Alexei Ananenko
Valeri Bezpalov
Boris Baranov
Three Brave Men who literally saved Europe
Ten days after the initial explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, another potential disaster in the making was uncovered beneath the damaged reactor.
Immediately after the accident, large amounts of water were used in a futile attempt to put out the flames burning in the exposed reactor core.
The water came in direct contact with the radioactive materials in the reactor core and got heavily contaminated and it gradually started accumulating into a large pool underneath the reactor core.
Huge quantities of sand, clay and boron mixture were dropped from helicopters into the exposed reactor core in an attempt to bring the fire under control.
However, the immense heat inside the reactor core caused all these materials to form a hot molten lava like substance that was slowly burning through the reactor floor.
If the reactor floor were to be breached, then this lava like material would come in contact with the huge pool of accumulated water beneath the reactor setting off an enormous steam explosion that would release all the remaining 200 plus tons of radioactive materials into air.
The resulting contamination would have been so severe that the entire Europe would have been deemed inhabitable for tens and thousands of years due to radiation.
The only way to avoid this disaster was to drain the 20,000 tons of water that had accumulated beneath the reactor.
However, there was one big problem, the valves for the draining pipes were submerged and hidden deep in the dark radioactive pool of water and no one except Alexie Ananenko an engineer at the plant at that time knew the exact location of the required draining valve.
Everyone present there were aware that diving into the radioactive water was suicidal with absolutely no chance of survival.
They suited up in wetsuits and using scuba equipment and a handheld torch, they were ready for the mission. The trio made one last request “please take care of our families after our death”
Once deep inside the pool of water, they were able to locate the draining pipes, but before locating the actual draining valves, their hand held torch failed due to radiation. Fortunately, they were able to locate and successfully open the valves in dark and resurface.
They were greeted by a group of colleagues who were jumping in joy realizing the importance of the task these three brave men had accomplished.
A fortnight later Ananenko and Bezpalov died at a specialty hospital in Moscow while Baranov managed to hold on a little longer. All three were buried in sealed lead coffins because their bodies were highly radioactive.
Months later experts established that the molten lava like material had indeed breached the reactor floor and poured into the empty pool area immediately after the water had been drained.
The actions of these brave men saved countless lives and their names should go down in history as true heroes!