Dogs begin barking. Apartment lights turn on. Pripyat awakens. It's 1:24 AM.
107 INT. CONTROL ROOM - REACTOR #4 - 01:24 AM 107
No sound except distant hissing noises.
All we see is SWIRLING WHITE DUST, illuminated by emergency BACKUP LIGHTS. And now we make out:
MEN - the control room operators, dressed identically in white uniforms. White paper hats covering their heads. All in the same position. Cowering.
Except for one man, who stands. 55 years old, gray mustache, white hair swept back on his head. This is ANATOLY DYATLOV.
CLOSE ON DYATLOV - SLOW MOTION - the white dust swirls eerily around his face. He's bewildered. Shell-shocked.
We hear a voice echoing as if from far away:
VOICE (O.S.) Comrade Dyatlov? Comrade Dyatlov?
Time SNAPS BACK into rhythm, and Dyatlov registers:
ALEXANDR AKIMOV, 33, black mustache, glasses. Staring at him - saying his name.
AKIMOV Comrade Dyatlov?
DYATLOV What just happened?
AKIMOV I don't know.
BRAZHNIK, 20's, enters the control room in a panic.
BRAZHNIK
There's a fire in the turbine hall. Something blew up...
Dyatlov pauses. Lost in thought? His face is unreadable. Agonizing seconds tick by. Then he turns coldly to Akimov.
DYATLOV
The turbine hall. The control system tank. Hydrogen. You and Toptunov-- you morons blew the tank.
LEONID TOPTUNOV, 25, blond, thin, terrified. His boyish moustache is a struggling, wispy version of Akimov's.
TOPTUNOV No, that's not—
Akimov signals Toptunov not to argue.
DYATLOV (to the room) This is an emergency. Everyone stay calm. Our first priority is—
PEREVOZCHENKO, 30's, bursts in. Panting. Frantic.
PEREVOZCHENKO
It exploded.
DYATLOV
We know. Akimov-- are we cooling the reactor core?
AKIMOV We shut it down.
(MORE)
AKIMOV (cont'd) (checks the panel) But the control rods are still-- they're not all the way in-- I disengaged the clutch. I don't—
Perevozchenko watches Akimov and Dyatlov talking about the reactor., are they out of their minds?
DYATLOV
Alright. I'll disconnect the servos from the standby console. You two!
ACROSS THE ROOM: BORIS STOLYARCHUK and IGOR KIRSCHENBAUM, late 20's, sit together at a control panel. Shell-shocked.
DYATLOV
Get the backup pumps running. We need water moving through the core. That's all that matters.
As Dyatlov heads for the door--
PEREVOZCHENKO There is no core.
Dyatlov stops. Turns. Everyone in the room stares. Two TRAINEES, PROSKURYAKOV and KUDRYAVTSEV, both 30, look at each other. For the first time, real fear.
PEREVOZCHENKO It exploded. The core exploded.
A beat, then Dyatlov shakes his head in disgust.
DYATLOV
He's in shock. Get him out of here.
PEREVOZCHENKO The lid is off. The stack is burning. I saw it.
DYATLOV (calmly)
You're confused. RBMK reactor cores don't explode. Akimov...
Akimov hesitates. Stares at the control panel. A plastic cover is lifted up over a large black switch labeled AZ-5. Then he looks at young, frightened Toptunov.
AKIMOV
Don't worry, Leonid. We did everything right. Something— something strange has happened.
Toptunov grabs Akimov's arm. Whispers to him.
TOPTUNOV Do you taste metal?
DYATLOV
Akimov.
Akimov tastes the metal in his mouth. Then:
AKIMOV
Comrade Perevozschenko, what you're saying is physically impossible. A core can't explode. It has to be the tank.
Perevozchenko looks at Akimov in disbelief.
DYATLOV
We're wasting time. LET'S GO. Get the hydrogen out of the generators, and pump water into the core.
As Dyatlov turns to exit--
BRAZHNIK What about the fire?
Dyatlov looks back at him. Annoyed.
DYATLOV Call the fire brigade.
Dyaltov EXITS.
108 INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CONTROL ROOM 4 - CONTINUOUS 108
Battery-powered emergency lights shine into swirls of dust.
We hear a distant ALARM blaring. Someone's shouting.
DYATLOV - strides with purpose. No emotion. Stone cold. Then stops. Feels the COLD AIR on his face. Turns to:
A SMALL LANDING with a WINDOW. The glass has been BLOWN IN, and shards litter the floor. Dyatlov walks slowly across the broken glass to the window...
He walks up to the open window. Looks at the grounds below.
Chunks of DEBRIS litter the ground. Hard to tell in the moonlight just what it is. But some of it is BURNING.
Dyatlov stares at the debris for a moment. Then calmly turns and continues down the hall.
109 EXT. CHERNOBYL POWER PLANT - CONTINUOUS 109
THE BURNING RUBBLE - thick black chunks of GRAPHITE, with smooth channels carved through them.
We lift up from the rubble... and now we see:
REACTOR BUILDING #4 - and the massive GAPING HOLE in its side - tons of steel and graphite and plaster and cinderblock vomited out from the blast...
FIRES burn in scattered pockets where red-hot graphite has ignited the tar-covered roof. Pouring out from somewhere inside the building, BLACK SMOKE. And still, the awful scarlet glow. And still, the impossible BEACON of BLUE LIGHT spiring up...
We hear: crackling static - and a strange, repeating audio tone.
CUT TO BLACK
110 OVER BLACK 110
The tone stops as a new audio signal is connected. Then - voices over a phone or perhaps a radio, speaking Russian.
This is a recording of the actual call made that night.
Translation only is SUBTITLED over black:
PRIPYAT EMERGENCY DISPATCH Hello, is this Military Fire Station 2?
MILITARY FIRE STATION 2
Yes.
PRIPYAT EMERGENCY DISPATCH What's happening with the accident?
MILITARY FIRE STATION 2 Explosion in the main building between third and fourth blocks.
PRIPYAT EMERGENCY DISPATCH Are there people there?
MILITARY FIRE STATION 2
Yes.
(We hear another voice on the military fire station end)
OTHER VOICE Wake up the bosses. Call them.
MILITARY FIRE STATION 2 I already called mine.
OTHER VOICE Wake them up, wake them all up. Wake up the entire officer's block.
AUDIO TONE - then a new call
FIRE DEPARTMENT Fire Department.
PRIPYAT EMERGENCY DISPATCH Hello, Ivankov?
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Yes. Yes?
PRIPYAT FIRE DISPATCH You've been called to Pripyat. Hello?
FIRE DEPARTMENT Yes. Yes I can hear you.
PRIPYAT FIRE DISPATCH At the nuclear plant over there, in the third and fourth blocks. The roof is on fire.
AUDIO TONE - call ends
The black is WIPED OPEN into light, and we're:
111 INT. LYUDMILLA AND VASILY'S APARTMENT - NOW 111
—in a CLOSET, looking out at VASILY, in a t-shirt and uniform pants. He grabs his boots.