Still, Velikhov could afford—at last—some optimism. While the desperate work had continued to battle the meltdown beneath the reactor, the levels of radionuclides escaping into the air above it had suddenly started to fall—as steeply and inexplicably as they had begun rising five days before. As Reactor Number Four came into view, Rosen and Blix could see a light trail of smoke drifting from the ruins, but the level of radioactive release, while still significant, was approaching zero—and the graphite fire was apparently all but extinguished. The temperature on the surface of the reactor had
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