《切爾諾貝利》

宋云峰

切爾諾貝利核事故，或稱“切爾諾貝利事件”，是一起發生在蘇聯時期烏克蘭境內切爾諾貝利核電站的核子反應堆事故。該事故被認為是歷史上最嚴重的核電事故，也是首例被國際核事故分級表評為第七級事故的特大事故（第二例是2011年3月11日發生在日本福島縣的福島第一核電站事故）。核電站附近的普里皮亞季城因此被廢棄。1986年4月26日凌晨1點23分，烏克蘭普里皮亞季附近的切爾諾貝利核電廠第四號反應堆發生了爆炸。連續爆炸引起了大火并將大量高能輻射物質擴散到大氣層中，輻射塵埃涵蓋了東歐和北歐大面積區域。這次事故所釋放出的輻射劑量是二戰時期爆炸于廣島的原子彈的400倍以上。這場災難總共造成大約兩千億美元的損失，是近代歷史中代價最“昂貴”的災難事件。2019年5月，美國HBO影視公司與英國天空電視臺（Sky）合作拍攝的五集電視劇《切爾諾貝利》（Chernobyl）開播。在事故發生三十多年后重新審視事故的過程，仍令人心有余悸。《切爾諾貝利》試圖以紀實電視劇（docudrama）的形式（劇中主要情節依據真人真事改編）還原事故的真相，然而，完全的真相也許永遠不為人所知，核污染對人類和環境造成的長期損害也無可估量。巧妙的是，這部連續劇從第一集到最后一集，在故事結構上作了一個閉環處理，以負責處理核事故的科學顧問兩年后自殺并留下錄音遺言將觀眾帶入兩年前的那場核災難。

第一集的標題《1： 23： 45》，是被蘇聯當局召來處理這起核事故的科學家萊加索夫教授（Valery Legasov）兩年后（1988年）在家中自殺的時間，由此帶入兩年前（1986年）發生的那場核災難。兩年來，萊加索夫一直承受著政府的壓力，不敢向公眾和國際社會披露核事故的真相。他最終選擇在錄音機上錄下六盤真相記錄后自殺。他的證言充滿了對謊言和官僚主義的譴責：真正的危險是如果我們聽了太多的謊言，我們就再也認不清事實了。（The real danger is that if we hear enough lies， then we no longer recognize the truth at all.）核事故直接責任人迪亞特洛夫（Dyatlov，系核電廠副總工程師，當時負責對四號核反應堆進行汽輪機違規測試而引發核反應堆爆炸）死有余辜卻僅被判了十年徒刑。正義何在？出現這種境況究竟該怪誰呢？（Who is to blame？）

What is the cost of lies？ Its not that well mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies， then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then？ What else is left to abandon even the hope of truth and conten（t使滿足）ourselves instead with stories（傳說，故事）？ In these stories， it doesnt matter who the heroes are. All we want to know is： “Who is to blame？” In this story， it was Anatoly Dyatlov. He was the best choice. An arrogant， unpleasant man， he ran the room（核電站控制室）that night， he gave the orders... and no friends. Or at least， not important ones. And now Dyatlov will spend the next ten years in a prison labor camp（監獄勞改營）. Of course， that sentence is doubly unfair. There were far greater criminals（指間接造成核事故瞞報和拖延處理核事故的核電廠廠長、總工程師以及政府各級官員們）than him at work. And as for what Dyatlov did do， the man doesnt deserve prison. He deserves death.

萊加索夫在譴責了造成核事故的直接責任人和政府的官僚作風之后，決定將真相錄下來留給后人，盡管他的證言仍可能被一如既往地否認。（Theyll deny it， of course. They always do.）

“But instead， ten years for ‘criminal mismanagement（管理不當罪）. What does that mean？ No one knows. It doesnt matter. What does matter is that， to them， justice was done. Because， you see， to them， a just world is a sane（理智的，正常的）world. There was nothing sane about Chernobyl. What happened there， what happened after， even the good we did， all of it... all of it， madness. Well， Ive given you everything I know. Theyll deny（否認）it， of course. They always do. I know youll try your best.”

接下來，故事閃回到兩年前的事故現場。四號核反應堆由于對汽輪機進行違規測試而發生了爆炸。收到手下緊急報告后，負責測試的控制室副總工程師迪亞特洛夫錯誤地判斷是冷卻水箱（water tank）破裂，因為他固執地認為，核反應堆固若金湯，是不可能發生爆炸的。

Aleksandr Akimov： Comrade Dyatlov？ Comrade Dyatlov？！

Anatoly Dyatlov： What just happened？

Leonid Toptunov： I dont know.

Vyacheslav Brazhnik： Theres a fire in the turbine hall（汽輪機室）.

Dyatlov： The turbine hall... The control system tank（控制系統的冷卻水箱）. Hydrogen（氫氣）.[addressing Akimov] You and Toptunov， you morons（蠢貨）blew the tank.

Toptunov： No， thats not—

Dyatlov： This is an emergency， everyone stays calm. Our first priority is to—

Valeriy Perevozchenko： It exploded！

Dyatlov： We know. Akimov， are we cooling the reactor core（給核反應堆內核降溫）？

Akimov： We shut it down， but the control rods（控制棒）are still... Theyre not all the way in（控制棒沒有全部插入內核）， I disengaged the clutch（松開了離合器）—

Dyatlov： Alright， Ill disconnect the servos（伺服傳動裝置）from the standby console（備用控制臺）. [to two other engineers] You two， get the backup pumps（備用水泵）running， we need water moving through the core（需要用水澆內核來降溫）， that is all that matters！

Perevozchenko： There is no core！ It exploded， the core exploded！

[Beat as all the engineers stare at Perevozchenko in disbelief and fear ]

Dyatlov： Hes in shock（被震糊涂了）， get him out of here.

Perevozchenko： The lid is off. The stack（煙囪）is burning， I saw it.

Dyatlov： Youre confused， RBMK（石墨核反應堆）reactor cores dont explode. Akimov！

Akimov： [to Toptunov] Dont worry， we did everything right. Something... something strange has happened.

Toptunov： Do you taste metal？（嘴里嘗到金屬味道沒？）

Dyatlov： Akimov！

Akimov： [to Perevozchenko] Comrade Perevozchenko， what youre saying is physically impossible. The core cant explode. It has to be the tank.

[Perevozchenko wordlessly shakes his head]

Dyatlov： Were wasting time. Lets go. Get the hydrogen（氫氣）out of the generators（發電機組）and pump water into the core.

Brazhnik： What about the fire？

Dyatlov： [annoyed； as if it were obvious] Call the fire brigade（消防隊）. [storms out ]

與此同時，本地和臨近地區的消防隊被緊急調集到核電廠，集中力量來用水“滅火”，消防隊成員包括當地的帥小伙瓦西里（Vasily）。他是從睡夢中被叫醒去救援的，而他的妻子柳德米拉聽到驚動整個城市的爆炸聲，看到火光沖天和濃煙滾滾，對丈夫的安危非常擔憂。

在核電廠召開的緊急會議上，負責測量輻射量的工程師匯報了測到的極高（爆表）輻射量并說看到了只有核反應堆內部才可能有的石墨，斷定核反應堆內核發生了爆炸。迪亞特洛夫仍固執否認四號核反應堆爆炸的可能性，因為核燃料只會融穿保護層。

[April 26， 1986： Meeting in the power plant office， engineer Anatoly Sitnikov reports high radiation in reactor 4 ]

Dyatlov： Whats wrong with you？ Howd you get that number from feedwater（冷卻水）leaking from a blown tank？

Anatoly Sitnikov： You dont.

Dyatlov： Then what the fuck are you talking about？

Sitnikov： I... [clears throat ] I walked around the exterior of building 4. I think theres graphite（石墨）on the ground in the rubble（碎片）.

Dyatlov： You didnt see graphite.

Sitnikov： I did.

Dyatlov： You didnt. YOU DIDNT！ Because its NOT THERE！

Nikolai Fomin（核電廠總工程師）： What， are you suggesting the core... what？ Exploded？

Sitnikov： [almost a whisper ] Yes.

Fomin： Sitnikov， youre a nuclear engineer. So am I. So please tell me how an RBMK reactor core explodes. Not a meltdown（融化）， an explosion. Id love to know.

Sitnikov： I cant.

Fomin： Are you stupid？

Sitnikov： No.

Fomin： Then why cant you？

Sitnikov： I... [stammers ] I dont see how it could explode. [Fomin looks satisfied ] But it did.

Dyatlov： [pounds the table] Enough！ Ill go up to the vent（廢氣出口）block roof. From there， you can look right down into reactor building 4. Ill see it with my own... with my own eyes. [vomits on the table] I apologize. [collapses]

接下來，核電廠管理層與當地政府執行委員會就事故舉行了聯合會議。會上有人對核事故潛在的危害提出質疑，建議撤離當地所有居民，但是執委會負責人則將處理好核反應堆事故上升到事關國家機密和蘇聯聲譽的政治任務高度，建議封鎖該地區，防止核事故消息外傳，并向上級謊報軍情，試圖掩蓋真相。

Zharkov： I wonder how many of you know the name of this place. We all call it “Chernobyl”， of course. What is its real name？

Viktor Bryukhanov： The Vladimir I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station（弗拉迪米爾·伊里奇·列寧核電站）.

Zharkov： Exactly. Vladimir I. Lenin. [points to the image of Lenin on the nearby wall] And how proud he would be of you all tonight. Especially you， young man， the passion you have for the people. For is that not the sole purpose of the apparatus（機構）of the State？ Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we fall prey to fear（成為恐懼的犧牲品）. But our faith in Soviet socialism will always be rewarded. Now the State tells us the situation here is not dangerous. Have faith， comrades. The State tells us it wants to prevent a panic. Listen well！ Its true， when the people see the police， they will be afraid. But it is my experience that when the people ask questions that are not in their own best interest， they should simply be told to keep their minds on their labor and leave matters of the State to the State. We seal off（封鎖，隔離）the city. No one leaves. And cut the phone lines. Contain（控制，遏制）the spread of misinformation. That is how we keep the people from undermining（破壞）the fruits of their own labor. Yes， comrades... we will all be rewarded for what we do here tonight. This is our moment to shine.

可憐的當地居民對核輻射的危害一無所知，有些居民甚至靠近事故現場觀看救火情形。

切爾諾貝利核事故發生后不久，歐洲國家（檢測到飄散在大氣中的放射性塵埃）和美國（衛星照相事故現場）都測試或觀察到切爾諾貝利核電站的爆炸、大火和由此引起的濃煙粉塵，紛紛向蘇聯政府提出質詢。由于接到的報告說這是個小事故，并且已得到控制，蘇聯政府對國際社會矢口否認核物質擴散的問題。核反應堆專家萊加洛夫就是在這一背景下被召到莫斯科，參加由蘇共總書記戈爾巴喬夫召集的緊急高層應對會議。那么，他們是怎樣應對事故的呢？