A technician inside a nuclear control room looks at a radiation meter that reads exactly 3.6 Roentgen (Unit of measurement for gamma-ray exposure) per hour. Moments after the catastrophic explosion tore through Reactor No. 4 in Chernobyl, he reports this number to his superiors, reassuring them that the situation is stable and the damage is manageable. The managers believe him because the number fits their narrative of state-engineered perfection. The fatal error was that this specific low-capacity meter was designed to max out at precisely 3.6. The actual radiation reading outside the fractured walls, unleashed by the blast, was well over 15,000 Roentgen per hour, a lethal dosage that was already melting through concrete, steel and anything in its way. The radioactive core was split open like a tuna can. In mere hours, harmful radiation was spread hundreds of kilometres across its epicentre. This was one of the largest, if not the largest, man-made nuclear disasters in history.
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