♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
CRAIG MAZIN: Chernobyl
 was a nuclear power plant
 in Soviet Ukraine.
On April 26, 1986,
they were running a safety test
that went horribly wrong,
and the nuclear reactor
exploded.
BORIS SHCHERBINA:
 I'm pleased to report
 that the situation
 in Chernobyl is stable.
In terms of radiation,
I'm told it's the equivalent
of a chest X-ray.
What baffled me
was how little I knew
about what actually happened
and the magnitude
of the whole thing.
♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Chernobyl was a nuclear accident
that was unprecedented.
They had to figure out
how to stop the nuclear fuel
 from melting down
 into the water
and poisoning the continent
of Europe.
You don't understand.
This isn't a fire.
VALERY LEGASOV: The heat will
 instantly vaporize the water--
How do we put it out?
JARED HARRIS: There was no way
 to safely solve this problem.
Everything is complex.
 How can we make
 the least damage?
EMILY WATSON:
 You see this cataclysmic event
 unfolding
in so many different directions.
JOHAN RENCK: Seven hundred
 and fifty thousand people
 helped clean this place up.
MAZIN: People who worked
 at the plant,
 people who were sent
 to Chernobyl
 to clean up this impossibly
 contaminated area,
 an area that is still
 off-limits today.
Their stories are remarkable.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
