This incompetence and the disregard for safety stems directly from the view that the ideology must prevail, beyond all other considerations - dogma above all else!
Where do you start when attributing blame? The design of the reactor and its inherent flaws compared to Western counterparts, built for speed and ease?
Suppressing the issues raised at Leningrad by the KGB et al. that would ultimately induce the final catastrophe? Nonchalant leadership in and above the plant?
Completing the test with such lack of regard for safety protocols and with a staff that did not really have either the knowledge or experience? Anatoly Dyatlov?
The ineptitude of the initial response and reluctance to accept that there was an issue? Like with the workers in the plant, this is not a criticism of the responders.
Rather, it is an open criticism of the leadership and the political system above it, that not only allowed this style of control, but actually let it thrive.
In episode 2, Shcherbina said something along the lines of, "Because it must be done" to the brave divers. But was it not this view that also allowed such failings?
It must be done, regardless of the actual cost. I read about a Soviet nuclear powered plane in the 1950s which worked, whereas the US and UK couldn't.
It baffled them how it was done successfully? It was done successfully because the reactor had little to no shielding (a massive extra weight) to weigh it down.
