A nuclear power plant explodes in the Soviet Union — and the government tells lies about it. Most of this story is true.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = E (an explosion) · 2 = G (radiation) · 3 = B (a firefighter) · 4 = H (dangerous)
5 = A (a scientist) · 6 = C (to evacuate) · 7 = D (a lie) · 8 = F (the truth)
Craig Mazin's Chernobyl (HBO/Sky, 2019). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. This is real history, so we tell it carefully and calmly. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
It is late at night on 26 April 1986. At a nuclear power plant called Chernobyl, in Soviet Ukraine, workers are doing a safety test. Something goes wrong, and there is a huge explosion. The roof of the building flies into the air. Radiation — dangerous, invisible energy — pours out into the sky.
Firefighters arrive quickly. Nobody tells them the truth: that this is a nuclear explosion, not a normal fire. So they climb onto the broken building with no special protection. The radiation there is extremely dangerous. Some of these men become very sick within hours, but at first, nobody explains why.
Near the plant, there is a town called Pripyat, where the workers' families live. Nobody warns the people there. Life continues as normal: people go to work, and children play outside in the street.
1. What happened at the Chernobyl power plant, and what came out into the sky?
2. Why were the firefighters in so much danger?
1. A test went wrong and the reactor exploded; dangerous radiation poured out into the sky.
2. Nobody told them it was a nuclear explosion, so they had no protection from the radiation.
The government does not tell the people of Pripyat what has happened. For 36 hours, nobody leaves. Some people even walk to a bridge near the plant to watch the strange, glowing fire, because they do not know it is dangerous. Finally, buses arrive to evacuate the town. People are told to pack only a few things, because they will return in three days. They never go back to live there again.
Scientists arrive to study the accident, including a man called Valery Legasov. It becomes clear the situation is much worse than the government first said. Robots cannot work near the reactor because of the radiation, so brave workers must go onto the roof themselves, for only a minute at a time, to clean it by hand.
The Soviet government does not tell other countries about the accident. But in Sweden, hundreds of kilometres away, machines detect the radiation in the air. This is how the rest of the world first learns something terrible has happened.
1. How long did people in Pripyat wait before they were evacuated, and what were they told?
2. How did other countries first find out about the accident?
1. About 36 hours; they were told to pack lightly because they would return in three days, but they never did.
2. Machines in Sweden detected radiation in the air, so people there realised something had gone wrong.
Later, there is a trial. The government wants to say the accident happened only because two workers made mistakes. But the scientist Legasov knows this is not the whole truth: the reactor itself had a hidden design problem. So, even though it is very dangerous for him, Legasov stands up in court and tells the truth about the design problem.
Because he told the truth, Legasov loses his job and his good name in his own country. Two years after the accident, he dies. His work helps other scientists fix the same problem in other reactors, so this exact accident cannot happen again in the same way.
The story ends by remembering the true human cost: the workers who died, the town that people could never live in again, and the danger that came from a government that did not want to tell the truth.
1. What true thing did Legasov say at the trial?
2. What happened to Legasov because he told the truth?
1. He said the reactor had a hidden design problem, so the accident was not only the workers' fault.
2. He lost his job and his good name, and he died two years after the accident.
This is a true story with lots of causes and results — one thing happens, and because of it, something else happens. English has two simple, everyday words to join these ideas together.
Read the sentence and choose the correct word.
1. Nobody warned the town, people did not evacuate in time. (the result)
2. The firefighters got sick they had no protection from the radiation. (the reason)
3. Legasov knew the truth, he decided to speak at the trial. (the result)
1. so (gives the result)
2. because (gives the reason)
3. so (gives the result)
Put the correct verb form in the gap. Then read the sentence out loud.
1. The town evacuated because the radiation (be) too dangerous.
2. Legasov told the truth, so he (lose) his job.
3. Robots could not work near the reactor, so people (have) to clean it by hand.
1. was (reason clause, past simple)
2. lost (result, past simple)
3. had (result, past simple)
Fill each gap with so or because. Read it aloud when you finish.
Nobody told the firefighters the truth, they had no protection. The town waited 36 hours the government did not want to admit the danger. Legasov knew the design was wrong, he told the court, even though it was dangerous for him.
so (result) · because (reason) · so (result)
Remember: the reason comes with because; the result comes after so.
Almost everything in this story really happened. The writer, Craig Mazin, studied the real history very carefully. But a few small parts of the story were changed to make better television.
The reactor really did have a hidden design problem. The emergency shutdown button was supposed to make the reactor safe. But because of a mistake in the design, pressing that button first made the reaction more dangerous, for a few seconds, before it finally worked. This was a true, serious design fault, and some scientists had already worried about it before the accident.
The 36-hour wait before evacuating the town is true, and it is also true that Sweden — not the Soviet Union — first told the world about the radiation. Scientists agree that 31 people died directly and quickly because of the accident: mostly firefighters and workers who received a deadly dose of radiation. About 200,000 people worked on the clean-up afterwards.
How many people died later, from cancer caused by the radiation, is still argued about today. Some studies say around 4,000; other studies say many more. This is one part of the story where even scientists do not fully agree.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Chernobyl in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a safety test goes wrong and the reactor explodes → firefighters arrive with no protection → the government waits 36 hours to evacuate the town → scientists discover the hidden design problem → Legasov tells the truth at the trial.
Try to use some key words (explosion, radiation, firefighter, dangerous, scientist, evacuate, lie, truth) and so / because.
Legasov tells the truth even though it is dangerous for him. Was this the right choice? What would you do in his place — stay quiet and safe, or speak up and lose everything? Say why.
Talk about honesty and danger. Use so and because.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: