Writer, journalist, USSR State Prize laureate Vladimir Gubarev:
I have strange dreams. A candle appears first. The wax spreads across the map of Europe, gradually filling all corners - from the Urals to Lisbon. This is the poster for my show in Finland. A young artist painted. It's strange how acutely she felt everything that happened in Chernobyl. However, is it possible to measure the depth of pain when it is infinite ?!
And then the faces of my friends appear. Some (more precisely, the majority) are no longer with us. But they are always there. Who was there will understand me.
The memories are so vivid and voluminous that it seems to me: everything happened yesterday, although 33 years have passed.
Chief liquidator
Why "in charge"? Because it was he who reported to the “very top” about what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then immediately flew to the site of the disaster, worked there the longest, returned to Moscow only after the “official” liquidation of the accident was completed.
He was a very close person to me - Evgeny Ignatenko.
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I knew a lot about him. About his service in the country's atomic department, about those power units that he put into operation, about his good relations with hundreds of colleagues, about his dedication during the hard days of Chernobyl.
It turned out I was wrong. And decades later, new, fantastic facts of his biography are revealed to me. During our many conversations, he never mentioned them.
However, everything is in order.
From the memoirs of E. Ignatenko: “The phone call woke me up at about 3 am on April 26th. The operational dispatcher of our association, Valentina Vodolazhskaya, told me with a code that there was an accident at unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, designated its type. I asked her to more clearly identify the type of accident. The answer was: "A fire in the control room and turbine rooms, with radiation and nuclear consequences." Not waking up to the end, but already starting to joke, I asked: "Isn't there a lot of everything together at once for one block?" She replied: “This is a serious matter. Leave immediately!"
A few minutes later Ignatenko was in his office at Soyuzatomenergo, from where he contacted the director of the NPP via special communications. He reassured: they say, there was a fire on the 4th block, but it has already been extinguished. Yevgeny Ivanovich prepared a short note to the ministry, government and the Central Committee of the party, in which he reported this "calming" information. And after a couple of hours he bitterly regretted that he had trusted the director of the nuclear power plant.
“We took off from Moscow at 10 am. Turning around to land at the Zhuliany airfield, we passed rather low over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The damaged 4th block was clearly visible, from the center of the reactor compartment of which a column of light smoke rose, no combustion was visible. The smoke was light and whitish. I then perceived it as the remnants of the smoldering cable and other products that could be in the accident zone. I still could not believe that the block's reactor was destroyed to such an extent that its inner part - graphite - could burn. We changed clothes in the sanitary inspection room, took with us a representative of the dose control service, equipped with the necessary equipment, received army dosimeters with a scale of up to 50 roentgens and went to the fourth block. The dosimetrist kept warning us about the danger. It was here that I first felt the effects of large gamma-ray fields. It is expressed in some kind of pressure on the eyes and a feeling of light whistling in the head, like a draft. These sensations, the readings of the dosimeter and what I saw in the yard finally convinced me of the reality of what happened, that we are dealing with an unprecedented, or, as they say about them in a scientific way, a “hypothetical accident”. "A Russian peasant won't feel it yet - he won't believe it." I was convinced with my own eyes and the dose received."
Trouble zone
A couple of days later, the chaos that arose immediately after the accident began to take on some form of liquidation work. All of us were worried about the question: will there be a new explosion that will "expand" the 30-kilometer zone of trouble by 5 times? If the incandescent mass of fuel formed in the 4th block descends into the bubbler pool where the water is located, then a new explosion will cover not only Chernobyl with radiation, but also residents of Kiev, Chernigov, Zhitomir, villages and townships in the vicinity up to 150 km …
But how much water is there? No one could answer that. Moreover, there was not even a floor plan for the lower part of the reactor hall! Fortunately, we managed to find a plan for the Smolensk NPP unit.
A group of specialists headed by professors E. Ignatenko and E. Saakov went into pitch darkness. The premises were flooded with radioactive water, which at first they tried to “extinguish the nuclear flame of the reactor”. Powerful pumps pumped it out, but it subsided slowly. Finally managed to open the flap and look inside the pool. It turned out that there is very little water there.
Elimination of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
The way back was just as long and difficult. But they returned with good news - there would be no big explosion, even if the hot reactor fuel burst down. In Moscow, N. Ryzhkov was waiting for this information in his office, and in the Chernobyl headquarters I. Silaev and the entire government commission. Eduard Saakov built the Armenian nuclear power plant, was the chief engineer there, and then headed the entire repair service of atomic scientists. We became friends in Chernobyl, then we did not see each other for several years and met by chance on the plane on the way to Beijing. It turns out that he took part in the construction of a nuclear power plant there, and also in India and Iran. I asked him: “Silaev promised to reward everyone, even wanted to present them for the title of Heroes. Did you or forgot?"
In response, Edward smiled:
- Then there was no time for awards! And we didn't need them, because it was about life and death. And we were doing our duty, that's all.
Ignatenko also did not mention this episode, considering it commonplace.
Evgeny Ivanovich Ignatenko, one of those people in Chernobyl who was destined to become legendary. He was the only one who stayed here for 3 years! I remind you: they were sent to Chernobyl then for 2 weeks. During this time, in the first months of the accident, a person managed to collect "combat X-rays", that is, the maximum that doctors allowed. Chairmen and members of state commissions changed, new duty shifts came, exhausted military units were taken out of the "zone", even the builders of the sarcophagus left. And only Evgeny Ignatenko remained in Chernobyl.
Once I asked him: "Why?"
He replied:
- First, the chairman of the Government Commission, and then in Moscow, they said that there was no one to replace me: they say, "marshals must fight to the last soldier." I understood that I could do in Chernobyl what others cannot do. And as long as I could, as long as I was needed, I stayed there. A whole life has passed there. First, three blocks were started up. Secondly, I was the chairman of the commission for the acceptance of the sarcophagus. Well, there were a lot of other cases that required quick decisions and imposed the highest responsibility. For example, two bridges were built. The Germans blew them up during the war, and they lay in ruins. And only during Chernobyl they were restored. On January 4, 1987, we cut down the first pine tree, and on December 22, 2000 apartments were already handed over in Slavutich, in fact, the city was built. Of course, this is not a start-up of an atomic unit, but a lot of effort, nerves and knowledge was required.
The Secret of "Defense"
The station was in complete chaos. Some people scurried along the corridors, carrying boxes with papers somewhere. Physicists from Moscow (there were familiar faces) dragged cables - they said: for special measurements. There is dirt all around, which is unacceptable for a nuclear power plant. In the director's office on the table I saw half-empty bottles of kefir, the remains of sandwiches. The windows were covered with metal sheets - protection from radiation.
In this chaos, it was impossible to find someone who could talk about the situation, and I decided to return to Chernobyl to try to get through to the chairman of the State Commission.
I saw a car at the headquarters. There are three in it in snow-white special suits. One of them is Leonid Andreevich Ilyin, director of the Institute of Biophysics. It immediately became calmer - since Ilyin is here, it means, at least in medicine, everything will become clear and clear.
The Star of the Hero, the medal of the Lenin Prize laureate, many other insignia - Leonid Andreevich deserved all this for protecting a person from radiation.
Information about his research and the work of his colleagues at the Institute of Biophysics resembles a series of stories for detective and adventure novels. I will try to convey them briefly, in the words of Academician Ilyin himself:
“Creation in the USA in the 1950s – 1960s. high performance tread was becoming a state secret. Only two people had the right to report the opening (if necessary): the President of the United States and the head of the military medical service of the Armed Forces.
In our country, research in the field of creating radioprotectors and means of treating acute radiation sickness was coordinated by a special interdepartmental problem commission, which, along with civilian scientists, included specialists from the Ministry of Defense. For over 20 years I have chaired this commission. Experimental work on preparation B began in 1972. And in July 1975, preparation B was adopted to supply all nuclear industries in the USSR. We have preserved a document: an invoice dated August 27, 1985, from which it follows that drug B series 10585 was sent from the Institute of Biophysics to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Subsequently, it was confirmed that at the time of the accident drug B in the amount of 100 doses was indeed at the disposal of the medical service of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant."
The industrial production of this drug was entrusted to an enterprise located near Kiev. But it was never established in the few years that remained before the Chernobyl tragedy, which is why there were only 100 doses at the nuclear power plant. In the first hours of the accident, they were never used. But many of those who died in a Moscow clinic at the end of May could have survived!
In Chernobyl, drug B proved to be effective. It was received by the pilots who led the helicopters to the reactor, the liquidators who worked to clean the roof of the turbine hall, where the radiation levels were outrageous. He saved dozens of people who were forced to go to “atomic hell” to localize the accident.
“Science was fully prepared for this accident,” says Academician L. A. Ilyin. - Power structures are a different matter. But, despite the secrecy that accompanied the work in Chernobyl, a mutual exchange of information was established among medical specialists. We worked closely with the services of the agro-industrial complex and the State Hydromet and other departments. The Chernobyl accident once again confirmed the need to provide the population living near nuclear facilities in advance with simple and affordable personal protective equipment and prophylaxis in the event of a radiation accident. We have developed such tools, tested and recommended for production. We have created special first-aid kits both for the population and for professionals, which, in particular, include drug B. However, their production has not yet been established - the authorities still cannot decide who should issue and finance them.
The fight between science and power
Immediately after the May holidays, panic began in the city. At the station, trains were stormed, at the airport hundreds of people crowded at the ticket offices - they overpaid tenfold for a ticket to any city: just to fly away. There was a rumor that a radioactive cloud moved towards the city and would cover it in a few days. The concern of the townspeople arose after it became known that the children of the chiefs were urgently leaving the city. Rumors of an impending disaster spread throughout the city.
On May 6, Nikolai Ryzhkov called Chernobyl:
- Why isn't Shcherbitsky reporting anything to us? What are they doing there? The center does not understand the position of the leadership. Is there really such radiation in Kiev that it is necessary to resolve the issue of evacuating the city?
Academician Ilyin assured him that there was no danger. Moreover, the radiation level in Kiev is gradually decreasing compared to what it was on April 30 - May 2.
“We are unhappy with the position and confusion of the Ukrainian leadership,” Ryzhkov said.
This is how the epic began, which will go down in the history of Chernobyl as a "fight between academicians and the authorities."
On the morning of May 7, Academician Ilyin was at the NPP site. Here a messenger found him, said that he had received an order to immediately fly to Kiev. The scientist was not even allowed to change clothes: in a white lavsan suit, with a respirator and a dosimeter on his chest, he was taken to Kiev for a Politburo meeting.
Shcherbitsky demanded that Ilyin report to Moscow: the situation in Kiev is calm, there is no panic. Ilyin objected: they say, he deals with medical problems in a 30-kilometer zone and at a nuclear power plant, and not in Kiev.
Shcherbitsky realized that it was useless to argue with a scientist, and therefore changed the topic of the conversation:
- We want to take schoolchildren for the holidays from Kiev earlier than usual. Your opinion?
- And what about the children of Zhitomir and Chernigov, other cities and towns, where the radiation situation is by no means better than in Kiev? - objected Ilyin.
- We are talking about Kiev, - insisted Shcherbitsky.
Academician Ilyin realized that the leaders of the republic are looking for justification for their actions and really want to "hide behind" science.
At this time, Yu. A. Izrael entered the office. He was also urgently found in Chernobyl and brought to the meeting.
Yuri Antonievich often talked about this episode, which clearly characterizes the events of those Chernobyl days. However, not only them.
So, from my conversations with academician Israel:
What is impossible to forget from the first days?
- How old people left. May 4th was Easter. The villages were evacuated. There were old women in headscarves with bundles. They were only allowed to take one bundle. They were leaving forever. The houses were neat and well-groomed. The chestnuts were blooming. It was the saddest thing I saw then. You could see how life was leaving Chernobyl.
Do you remember that on May 4 and 5 there was a critical situation: to evacuate Kiev or not to evacuate?
- Paradoxically, but it was not directly related to the events at the NPP …
Academician Velikhov believed that the red-hot reactor core would burn through the concrete and get into the water that was under the reactor. In this case, a powerful explosion will occur, and Kiev will fall into the affected area. But in the leadership of the republic there was an idea that the city should be evacuated at all: they say, the radiation doses are too high. Most of the leading employees have already removed their relatives, and therefore, perhaps, they tried to justify their actions in this way.
The situation was difficult. On May 7, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine took place. Academician Ilyin and I were summoned to the meeting. I was surprised that there were no other specialists. The Politburo was inclined to believe that an evacuation was necessary. Ilyin and I opposed the evacuation and presented calculations that showed that during the year the Kievites could receive approximately half a rem. And the emergency rate for the population is 10 rem, at normal times for NPP workers - 5 rem. A heated discussion ensued. The first secretary of the Central Committee, Shcherbitsky, said that we must write a "Note", where we state our point of view. We have prepared such a "Note". It said that summer was coming, the children, as usual, should be sent to rest, and strict control over food should be established. And most importantly: all this should be told in detail to people,otherwise, another wave of panic will arise. Shcherbitsky took the "Note" and put it in the safe. I still remember the sound of the key turning. Shcherbitsky said that it will remain in one copy and will be kept in his safe.
And her further destiny?
- About ten years after the accident, Japanese journalists came to me. I gave them an interview. And suddenly a Japanese journalist hands me a "Note". Script. The one that Shcherbitsky put in the safe. I made a copy of the Note, which I gave to the journalist. He was indignant, but he had no rights to this document.
Paid someone?
- Certainly. In general, there have always been a lot of absurdities around Chernobyl. Although, to be honest, it was a shame when so many "Chernobyl screamers" appeared! It was they who once announced at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet that Ilyin and I were declared persona non grata in Ukraine.
Offensive?
- Very! But so no one apologized."
In 1996, Vienna hosted the International IAEA Conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Scientists from many countries of the world took part in it. But none of the Russians were given the floor.
At the plenary session, I said that there are two scientists in this room, thanks to whom the scale of the catastrophe was minimized, many thousands of lives were saved. And he named the names of L. A. Ilyin and Y. A. Israel. The huge hall stood up, applauding two representatives of our science. It was not only a tribute to their knowledge and great authority, but above all admiration for their courage.
And instead of an afterword
Every year on Chernobyl days I cannot help but remember Valery Alekseevich Legasov. About our conversations at Chernobyl and the Institute of Atomic Energy, at the university and at the clinic. He passed away on the second anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy. Legasov left his "Notes" for me. This became a kind of testament of the great scientist and great man.
One of the confessions of Academician Legasov is a kind of Chernobyl finale: “I am deeply convinced that nuclear power plants are the pinnacle of energy achievements. This is the foundation for the next stage in the development of human civilization. What I mean? Once upon a time a man needed a fire. He thought only of the warmth. But the fire became a "tool" for metal melting. Then coal - steam engines appeared. The use of oil at the first stage was conceived as obtaining a cheaper fuel, but this led to the creation of artificial materials, the development of aviation and astronautics. Nuclear energy sources are the beginning of a new stage of development. Nuclear power plants are not only economically profitable compared to thermal ones, they are not only environmentally cleaner, but they prepare the basis for the next breakthrough in technology. But we are dealing with the most complex technical systems. The probability of accidents on them is less than that of simple systems, but if something happens, the consequences are larger and more difficult to eliminate. The tragedy at Chernobyl is a warning. We live in a technical age, but sometimes we forget about it."
I often have Chernobyl dreams. They are always black and white and never colored.
Author: Vladimir Gubarev