Akimov heard reports of massive reactor damage, but did not believe it, and as a result, relayed false information about the state of the reactor for hours thereafter. His wife Lyudmila Ignatenko, played by Jessie Buckley, is also a real person, who described the horrible process of watching her husband die in Svetlana Alexievich's 1997 book Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. Before he worked as a Shakespearean actor and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sitnikov then assisted Akimov and Toptunov with feeding water into the reactor; the water, however, flowed through the severed pipes into the lower levels of the plant, carrying radioactive debris and causing short circuits in the cableways common to all four blocks. This further increase in power caused the reactor to explode. View the profiles of professionals named "Aleksandr Akimov" on LinkedIn. He became covered with boils. All Rights Reserved. Reactor operator, senior engineer, block1, Received non-fatal radiation dose when helping Orlov, Akimov and Toptunov to manually open cooling system valves. At 3:30a.m., Telyatnikov contacted Akimov, asking what was happening to his firemen; Akimov sent him a dosimetrist. This is where Anatoly Dyatlov, Aleksandr Akimov, Aleksandr Kudryavtsev, and Viktor Proskuryakov were working on that fateful night in April 1986. . Shashenok, the automatic systems adjuster from Atomenergonaladkathe Chernobyl startup and adjustment enterprisewas supposed to be in room604, the location of the measurement and control instruments, on the upper landing across the turbine room, on level+24, under the reactor feedwater unit; he was reporting the states of the pressure gauges of the profile of the multiple forced circulation circuits to the computer room by telephone. While there are plenty of characters and moments in the HBO Chernobyl series that can't be linked directly to real people, a surprising portion of the cast is playing a very real person, many of whom died in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. ", One man, Aleksandr Akimov, the Shift Leader for Reactor 4 on the night of the accident suffered burns to 100 per cent of his body. His wife, Lyudmila, spoke to Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian journalist, about her husband's death. 154. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. At 1:23:04a.m., the test began, and the main circulation pumps started cavitating due to the extremely high temperature of inlet water. Adrian Rollins plays Chief Engineer Nikolai Fomin, who was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp for violating safety regulations (he was released early after a nervous breakdown and suicide attempt). Akimov Chernobyl HBO Actor. "He started to change; every day I met a brand-new person. Akimov and Toptunov spent several hours turning valves; the radioactive water in room712 was half submerging the pipeline. Alexander Litvinenko, anyone? [2] During his stay, he discussed possible causes of the accident with Toptunov and Dyatlov but they were mystified. After the accident, many people tried to cover up what happened in the plant but Legasov was one of the few people who was open about the events. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. Sitnikov is often reported to have visited the roof of Unit 3 to look down into the destroyed central hall, but this is disputed and no report to this effect was made back to the bunker. However, he eventually figured out that something is wrong and did everything in his power to control the situation. [2] Akimov was exposed during his work to a lethal dose of 15-20Gy of radiation. At the moment of explosion close to the pumps; posthumously awarded the, In the control room with Akimov and Toptunov at the time of the explosion. . Fomin, the chief engineer, arrived in the block4 control room at 4:30a.m. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. Only then do viewers get to see that it was the technicians at the plant who triggered the devastating explosion during a safety test. Upon first hearing the news that something isnt right, hedidnt believe it and for the next few hours relied on the false information given by his superiors. The control rods had graphite moderators to speed up reaction and the other part of the rods were made of boron to decrease reaction. Alex Murdaugh will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his Played by Jared Harris in HBO's Chernobyl, Valery Legasov was chief of the commission investigating the Chernobyl disaster and a prominent member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. At 3a.m., Bryukhanov called Maryin, the deputy secretary for the nuclear power industry, reporting Akimov's version of the situation. ", " 34 232 . Survived. Propaganda from the time - the Soviet Union trying to downplay the explosion, and the United States trying to exaggerate it - has made the figures near impossible to determine. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (1953-1986) - Find a Grave Perevozchenko led Dyatlov and Aleksandr Yuvchenko on a brief and unsuccessful search for Khodemchuk, in corridors where the 1000 R/s dosimeters maxed out. In 1976, he graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Irkutsk Institute of National Economy. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 - 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. Akimov Radiation : r/chernobyl - reddit Palamarchuk, the Chernobyl enterprise group supervisor, together with Davletbayev, followed him back to the turbine room. He went to the control room and with Anatoly Dyatlov went outside to survey the reactor building. He later spent a year in the Moscow hospital receiving blood and plasma transfusions and received numerous skin grafts. Dyatlov believed the reactor was still intact even after seeing all the graphite scattered around. Realizing the magnitude of the disaster, Dyatlov suspended coolant supply to the reactor,[6] although pumping of water would be resumed by order of Chief Engineer Nikolai Fomin around dawn. In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. He was assigned to investigate the Chernobyl accident. Internal telephone lines were disabled; Akimov sent Palamarchuk to contact Gorbachenko. International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:35, Individual involvement in the Chernobyl disaster Aleksandr Akimov, "The World; Life After Death: Chernobyl Today", INSAG-7 The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1, "Presidential Decree No. Who is Alexander Akimov dating? According to Mazin, this was actually what Akimov said in real life. 13 Pictures Of The 'Chernobyl' Cast Compared To The Actual People Among the first squad of firefighters on the 3rd reactor's roof. Died 2 weeks later in Moscow Hospital No.6. Tracing the origins of a disaster with Adam Higginbotham: podcast and The power was stabilized at 200MW at around 1:00a.m., and the turbine rundown test was begun. I think its the worst, in line with medieval torture.". Alexander Ivanovich Akimov (Russian: ; 12 March 1895 - 2 February 1965) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general.. Akimov fought in World War I and ended the war as an ensign before joining the Red Army, where he rose to battalion commander before the end of the Russian Civil War.During the interwar period, he served in both command and staff . Insisting the reactor was intact, Akimov ordered Stolyarchuk and Busygin to turn on the emergency feedwater pumps. Lyudmilla Ignatenko, pictured above, is the widow of firefighter Vasily Ignatenko, who was one of the first responders to the Chernobyl incident and died of acute radiation poisoning just weeks later. During the test, Akimov called for the AZ-5 (scram) button to be pressed to shut down the reactor. Rather, spectators get a view of the reactor exploding from a distance. When he first received news that something was wrong, Akimov didn't believe it. His wife Lyudmila Ignatenko, played by Jessie Buckley, is also a real person, who described the horrible process of watching her husband die in Svetlana Alexievich's 1997 book Voices from. Firefighter Vasily Ignatenko was one of 28 first responders, including Power Station employees, who died from radiation in the weeks following the explosion. Only 18 days later he told the rest of the world exactly what happened and many countries condemned him for withholding the truth for so long. The non-government organisation the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, estimated thedeath toll to be 734,000, with most due to related cancers. The accident occurred when Reactor Number 4 exploded and destroyed most of the reactor building, spreading debris and radioactive material across the surrounding area, and over the following days and weeks, most of mainland Europe was contaminated with radionuclides that emitted dangerous amounts of ionising radiation. Aleksandr Akimov Biography - Soviet engineer (1953-1986) [27] Some members of the government commission were concerned that melting fuel would reach the water and spread contaminated steam around the site, possibly even leading to an explosion. Kudryavtsev and Proskuryakov,[24] the SIUR trainees from other shifts, were present to watch Toptunov. The two looked directly into the exposed reactor core and died within weeks. Dyatlov did not report the destruction of the reactor, but speculated that the accident was due to some malfunction of the Control and Protection System. [26] Plant engineers Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalov, and Boris Baranov wore wetsuits and entered an underground corridor on the edge of the reactor building, an area that had become filled with firefighting water and coolant water, to locate and open release valves to drain the water. [48], This article is about the actions and recollections of individuals on duty during the disaster. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Russian: ; 6 May 1953 - 11 May 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986. Perevozchenko, the reactor section foreman, was in the company of Alexander Yuvchenko shortly before the explosion. Profile for Aleksandr Akimov from Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold The control rods, according to the synchro indicators, seized at a depth of between 2 to 2.5 meters (6ft 7in to 8ft 2in) instead of the entire core depth of seven meters (23ft), leaving the graphite displacers inserted into the reactor and accelerating reactivity. He took over the shift at midnight from Tregub, who stayed on-site. Viktor Smagin went in to open the third valves, spent 20minutes in the room, and received 2.8 grays. She still lives in Ukraine. Akimov, the unit shift chief, was in charge of the test itself. Though when he finally realized what was happening he stayed behind to do damage control. Was radiation sickness as widespread as presented in the series? The reactor control panel indicated no water flow and failure of pumps. Aleksandr Akimov was born in 10 November 1954 in Kyukiai, Suntar district, Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Even to this day, efforts are being made to contain the radiation as the old sarcophagus that was built around the reactor is beginning to deteriorate. First, she had to see her husband slowly die of radiation poisoning and later gave birth to a baby whowasdiagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and congenital heart disease and died a few days later. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Tissue is breaking down. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled for years to have their participation officially recognized. On the night of 26 April 1986, Akimov was on duty as the shift supervisor of the 4th power unit. Special effects also helped to make the Pripyat depicted in the series look as real as possible. And its all so very mine!. FirefighterVasily Ignatenkos wife, Lyudmila,went through tough times after the accident. Akimov was the shift supervisor on the night of the disaster. He insisted thatthese victims were not to be reduced to "Hollywood zombies". Aleksandr Akimov - Angular Developer - Intetics | LinkedIn [10] Dyatlov then returned to control room4 and ordered Akimov to call the daytime shift and get people to the affected unit; namely Lelechenko, whose crew had to remove hydrogen from the generator8 electrolyzer. Vasily died two weeks later. Fomin kept pressing the staff to feed water to the reactor and transferred more people to unit4 to replace those being disabled by radiation. [7] Dosimetrist Samoilenko reported that radiation levels in the lefthand and central sections of the control room were 500-800 R/s (micro-Roentgen per second), while readings were off the charts (over 1000 R/s or 3.6 Roentgen per hour) on the righthand side of the control room. At 4a.m., Moscow ordered feeding of water to the reactor. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. Voice of Chernobyl: The Oral History of A Nuclear Disaster. 'He's not a man anymore, but a reactor' Meduza - They met Perevozchenko and Yuvchenko, then went through a narrow corridor towards the central hall. Akimov and some of his crew manually fed water into the reactor core without protective gear. Sam Troughton as Aleksandr Akimov, night shift supervisor at Chernobyl 19 Credit: HBO 19 Sam Troughton has been in Robin Hood and The Town before becoming a star of Cherynobyl. When he first received news that something was wrong, Akimov didn't believe it. Aleksandr Akimov - Wikipedia The managers refused to believe him and ordered continued feeding of water into the reactor; the water, however, flowed through the severed pipes into the lower levels of the plant, carrying radioactive debris and causing short circuits in the cableways common to all four blocks. Davletbayev reported loss of electrical power, torn cables, and electric arcs. His colleague Kurguz was in the control room with three open doors between him and the reactor room; at the moment of the explosion, he suffered severe burns from steam entering the control room. He was then ordered to look for Valery Khodemchuk, but couldn't find him. Here are 4 things you didn't know. So if you find something that's too bizarre not to share, make sure to hit him up! [5] Other plant workers arrived in the control room, reporting damage. The image above shows a block of graphite used as a moderator at nuclear power plants like the one in Chernobyl. But what really happened to the men and women closest to it? According to his wife Lyudmila, who was at his side while he died, Ignatenko excreted blood and mucus stools more than 25 times a day, before eventually coughing up pieces of his own internal organs. Exposed to radiation dose of 390, Thermal plant automation and measurement, shift leader, Present in the control room when the reactor power dropped; returned to his office when power was stabilized, where he was in the moment of explosion, Arrived at 4:30a.m.; spent a month in the Moscow clinic; after the disaster stripped of, Worked the 4 to 12p.m. shift; stayed to watch the test; in control room at deskT with Kirschenbaum at the moment of explosion, Senior sergeant, first crew on the 3rd reactor's roof, Received fatal dose during attempt to extinguish fires on the roof of unit 3, Died two weeks later in Moscow Hospital6, Guarded a gate opposite to block4; stayed on duty until morning. He ordered everyone to evacuate to the backup control room, but no other operators left the room and Dyatlov soon countermanded his instructions. Proskuryakov had radiation burns covering his entire body. The numbers vary, but it is estimated that the release of radiation took the lives of4,000 to 734,000 people. While both men were returning from Unit 3, Perevozchenko was called to the Unit 4 control room, arriving shortly after the explosions. The initial explosion and the massive dose of radiation following it killedbetween 34 to 51 people and thats just during the first night. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 33 years old? Dyatlov ran to the control room of Block3 and instructed Rogozhkin to shut down reactor3, overriding the latter's objections that Bryukhanov's permission was needed. At 4a.m., Moscow ordered feeding of water to the reactor. See the Chernobyl cast compared to their real-life counterparts and read their stories in the gallery below! Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics +61 (0)7 5552 8579 (Work) a.akimov@griffith.edu.au. Brazhnik, Akimov, Davletbayev, and Palamarchuk ran into the turbine hall, having seen scattered debris and multiple fires on levels0 and +12. Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were found fatally shot on the family's Islandton property on June 7, 2021. Widely considered one of the most significant figures of the second half of the 20th century, Gorbachev remains the subject of controversy.