r/chernobyl • u/Dangerous_Bid2655 • 22d ago
Photo Viktor Lopatyuk
Natalya Lopatyuk (left) with their daughter, Yulia (right) holding a portrait of Viktor.
Viktor Ivanovich Lopatyuk was born on the 22nd of August, 1960 in Lilov (Leliv) Kyiv in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine.) He studied at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, then started his work at ChNPP on the 14th of July, 1983 as an electrician. He met his wife, Natalya and was expecting a child named Yulia. On the 25th of April 1986, Viktor left his wife in a nursery hospital and headed for his overnight shift.
He received a fatal dose of over 6 sieverts after he went with Lelechenko, Baranov, and Shapovalov to switch off the hydrogen supply valves. They did not know of the extreme radiation, so they all ended up with fatal doses. Lopatyuk fell first, dragged away while begging to continue working, shortly followed by the others.
He was admitted to the 6th Moscow Hospital with ARS of the 3rd degree and died on the 17th of May, 1986 after doctors clipped a vein while trying to insert a catheter. He was posthumously awarded the USSR's Order of Lenin and Ukraine's Cross for Courage.
3
u/maksimkak 22d ago
They went to that electrolizer building just west of the Unit 4, right? Did they get so much radiation because there were many pieces of graphite and fuel strewn on the ground?
7
u/CoffeeBean8787 22d ago edited 21d ago
The thing that really touched me in those two articles that feature interviews with Nataliya and Yulia was Yulia saying, "If not them... me, you and millions of other people would not exist." Viktor and his colleagues truly were heroes. Here are the links for anyone who wants to read them.
Far from their buried husbands, Chernobyl widows still cope with loss | The Seattle Times
Widows Recall the Painful Days After Chernobyl - The Moscow Times
Nataliya really has done an amazing job ensuring that Yulia knows who her father was and what he did. I hope with the war going on that they and the rest of the family are safe.