proper works cited for 'the pressure that obtains'

[0dense]

(ten fathoms deep in care / ten fathoms down in an element denser than air)

-Edna St Vincent Millay, Above These Cares

Skurge Voice: Behold!
my latest fic: the pressure that obtains (2654 words). gen, teen and up, no archive warnings apply, but heads up for discussion of valery's early moves towards suicidal behavior: somewhere back down the line I heard that he wouldn't take his dosimeter badge with him everywhere onsite, and I think I had to literally stare at the wall for a good moment after that. So, I had to explore that.

This is the first of the two I started back at the end of may before the series wrapped up, and >22.1% was fun but I feel like this one goes much deeper. I got pointers from Caterina, tryingtobealwaystrying, and Cam, and think it all came together in the end! 
I also had this much longer to muck about in background reading, and came up with even more than could fit in the post-text note box on archive, so here we have, in full:

Radiation exposure symptoms rundown*: Tan (1), sore throat (2), loss of appetite (2), pancreatitis (pain that lets up when leaning forward) (at a certain point, eating can have severely negative consequences, but that’s in later stages) (2), insomnia (anxiety, nicotine, radiation) (1, 2). Alopecia (shown in the first episode) is starting to bend the rules, waiting as long as he did. Light sensitivity and difficulty in decontaminating thicker skin eg the palms are general side-effects of radiation exposure.

*I don’t want to actually get into his serious symptoms. And I don’t know the exact timeline of when each would start to manifest. This is as much detail as I want to get into, right here, but I also don’t want to seem like I’m pulling them out of the air for the text.

 

“The on-site head of the commission rotated every two weeks starting 9 May 1986, with various deputy premiers serving their turn as director. These included Ivan Silayev, Yuriy Maslyukov, Lev Voronin, Vladimir Gusev, Genadiy Vedernikov, and Boris Shcherbina.” (3) Shcherbina was also hospitalized sometime around early June, for probable-but-not-confirmed radiation sickness (4), so I guess that puts this sometime past August, at least. But I’m not really counting like that; if Legasov only started to take ill when his hair fell out after several months, movie magic is certainly in effect and things matter less and less. Exactly how much time is Legasov taking offsite? That information has to exist somewhere, but idk, I’m only a pendant when it’s convenient; if I can shape around it that’s nice but I’m not holding to it.

I have no idea what Silayev was like. But he’s first on the list, so I pulled him out.

Izyumov isn’t anyone at all. But speaking of him, now that I look at when I’ve ballparked this, there was actually a cement shortage in the Ukraine sometime in late August 1986 (5), which is why having proquest and insomnia is a perilous combo for me. So who knows, maybe they’re related. Really, I was just thinking about the high-voc stuff that cures quicker vs the kinds used in domestic structures. 
 

Works cited: 

1. Yaroshevsky, Alexey. “Chernobyl blast:Valery Legasov's battle”. RT. TV-Novosti, pub. 27 Apr, 2008. Ed. 28 Apr, 2008. via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvvccmG2dE
2. Самоделова, Светлана. “Как убивали академика Легасова, который провел собственное расследование Чернобыльской катастрофы” Mk.Ru. Московский комсомолец, 26 апреля 2017 https://www.mk.ru/social/2017/04/25/kak-ubivali-akademika-legasova-kotoryy-provel-sobstvennoe-rassledovanie-chernobylskoy-katastrofy.html
   1. Samodelova, Svetlana. Trans. Google Translate. “How Academician Legasov was killed, who conducted his own investigation of the Chernobyl disaster.” Mk.Ru. Moskovsky Komsomolets, 26 April 2017 
   2. I know gtranslate is far from perfect, but I’ve had luck with it for technical jargon despite syntax issues, and ‘myelocytes’ is pretty unambiguous, so I’m rolling with it but will defer to a better translation as soon as it exists
   3. NB that this one also talks about the dosimeter issue itself
3. USA. CIA: Directorate of Intelligence. The Chernobyl’ Accident: Social And Political Implications [redacted]: A Research Paper. December 1987. As sanitized for release 2012/09/12. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP08S01350R000300900002-4.pdf. Also has a code SOV87-100786, fwiw. Thank you someone for getting an FOIA on this, but it’s also a complete headtrip.
4. Schmemann, Serge, "CHERNOBYL MANAGERS PUNISHED PRAVDA: SOME WORKERS MISSING, 'ON THE RUN'" Orlando Sentinel, Jun 16, 1986, pp. A1. ProQuest, doc id 276842170
5. Peracchio, Adrian "ANALYSIS Nuclear Optimism, Despite Chernobyl." Newsday, Aug 31, 1986, pp. 4. ProQuest, doc id 285373727

Further reading: 

• For a further account of the dosimeter issue, I’ve been directed to Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe, by Serhii Plokhy, published 2018, though I haven’t found a copy yet myself. But the reviews are all good. 
  • Thank you tryingtobealwaystrying to setting me on this track; I think their post was the first place I heard about the dosimeter shenanigans back when, and then they were super encouraging on the research front!

speaking of my dive into the research deep end, I of course gave my local library a gander. And what do you know, but every reputable material on Chernobyl is checked out and has a waitlist. Now, this is terribly inconvenient for me personally, but honestly I love it so much - there are 27 whole people on one waitlist, that's such an excellent problem to have. I love this city and how curious we are, and I'm so glad that this show that is raging against passively absorbing a convenient position is inspiring people to look further. Librarians of the world, I hope you know how much I admire your mission.

Comments

[brewsternorth]

Thank you (and your collaborators) for the linkspam! (Here via the fic on AO3.) I think there has to be a bit of handwavery for Mazinverse, but it's good to fit in *some* facts where you can.

[0dense]

:D you're so welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed them as well! Yeah for sure, the story comes first in this situation, but just /gosh/ history is so wild on its own, it would be some sort of shame to let the truth be entirely consumed by drama, wouldn't it??