The first victim of Chernobyl, standing in the pump hall when the reactor exploded, his body never recovered
Seconds before the explosion, he called a fellow pump operator: "I need to recharge the lower feed for 22… Okay, come on. So it's shortened, one sec…" Those were his last words.
Born in Kropyvnia, Kyiv Oblast, he began working at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1973 and became a senior operator of the main circulation pumps (GCN) in the reactor shop of Unit 4. On the night of 26 April 1986, during a safety test, he was in the northern GCN pump hall when two explosions ripped through the reactor building; he was killed instantly, buried under the debris. His body was never recovered and is presumed entombed inside the Sarcophagus; a memorial plaque marks the dividing wall between Units 3 and 4.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1973Joined Chernobyl NPP as engineer of boilers, later senior engineer (thermal and underground communications workshop)
- 1978Main circulation pump (GCN) operator, later senior operator of Group 7, Unit 4
- 1984Awarded Order of Labor Glory, 3rd class
- 1986.04.26Killed in the Unit 4 explosion during a safety test, stationed in the northern GCN pump hall
- 1986.12Posthumously awarded Order of the Badge of Honor
- 2008Posthumously awarded Order For Courage, 3rd class (Ukraine)
Related historical events
The Unit 4 explosion and the unrecovered remains
Khodemchuk was on night duty in the northern main-circulation-pump hall of Unit 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant when the accident occurred on 26 April 1986. The explosions destroyed the pump hall where he was working, and he was one of the two plant workers who died as a result of the accident. His body was never found. It may have been buried beneath the debris or destroyed by the heat of the explosion, but the precise cause of death has not been established. A memorial to him was built into the interior dividing wall of the shelter over the Unit 4 wreckage, and a cenotaph was installed at Moscow’s Mitinskoe Cemetery in 1998. The claim that his remains lie inside the shelter should therefore be treated as an assumption, not a confirmed burial fact.