Having fulfilled his civic duty to the end, Valery Hodemchuk is the only employee of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, whom he directly overtook in the 4th power unit, where he found a grave under one hundred and thirty tons of concrete debris. What kind of man was this and how was his fate formed? And who else of his friends became victims of a terrible accident on a tragic day on April 26?
Sorrow of mother
Valery was a caring son, regularly visiting his mother, who lives in the village of Krapivnoye, Kiev region, in his small homeland. Spring is the time when traditionally the villagers plant potatoes, so after the shift on Saturday morning, his whole family, together with the children, planned to go to help Anna Isaakovna in agricultural work.
Saturday, April 26, 1986, mother Valery Hodemchuk spent anxious, because her son never broke his promise. In the morning on Sunday, anxiety intensified, and in the evening the first buses with evacuated appeared in the village. A daughter-in-law with children entered the house of Anna Isaakovna. She was to learn the terrible truth about the tragedy.
Her whole life ran before her eyes: how all the wounded husband Ilya returned from the war. He was without a leg, with a burnt soul and severe physical ailments. Soon he died of wounds, and she remained, a simple collective farm unit, with four children in her arms. Valera was the youngest, he was one and a half years old. He grew up quiet and shy, but he understood early on the example of his parents what a sense of duty is. In relation to mother, relatives, Motherland.
Pripyat is a dream city
In the seventies, along with the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the city of Pripyat, founded on 02/04/1970, grew up and developed, destined to become an atomic city. Places on the Pripyat River are notable for recreation. A blessed area in which mushrooms in the summer, even with an oblique scythe, fish in the river can be caught without attachments to an ordinary hook, and forest berries grow right under your feet. Favorite vacation spot for thousands of people settled down by newcomers.
New families were created in the young settlement, children were born more often than in other cities. By 1986, about fifty thousand inhabitants, including 15,406 children, already lived in Pripyat. It was here that on a Komsomol trip after serving in the ranks of the Soviet Army Valery Hodemchuk, whose biography was closely intertwined with the Chernobyl NPP, arrived.
Labor path, family
His working career began with the profession of a driver, but very soon the Komsomolets began to work directly at the nuclear power plant, going from a boiler operator to a senior operator of the RC-2 center. Hodemchuk Valery Ilyich, born in 1951, was respected by his colleagues, his portrait hung on the city Hall of Fame. By the age of thirty, he already had two government awards: the Order of the Badge of Honor and the Order of Labor Glory of the II degree.
He stuck with his soul to these places. He loved hunting, and Polesie is a paradise for lovers of such leisure. Here he created a family, meeting a dark-haired girl with gray-green eyes. The wife of Valery Hodemchuk, Natalya Romanovna, also worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a pumping station operator. By fate, on April 22, the couple celebrated the wedding anniversary. The family brought up two children: by 1986, Oleg went to the second grade, and Larisa - in the sixth. The daughter inherited from her father curly hair, eye color, scattered eyebrows.
Life took its course, and the family made new plans. Nothing seemed to portend trouble.
Chernobyl accident
In December 1983, the 4th power unit was commissioned. Employees were convinced that modern technology, multiple locks and computer equipment would protect them from any chance. Alas, the creators of the new reactor did not provide protection important for people, and the chain of violations of its operating instructions tragically ended on the night of the standard tests with a terrible explosion of the power unit. Radiation dust spread through Ukraine, Belarus, 14 regions of Russia, covering the territory of Western Europe with a terrible cloud.
The Chernobyl accident occurred on the night of Saturday, April 26th. From the explosions (there were two), the metal structures of the top of the reactor moved, the pipes collapsed, the discharge side and the make-up compartment of the reactor collapsed, part of the building collapsed. Radioactive fragments hit the roof of not only the reactor building, but also the turbine building. A partial collapse of the roof of the turbine hall (second stage of the station) took place, where the senior operator Hodemchuk carried his labor shift.
From the recollections of eyewitnesses
At the station, 134 people worked at night. Those who were closer to the engine room recall that they took the explosions as blows, taking them for a failure of the turbine blades. The alarm turned on, highlighting the problem at power unit 4. Everyone ran there. Most interested in the machine room, where there were flammable hydrogen and engine oil. Seeing the collapse of the roof, everyone tried to communicate information to the control room of the 4th block, mistakenly believing that it was necessary to pour water to cool the reactor.
In the first minutes, no one understood the scale of the tragedy, because old dosimeters could not measure the real power of the radiation level. The Chernobyl accident revealed a complete unpreparedness of personnel for such a development of events. And towards the firemen who arrived on fire after seven minutes, they already carried the burnt Vladimir Shashenka, an engineer at the Smolenskatomenergonaladka production enterprise, who had arrived on a business trip to monitor the progress of the nightly tests of the reactor. Until 1984, he worked directly at a nuclear power plant, having transferred to a commissioning enterprise in order to transfer to work in his specialty after graduating from an industrial college in Konotop.
He will die at six in the morning from burns, an unthinkable share of radiation and a fracture of the spine. Being shocked by pain, being conscious, he constantly kept repeating: “There Valera ...”. It was about his friend and year-old Valeria Hodemchuk.
The death of the senior operator RCP-2
Before the first explosion at the station, shaking began, engulfing the circular pumps. Valery Hodemchuk, without hesitation for a second, rushed to danger to identify the causes of the emergency situation. He acted automatically, as prompted by duty, not trying to shift responsibility to subordinates. He was covered in an explosion, burying the body under one hundred and thirty tons of concrete debris. Between the entrance to the hall and the main circular pumps a failure occurred. The commissioning engineer was the first witness to the death of a friend, rushing to help him at the cost of his life.
Valery Hodemchuk and Vladimir Shashenok are the first victims of a terrible accident. In total, 108 people were hospitalized on the first day (another 24 on the second day of the accident). Some of them are those who until the last tried to save the senior operator. V. Perevozchenko, shift supervisor, crawled along the console through an educated failure into the operators room, but in vain. No one wanted to believe in the death of a friend. Senior mechanical engineer A. Yuvchenko three times tried to get into a dangerous place, suffocating from radioactive dust and smoke. Searches did not stop until seven in the morning. Only the order to transfer the shift and leave the dangerous object buried the hope of finding the body of a senior operator.
Other Chernobyl victims
Until today, there is no accounting for those killed in the disaster. WHO considers the official number of 4 thousand people. It is known that on the day of the accident and over the next month, 31 people died, including firefighter heroes who prevented a more terrible catastrophe. Chernobyl employees were missing twenty-one specialists. 19 died of radiation sickness, having received a dose of radiation incompatible with life, all of them accepted death with dignity.
Full list of deceased NPP employees:
- Hodemchuk Valery Ilyich, buried under the rubble as a result of the explosion, the body was not found. Senior operator.
- Shashenok Vladimir Nikolaevich, died of radiation sickness, burns and spinal fracture. Engineer.
- Lelechenko Alexander Grigoryevich, died from radiation sickness, which developed as a result of four-day work to eliminate the accident along with workers in the electric workshop. Deputy shift supervisor.
- Shapovalov Anatoly Ivanovich, participated in the localization of the accident at the station's electrical appliances. Electrician.
- Anatoly Ivanovich Baranov, who did not allow the fire to spread to other blocks. Electrician.
- Lopatyuk Victor Ivanovich, stood in the way of the spread of fire. Electrician.
- Yuri Ivanovich Konoval, prevented the development of a fire. Electrician.
- Brazhnik Vyacheslav Stepanovich, blocked the oil pipe, preventing the spread of fire. Steam Turbine Engineer.
- Vershinin Yuri Anatolyevich, participated in extinguishing a fire in the engine room. Crawler.
- Degtyarenko Viktor Mikhailovich, in addition to extinguishing the fire, carried his colleagues out from under the rubble. The duty operator.
- Ivanenko Ekaterina Alexandrovna, did not leave her post as an employee of private security until the end.
- Luzganova Klavdiya Ivanovna, also an employee of private security.
- Kurguz Anatoly Kharlampievich, saved people from the rubble. Senior operator.
- Kudryavtsev Alexander Gennadievich, carried out a survey of the reactor after the accident. Senior engineer.
- Novik Alexander Vasilievich, participated in extinguishing a fire in the engine room. Crawler.
- Akimov Alexander Fedorovich, was engaged in determining the scale of the disaster and the localization of the consequences. Shift Supervisor.
- Perevozchenko Valery Ivanovich, at the cost of his life, he saved his subordinates. Shift Supervisor.
- Perchuk Konstantin Grigoryevich, at the cost of his life, stopped the leakage of water from deaerators. Senior Machinist
- Proskuryakov Viktor Vasilyevich, took all measures to prevent the spread of the accident. Senior engineer.
- Sitnikov Anatoly Andreyevich, personally examined the emergency reactor. Deputy Director of the Chernobyl NPP.
- Toptunov Leonid Fedorovich, took all measures at BS-4 to localize the accident. Senior engineer.
One hundred thirty-one people were diagnosed with radiation sickness, 80 of whom died in the following years. Presumably another 60 thousand people (liquidators) suffer from other diseases due to high doses of radiation.
The funeral of the first victims of the accident
Shashenok V.N. found refuge in the village cemetery in Chistogalovka, the rest of the heroes, including firefighters and Chernobyl employees, were buried in the Mitinsky cemetery in Moscow, where all safety precautions were met. This is due to the fact that most of them died in Moscow Clinical Hospital No. 6. Today, it’s a shame to realize that domestic medicine has not done everything in its power to save people. There is an opinion about the fallacy of Dr. Gale’s method used to treat radiation sickness. This is confirmed by the success of Kiev doctors, who, in turn, managed to save all of their patients, except for Alexander Lelechenko, who received more than 1,500 x-rays (a lethal dose of 700).
The bodies wrapped in film were buried in wooden coffins sewn in zinc to avoid penetrating radiation. Later, the entire burial site was flooded with concrete. After 11 years, justice was restored and a symbolic plate with a bust was installed on the resting place of the Chernobyl heroes in the Mitinsky cemetery. This is a kind of grave, in which Valery Hodemchuk as if revives in stone. Chernobyl deprived him of the opportunity to be buried according to Christian customs.
Human memory
Every year on the anniversary of the event, liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, relatives and simply indifferent people come to the Mitinsky cemetery. A memorial was created in memory of the victims, a chapel was built. Mourning events are being held, to which the Chernobyl Union of Russia helps to come. The memorial is a wonderful monument of art, symbolizing the person who protected the world from a nuclear threat, as if protecting every inhabitant of planet Earth from a radiation cloud. And the words from John crown the feat of everyone lying under the concrete slabs:
"There is no greater love than if someone lay down his soul for his friends."
Since Valery Hodemchuk was memorialized in this cemetery , his widow Natalya Romanovna came to Moscow every year, as if meeting with her husband. Her soul is not calm until now, because the body of a loved one was never interred. Yes, and the last moments of life remained shrouded in one famous secret, which is unlikely to be solved. Photos of the disfigured mummy, the supposedly mutated corpse of a senior operator found on the territory of the nuclear power plant, are walking on the Web. But there is not a single official confirmation of this fact.
The Chernobyl accident happened thirty years ago. On the thirtieth anniversary of the tragic events in Moscow, Natalia Hodemchuk could not come, which will remain on the conscience of those who did everything to quarrel the peoples of Ukraine and Russia. But relatives have another place where they always try to get on the birthday of a dear person (March 24). This is the third power unit, which ceased to function only in December 2000.
Valery Hodemchuk as a symbol of courage and duty
The first plaque with a portrait of a heroic senior operator is installed inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, access to which is closed to everyone. The main intrigue is that she always has fresh, fresh flowers. This gives us hope that human memory is alive and stronger than fear of the invisible power of radiation. This is done not only by people who personally knew this curly, kind, but fair person, but also those who believe that peace is held by such people. Chernobyl is not only a tragedy, it is the greatest human achievement and warning to all the people of the Earth how much we are connected by a single invisible thread. Nuclear tragedy knows no bounds.
In 2008, Ukraine eliminated the injustice against Valery Hodemchuk and his role in the liquidation of the accident, posthumously awarding the Order for Courage of the III degree.