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 the first casualty of the Chernobyl disaster.

During his first years at Chernobyl, he held the 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 and the senior operator of the 7th group of the main circulation pump of the 4th unit of the reactor workshop.

So it’s shortened, one sec…" Then, just seconds later, at approximately 1:23:48 a.m. (Moscow Time), two powerful explosions tore through Unit 4, including the main circulation pump halls.

Valery Khodemchuk was the first person to die in the Chernobyl disaster; it is thought he was killed instantly by the blast or crushed by large chunks of falling debris.

[2] A monument to Khodemchuk was built into the side of the Sarcophagus' interior dividing wall, east of the pump hall where he died.