Valery Bespalov

Valery Bespalov
Валерий Беспалов
Born (1957-09-21) 21 September 1957 (age 67)
CitizenshipUSSR → Ukraine
AwardsHero of Ukraine

Valery Alekseyevich Bespalov (Russian: Валерий Алексеевич Беспалов; Ukrainian: Валерій Олексійович Беспалов, romanizedValerii Oleksiiovych Bespalov; born 21 September 1957) is an engineer who worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. After the Chernobyl disaster, he was one of the three men in the "suicide squad" team to drain the steam suppression pools under the fourth reactor building. In 2019 he was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.[1][2][3]

Despite media reports claiming the three men died of radiation poisoning shortly after the incident, he remains alive in Kyiv as of 2019.[4]

  1. ^ ""Чернобыльские водолазы" удостоились звания "Героя Украины"". Радио Свобода (in Russian). 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  2. ^ "The real story of the Chernobyl divers". Sky HISTORY TV channel. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  3. ^ Kramer, Sarah. "A Chernobyl 'suicide squad' of volunteers helped save Europe — here's their amazing true story". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  4. ^ "Chernobyl survivors assess fact and fiction in TV series". BBC News. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2023-10-09.