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Ablaze Page 42

by Read, Piers Paul;


  Chernobyl nuclear power station explosion, events of next four days, 97–156; alarm goes off at Fosmark, Sweden, 149–50; area sealed off on 26 April, 160; Brukhanov reports to Moscow and Kiev, 101; causes of accident determined, 165–68; civil defence responds, 101–2; commission of inquiry sent by Ryzhkov, 131; efforts to extinguish the fire with sand, 140–44; evacuation of Pripyat: preparations begin, 128–29, 135–37, 145–49, evacuees dispersed, 147–49; firemen and operators show symptoms of acute radiation sickness, 102; fire units respond, 97; first casualties brought to hospital, 99, 111–13; first two units shut down, 135; fission ceases, 139; full military alert ordered, 124; graphite still burning and spewing radioactive particles, 139; KGB and Party officials arrive in bunker, 110; maps of contaminated areas (1 May), 152; medical personnel on general alert, 111; Moscow assured all under control, 109; no major decisions are made, 110; people continue normal activities, 119–20; radiation levels measured, 136; radiation received by casualties, 119, 120; radioactive contamination, sources of, 134–35; radioactivity levels on 29 April, 151–52; reports of numerous casualties, 128; size of crater, 140; statement by Soviets (28 April), 150; summary, events leading to accident, 165–67; team chosen to fly to Chernobyl, 125; team of experts arrives from Moscow, 115; third unit is shut down, 105–6

  Chernobyl nuclear power station explosion, events of 29 April–7 May, 157–86; army medical corps mobilized, 171; bombing of reactor with sand bags, 163, 167, 175–77; Chernobyl and villages evacuated, 175; commission headquarters moved to town of Chernobyl, 162; effect of bombing the core studied, 167; emissions increase on 5 May, 182; emissions suddenly drop on 6 May, 186; fear of new explosion, 176–77; fire in reactor out on 9 May, 186; heat exchanger constructed beneath reactor, 183–84; maps show contamination beyond 30km, 173; nitrogen freezes earth beneath reactor, 184; reactor core getting hotter, 175; second thermal explosion averted, 183–84; temperature of core on 5 May 2300°, 182; water in bubbler pool drained, 177–81;wind carries radionuclides towards Kiev, 157

  Chernobyl Shlyaka, 389

  ‘Chernobyl syndrome’, 376

  Chernobyl (town of): becomes command centre, 172; description of city, 36; evacuated, 175; site to build nuclear power station, 36; trial held here, 299–311

  Chernobyl Union, 349, 372, 394–96

  Chernousenko, Vladimir, xxiii, 409, 441

  children: affected thyroids in, 325, 457–58; growth rate of, 412

  ‘China Syndrome’, 284

  chromosome damage, 190

  Chugunov, Nina, 108, 114–15, 119–20

  Chugunov, Vladimir, 59, 105, 108; in hospital, 205; returns to work at Chernobyl, 292, 431

  Churchill, Winston, 5

  Cinematographers’ Union, 330, 388

  civil defence, 110, 123, 171

  clay, 163

  clothing, type worn at station, 81

  ‘coefficient of risk’, 356

  ‘coffin money’, 373–74, 401

  Commission of Radiation Safety, 154

  Communist Party, 40–42; duplicity and indifference to people, 372; antinuclear ticket in elections, 406; policies of glasnost adopted, 68; prohibited, 448; compensation to victims, 369–70: Chernobyl Law, 397, millions of rubles raised for, 394

  Complex Expedition, 442–44

  Congress of People’s Deputies, 367, 388

  consequences of accident: detailed account in Radyanska Ukraina, 376; remain uncertain in 1992, 457–58 containment structures, lack of, 20

  contamination: beyond 30km zone, 251, 282; of debris from explosion, 134–35; of food, 279, 376; of food chain, 319–24; of forests, 280–81; four zones, 352; information on removed from report, 275; of topsoil, 280–81; of vehicles, 280; within 10km zone, 282

  control rods, 20–21, 38; design fault in, 433

  coolants, 18

  cost of the accident, 299; estimates of, 406–7

  Council on Ecology, 347

  coup attempt, 445–47

  cover-up, 213–14; charges against Ilyn and Israel, 374–75, 382–83; discussion on, 382; as issue in elections, 425; see also information; secrecy

  Criminal Code, 311

  Curie, Irene, 114

  curie (Ci), xxviii

  Dashuk, Alexei and Antonia, 386, 398–99

  Davletbayev, Inze, 50–51, 113, 146, 208, 224–25

  Davletbayev, Razim, 50–51, 52, 82, 86, 208; discusses accident in hospital, 206; gives evidence at trial, 307; health of, five years after accident, 439; recovery, 224–25; return to Islam, 430; sent to hospital in Moscow, 189; surveys the damage, 93–94

  deaths: at Balakovsky (1985), 63–64; from smoking, 458; see also fatalities

  decontamination procedures, see liquidation procedures

  Department of Accelerated Methods of Hydropower Construction, 285

  Der Spiegel, RBMK safety standards, 259–60

  displaced workers, 297

  Dnieper River, contamination of, 281

  Dollezhal, Nikolai: article on nuclear power safety, 25–26; blame for accident, 255, 334; designs reactor at Mayak, 7–9; in retirement, 451–52; rewards, 9

  dolomite, 140

  Donenergo, 76

  dosimeters, 94, 100–1, 323

  Dubowski, Boris, 6, 20–21

  Dubrovika, 398

  Dubrynin, Anatoli, 199

  Duncan, Dr Ken, 420–21

  Dyatlov, Anatoli: appointed deputy chief engineer at Chernobyl, 58–59; arrest and trial, 300–11; awards, 63; blamed for accident, 254; cause of accident design of RBMK-1000, 435; deputy head at Chernobyl, 43; in hospital, 114, 115, 189, 205; orders control rods withdrawn, 83; notes deficiencies at Chernobyl, 61–62; refuses to believe reactor destroyed, 90–93; released from prison, 435; supervises shutdown of fourth reactor, 78–79; takes charge after explosion, 90; work with WERs, 44

  Dyatlov, Valentina, 113–14

  Dzerzhinski, Feliks, 448

  Eaton, William J., 266

  ecological consequences, 26, 354, 357

  economic implications, 406

  elections: antinuclear ticket, 406; Chernobyl as issue in, 425; 1989, 368–69; presidential, 425

  electronic paramagnetic resonance tests, 361

  Electroprojekt, 38

  EMR2 tracked reconnaissance vehicle, 138

  energy, 27

  Erlich, Igor, 283

  Estonia, 279, 363

  evacuation: of Belorussia, 386; of Chernobyl and villages, 175; forced, 323; of Gomel, 320; norms, 154; of Pripyat, 147–48; stress of, 174, 407

  ‘Eye on the Chernobyl Power Station’, 69

  fallout, in Sweden, 149–50

  fast-breeder reactors, 18

  fatalities, xvii, 192–94, 208, 220–23; causes of, 209; final number of, 223; original estimates wrong, 209; rumours about, 233

  fears: about safety of other reactors, 348–49; of second disaster, 349

  Fedulenko, Dr Konstantin, 128–29, 275; criticizes bombing with sand bags, 175–76; determines causes of accident, 164–68

  Feifer, C.G., 42

  Fetisov, Nikolai, 201, 212

  Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl, xviii, 439

  Finland, 357

  Five-Year Plan, 29, 41

  Flerov, Georgi, 3, 5

  Fomin, Nikolai, 43, 53, 104–5; approves test of turbines, 77; arrest and trial, 300–11; assures safety of reactors, 60–61; attempts suicide, 303; awards, 63; blamed for accident, 254; chief engineer at Chernobyl, 58; disbelieves destruction of reactor, 106–7; injury, 73; released from prison, 435; replaced by Plochy, 184; works at Kalinin nuclear power station, 449

  food chain: attempts to ensure uncontaminated, 321–23; pollution of, by chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers, 398; effect of radioactivity on, 319–22

  Fosmark nuclear power station, 149–50

  fossil-fuelled power generation, 12

  fossil fuels, exhaustion of, 27–28

  Fuchs, Klaus, 7

  fuel rods, 19

  Gagarinski, Andrei, 126
/>   Gale, Dr Robert, xxii, 196–200; speaks at press conference, 215–16; meets with Gorbachev, 216–17; recommendations, 201; urges that he talk to press, 210; work ended, 209

  Gale, Tamar, 210, 219

  Gamanyuk, A. S., 306

  gamma radiation, xxvii

  genetic defects, 356–60, 416–18; claims of dismissed, 375

  genocide, 356, 390, 398; Soviets acquitted of charge, 412

  Gerasimov, Gen., 290

  Germany, 229

  gigantism, of oak trees, 358

  ‘glasnost i perestroika’, 68; attack against by Ligachev, 346; in Lithuania, 363–64; in Soviet literature, 331; struggle over, within the Politburo, 328–30; tests of, 362–63; time of historical transition, 393; uncertainty about, 242

  Gobov, Alexander, 165, 166

  Gomel, 173, 282, 361; evacuation of recommended, 320; ground contamination found, 251, 320–21; information on removed from report, 275; levels of radiation in, 385

  Gonzalez, Dr Abel, 418–19, 458

  Gorbachev, Mikhail: addresses nation on 15 May, 257; glasnost i perestroika, 228, 330–31; meeting of Politburo on 28 April, 230; political embarrassment of the accident, 234; programme of reform, 67–68; promises candour about Chernobyl, 315; refuses to cooperate with coup, 446; speaks to nation on 14 May, 213–15

  Gosplan, 11

  Gostev, finance minister, 406

  Gotovchits, Georgi, 397, 422

  graphite, 135, 138

  graphite-moderated reactors, 20

  gray(Gy), xxviii

  Green World, 429; antinuclear ticket in elections, 406; blamed for fomenting fear, 384; claim people still living on contaminated land, 373–74; claim scientists not to be trusted, 392; demonstrates against nuclear power, 367; membership dwindles, 450; report of International Advisory Committee rejected, 413

  Grishenka, Ayona, 120

  Grishenka, Vadim, 59, 108; level of water in bubbler pool, 178; liquidation procedures, 288; stays on at Chernobyl, 431

  Grishenka, Ylena, 108, 119, 146, 148; health of, five years after accident, 439

  Grishenko, Anatoli, 442

  Grishin, Victor, 226

  Grodzinski, Dmitri, 354–60

  Gromyko, Andrei, 67, 226

  Gubarev, Vladimir, 242–45, 342–43, 366; publishes Legasov’s memoirs, 348; writes play Sarcophagus, 265–66, 331–32

  Gumarov, 112

  Guskova, Angelina, 15, 122, 189, 200–1; at meeting in Kiev (1988), 316; dismisses radiation as source of illnesses, 349–50; report to conference in Vienna, 260, 271, 274

  haemopoiesis, 155

  Hammer, Armand, 197–98, 210, 219; at press conference with Gale, 215–16; meets Gorbachev, 216–17

  Hauser, Thomas, xxii

  Haynes, Viktor, xxii

  health care report of International Advisory Committee, 410–12

  helicopters: bomb reactor with sandbags, 162, 167; lower thermocouple into reactor, 283–84

  heroism, 203

  Hero of Socialist Labour, 347

  Hero of the Soviet Union, 341

  Holod, Ylena, 350

  hospital in Pripyat, 111–12

  Hospital No. 6, 189, 200, 223, 438

  House of Culture, Narodici, 371

  hydroelectric power stations, 11

  Hydroprojekt, 253

  ‘I Cannot Give Up My Principles’, 346

  Ignalina, 64, 364

  Ignatenko, Yevgeny, 178

  Ilincy, 405

  Ilyn, Leonid, 15, 122, 152–54; at meeting in Kiev (1988), 316–17; charges against, of cover-up, 374; defends intervention levels, 415–16; dismisses illnesses of liquidators, 350; fear of arrest and imprisonment, 391; flies over destroyed reactor, 161; flies to Kiev, 157; Hero of Socialist Labour, 347; member of medical commission, 171, 187; predictions of cancers, 374; report to conference in Vienna, 260, 271; visits Legasov in hospital, 342

  infant mortality report of International Advisory Committee, 412

  information: classified, 326, 382; controlling release of, 212; Gorbachev speaks to nation on 14 May, 213; press conference (6 May), 210–12; secrecy and misinformation, 230–32; see also cover-up; secrecy

  Ingouri hydroelectric power station, 285

  INSAG-7 report, 456–57

  Institute of Biophysics, 122, 152, 188, 351; criteria of medical care, 250–51; disintegrates, 450; radiation dose, margin of safety set, 251–52

  Institute of Hydrometeorology, 152

  Institute of Physics, Kharkov, 4

  Institute of Radiological Hygiene, 152, 390

  Institute of Radiological Medicine, 390

  Institute of Radiology, 195

  International Advisory Committee: devises work plan for experts, 410; distrust in their findings, 415; health of liquidators excluded, 411, 414–15; report, 410–12: blood analyses, 411, contamination of food and water, 411, dismissed as a whitewash, 413, fears and anxieties of people, 409–10, health consequences of relocation, 412–13, health of inhabitants, 411–12, level of toxic elements, 411–12, rejected by scientists from Belorussia and Ukraine, 413–14; Soviet scientists vindicated by, 416

  International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 239, 257; conference in Vienna, 260, 264, 271–75; doubts about partiality of, 428; forms International Chernobyl Project, 410–24; publishes new report on Chernobyl, 456–58; Soviets ask for help, 409

  International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, 198

  International Chernobyl Project, 410–24; anxieties of those living in contaminated zone, 409–10; findings rejected, 422; summary of, 423–24; see also International Advisory Committee

  International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG), 315

  iodine 131, 136; effect of stable iodine on, 153; half-life of, xxviii

  iodine, see stable iodine

  Ioffe, Abram, 12

  Ionost, 332

  Israel, Yuri: attempts to precipitate rainfall, 282; charged with cover-up, 374; fear of arrest and imprisonment, 391; measures radioactivity in atmosphere, 152; report to conference in Vienna, 260

  Ivanov, Gen., 123–24, 136, 442

  Izvestia, 236

  Jammet, Henri, 195–96

  Jensen, Prof. Hedemann, 420

  Jewish scientists, 24, 50

  Joliet-Curie, Jean-Frederic, 14

  Jovanovich, Prof., 420

  Kalugin, Alexander, 125, 127–29, 175; investigates causes of accident, 164–68, 254–55; report to conference in Vienna, 260

  Kapitsa, Per, 7, 27

  KGB, 11; concealment of 1982 accident, 57; and coup attempt, 447; investigation into criminal offences, 254

  Kharash, Dr Adolf, 400, 403–4

  Khariton, 7, 15

  Khodemchuk, Valeri, 88; killed in initial explosion, 192, 214; lost in wreckage, 112–13

  Khrushchev, Nikita, 10, 16

  Kibenok, Lt, 98; dies on 10 May, 208; heroism of, 203; taken to hospital, 111

  Kiev: advice by health minister, 248; citizens flee city, 248; level of radioactivity on 29 April, 157; May Day parade, 158–59, 169; school term ends on 15 May, 250

  Kiev Sea, 281

  Kikoyin, 7

  Kirillin, Vladimir, 11

  Kirschenbaum, Alla, 79, 440

  Kirschenbaum, Igor, 79–80, 82, 85; dismissed by Akimov, 90, 92; gives evidence at trial, 397

  Kizima, Vasili, 133; heads construction at Chernobyl, 42–43, 50; liquidation procedures, 288; praised and decorated, 52

  Klimov, Vladimir, 22

  Knijnikov, Victor, 318–20, 360, 398; faces charge of genocide, 390; health of, five years after accident, 441; predictions of cancers, 361, 374

  Kolinko, Vladimir, 374–75, 381–82

  Kolski nuclear power station, 18

  Komsomolsk, 44, 45, 105, 114–15

  Komsomol Youth Movement, 146, 169

  Konoplia, Prof., 389, 416

  Koreshkov, Victor, 350, 441

  Korotich, Vitaly, 330

  Korotkov, Eduard, 283, 349

  Koryakin, Yuri, 25, 407
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br />   Kostenecka, Marina, 279–80

  Kovalenko, Alexander, 76; arrest and trial, 300–11; back to work at Chernobyl, 449

  Kovalev, Anatoly, 239

  Kovalevskaya, Lubov, 69–70, 351; article, faults at Chernobyl, 70–72; difficult to get work published, 429; disillusioned about nuclear power, 427–28; disillusioned with Communism, 429; editor of Tribuna Energetica, 69; evacuated from Pripyat, 147; first sees destruction at station, 116–17; health of, five years after accident, 439; report of International Advisory Committee dismissed, 413–14; writes of living conditions during liquidation procedures, 293–94

  Kovalevskaya, Sergei, 70

  Krasnodar, 367

  Krasnozhon, 104

  Kravchenko, Igor, 285

  Kravchuk, Leonid, 450

  Kudriatsev, Alexander, 94–95, 208

  Kulov, Yevgeni, 255, 270

  Kurchatov, Igor, 4–13; code name Borodin, 5; decorations, 9; dies (1957), 15; supervises development of nuclear bomb, 4–6

  Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, 15, 22; becomes museum, 449; experts sent to Chernobyl, 110; investigates causes of accident, 164, 253–54; liquidation procedures, 287; meeting of senior scientists (2 May), 235; no disciplinary measures taken against, 271; report on accident, 126, 260

  Kurdriatsev, Victor, 82

  Kurguz, Anatoli, 91, 111, 208

  Kuropaty victims, 385, 387, 388

  Kursk, 20, 39, 64

  Kyshtym, 14

  Landau, Lev, 5

  Latvians, 279

  Laushkin, Yuri, 76; arrest and trial, 300–11; dies of stomach cancer, 449

  ‘layer of aparatchiks’, 331

  lead, 140

  Legacy of Chernobyl, The, xxii

  Legasov, Alexei, 22

  Legasov, Margarita, 126

  Legasov, Valeri, 126–27, 137, 184; causes of accident, analysis of, 333–34; concerns about nuclear power stations, 28; describes situation to Scherbina, 140; first deputy director, Kurchatov Institute, 22–23; hangs himself, 347; ideas on industrial safety, 343–47; ill-health, 338, 342; leaves for Chernobyl, 127, 132; liquidation procedures, 287; looks at reactor, xxi, 137–38; meets again with Kalugin and Fedulenko, 175; memoirs published, 348; plan for his own institute of industrial safety, 345–46; political zeal, 22; promotions, 22–23; reforms proposed, 339; report to conference in Vienna, 260, 271–74; suicide attempts, 341–42; tries to contain consequences of accident, 260–61

 

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