Look for the arrows.

I just couldn't resist 😂

@elenatria, @fmasha-l, @drunkardonjunkyard, @valerafan2, @johnlockismyreligion, @megaladyrocker, @shit-in-silk-stocking, @thegreenmeridian, @litttlesilkworm, @kahootqueen69, @feanope, @gwinny3k, @az-5-elimgarak, @tryingtobealwaystrying, @jaredharrisankles, @cocomoraine, @chocolattebun, @gwaciechang, @potter012, @pottedmusic, @borisboyfriend, @boisinberryjamarama ♡

The mechanism of evil will work under conditions of apocalypse, also. That’s what I understood. Man will gossip, and kiss up to the bosses, and save his television and ugly fur coat. And people will be the same until the end of time. Always.

- Sergei Gurin, cameraman. Chernobyl.

Photos: control room of reactor 4. Vladimir Gerasimov.

Photos from the Chernobyl Accident

This first set of photos, as you all can likely tell, is od the blown open reactor hall. If you look closely, in some of them you can see the reactor lid that has been blown aside by the massive explosion. Sometimes you can even make out the remnants of the fuel channels that are connected to the lid. I find it easiest to see the lid in the first and last photos.

This next set of photos is of the reactor lid itself, taken from helicopters or from within the sarcophagus. You can see, in detail, the bent and malformed fuel channels still connected to the massive lid.

And last, but certainly not least, another diagram... because why not...

he looks over.

Footage of the animals in the town of Chernobyl, not far from where the Chernobyl Commission was staying, mid-May 1986.

Comrades: today, I have visited a Projeto Chernobyl exhibit consisting of 30 radiographs by an artist Alice Miceli at the Americas Society in NYC (thank you very much to @jedikatalina for posting the link - I went on a whim as it very much my neck of woods). It is a small and a very unique exhibit, which I found utterly terrifying. The exhibit addresses a question: since we cannot see, hear or feel radiation, how does one depict it in art? Here, the medium is radiation itself - by way of creating patterns on pieces of X-ray film that have been kept in boxes in various locations around Chernobyl and then developed. Some of the films ended up picking up a strong, diffuse signal, while others turned out mostly blank but with these horrid little black spiky patterns on them - produced by, as I understood, by radioactive specks of dust that landed directly on the film (the last three photos are close-ups, not the whole films). One even had these specks in shape of a handprint. Overall, a truly singular experience that I wanted to share with the fandom.

@tryingtobealwaystrying @elenatria @thegreenmeridian @the-jewish-marxist

@valerafan2 @boisinberryjamarama @shark-from-the-park @gwinny3k @fmasha-l @az-5-elimgarak

Middle School Number 3, one of the 5 secondary schools in Pripyat. Middle School 1 collapsed in 2005. There are hundreds of Russian made child-sized gas masks scattered around the school. They were kept on-site in the Cold War era. Before the Chernobyl disaster, the school was modern with extensive sports and music facilities.

Since I learnt that they had a Russian movement coach on Chernobyl, here’s the correct way of sitting enforced in the Soviet schools:

My favorite gifs of Valery Legasov smiling.

Fun fact: The character from the 2009 stop-motion movie Coraline, Mr. Bobinsky, wears throughout the movie the medal given to the Liquidators of the Chernobyl Disaster, the personnel tasked with the clean up operation of the destroyed reactor 4, the city of Pripyat, and the Zone of Alienation, not to mention those tasked with the construction of the Shelter Object (Об'єкт “Укриття”), better known as the sarcophagus, the structure that contains the reactor 4, and those who served as helicopter pilots, firemen, miners and divers during the initial efforts to stop the spread of radioactive contamination. 

Confirming his status as a former Liquidator, while at the same time explaining his unique skin color and physique: Radiation contamination.

The Chernobyl Commission, a.k.a. Shcherbina’s team of arguing nerds

Chernobyl (2019) 

+ Chemistry

For the happiness of all mankind.

Yesterday I was thinking of how each and every male part in “Chernobyl”, no matter how big or small, is giving out fatherly vibes. From Pikalov’s self-sacrificial “I’ll do it myself” to Bacho’s “I’ll teach you honour and survival in the midst of chaos and destruction, I’ll take the blood off your hands if I have to” attitude. From Dmitri’s coffee thermos on Ulana’s desk to Sitnikov’s confident “Follow me”. From Tarakanov’s almost whispered “Thank you” to every single soldier to Akimov’s “Keep working, you’re doing fine” to Toptunov.  From Glukhov’s “When this is over, will they be looked after?” to Valery’s “Are you all right?” and Boris’ concerned “What?”.

It all comes down to Pavel’s tears when he’s forced to kill those animals, babies that were his to protect. His babies. 

For the happiness of all mankind.

Myopia: a condition that causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close objects can be seen clearly. Presbyopia: a loss of visual accuracy when looking at something up close, due to aging of the eyes.

So, I was fortunate enough to get to visit the Time Warner building in New York City where three of the costumes from HBO’s Chernobyl are on display. Please excuse the glare from the cases… the lighting wasn’t super conducive to photos. And many thanks to my darling friend Jo for the tour. These cases aren’t where the general public can access them.

Here is the costume for Ulana Khomyuk from Episode 2 “Please Remain Calm.” It was a good thing there was a posted security guard because if not, I would have chewed the lock off this thing and run off with that sweater. God, where to begin? Just look at all the little details. Pilling and snags on the sweater, the stretching on just the top button hole… the necklace is a locket! I wonder what’s inside…?

“The Vienna conference began on August 25. Legasov began his report. The audience, consisting of close to 600 nuclear scientists representing 21 international organizations and 62 countries, as well as 200 journalists, was stunned. Legasov’s presentation was greeted with a standing ovation. ‘No one who attended the first day’s session will soon forget it,’ read a report on the conference. ‘On the morning of August 25th, the conference mood was bleak and tense; by August 29th, it had become cheerful, convivial, verging on the euphoric.’ Legasov became an instant celebrity, hailed by the Western media as one of the world’s top ten scientists.

Despite such unprecedented openness, Legasov stuck to the Party line in his report, blaming the reactor personnel for the accident.

Alexander Borovoi, one of the coauthors of the report, met Legasov when he entered his Institute upon returning from Vienna. ‘Victory!’ shouted Legasov to Borovoi, running up the stairs to his third-floor office. In high spirits, he left to meet with Soviet leadership. Borovoi saw him again upon his return a few hours later. Legasov’s demeanor had changed, his euphoria completely gone. ‘They understand nothing and even failed to grasp what we managed to accomplish,’ he told Borovoi in despair.

It is not clear who Legasov met upon his return from Vienna, but there is little doubt that the highest officials, including Gorbachev himself, believed that he had pushed too far.”

(Note too that Legasov anguished over Vienna months afterward, saying, “I told the truth in Vienna, but I didn’t tell the whole truth.”)

- Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhy