48 Hours a Day

“To counteract the poisoning, we successively pulled out a number of control rods, which increased the reactor's power and stabilized it at 200 megawatts. ”

“How many? ”

“What?”

“How many control sticks did you pull out?” Besonova asked.

“I can't remember very clearly, the exact operation was done by Toptunov," Akimov swallowed his saliva, and his whole person looked nervous and breathless, like he was going to drown.

Besonova had to find a pack of cigarettes, smoke one and light it on him, Akimov took a sip, started coughing constantly, and his hand with the cigarette was shaking. But half a minute later, he took another bite, and his emotions stabilized.

“Twenty-eight control rods remain in the final reactor, which is the bottom line stipulated in the safety manual. During fuel combustion, the core needs at least 28 to 30 control rods to remain inserted. We follow the safety manual, so there should still be 28 control rods in the core at that time. ”

“Well, let's talk about the explosion next. ”

“Uh, okay.” Akimov nodded, his eyes seemed a little stubborn, but he forced himself to recall the situation again, "At 1: 23, Toptunov first noticed the reactor's power rise, and he told me that there had been an energy surge, which meant that the nuclear fission reaction in the reactor had become intense, so I pressed the Grade 5 emergency power drop button to reinsert all the previously pulled control rods into the core in accordance with safety regulations.

“Can you briefly explain to Dr. Yevlim how the control rod works? ”

“Of course, the control rod is used to stop the fission reaction. It consists of boron, which completely absorbs fixed neutrons, and we adjust the power of the reactor by adjusting the number of control rods in the reactor. By pressing the Grade 5 Emergency Power Lower button, I plug all 211 control rods back into the core, rapidly reducing the reactor's power. ”

Akimov's demeanor was a bit daunting, and he said, "Here we are, looking up at Besonova,“ Why do you ask, the reactor is not damaged, all it blew up is a water tank, we did everything we could to keep the reactor supplied with water, and for that reason I and my companions were exposed to a lot of radiation, don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for credit, this is what we should do, I just thought, I... I, I... ”

“Calm down, Comrade Akimov."

I saw the shift chief's face was blushing, he began to speak incessantly, and Besonova even said to comfort each other, “It's going to be okay, the fire is under control, we're just going to check the routine, report to the top, discuss the repair plan, it won't be long before you and your colleagues get back to work, so you don't have to be nervous, smoke two cigarettes, exhale slowly, right, right... that's it, well, now you can go, our conversation is over, thank you for your cooperation, Comrade Akimov. ”

“Thank you, thank you.” Akimov seemed relieved and stood up from the stool, dragging his sore, perforated body away from the dressing room in a limp.

The player then spent another hour or so talking to the operator, Toptunov, who was very young, only 26 years old, seemed completely frightened, almost crying to finish the conversation.

And what he describes basically matches what Akimov says, and Toptunov has repeatedly sworn that all operations follow the safety manual. And when it comes to Gatorov, it's clear that Toptunov has some fear of the Deputy Chief Engineer, which is basically vague.

When it was about 10: 30 a.m. when the four people left the hospital, they rejoined the other four in the Volga 'borrowed’ from DW's office and shared the results of the trip with them.

The mouse glared at him, “Are they blind? What kind of tank explosion is this? They're all experts in nuclear power plants. How can they be ashamed of themselves? ”

“People deceive themselves in the face of unsolvable difficulties and difficult responsibilities, just as many of the hit-and-run people who know the consequences of doing so are serious, but are still fortunate enough to bet on one in 10,000 possibilities, as are those in Chernobyl.” Zhang Hengfang said, during the conversation, he could clearly perceive the different degrees of tension in the hearts of the three people.

Especially the youngest of them, Toptunov, who is suffering all the time, despite the fact that they all say that the explosion was a water tank and the reactor was safe, because only such an answer would make them feel a little better, without fear for the price to be paid in the future, but somewhere deep inside them… a faint voice from science and reason has been constantly reminding them of the real truth, the cruel reality that they refuse to believe.

Doctors also said, "And don't forget that almost all of our current knowledge of the dangers of a nuclear accident stemmed from this Chernobyl incident, until it was impossible to imagine such a serious accident at a nuclear power plant, and most of these people didn't believe that the core would explode, even though graphite blocks were already everywhere. ”

“This is absolutely a catastrophe, we just passed through the front door of the school, and we saw a bunch of kids going to school behind their backpacks, and they were buying food on the side of the road. ”

The repairman handed Zhang Heng and others a packet of biscuits and a bottle of mineral water for breakfast. They are now afraid to dine outside or eat any fresh ingredients. Only inflated foods isolated by packaging bags can give them a little sense of security. Although it doesn't taste good, at this time, people won't pick any more.

Zhang Henghe and the doctor both had a strong stomach discomfort and finished the cookies, but the coconut only took a few bites and put them down. She drank the bottle of water instead, because she had vomited too much before, and she is now a little short of water for the whole population, so she urgently needs to replenish some moisture.

And Master Kui didn't care if the 50,000 residents of the town were alive or not. She frowned. “So, you asked the three people in the hospital, and they didn't leave the mission to complete the prompt. Then we're going to find the people behind the list. Who was it? ”

“Chief engineer Fuming, and plant manager Bryhanov.” According to Deputy Chief Engineer Gatorov, both Fuming and Brekhanov had arrived at the nuclear power station administrative building No. 1 by the time he left. ”