Pups At Chernobyl

The Truth

It was the day of the trial. Not everyone was ready but the beans had to be spilt. The Supreme Court of the Soviet Union held the trial in Russia. For Igor, it was a home that he never wants to return to. A boy who wants to forget his abusive parents. A homosexual returning to his true home but was forced out. Igor felt he wasn't welcome. He already knew he wasn't. The courtroom was filled with scientists and other Soviet officials. Dyatlov, Bryukhanov, and Fomin stood in view, while Edmund, Ryder and Igor were sat opposite them.

"Remember what you need to do?" Igor whispered to Ryder. "I believe so." He answered. "Some of these people are scientists, so you'll have to speak loud and clear." Igor stated. Ryder nodded.

"Все встают.(All rise.)" A court officer called. As instructed, the court participants rose up and the Judge came in. "Soviet Union Judge Stephan Yeltsin. Descendant of Boris Yeltsin." Igor whispered to Ryder. The Judge took his seat and cleared his throat.

"Все сидеть. (All be seated.)" Yeltsin declared. Everyone sat back down, and the trial had begun.

"Comrade Yeltsin. Viktor Bryukhanov, Anatoly Dyatlov and Nikolai Fomin are accused of violating Article 220 Section 2 of the Criminal Code of the Soviet Union resulting in a nuclear disaster taking place in Adventure Bay, British Columbia in Canada of North America," A spokesman announced. "The Soviet court call Chief General of British operations in the Americas, Edmund Richardson to the stand."

Edmund rose up and walked over to the stand, whilst two soldiers rolled out with a scale model of the Chernobyl Power Plant. Edmund took his place behind the stand and the model was rested by his side.

"It all began with a safety test. The reason for this is that the reactor wasn't new. It began operating on the 20th December 1983," Edmund began. "Eleven days later, just before the year's end, Plant Director Viktor Bryukhanov signed a document certifying the construction of the reactor had been complete. But the work was still incomplete. In order for the certificate to be signed, it has to pass all safety tests. The certificate was a lie. One test remained." Edmund continued as the Soviet scientists took note. "A nuclear reactor generates heat in the core. A series of pumps send a constant flow of cooling water through the core. The core's heat turns the water to steam, the steam spins a turbine and the result produces electricity for family homes in reach. But what if a power plant has no power? What if the power feeding the plant itself is disrupted? A blackout? Possible equipment failure? Perhaps an attack by an enemy in the stages of declaring either battle or war?" Edmund then points to the pumps on the scale model.

"If there is no power, the pumps cannot move water through the core. Without water, the core overheats and the fuel melts down. The solution? Three diesel fuel backup generators are installed to keep it running. Problem solved? Well, Bryukhanov knew the problem was not solved at all. The backup generators took approximately one minute to reach the speed required to power the pumps and prevent a meltdown. By that point, it would be too late. And now, we arrive at the test that was missed. The one test that was required to be carried out for that certificate to be fully signed: The safety test." Richardson moved back behind the stand.

"The theory was if the facility did lose power, the turbine, which had been spinning for a long time, would in return take a long time to slow down and come to a complete stop. To test the theory, they reduce the reactor's power to 700 megawatts, representing a blackout scenario. The turbines spin down, the electrical output is measured to see if it is sufficient to power the pumps. The science is strong, but a test is only as good as the men carrying it out. First try: Failed. Second try: Failed. Third try: Fail again. The fourth time, however: Explosion." Edmund finished.

"Thank you, Mr Richardson." The Spokesman said. Edmund sat down with Ryder and Igor. None of them made eye contact. Then Ryder was called up to give his statement. Just as the said boy got up, Marshall stopped him and handed him a piece of folded paper. Unsure of what the Dalmatian had just given him, Ryder took it and made his way to the stand.

All eyes were on him. Ryder looked back at Chase and Marshall and knew they were there every step of the way for him. Ryder got his notes ready and began. "On the night of the explosion, we all weren't aware of the situation until Professor Igor Legasov stepped in to help us along the way. If we were all alone on that night, no armed forces came to aid us, I think we'd all be dead knowing nothing about the reactor and its horrific effects it has had on us." Ryder looked around and nothing happened. He turned to Igor, who gestured him to look at the notes.

"To have a better understanding of what happened, we have to look back ten hours earlier. 25th April. The day the test was meant to take place. In the afternoon, the reactor had been lowered by half from its normal output of 3,200 megawatts to 1,600 megawatts and is now ready to be reduced to the final level for the test, which is 700 megawatts. But before they could proceed, there was a phone call from the power grid officials in the capital of British Columbia, Victoria. They said they could not afford a further reduction in electricity until after midnight. They're stated for a ten-hour delay. This was the first point in the chain of disaster. Why was this time delay so dangerous? It created two problems. One is scientific in nature. The other is very human. That's the one we'll consider first. At the power plant, there's a shift change. And Leonid Toptunov, aged twenty-five, was in that night shift. He was brought to the control room on the night of the test. He was told by Alexander Akimov that Dyatlov would be supervising the test. And when Dyatlov came in, he ordered Toptunov to reduce power to seven hundred megawatts. "And Toptunov had four months of experience on his job. And this is the point of the human error made by the delay. But inside the reactor, a poison was developing." Ryder had concluded his testament.

"Thank you, Mr. Mason." The Spokesman spoke. Just as he was about to leave the stand, Ryder remembered the paper that Marshall handed him. He unfolded the paper with no feeling whatsoever, then shiver dripped down his spin.

"Mr Mason, you may return back to your seat." The Spokesman reminded him. The boy shook his head and retook his place behind the stand. Igor raised his head at this.

"Just one more point, and this is from one of my best pups," Ryder stated. Chase slowly turned toward the dally who kept his eyes on Ryder. "Since the start of the explosion, I had been present at the reactor block and have been exposed more to the radiation than my fellow deceased team members, nor the firemen who died putting out the fires that very night. It should've been me who died first, but I don't understand why I wasn't the first to die." Ryder readout, still shaking as he kept going to the end. Igor threw his head toward the Dalmatian, then back at Ryder who made his way back to them. The boy saw the German Shepherd comforting the breaking Dally. Whispers began to stream in the courtroom, but the harsh collision of the gavel receded the noise. The trial was not yet over; only one more voice to hear from.