HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020668

HOUSE OVERSIGHT 020668 The three men — Alexei Ananenko (second left) and soldiers Valeri Bezpalov (center) and Boris Baranov (far right) — risked their lives o drain the fluid near the reactor during the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1986. After the plant's water-cooling system failed and a pool formed under the reactor to days into the disaster, there was a high risk that the lava-like radioactive substance could melt through the barriers and drop the reactor's core into said pool, causing a steam explosion. Luckily, the men were able to drain the fluid and spectacularly, all three survived. #3 Cher Arni