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by Read, Piers Paul;


  Leipinski, 4

  Lelechenko, Alexander, 107–8, 112, 119, 192–94; dies, 194

  Lelechenko, Lubov, 117–18, 146, 149, 192–94

  Lelechenko, Ylena, 194

  Leonenko, Vitali, 110

  leucosis, 155

  leukemia, 155, 395

  Ligachev, Yegor, 68, 151, 172–73, 226–27; attack against glasnost, 329, 345–46; campaign against alcoholism, 228–29; retires from politics, 427; and secrecy about accident, 230, 241–42; liquidation procedures, 276–96; attempts to precipitate rainfall, 282; cost of, 299; fragment of fuel found, 289; government commission in charge, 286–87; ground sprayed with plastic solution, 282; precautions and regulations, 295–96; problems: fire from the ruins, 285, radiation levels during, 284; removal of radioactive graphite and lumps of fuel, 277–78; sarcophagus built to entomb radioactive core, 276–77, 284–88; temperature of the core, 277, 284; thermocouple to monitor reactor, 283–84; turbine test equipment retrieved, 287

  liquidators: deaths and illnesses of, 280, 349–50, 410, 441–42; humour of personnel, 292–93; living conditions of, 293; medical records classified, 351; numbers needing medical attention, 384; various ailments affecting, 350, 417–18

  liquid sodium coolant, 18

  Literary Institute, Moscow, 371

  literature in Soviet Union, 330–31

  Literaturnaya Gazeta, 229, 236

  Literaturnaya Ukraina: protests about construction of another nuclear power station, 349, 366–67; takes critical look at Chernobyl, 68–69, 70–73

  Lithuania, 363–64, 389

  Litovsky, Katya, 52, 147–48, 294, 431

  Lopatuk, V. I., 108, 192

  Lukin, Vladimir, 350

  Lupandin, Dr Vladimir, 400, 401, 413–14

  Luzganova, Klavdia, 222–23

  Lyutov, Mikhail, 58, 106

  Makukhin, Aleksei, 35

  Malkevich, Gen., 290

  Malomuzh, 332

  Marin, Vladimir, 125, 133, 382

  Marples, David, xxii

  Marsham, Dr Thomas, 233

  Maslyukov, Yuri, 286

  Mathé, Prof. Georges, 202

  Matuchin, Vladimir, 390, 391

  Maximov, Gen., 123

  Mayak, 6; accident, 13–14; design of reactor, 7–8; new reactor at, 18–19

  May Day celebration, 158–59, 169–70

  Mayorets, Anatoli, 125; assures reconstruction of fourth reactor, 173; liquidation procedures, 285–86; refuses shutdown of first and second reactors, 132; reprimanded, 270; tells Ryzhkov of accident, 130

  meat, 322, 323

  ‘median acute lethal dose’, xxix

  medical aspects of the disaster: complaints of inadequate care, 386; conference in Kiev (1988), 317; crisis blamed on classification of data, 382; deaths and illnesses, 349–50; medical records classified, 351; medical treatment of casualties, 189–90; bone marrow transplants, 191; criteria of medical care, 251; see also casualties; fatalities

  Medvedev, Grigori, xviii, 73–74

  Medvedev, Vadim, 366

  Medvedev, Zhores, xviii, 436

  Melnik, Nikolai, 283–84

  meltdown: danger of at Chernobyl, 86; in No. 1 unit at Leningrad, 53

  Meshkov, Alexander, 125, 270–71

  Metlenko, Gennady, 76, 82, 289, 304

  Mettler, Prof. F., 417

  milk contamination, 321, 373

  millisieverts (Mv), xxviii

  Ministry for Chernobyl, 397

  Ministry of Atomic Power, 329

  Ministry of Chemical Production, 238

  Ministry of Energy and Electrification: blamed for accident, 254–55, 270; commission and operation of nuclear power stations, 35; investigates causes of accident, 253–56; SPC certificate for fourth reactor, 65

  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 210, 239

  Ministry of Medium Machine Building, 122; backs nuclear power development, 11; blamed for accident, 255; blanket of secrecy and misinformation, 228; formed, 5; investigates causes of accident, 253–56; monopoly ended, 35; report to conference in Vienna, 260; resources for reactor at Mayak, 8

  Ministry of the Interior, 253

  Minsk, 367, 385; power station converted to fossil fuel, 388

  Mitinko cemetery, 223

  Molodaya Gvardiya, 330

  Molod Ukrainy, 375

  molybdenum, 190

  moral degradation of citizens, 400–1

  Morhun, Fedir, 349

  Moscow News, 343, 371, 376

  mutational defects, 356–57

  Nagaevsky, Maj. Georgi, 178–81

  Narodici, 173; alcoholism in, 401; appalling conditions in, 400–3; disease and infant mortality in, 375; resettling of people from, 400

  Nature, 272, 355–56, 358

  Nauman, Prof., 417

  Nazarov, Prof. Anatoli, 436–37

  Nakhaev, Alexander, 105

  Nemirovsky, Alexander, 180; health of, five years after accident, 439

  Nesterov, Vladimir, 289

  neutron shield, 19

  Nikitin, Ivan, 212

  NIKYET, 17, 134; investigates causes of accident, 253–56; liquidation procedures, 287; plans for reactor at Chernobyl, 38; report to conference in Vienna, 260

  nitrogen, 185

  Nivetskoye, 297

  NKVD (secret police), 4

  Novosti Press Agency, 255

  Novovoronezh, 11

  Novozybkov, 410

  Novy Mir, 330, 343

  nuclear bomb development, 3–9

  Nuclear Energy Agency, 178

  nuclear fission, power from, 9–11

  nuclear power: attitude after Chernobyl, xix; campaign against, 388–89; expansion of, 27–28; experimental station built (1949), 10; Kurchatov argues to rescind resolutions against, 13; problems and difficulties, 17–18

  nuclear power stations: at Kolski, 18; closed in Armenia and Azerbaijan, 367; plans for further ones abandoned, 367–68; problems at, 27; rapid expansion of, 27–28; Soviet ascendancy in the field (1983), 65; three at Chernobyl decommissioned, 368; see also accidents; Chernobyl nuclear power station

  nuclear reactors: attempts made to bring first three back on line, 298; coolants, 18; deficiencies in design, 260, 315; fast-breeder, 18; in Iraq, bombing of, 28; placed under authority of Ministry of Atomic Power, 329; pressurized-water (VVER), 12, 18; RBMK-1000, 18–20; safeguards, 18–19; safety of, assured, 228, 240, 260

  Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, 454–55

  Nuclear Safety Committee, 43

  nuclear submarines, 43–44

  nuclear war, 154–55

  Nuclear War: The Medical and Biological Consequences: Soviet Physicians’ Viewpoint, 155

  nuclear waste disposal, 26

  nutrition, 390

  Obninsk, 11, 20

  October Revolution collective, 386

  Odinets, Mikhail, 242–43

  Oganov, Marshal, 183, 288

  Ogonyok, 330

  Ogulov, 85–86

  Opachichi, 297

  Orlov, Alexander, 105, 205, 208

  Orthodox Christianity, return to, 429–30

  Palamarchuk, Piotr, 76, 82, 85; bone-marrow regenerates, 224; carries Sashenok out of station, 112; injuries, 224; surveys the damage, 93–94

  Palamarchuk, Tatiana, 149, 222

  panic, 238, 249

  Parashin, 306

  Pellerin, Prof. Francis, 383

  Perevozchenko, Valeri, 82–90, 95, 222

  personnel at Chernobyl: blamed for accident, 253–54, 260, 268, 434

  Petrosyants, Andranik, 212, 333

  Petrovsky collective, 375

  Pikalov, Maj. Gen., 125, 139, 277; gives grave assessment of situation, 173; health of, five years after accident, 440; orders specialized equipment to Chernobyl, 134; reports on radiation levels, 151–52; report to conference in Vienna, 260; surveys reacator in EMR2, 138; turbine test equipment retrieved, 289

  Pioneer camp, 161, 168, 292

  plant resistance to disese, 354

  Plochy, Taras, 43,
52, 60, 63, 184; blamed for second fire in ruins, 289

  Plotonov, Vladimir, 389

  plutonium 239: ground contamination by, 152, 173; half-life of, xxviii; produced at Mayak, 8; retained by particular organs, 190

  Poland, 233

  Polessia region, 36

  Polesskoe, 174, 373; alcoholism in, 401; anxieties of people there, 411; conditions in, 400–3; resettling of people from, 400

  Politburo: Brukhanov is dismissed from party, 268; commission meets in Moscow on 1 May, 171; forms second commission, 152; Gorbachev calls meeting on 28 April, 230; informed of cause of accident, 167; liberals dominant, 331; recommendations to protect people, 250–51; scientists allegiance to, 391; sentences those held responsible, 270–71; struggle over glasnost, 329

  pollution: air, 420; atmosphere, water table and rivers, 184; chemical, pesticide and fertilizer, 398

  Poloshkin, Nikolai, 125, 128, 133

  Popov, Georgi, 209, 222

  Popular Front, 364

  ‘positive void coefficient’, 20

  Potsdam, 5

  Pozdyshev, Erik, 268

  Poznyak, Zyanon, 387

  Pravda, 235; publishes Legasov’s memoirs, 348; publishes ‘Principles of Perestroika’, 346

  Pravda Ukrainy, 375

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

  press conference on 6 May, 210–12

  pressurized-water reactors (VVER), 18

  Pripyat: corruption in, 72–73; description of the town, 47; evacuation, 135, 145–49; May Day festival, 77; people continue normal activities, 119–21; radiation levels in, 136–37

  Pripyat River, 36; new bridge built, 281–82; threat of contamination, 281

  propaganda, 237

  Proskuriakov, Victor, 81, 82

  protests, 348–49, 364, 367

  Protzenko, Nikolai, 22, 341

  Prushinsky, Boris, 133

  psychological factors, 408

  Pug, Boris, 447

  radiation, xxvii–xxix; 32-rem control limit supported, 389; antidotes to: alcohol, 114–15, folk medicines, 115; damage to human health, xxix; dose, margin of safety, 252; dosimeter readings, 94, 100; effects on plant resistance to disease, 354; emissions from casualties, 195; exposure of population, statistics on, 316; five types of ionizing, xxvii; forms of cancers from acute doses of, 155; genetic defects and mutations, 356–59; latent period between exposure and onset of radiation-induced diseases, xxix; levels, established norms, 136; limit for a year’s dose, 317; no plans for mass protection against, 159–60; ‘safe’ dose reduced to seven rems, 396; units of measure, xxviii–xxix; see also radiation sickness

  radiation sickness: firemen and operators show symptoms of, 101; health consequences of, 207; symptoms of, 204–5; treatment for, 15

  radioactive contamination, 135; affected regions of Russia, 316; at Fosmark, 149–50; in the food chain, 319–23; norms for acceptable levels: in food, 319, in ground, 318–19, 407; outside the 30km zone, 173, 251, 316; still present in 1989, 373–74; of wood, 320

  radioactive waste: accident at Mayak, 13–14

  radioactivity: decay, xxvii–xxviii; levels, in Kiev on 29 April, 157

  Radio Liberty, Munich, 233, 245

  radionuclides, amounts: on 27–30 April, 163; on 5 May, 182; suddenly drop on 6 May, 186; in Ukraine, Russia and Belorussia, 381; ingestion and inhalation of, xxviii; retained by particular organs, 189

  ‘radiophobia’, 350, 353, 383

  radon, 417

  rad (radiation absorbed dose), xxviii

  Radyanska Ukraina, 376

  Raguda, 429

  Ramzayev, Prof. P. V., 390, 391, 414–15

  RBMK-1000 reactors, 20, 35, 38; fail to meet safety requirements, 308; faulty design of, 20, 307–8, 310, 432; no charges brought against designers, 432; instability at low power, 54

  reactivity surge, 65

  Reagan, Ronald, 228

  Reichtman, 287

  Reisner, Gail, 219

  Reisner, Yair, 153, 210

  religion, widespread return to, 429–31

  relocation criteria, 414

  rem (roentgen equivalent man), xxviii–xxix

  Report on the USSR, xxii

  reproductive organs, 351

  ‘Resolutions of the 27th CPSU Congress Being Put into Action. It is No Private Matter’, 73

  Revenko, Grigori, 101, 172, 384

  Reykunkov, Alexander, 254, 297

  Riabev, L. D., 329

  roentgen, xxviii

  Roentgen Institute, Kiev, 15

  Rogozhkin, Boris, 76, 82, 90, 99; arrest and trial, 300–11; back to work at Chernobyl, 449

  Romanenko, Anatoli, 160; accused of delay in alerting Kiev, 383; advice to citizens of Kiev, 246, 251; at meeting in Kiev (1988), 316; mobilizes health service of Ukraine, 250; removed as minister of health, 391; resigns from party, 384; visit to Chernobyl, 60

  Romanov, Grigori, 226

  Rosen, Morris, 257–59; inspects ruined reactor, 239, 408

  Rotec Corporation, 285

  RUKH, 384, 413–14

  Russia, uninhabitable parts of, xvii

  ruthenium, 190

  Rutskoi, 447

  Ryzantzev, Prof. Eugene, 125–28, 171; flights over reactor, 282–83; report to conference in Vienna, 260

  Ryzhkov, Nikolai, 68, 328; commission meets in Moscow on 1 May, 171; defends handling of accident, 378–80, 381; flies to Chernobyl, 172; forms commission of inquiry, 131; heads second commission, 151; loses to Yeltsin in election, 425–26; orders Chernobyl and all villages to be evacuated, 175; retires from politics, 427; told of accident at Chernobyl, 130

  ‘sacred law of brotherhood’, 244

  safeguards, 18–19; lack of, in RBMK-type reactors, 152–53

  safety: assured by Fomin, 61; breach of regulations, 254; concerns are rejected, 27–28; of nuclear power, world loses faith in, 25; of Soviet reactors assured, 240–41; of other reactors, public alarm about, 348–49

  Sajudis movement, 364

  sand: bombing of reactors, 137, 162, 167; bombing criticized, 175–76

  Sarcophagus, 265–66, 330

  sarcophagus, 275–76, 285–87, 296; Complex Expedition investigates conditions within in 1989, 442–44

  Savchenko, Nikolai, 386

  Scherbina, Boris, 110, 131–32; at press conference on 6 May, 210–12, 239–40, 257; classifies information about contamination, 379–80; decides to extinguish fire with sand, 142; dies (1989), 441; heads commission of inquiry, 131, 252; liquidation procedures, 286, 298; looks at reactor, 137–38; orders evacuation to proceed, 145; presents report to Politburo, 267; reports of destruction from experts, 133–36

  Scherbitsky, 67

  Schmemann, Serge, 234, 235

  Scientific Research Institute of Technical Energy Construction, see NIKYET

  secrecy: all nuclear accidents state secrets, 100; blanket of secrecy and misinformation, 228; see also cover-up; information

  Sedunov, Y. S., 210, 240

  Serebryakov, Col, 143–44

  Seredovkin, Georgi, 115, 121–22, 188–89

  Serotkin, Anatoli, 168

  Shadrin, Yuri, 301–3, 306

  Shandala, Mikhail, 391

  Shasharin, Gennady, 133, 178; blame for accident, 270; looks at reactor, 137–38

  Shashenok, Vladimir: dies, 114, 192, 214; found barely alive, 94–95; taken to hospital, 111

  Shatalov, Dimitry, 286

  Shavrey, Ivan, 97–98, 115; health of, five years after accident, 439

  Shavrey, Leonid, 49, 98

  Shchadov, Mikhail, minister of coal, 184

  Shcherbak, Yuri, xxii, xxviii, 366; confers with Legasov, 344–45; discussion of coverup, 381–82; feelings of guilt, 393–94; founds Zelenij Svit, 367; minister of environment, 450; writes book about accident, 332–33

  Shcherbitsky, Vladimir, 72–73, 159, 169–72, 250

  Shepin, Oleg, 187, 212, 250–51

  Sherbak, Gen., 289

  Shevchenko, Taras,
369, 395

  Shevchenko, Valentina, 169, 251, 378–79

  Shevchenko, Vladimir, 442

  Shigematsu, I., 409

  Shovkovshytny, Volodomyr, 370–72, 394–96

  Shulzhenko, 187, 327

  Shushkievicz, Stanislas, 288, 385, 450

  Sidorenko, 255

  sievert (Sv), xxviii

  Silayev, Ivan, 129, 178, 276–77, 447; liquidation procedures, 283–86

  Sitnikov, Anatoli, 59, 62, 105; discusses accident 115, 206; views destruction, 107

  Sitnikov, Elvira, 205

  Sivintsev, Yuri, 235, 325, 347; report to conference in Vienna, 260

  Skala computer, 83, 84

  Sklar, Sergei, 169–70

  Sklerov, Vitali, 101

  Slavsky, Efim, 4, 35, 126, 184, 255, 329, 447

  Slavutich, 297, 396, 432

  Slyunkov, 67, 386

  Smagin, Victor, 106, 206

  Smyshlyaev, 269

  Socialist system, 427

  Sokolov, Marshal, 123

  Sokolov, Oleg, 199

  Soroka, O. V., 254

  Sovetskaya Rossiya, 346

  Soviet Ministry of Health, 315

  spent fuel processing, 26

  Spizhenko, Yuri, 383–84

  stable iodine: administered too late, 316–17; given to helicopter pilots, 162; inadequate supplies of, 161, 257; retained by particular organs, 190; 218 tons estimate needed, 238

  Stalin, Joseph, 5; decides to develop nuclear bomb, 3; dies, 10; legacy of, 391

  Star Called Wormwood, The, 264, 332, 368

  ‘star wars’, 228–29

  State Commission for Radiation Safety, 389, 390

  State Committee for Safety in the Atomic Power Industry, xxiv; blame for accident, 255, 270; and regulations for nuclear safety, 54

  State Committee of Atomic Energy, 133; investigates causes of accident, 253–56

  State Committee of Hydrometeorology, 152, 377; attempts to precipitate rainfall, 282; criteria of medical care, 250

  Steinberg, Nikolai, 50, 52, 63; arrives to help with emergency, 184–85; gives evidence at trial, 308–10; learns of Akimov’s death, 293; liquidation procedures, 286–88; moves to Balakovsky, 61; report on true causes of accident (May 1991), 433–34; resigns from communist party, 432; returns to work at Chernobyl, 431; sense of humour, 294–95

  Steinhäusler, Dr, 422–24

  Stolyarchuk, Piotr, 77, 82

  Strategic Defense Initiative, 229, 259

  Strelichevko, 387

  stress, 409

 

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