Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - Night of April 25th, 1986
In particular, many people owe their lives to Anatoly Kurguz, the operator of the central room of the Reactor Section. When he heard the explosion, he looked to the central reactor room [where the reactor was located] and saw a thick curtain of hot steam and dust. A former submariner, he immediately decided to close the heavy pressurized door to the central room. His decision saved other operators from burns and radiation exposure; then he led them out from upper floors and then lost consciousness.
After the destruction of the reactor, numerous fires emerged in the turbine room posing a threat of explosion of hydrogen that is used to cool generators. It was necessary to discharge hydrogen from turbine generators 7 and 8, and replace it by nitrogen.
Anatoly Baranov, a turbine mechanic, had done it.
Konstantin Perchuk, the chief mechanic of the turbine room (first, he cut off pumps from fractured pipes, preventing inflow of radioactive water from deaerators into the turbine room) and Vyacheslav Brazhnik, a turbine mechanic, both got lethal radiation exposure doses when they eliminated the turbine oil spill caused by oil pipe fractured by a falling roof plate. They also extinguished fires in the turbine room.
Aleksandr Lelechenko, the deputy chief manager of the Electric Section initially extinguished fires in the turbine room - he identified failed equipment units and cut them off the grid.
In the course of his equipment checks, he found a fractured pipe at the electrolyzer. He managed to reach the hydrogen supply main through debris and closed it. In the process, he got a lethal radiation dose and died ten days later. Viktor Lopatyuk, on-duty electrician, who assisted Aleksandr Lelechenko, also died.
Valery Perevozchenko, the shift manager of the Reaction Section (RS), led emergency work in the section. He searched for his wounded subordinates and led them out of the explosion zone. He saw the remains of Unit 4′s reactor with his own eyes. He looked for Valery Khodemchuk, the operator of the main circulation pumps who was buried under the construction debris. His strength had its limits… He had gotten a lethal dose of radiation and died two weeks after the explosion.
Anatoly Sitnikov, the deputy Chief Operational Engineer of the first stage of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (units 1 and 2), was called to his workplace that night to assess the scale of damage and design accident mitigation measures. Accompanied by Vladimir Chugunov, the chief manager of RS-1, he surveyed the damaged reactor unit twice, assessing the scale of damage and participating in accident mitigation works. After his second area survey (in the morning), he returned to his office, but was unable to leave it himself. His wife, Elvira Sitnikova, was worried by his long absence, and finally she managed to contact him by phone and call medical assistance. They met only in Moscow, in Hospital #6. Elvira asked him the question that tormented her for a long time: “Tolya, why are you here now, why did it happen? You were not responsible for Reactor 4; you were not obliged to work there!” Anatoly Sitnikov answered: “Should we fail to do this, Ukraine definitely would not exist now, maybe half of Europe as well. You have to understand this.” Anatoly Sitnikov also got a lethal radiation dose. He died on May 30. On the last evening, Elvira was with her husband. It was still sunny, that hot spring day. Anatoly suddenly asked: “Elvira, why is it so dark here?” Her heart sunk when she realized that her husband had gone blind. “Tolya, you have not noticed that it is already late, that is why!” Sitnikov asked her: “Then, visit our guys also, cheer them up. It is late now and you will have to wake up tomorrow at 5am.” These were his last words. Even right before his death, he did not care of himself. He was nominated to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. When the list of nominees was reviewed by the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev objected to awarding Anatoly Sitnikov: “People would not understand us if we award a top manager of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant a Hero.”
I think that [Aleksandr Akimov and Leonid Toptunov] are the most tragic persons among the personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They were wrongly sentenced and professionally traduced by the crafty Chernobyl court process.
Some top managers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sacrificed them to defend themselves. First, Anatoly Dyatlov, the chief manager of the rundown tests forced them by his orders to violate some provisions of the Test Safety Program. Then they were among the first people who launched accident mitigation works and got lethal radiation doses. In early May 1986, they died in Moscow in terrible agony, tormented by investigators of different ranks. They, forever silent, were blamed for the explosion of the reactor. Firm orders of the chief manager of the tests - as if by some magic ordeal - transformed into their discretionary "unauthorized” actions and failures. These lies formed the core of the further investigation.
Leonid Toptunov, the Chief Reactor Control Engineer (CRCE) pressed the emergency shut down system button (AZ-5) as instructed by Aleksandr Akimov, the chief shift manager, after successful completion of the “rundown” test program. He made it in time, even before alarm signals “overpower” and “excess power growth rate” sounded. These facts were later confirmed by analysis of the registration tape of the diagnostic unit (DREG2), recording key operation parameters of Unit 4′s reactor. So, what were the reasons to qualify them as criminals?
They died without even knowing the real underlying causes of the reactor explosion. They could not even imagine that the emergency shutdown of the reactor by activation of the AZ-5 button might decisively effect concealed design failures of the reactor control and safety systems, and reveal faults in physical design of the reactor.
Taken from От Чернобыля до Фукусимы (2012)
