication yet, because they will take both your and my head off. First mine, and then yours. Because nothing has changed so far. These chilling words will be some of the last that Valery Legasov ever speaks.

Just hours after completing his tapes and sealing them in an envelope for his friend, Vladimir Gubarev, the science editor at Pravda magazine, he tragically takes his own life. No one can ever be sure what precisely drove Legasov to suicide. Perhaps he wanted to save his body from the awaiting horrors of radiation sickness. Maybe he had nothing left to live for after his professional career was destroyed.

Or, possibly, he knew that the KGB would end his life as soon as they discovered his confessions. It's not known how the tapes ever reach Gubarev. Legasov perhaps asked a friend to secretly mail them, or... possibly left them on his desk for his family to find. In any case, Legasov's tapes are transcribed and released as extracts by Pravda magazine in May 1988, just one month after his death.

We can presume that, thanks to the prominent position of Pravda as a national journal, thousands, if not millions, of individuals are able to finally learn the truth about Chernobyl. But the state has more urgent issues to deal with. as the Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse. Gorbachev's reforms have slowly begun the process of democratization, and communist control is weakening. It will only be a matter of time.

until significant change sweeps across the nation. It's now 1996, and the Soviet Union has collapsed, giving way to the new Russian Federation. Change is in the air. Boris Yeltsin is the nation's president, and Russian leaders promise to govern by democracy. Under this new regime, Valery Legasov gains a more favorable legacy.

He's posthumously awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation for his work at Chernobyl, and a life-sized statue was erected outside of his old school in Moscow. Ten years after the Chernobyl accident and eight years after his death, Legasov's memory is transformed into that of a national martyr.

However, while the state has the luxury to change its name and governance and honor individuals who were punished by the former regime, it can never fully cleanse itself from the effects of Chernobyl. Even today, the world has still not recovered from the explosion. Pripyat has fossilized into a ghost town. Houses remain exactly as they were left in the evacuation of 1986. Abandoned.

silent, and highly radioactive. The 30-kilometer exclusion zone around Chernobyl, which was established by Legosov, is too contaminated to be habitable. and scientists estimate it will stay this way for another 20,000 years. Anything that grows nearby has been changed forever by the radiation that still hangs in the atmosphere. The once luscious... green forest that encircled Pripyat is now full of blood-red trees. And tragically, the levels of thyroid cancer in areas of Russia and Ukraine

have risen sharply since 1986, an increase which has been linked to radiation exposure. But thanks to the courage and commitment of Valeri Legasso, numerous changes continue to take place that can and should be celebrated. The IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, runs the public awareness program that Legasov always dreamed of. It provides invaluable information to families about what's being done to protect them, how to monitor radiation levels.

and the safety of locally sourced food and water. Three global conventions have also been established which seek to aid countries facing nuclear catastrophe. Thanks to his perseverance and selfless bravery in the face of an unprecedented disaster, Valery Legasov's legacy will be eternal. Even in death, he continues to save lives around the globe.

Next week on Deathbed Confessions, we meet Boyd Bushman, a respected scientist who spent his life working on classified projects for Lockheed Martin. His whole career was covered by a veil of secrecy. But Boyd had a story to tell, one that spoke of decades-old cover-ups, of technology that didn't originate from this planet, and the proof he had that we are not alone in this universe.

He shared everything he knew days before his death in a viral YouTube video. If even a fraction of what he says is true, then it could be just the start of stripping away one of the biggest cover-ups mankind has ever seen. Deathbed Confessions is a Spotify original from Parcast, produced in partnership with Noiser. Executive produced by Max Cutler, Drew Cole, and Pascal Hughes. Developed by Julian Boireau for Parcast. Series produced by Addison Nugent. Written by Nicole Edison.

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