'We are already dead. Go away.'
That was the message Mykola Malyshev received in the early hours of April 26, 1986.
Malyshev had been working in the control room of Chernobyl Reactor No. 1 when Reactor No. 4 exploded. Workers had inadvertently destabilized the reactor as they prepared to test its turbine system.
The resulting explosions propelled radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Back at Reactor No. 1, the lights started flickering and the building trembled.
The men rushed to the disaster site... and found chaos. Rubble, steam, and blue ionized air surrounded the site.
But the workers already on location waved them off in horror. Their skin was showing signs of radiation burns.
They were as good as dead.
Inside the plant, chief engineer Aleksandr Akimov was doing what any trained professional would do...
He was relying on his tools. The team checked the control room using dosimeters, devices that measure radiation levels...
On the left side of the room, the readings hovered slightly below the dosimeter's maximum level – a high but manageable 3.6 roentgens (units of radiation) per hour.
On the right side, the dosimeters read "off scale." They figured the radiation couldn't be much higher over there.
Based on those readings, Akimov assumed the reactor core was intact... meaning it was still worth saving. He and his team stayed behind to manually pump water into what remained. Since the radiation levels didn't seem all that bad, they wore no special gear.
But the available dosimeters weren't giving a complete picture. You see, the devices capable of recording higher radiation levels had been destroyed in the explosion.
And the reality was far worse than Akimov could have imagined...
Humans are exposed to less than 1 roentgen per year, on average. A full-body dose of 50 to 100 roentgens will cause radiation sickness.
But the Chernobyl team was up against an estimated 15,000 roentgens per hour.
If they'd had access to better dosimeters, the team would have realized the danger...
Instead, Akimov and nearly everyone who stayed with him died within three weeks.
Their equipment did exactly what it was designed to do. The failure was in the design itself.
No one thought they'd ever need to measure more than a few roentgens per hour. In other words, there was no plan for a full meltdown. So when the worst-case scenario unfolded, the crew was doomed by the very tools meant to protect them.
Chernobyl's cascade of breakdowns exposed just how vulnerable even the "best" systems can be. And one of its most haunting lessons is the importance of knowing exactly what you're dealing with.
In an environment where something invisible can kill, incomplete data is as good as a death sentence...
Nuclear technology is seeing a resurgence today... And thankfully, a lot has changed since Chernobyl.
Reactors have gotten smaller, safer, and more efficient. They're one of the most promising sources of clean, stable power.
But while nuclear startups are grabbing headlines, they're nothing without the equipment that makes them safe to run.
The companies supplying the nuclear industry aren't as well-loved. But they're critical behind-the-scenes enablers. And that makes them a valuable overlooked opportunity for investors.
Joel Litman
January 12, 2026
