(clock ticking)
(ticking continues)
(static)
(applause on TV)
("Swan Lake Op.20, Act II: Dance of the Cygnets" playing)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(Geiger counter crackling)
(helicopter blades whirring)
Newscaster 1: It does now seem like
that sometime in the last couple of days
there's been perhaps the worst accident
in the short history
of the world's nuclear power industry.
Newscaster 2: In Moscow, Western diplomats have spent the day
trying to get more information
about the accident with no success.
(speaking Russian)
(Geiger counter crackling)
Newscaster: A zone with a 19-mile radius around Chernobyl
remains a poisoned no man's land.
Soviet television tonight accused the western media
of spreading slanderous inventions
about the Chernobyl accident.
(indistinct chatter)
(applause)
(applause continues)
(intense dramatic music playing)
♪ ♪
-(bell ringing) -(marching band playing)
♪ ♪
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(birds chirping)
(soft violin music playing)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(pulsating)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter, laughter)
(speaking Russian)
(baby crying)
(laughs)
(kids chattering)
(laughs)
♪ ♪
(pulsating)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
♪ ♪
(pulsating)
(speaking Russian)
(clock ticking)
-(ticking continues) -(pulsating)
(ticking grows louder)
(alarm blaring)
(line ringing)
(speaking Russian)
(line beeps)
(speaking Russian)
(helicopter blades whirring)
(Geiger counter crackling)
(crackling continues)
(helicopter blades whirring)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(helicopter blades whirring)
♪ ♪
(pulsating)
(sighs)
(Geiger counter crackling)
(pulsating)
(kids chattering, playing)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(sirens wailing)
(wailing continues)
(helicopter blades whirring)
♪ ♪
♪
(speaking Russian)
(siren wailing)
(crackling)
♪ ♪
(typewriter keys clack)
(indistinct chatter)
(crackling)
(Geiger counter crackling)
(ticking)
(ticking continues)
(helicopter blades whirring)
(dog barking)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(dogs barking)
(barking continues)
(speaking Russian)
(Geiger counter crackling)
(crackling intensifies)
Newscaster: It's now clear that the Soviet Union
has suffered one of the worst disasters
in the history of nuclear power.
Massive quantities of radiation
have apparently been released in an accident
at the Chernobyl Power Station in the Ukraine.
The Soviet version is this,
one of the atomic reactors
at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Plant
in the city of Kyiv was damaged
and there is speculation in Moscow
that people were injured and may have died.
The Soviets may have been fairly quick
to acknowledge the accident
because evidence in the form of mild and nuclear radiation
have already reached beyond the Soviet borders
to Scandinavia.
Newscaster: There are indications
the accident could have happened
several days ago.
It would take that long
for radiation to drift to Scandinavia
and to make the political decision
to announce it.
You can be sure
that the decision to, to disclose
was made at the very highest level,
undoubtedly by Gorbachev himself.
Newscaster 1: The Soviet press is paying
signally little attention to the disaster.
Newspapers carry only
the brief official announcement
inconspicuously placed.
People have noticed the small paragraph
but seemed unaware of the potential dangers.
Newscaster 2: People in the cities, towns, and villages
of the Ukraine
just haven't been told
what dangers they may face.
(helicopter blades whirring)
(speaking Russian)
(Geiger counter crackling)
♪ ♪
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(Geiger counter crackling)
(helicopter blades whirring)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(jackhammer pounding)
(speaking Russian)
(pounding continues)
(horn honks)
On the eve of the Seven Nation Summit in Tokyo
both Mrs. Thatcher and President Reagan
have urged the Russians to say more about Chernobyl.
Newscaster: Meeting with Italy's Premier Craxi,
Mr. Reagan was demanding answers from the Russians.
Come forward and tell everybody exactly what happened.
You can hardly call this kind of an accident an internal affair
when other countries are threatened
with the fallout of ra...
dangerous radioactivity.
A report in this morning's
Communist party newspaper "Pravda"
indicates that the fire at the power station
still may not have been put out
ten days after it started.
The newspaper says there was an explosion
followed by two fires at the plant.
Brian Hanrahan: The "Pravda" pays tribute to the firemen whose efforts
it says limited the scale of the damage considerably.
"Brave bold men" it calls them,
fighting courageously,
hardly able to breathe for soot and smoke,
their boots sticking in the asphalt
melted by the high temperatures.
(siren wailing)
(speaking Russian)
(heart thumping)
♪ ♪
(crackling)
(speaking Russian)
Diplomat: As an American I'm very privileged
to be able to represent
in the Soviet Union the concern of Americans.
(speaking Russian)
We have agreed
to a joint Soviet-American effort in this regard.
(speaking Russian)
(monitor beeping)
(coughs)
♪ ♪
(helicopter blades whirring)
(speaking Russian)
(crackling)
♪ ♪
(birds chirping)
(speaking Russian)
(crackling)
Newscaster: Until the accident, there were 50 nuclear reactors
operating in the Soviet Union
generating 11% of that nation's electricity.
Most of the larger Soviet plants
differ in design from US reactors.
The major difference is
most Soviet nuclear plants do not have
containment buildings,
the thick concrete dome structures
Americans are used to seeing built around US reactors.
When the worst American nuclear accident occurred
at Three Mile Island,
most leaking radiation was kept inside
the containment building.
If as seems to be the case there was no containment
around the reactor as is the general--
Interviewer: Can we be sure of that? What do you--
I do not, I do not know.
Interviewer: Do you think there's a containment building?
I don't think that there is a containment building
because the policy of Soviet atomic constructors
was that the reactor's absolutely safe
and so there is no need to have this kind of precaution
because it indicate possibility of disaster
which Russian always con-considered,
uh, absolutely impossible.
So going to be clear about this, you're, you're going
as far as to say you think it almost certain or just probable
there was no protective shield around this reactor
which appears to have melted down?
No, I think that there is no protection,
protection shield around this reactor's
certainly the case,
because the building as such indicate
that there is no shield.
Walter Patterson, if that is so,
what is the danger to life?
Well, obviously if radioactivity got as far as Scandinavia,
how long, however long it took to get there,
a great deal must have escaped close to the site.
(speaking Russian)
(typewriter keys clack)
(marching band music playing on TV)
What has been remarkable is how much the Soviet people
in spite of all the evidence still seem to be believing
the fairy stories the government is still telling them.
It could be argued, Martin,
that only the Soviet Union could have kept a lid
on what might have been a situation of public panic,
only a totalitarian state could have got away with it.
I'm not sure they have got away with it.
(Geiger counter crackling)
(speaking Russian)
(crackling continues)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(indistinct radio chatter)
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(crackling)
(speaking Russian)
(clock ticking)
(ticking continues)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(laughter)
♪ ♪
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
♪ ♪
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(indistinct chatter)
(clock ticking)
(ticking continues)
(alarm blaring)
(indistinct radio chatter)
(indistinct chatter)
(ticking continues)
(ticking stops)
(indistinct chatter)
(indistinct radio chatter)
(radio static)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(inaudible)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(whirring)
(speaking Russian)
(whirring)
(man yells indistinctly)
(alarm blaring)
♪ ♪
(yells indistinctly)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(sniffles)
(sobbing)
♪ ♪
(sniffles)
♪ ♪
(baby crying)
(crying continues)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(inaudible)
(speaking Russian)
(dog barking)
(indistinct chatter)
(speaking Russian)
(squealing)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(applause)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
(reporter speaking English)
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪
(clamoring)
(gunshots and explosion)
Newscaster 1: Sunday's outbreak of fighting
is only the latest in four months of violence
in the tiny Caucasian republic of Georgia.
Newscaster 2: Spasms of unrest in the Soviet Union
were felt in the southern republics
of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
(speaking Russian)
(explosion)
Newscaster 1: The rebellion against Communist authority
has now spread
and there's almost certainly more trouble to come.
Newscaster 2: The decision to send in troops
was taken by President Gorbachev.
(rapid gunfire)
(explosion)
(explosions)
♪ ♪
(applause)
("Swan Lake Op.20, Act II: Dance of the Cygnets" playing)
♪ ♪
(speaking Russian)
♪ ♪