Konvitz felt utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.
The first group of experts had almost all been woken by phone calls before dawn. They hurriedly dressed and rushed to the airport to assemble, studying the reports submitted by Bryukhanov and Fomin on the way while discussing how to restore power to the nuclear plant as quickly as possible.
However, when they arrived at the explosion site, covered in dust and fatigue, they realized that the situation was far more serious than they had imagined. All their previous contingency plans had been based on the reactor remaining intact, and now they were completely useless. They had no choice but to gather information while searching for a new solution.
Before Shcherbina arrived, the experts had argued for a long time over how to put out the fire inside the reactor. Later, while Shcherbina took a helicopter to inspect the reactor, they returned to the office and continued their earlier debate.
Water was the most commonly used firefighting material, but it could not extinguish a nuclear fire. On the contrary, once it evaporated, it would accelerate contamination of the surrounding area. In the end, the scientists decided to use sand to put out the fire, but getting the sand into the reactor was also a troublesome problem. It was not until around three in the morning that Shcherbina found an Air Force commander from the Kiev district and borrowed pilots and helicopters capable of carrying out the mission from him.
Due to the shortage of manpower, some people had no choice but to stay behind and help load the sand. This even included several deputy ministers. Konvitz was luckier, however. He was given a few hours of rest and dragged his exhausted body back to the hotel.
When he unlocked the door with