Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant CIA Files - Paperless Archives

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MQY tylSO ISSUt: QJ the SOVlel
journal Ollonyok carried this caricature Q[ the
West under the caption "Irradlatlon by Ues."
The teeth spell out '"gloatlng owr other's misfortune
"; the signs read :"anti-$ovlet agitation ..• and
"anti-$ovlet falsehoods and fabrications . ..
to Western observers the compassionate, humane face
of the Soviet Government during a tragic accident
and to promote himself as a peacemaker. A recurrent
theme has been that the accident demonstrates the
need for removal of the nuclear weapons from Europe,
where a conflict could unleash the radiation equivalent
of dozens of Chernobyl's. He also used the
occasion to amiounce an extension of the Soviet
nuclear test moratorium.
Offering Up Scapegoats
To minimize its responsibility for what happened, the
regime blamed lower level officials for mishandling
the situation in order to insulate top leaders from
criticism. Minister for Power and Electrification Anatoliy
Mayorets, the official directly responsible for the
power plant., was sharply reprimanded. Several other
senior officials were fired outright for their incompe~
tent performance, including the Chairman of the
State Committee for Safety in the Nuclear Power
Industry, Yevgeniy Kulov, for "failing to ensure
compliance with safety regulations." Several local
functionaries were also removed for being inattentive
to the needs of the evacuees (see table)
Meanwhile, plant officials have been tried for their
involvement. At the Chernobyl' trial in July 1987-
initially open to international press and subsequently
conducted behind closed doors-the former director
of the Chernobyl' nuclear plant, Victor Bryukhanov,
his chief and deputy chief engineers-Nikolay Fomin
and Anatoliy Dyatlov--and three 'Iess senior managers
were convicted of safety regulations violations that
led to loss of life. They received sentences in labor
camps, ranging from two to 10 years. As a further
admonition to bureaucrats that they will be held
accountable for their actions, the regime reportedly
plans to bring to trial the peOple responsible for the
design flaws in the reactor -,--.. "~
The easing out in 1986 of three Central Committee
members, rumored to share some blame for the
accident, suggests Gorbachev also used the nuclear
disaster to eliminate some elderly holdovers from the
Brezhnev era:
• President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Anatoliy
Aleksandrov-who reportedly had a part in the
reactor's design-retired October 1986. Although
he was well above retirement age and rumors about
his prospective retirement circulated for some time,
he publicly criticized his own performance and
hinted that mistakes he made regarding Chernobyl'
helped prompt his retirement.
• The 88-year-old Minister for Medium Machine
Building Yefim Slavskiy, whose organization is
responsible for the military nuclear program and for
handling nuclear fuel for civilian reactors, also
retired in November 1986, several months after his
first deputy was fired because of the accident.
• Deputy Defense Minister responsible for civil defense
Aleksandr Altunin-whose organization ap.
parently was ill equipped to deal with the crisis-:­
retired sometime during summer 1986.
Despite Gorbachev's interest in using the accident
against the old guard, one top Brezhnev protege­
Ukrainian party leader Vladimir Shcherbitskiy-has
so far managed to survive, despite rumors that Gorbachev
wanted to use Chernobyl' against him c:..
..J Shcherbitskiy was able to escape
blame for the accident, and we have no evidence that
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