DISINFO: Chernobyl series distorts reality in order to damage Rosatom's image
SUMMARY
Many facts presented in the Chernobyl series are completely wrong. Half the staff of the plant is shown to be idiotic, the administration is generally weak, it is insulting. The idea comes up that the series aims to damage the reputation of Rosatom, which for 15 years has taken 67% of the global nuclear construction market. Fiction remains fiction despite all the efforts to pretend to be a documentary.
RESPONSE
No evidence given regarding the alleged motive behind the series to deliberately damage Rosatom's reputation for commercial purposes. This is a conspiracy theory. Since 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear accident has inspired dozens of documentaries and fiction movies and the new one made in 2019 by HBO and Sky TV takes into account all the latest information available to date. The series was acclaimed by critics, with particular praise for its historical accuracy and attention to detail. The mini-series is based on the recollections of Pripyat locals, as relayed by Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich in her book Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster (also known as Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future), and especially on the recollections of Lyudmila Ignatenko. The series is also based on the audio tapes left by Valery Legasov – the scientist responsible for the subsequent inquiry and the clean-up operation, who ultimately committed suicide. The detailed memories by the deputy lead engineer of the Chernobyl power plant at the time, Anatoly Dyatlov, who was responsible for tests at the plant which ultimately contributed to the explosion, have also been available for five years. Importantly, the Chernobyl series is never presented as a documentary, and openly included a fictional character, a scientist named Ulyana Khomyuk. Furthermore, the Russian Minister for Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, praised the series for its respectful treatment of the ordinary citizens affected by the tragedy.