Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant CIA Files - Paperless Archives

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in Kiev. He and the first brigade of chemicallroops
arrived in Kiev just over 12 hours after the explosion
and, soon after, set up headquarters in the city of
Ghernobyl', IS kilometers from the burning reactor.
By the evening of 26 April the chemical troops were
conducting radiological reconnaissance and continuous
monitoring of radiation levels and weather data in
the area surrounding the devastated Chernobyl' plant.
According to General Pikalov, the health situation in
Pripyat' had sharply deteriorated through the night of
the 26th, and by 1000 hours on 27 April the planning
to evacuate 47,000 persons from Pripyat'had begun.
Pikalov's account confirms Boris Shcherbina's statement
at the 5 May press conference that he and other
members of the commission were on the scene literally
"within a few hours" of the explosion. This scenario
strongly suggests that the leadership had the information
channels it needed to evaluate the situatien,
despite the persistent Soviet line that "internal communication
difficulties" had been the cause of the
initial problems in dealing with the diSaster. It also
suggests that, while the decision makers began to react
to the crisis by at least the afternoon of the 26th,
safeguarding the population was not their first
priority.
E,acaatioa an(l>econtamlnation .
The Soviets initially responded to the accident as if it
was a local emergencY confined to unit 4 of the
Ch.ernobyl' nuclear power plant. Even after it was
known that high levels of radioactivity were present,
the accident was handled at first as a site emergency.
Thousands of plant workers and their families in the
city of Pripyat" located only 10 kilometers from the
stricken plant. were neither'informed about the accident.
nor instructed to take precautions against radiation
fallout. Evacuation was initiated 36 hours after
the accident. Apparently there were no off-site emergency
evacuation plans, and additional evacuation
within the established 30-kilometer contamination
zone continued for two weeks. The 2.5 million people
livin, in Kiev, located less than 103 kilometers south
of the reactor, were not warned publicly about the
hazard until nine days later
Tire Evacuation qf Pripyat'
The actual evacuation af the city af Pripyat' took
place 36 hours q/ier the initial release af radiation.
What we know af Pripyat's evacuation is based
entirely on Soviet retrospective accounts, since no
television pictures or photographs af Pripyat' just
before or q/ier the dramatic evacuation have been
released. (!
In later months. the press described the exodus as an
orderly and efficient process. A caravan af more than
. 1,100 buses. mostly from Kiev. got under way on
Sunday q/iernoon, carrying the townspeople in a line
that stretched for almost 19 kilometers. The complete
operation took less than three hours, a s.triking-
Iy short time to move so many people. '"
Despite this impressive achievement. firsthand accounts
af local Q/Jicials directly involved in the
evacuation present a picture af disorganization, supporting
speculation there were no evacuationpld"nsfor
an event such as the one u"'olding at Chernobyl'. The
Soviet press details how Q/Jicia/s hastily decided on
where to move such a large number af people; how to
assemble the transportation,' and .what resources to
tap to shelter. feed. and provide medical services for
such.Q large number af evacuees. One Kiev Obkom
Q/Jicial said that shortly before the evacuation an
i"'ormatlon group composed af oblast party Q/Jicials.
militiamen. and voluntary police (druzhinniki) went
from house to house i"'orming the residents af the
evacuation. The people were given less than an hour's
advance warning. and no additional i"'ormation was
providedfor fear af creating a panic. >-
~ ~WM
visited the Chernobyl' site. the current Chernobyl'
plant director said that q/ier the accident people
reacted "very emotionally •.. because they had no
previous emergency exercises about what to do q/ier
an accident and stressed the need for such a public
education program for people liVing around nuclear
plants.
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