Bocharov’s task in Chernobyl was the most demanding yet faced by the Sredmash engineers at the site. It was his responsibility to close the steel coffin around Unit Four—by roofing over the wrecked central hall and completing a thick concrete wall between Units Three and Four. This would isolate the ruined section of the building from the rest of the plant and allow the remaining reactors to resume normal operation. But the project had already fallen behind schedule, and the revised completion dates were as absurd as ever.
