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
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