Valery Khodemchuk

Valery Ilyich Khodemchuk (Ukrainian: Валерій Ілліч Ходемчук; Russian: Валерий Ильич Ходемчук; 24 March 1951 – 26 April 1986) was a Soviet engineer who was the night shift circulating pump operator at the Chernobyl power plant and was the first victim of Chernobyl disaster.

Valery Khodemchuk was born on 24 March 1951 in Kropivnya, Ivankiv Raion, Kiev Oblast.

He began his career at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in September 1973. During his first years at Chernobyl, he held positions of the engineer of boilers, the senior engineer of boilers of the workshop of thermal and underground communications, the operator of the 6th group, the senior operator of the group 7 of the main circulation pump of the 4th unit of the reactor workshop.

On the night of 26 April 1986, Khodemchuk was in one of the main circulation pump engine rooms in the reactor 4 building. He was sent to the engine room to report the results of the safety test to the operators. At approximately 1:23 am (Moscow Time), there were a series of powerful explosions in reactor four. The explosions ripped through the reactor and the surrounding building, including the main circulation pump halls. Valery Khodemchuk was the first person to die in the Chernobyl disaster as it's thought he was killed instantly when the number 4 reactor exploded.

His body was never found and is permanently entombed under the reactor.

In 2008, Khodemchuk was posthumously awarded with the 3rd degree Order For Courage by Viktor Yushchenko, then the President of Ukraine.