It Wasn't Like the Chernobyl Series: The True Story of Three "Divers" | Chornobyl Uncharted Ep 19

Video Description

Among many stories of the Chernobyl disaster, this one is perhaps the most mythologized – the story of three engineers – Alexei Ananenko, Boris Baranov and Valery Bespalov. They ventured into the depths beneath Reactor 4 to open the valves and drain the steam bubbler pool. With help from the media, they were nicknamed "divers," and a dramatic representation of this version can be seen, for example, in the famous HBO "Chernobyl" miniseries. We, however, decided to take a different approach, reach those people, and find the truth. What followed evolved from fact-checking into a massive investigation based on room layouts and hall plans, combined with old documents aiming to reconstruct their route. All this gives a completely different level of understanding of what that operation was and how exactly it was carried out. This is the story of three heroes. 00:00 Into the darkness 00:40 The hardest May 02:48 A not so easy task 03:45 Ananenko, Bespalov, Baranov 05:42 Reconstructing the route 10:30 The descent 11:45 After the operation 13:07 What studies in the pool revealed 13:57 Legacy Dive into a rabbit hole of Chornobyl: https://patreon.com/thechernobylfamily Buy Fuzik (the Cat) a treat: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chernobylfamily Our posters: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113145981