- Savez-vous comment un réacteur nucléaire fonctionne ? - Non. - Dans ce cas, comment saurez-vous ce que vous devrez regarder ?
Ulana Khomyuk : When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and vaporize approximately 7000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion. Michail Gorbatchev : How significant? Ulana Khomyuk : We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a 30-kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. The entirety of the radioactive material in all of the cores will be ejected at force and dispersed by a massive shock wave, which will extend approximately 200 kilometers and likely be fatal to the entire population of Kiev as well as a portion of Minsk. The release of radiation will be severe and will impact all of Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and most of East Germany. Michail Gorbatchev : What do you mean “impact”? Valery Legasov : For much of the area, a nearly permanent disruption of the food and water supply, a steep increase in the rates of cancer and birth defects. I don’t know how many deaths there will be, but many. For Byelorussia and the Ukraine, “impact” means completely uninhabitable for a minimum of 100 years. Michail Gorbatchev : There are more than 50 million people living in Byelorussia and Ukraine. Valery Legasov : Sixty, yes. Michail Gorbatchev : And how long before this happens? Valery Legasov : Approximately 48 to 72 hours.