48 Hours a Day

The conversation with Katarov lasted about half an hour.

Besnova had done her best. Not only did she have to convey Kartarov’s words to Coconut with her mind, but she also had to ask him questions she received from Coconut. The trip was taxing, in particular, the many technical terms that confused her a lot. But in order to play her current role, she had to act as if she knew everything.

That said, she had actually taken the opportunity to learn about the power generation principle of the nuclear power plant and some related knowledge.

As a person who lived in Pripyat, Besnova naturally knew that the existence of this city was inseparable from the nuclear power plant three kilometers away. After all, the first residents here were nuclear power plant construction workers, and their lives revolved around the construction and operation of the plant. Since then, we have long been accustomed to the existence of nuclear power plants.

As for the safety of nuclear power plants, the vice-chairman of the National Nuclear Energy Utilization Commission N. Come in. That’s what Sinev said.

—a reactor is like a furnace, and the reactor operator is like a furnace driver.

Therefore, according to the understanding of Besnova and most of the regular folk, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was simply a large furnace, not unlike other thermal power plants.

The exploration and utilization of nuclear energy in both the Eastern and Western world were now decades old, and the technology had increasingly matured. The unfortunate nuclear accident not long ago on Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, notwithstanding, nuclear power plants were typically safe, especially in the Soviet Union itself. Besnova had hardly seen any reports of nuclear power plant accidents before.

The construction of nuclear power plants had progressed steadily, their completion greatly easing the electricity shortage everywhere in the Soviet Union. Just like the bulk of Soviets, Besonova was also proud of her country’s achievements in the use of nuclear energy.

After listening to Katarov’s answer to the group of experts, however, Besnova realized that the nuclear power plant didn’t seem as safe as she had always imagined. At least, Chernobyl’s reactor wasn’t quite the same as a boiler, but although the steam turbines that generated electricity were all driven by steam, this was perhaps the only commonality between the two.

Fortunately, according to Katarov, although the nuclear accident seemed quite serious, the final outcome was not that bad. A water tank had been blown up, the roof was destroyed, and there was a radiation leak at the scene, but the dose was not too large and was basically under control.

However, the players kept asking Katarov repeatedly if the reactor was really as intact as he said. Besnova also smelled something unusual.

…..

After interrogating Katarov, the players did not immediately go to Asimov and Toptonov. Instead, they first exchanged opinions. The most important thing was to let Coconut take a breather. The latter had already taken off her mask. She hugged the trash can and started to vomit.

“What do you think?” the doctor asked.

Of course, he was not asking Zhang Heng what he thought about the current situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant because everyone from 30 years later knew that it was the reactor that had exploded in the early morning of April 26th and not some bullsh*t water tank. Furthermore, they had been there at the time and witnessed the tragic scene with their own eyes. They, too, had been exposed to lethal doses of radiation. Coconut’s had only scratched her hand a little, but the bleeding had not stopped completely. The situation was getting worse and worse.

Zhang Heng thought about it, “Katarov lied, that’s for sure, but for the time being, we still don’t know which parts of his story are true and which parts are fabricated. Let Coconut rest a while. After that, we’ll have a chat with Akimov and Toptonov. We can compare testimonies after we get them.”

Unfortunately, now that the Vow Rings were being used on Besnova, Zhang Heng could only rely on observation and comparison to detect lies.

After a pause, he continued, “We do have an advantage in investigating Chernobyl because compared to the people of today, we already know the results in advance, and there are many analyses and speculations in the future. However, we also have a disadvantage on our side. The biggest problem is that none of us are nuclear physicists or nuclear power plant designers.

“I also listened carefully to Katarov’s introduction just now, including the working principle of the graphite-moderated boiling water reactor and also this time’s safety test. Although I have a general understanding of what they were doing, this knowledge is far from enough for us to figure out what happened in the reactor at that time and the reason for the Chernobyl accident.”

Coconut was almost done puking. She looked up and said weakly, “We’ve talked to Katarov, but I haven’t received any system notifications. What about you?”

“Me neither.” The doctor shook his head.

“Does that mean we can exclude Katarov?” Coconut asked, “At least it means that he is not the main person responsible for the accident. Although I don’t like him very much, that bastard always intentionally or unintentionally pulled himself out of the middle of the story. He was “coincidentally” not at the scene at several key points. Whether it was when the reactor power was rapidly decreasing or when he pressed the emergency power reduction button later, he was either outside inspecting the work or looking at the dashboard. But no matter what, the system did not react after talking to him.”

“It’s hard to say right now.”

The doctor frowned, “The description of the main mission this time is exceptionally simple. There’s only one sentence—find the key person. But whether it’s “find” or “key person,” there are actually many definitions, especially the word “find.” If we’re referring to our investigation identifying the main culprit, then the conversation just now was clearly not enough to achieve this. Because according to Jartolov’s own description, his responsibility in the accident is not that great.”

Coconut used her uninjured hand to punch a nearby locker. “Call Akimov and Toptonov.”

“Are you sure? You’ve only rested less than five minutes. We still have time,” Zhang Heng said.

“No. I’m fine.”

“Okay, if you really can’t take it anymore, we can stop the interview for now,” the doctor said. Then he signaled for Besnova to call the next person in.

A hint of worry flashed across Besnova’s eyes. She didn’t know what the players were talking about, but she could tell that the first conversation didn’t go as they had expected. In fact, the female nurse was a little lost at the moment. From the moment she was kidnapped, she had been trying to guess the identity of Zhang Heng’s group, but until now, she hadn’t the slightest clue.