Today marks the 30th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the beginning of liquidation of its consequences. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became the largest in the history of nuclear energy, comparable only to the disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011.
On the night of April 26, 1986, the turbine generator was tested at the fourth power unit of the ChNPP. It was planned to shut down the reactor (while the emergency cooling system was shut down as planned) and to measure the generator parameters. The reactor could not be safely shut down. At 1 h 23 min. Moscow time, an explosion and fire occurred at the power unit.
In the first days of the accident, hundreds of thousands of people were sent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to take part in the elimination of the consequences of the man-made disaster. Among them were those who are now employees of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Emergency and Technical Center of the Minatom of Russia" (St. Petersburg). They continue to work in the nuclear industry for the benefit of the country's security.
Sergey Valerievich Yarmiychuk, Deputy Director General of FSUE ATC SPb, shared his memories:
“30 years have passed since the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The accident became one of the most severe man-made disasters and in many ways determined my life. I graduated from Leningrad University and worked at the Radium Institute. V. G. Khlopin. Naturally, there was only science in my thoughts. But life decided in its own way. As part of the Complex Expedition of the Kurchatov Institute, which worked in US-605, I ended up at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. There came an awareness of the extent of what had happened. We examined the premises of the sarcophagus, at that time it was already built. Control of air pollution in the premises of the 4th power unit, or rather what was left of it, was the main task of our group, as well as control in the exclusion zone. Living in Chernobyl, working in the ghost town of Pripyat, driving through the villages, it was acutely felt what a tragedy it was for the population,which left their native places overnight. Decontamination of territories was going on around, issues of launching the 3rd power unit were being resolved. The station continued to OPERATE!
And this work was carried out every day, seven days a week. It seems to be routine, but with full dedication. There was no other way. So everyone worked around to a single person.
The people who localized the accident are really heroes. Manufacturers, operators, scientists. Little is remembered about them, they talk mainly about the work of firefighters. The firefighters did their job, of course. And then - the merit of the nuclear scientists. It was thanks to the clear, well-coordinated and even patriotic actions of the personnel that the accident was very quickly localized. The sarcophagus was built in the shortest possible time. There was no such thing in world practice - to build such a grandiose structure in a few months.
Promotional video:
I visited the Chernobyl NPP zone and Unit 4 again in 1989, and then I did not think that my professional activity would be related to the elimination of the consequences of radiation accidents. Then, in my mind, the people I worked with were role models. Someone has already passed away, someone has spent their health, someone continues to work. I consider myself lucky and now I just work at the Emergency and Technical Center of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy."