[Volume reduces, unclear] the release of caesium because everything is hot there. Also, we didnt know the exact temperatures at various points of the destroyed Chernobyl reactor. Because a whole array of illnesses found in people, a whole array of phenomena related to the personnel who survived this tragedy, were not related to radiation sickness. They just constantly performed more measurements, more elaborations and tried their best to understand the actual conditions. And at 8.40 pm, approximately, the first meeting of the Government Commission was held in Pripyat itself in the city committee of the party. This measure did not prove to be useful in practice. This measure turned out to be pointless because when I had proposed it, the extent of the destruction of the reactor was not yet known and neither was known the natural air circulation, its natural flow. I tried to explain to him that there was no possibility of dropping iron shot because of the reasons I mentioned earlier. During the initial days, all this hadnt been organized and this was shocking. After that, as I see it, there should be a section named Current status where it should be stated that there is a Coordination Council in the Academy of Sciences, that includes heads of departments responsible for the relevant type of workGosagroprom, Minsredmash, Minatomenergo, etc.as well as leading scientists-experts from the fields of medicine, radiology, agriculture and so on. We went in and bought ourselves some very nice shirts. The first, the most powerful emission was the one that threw millions of curies of radioactivity in the form of noble gases and iodine at high altitude. The water would immediately evaporate, leaving pure ammonium nitrate. Then another hour or so passed as the situation with the plane was ascertained, and this group of people flew out early in the morning to the location. I took all that I could carry with me and at 4 oclock, I was at the airport. Scribbling and formalism have reached such a scale that it is already difficult for science to bear this cross. So General Berdov, who had arrived from Kiev, ordered that all policemen will go to every flat and inform that no one should go outdoors until the next day and should stay at home. First of all, it leaked through the side gaps and practically passed by the reactor area that had the fuel; and secondly, its quantity was calculated entirely incorrectly. [1] When the first government commission group returned to Moscow, Legasov was asked to stay by Scherbina but was replaced by his scientific rival Evgeny Velikhov in the formal hierarchy. Adamovich: Sorry, but the first commission, they must have then called. That is why I advised, and Shcherbina agreed with me, to announce that we cannot tell about the precise duration of the evacuation yet. This is why their actions were truly selfless and, most importantly, rational; and not just some pointless actions arising out of ignorance. The evacuation was mandatory when a person could get 75 biological roentgens. Some stayed in the villages they were evacuated to, others immediately got tickets and went to their relatives. And mainly, the chronology of the events themselves was not presented. The composition included heads of the main institutions associated with the work around Chernobyl and also leading experts, such as academician Sokolov, academician Mikhalevich and academician Trefilov, who were associated with particular tasks of ecological or technical nature related to the liquidation of the consequences of the accident. This is the group of specific subjects I trained on. Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko had repeatedly criticised it. Recently, all of us became concerned about the quality of training and readiness of the personnel who design, build and operate nuclear power stations, because the number of facilities had sharply increased, but the quality of the personnel involved in this process had likely decreased and was decreasing before our eyes. And I remember that my Finnish overcoat, which my wife chose for me after much thought, and my English suit, Legasov: Simply hung up on trees. It was considered bad because of economic reasons. It was all tangled up. It had already been decided to assign the construction of the sarcophagus to SU 605, a department in the Ministry of Medium Machine Building; and that a thorough assessment of the internal condition of reactor number 4 had to be carried out, of the structural soundness of its remaining building, so that the project could rely on some analysis, on some verified data. Later, with the development of these works, they were evaluated to elect me into the Academy of Sciences. But even DT-5 was not there in sufficient quantities when we arrived. So the situation has only worsened. They are trying to increase the reliability of the reactor so that there would not be an accident. Valery legasov was a nuclear physicist. But when we returned to Skazochniy and measured them, they turned out to be more contaminated than the ones we were wearing. Within the last field, the actions were quite simple. I was struck by the time this station put into carrying out a refueling. So it became clear that the contamination sources were not widely spread, but rather there were local sources of contamination in Pripyat that created a general environment that made it seem like that decontamination was not possible. So it was impossible to load it into the helicopters, first of all. The number was not precise, but it was clear that around 100 people had gotten radiation injuries. How should the work be planned and organised? [1] Ustynyuk called Legasov at 22:30 on the same day saying he might still prevail with support from other top scientists that had not been consulted on the decision. As a matter of course, due to my nature and because of old habits, I called for a car and went to the activists' meeting. US 605 of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building was completing the construction of the sarcophagus, which was later named Shelter. So, on Saturday, early in the morning around ten, I went to the party meeting, where Slavsky, our elderly Minister of Medium Machine Building, was speaking. This text is for comrade Novikov Vladimir Mikhailovich, Dyomin Vladimir Fyodorovich and Sukhoruchkin Vladimir Konstantinovich. So this is the first violation of the philosophy. Legasov: Hope this isnt confusing to you. When on an even surface but inside strong radiation fields, their electronics, usually the control modules, failed making them inoperable. So we had to send a considerable number of helicopters to take the measurements and investigate. His life was never the same.). I feel sick thinking about exactly what is most likely to happen to us in the near future. This is the main reason for the magnitude of the accident. Legasov was particularly concerned with complex systems reliant on a single operator without adequate safety systems. Adamovich: There were telegrams from Ryzhkov. Test what vehicles would be best-suited for the job within those conditions. Legasov: Armen Artavazdovich, a good man. They started flyovers above reactor number 4 to assess the situation. This construction was a separate saga in itself. I understood, I must tell you honestly, that I understood that the city was being evacuated permanently. This was precise official communication which provided an account of the joyous and bitter developments on the front lines. The treatment of roads had begun, and the initial preparations started in front of reactor number 4 for the construction of the sarcophagus. Except for the station workers, and some workers that were needed to operate public services. First - carefully studying the available information. Valery Legassov Transcriptions | PDF | Chernobyl Disaster | Radioactive Decay Valery Legassov transcriptions - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. This is one more proof that we cannot do without them. The upper reactor plate (nicknamed Yelena) that hermetized the reactor, was in an almost vertical position, slightly off kilter. They retired him. But this had not been done before and the device worked with values of positive reactivity coefficients much higher than a beta in the first place. This is how the conditions for such disasters were created. For example, dolomite. But this is not for publication yet because they will take both your and my head off; mine first and then yours. People were changing clothes. The gas-cooled reactors had been tried out by the Germans. It thoroughly analyzed the situation. These decisions were accepted and written down in session protocols. We drove through Chernobyl. Of course, what happened at Chernobyl has real, not abstract, culprits to blame. They see the director, who is a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, and their [own] salary is lousy. It would enclose the object in what is called a containment (maybe an underground option or other possible engineering options), but the most important for reliability is to have a system that does not rely on a geographical site. They really did not like interference in their professional work by outsiders. An accident is possible in which organophosphorus compounds form, a single breath of which is lethal. It only handles the operation, nothing more. After the evacuation was completed, the Commission was still in Pripyat for a couple of days, but after that moved to the regional party committee building in Chernobyl and as well as into a military camp. Do you understand? And in the report I prepared for Vienna, to tell the truth, the Central Committee removed this phrase, but it was in the initial version, that among the ineffective measures was supplying liquid nitrogen. So contaminated it was that he personally smashed it to pieces with a hammer. And everything around is clean. There was an absolute disregard of the viewpoint of the Chief Designer or the Science Supervisor. But the Ministry of Health had developed these rules. I was particularly horrified by a phosphorous processing plant in the Chemkent region. It was necessary to tackle the issue of checking the equipment in the 1st and 2nd blocks, of checking the remaining structure and equipment in the 3rd block. We knew that he was on a flight over from there and that as soon as he arrived we would board the plane that had already been prepared for us, and then depart to the accident site. In Pripyat we could feel the tension in the air. And if a VVER explodes, and it can explode, the footprint would not be 80-90 kilometres; it would be 250 kilometres. Didnt you report to Gorbachev and others, well, the situation? Given that there are 2,400 tons, the burning would have continued for 2,400 hours. Since the emergency protection system consists of 211 rods that are lowered, they say that they have 211 [protection] systems, not two; because when they remove these 211 rods, each of which can absorb neutrons when lowered into the reactor, they say that there are 211 [safety systems]. These inaccuracies were accounted for, but that approach itself was not accurate. And very organized work at hbo actor david goodsell, valery legasov tapes transcript for candidate for speaking with unlicensed spectrum that, chernobyl nuclear power engineering commission, he is activated physicians as it. And gradually, the following framework of work organization emerged. [7], Along with colleagues like Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko, Legasov became concerned about the quality of equipment, poor construction, the lack of training of operators and the lack of training simulators. [They made him retire.]. The miners are working heroically there but there is no information about the level of radioactivity they work in; what is happening in the Brest region nearby, who is measuring it, and how. As for the physics and technology of reactors, it was a forbidden area for meboth because of my own education and because of the taboo imposed by Anatoly Pavlovich Aleksandrov and his subordinates working in this area. So dont look at me as a person who The fact is that our institute was divided about this reactor. This convinced us that the fuel mass that was left after the explosion was in a sub-critical state. I remember an episode well when we, with General Kuncevich, arrived at Pripyat. I wanted to prove to him that most likely the cause of that accident was in no way related to the Chernobyl accident because of fundamental differences in the construction of reactors. I have already mentioned that I had proposed from the beginning to create a press group under the Government Commission that would correctly inform the population about the events that were happening, that would give the right advice. those who have already been convicted at Chernobyl are criminals because they committed unthinkable actions and they were convicted absolutely legally. The various services of the station were on full standby. In Kiev, after we got off our plane, what surprised us was a long line of black government cars and an anxious crowd of various Ukrainian chairmen, led by comrade Lyashko Aleksander Petrovich. But, in practice, the effort to put this needle in the right place from a helicopter was huge; and nearly no information was received from it. It was announced that it would be the permanent commision, and it would be replaced by a stand-in. If you would wish to read them, then here, we translated them for English readers: Tape 1 side A In this part Legasov speaks about his first days in the accident zone. The following decisions were taken. And only when we had the containments, the stations being built for the last 5-6 years, the ones being designed now, and the ones that will be built, all are being built with containments. He told me that he had issued appropriate orders, but I think those never got executed. I have always thought that this is the correct approach. In a shocking and humbling act of self-sacrifice, Legasov recorded everything he knew about the truth behind Chernobyl's explosion and hung himself, knowing that his sudden death would force. Because there really was a fire. But it was not. As far as I remember, I stopped the story at how I was struck by the precise work of our chekist [the KGB], who without any fuss, with very few people, did a lot of work to establish communications and bring order in the zone of the accident. Well, so as to not use [TAPE ERASED]. Since Ive already started talking about the army, then I must say that from the moment when the Soviet Army was charged with organizing the work, the scope of work was quite extensive, but the deployed chemical forces first had to scout and establish the contaminated area. Anyway Also, there was an episode that I will talk about later. But the main thing, and I keep coming back to this, the main crime committed was allowing a criminal philosophy into the Soviet nuclear energy, allowing stations, of any type, VVER or RBMK, to be built without containments. And there you are, travelling by car for a long, long time and then you see such a scene in front of you, Adamovich: Oh, just hung up[inaudible]. Although it must be said, there were separate cases of looting or intrusions into the zone with the aim of stealing. Legasov: In total in the reactor? [15][16] From 1978 to 1983, he was a professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. This wasnt a leader that led us, it was a leader that was just making ends meet, getting money, sending information up to the levels above, sending people to launches or acceptances. In this case, they had received the following signal: "1-2-3-4"; which means that an event had occurred at the station that involved nuclear hazard, radiation hazard, fire hazard and explosive hazard, that is to say, all possible types of hazard. At 11 a.m., we were officially informed that the whole city would be evacuated by 2 p.m.. All the transport had been gathered; all the routes had been identified; and at around 2-2:30 p.m. the entire city was empty. 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valery legasov tapes transcript