The Test That Wouldn't Stay Small

Name: The Test That Wouldn't Stay Small
Genre: Documentary

Weeks after a local warning, technicians begin a low-power test that pushes one of the plant's four reactors beyond control.

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Transcript

At Chernobyl, a safety test was about to become history’s worst nuclear accident.
The V. I. Lenin plant stood near Chornobyl, beside the Pripyat River.
The site was chosen partly for nearby water and rail transportation.
The nuclear plant had four reactors, and Pripyat was a company town whose power station was the area’s one industry.
Pripyat’s population was 25,000 and was expected to double before the accident.
Plant officials presented protective clothing and repeated radiation checks as safety measures.
Plant officials claimed nuclear power was absolutely safe when developed properly.
Pripyat was a company town whose power station was the area’s one industry.
The plant used uranium enriched to slightly less than 2 percent.
The safety test escalated into the worst nuclear accident in history on April 26th, 1986.
Technicians lost control of one reactor during a low-power test.
Against a four-reactor complex, the low-power test looked contained and manageable.
In the control room, the calm drained from one man.
No official safety promise could bring the control room back under control.
Across a quiet desk, a visitor sat and listened.
A guest listened, nodded, and carried the promise home.
The dials were ordinary. The hands moving them were young.

As the low-power test slipped beyond control, Reactor Number Four was seconds from turning Soviet confidence into fire.

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