(2 of 5)
The Chernobyl calamity occurred, ironically, in the course of a safety test. According to the report, workers were trying to determine how long the reactor's turbine generators would continue to operate as a result of inertia in the event of an unforeseen reactor shutdown. To prevent the automatic safety systems from interfering with the experiment, the technicians disconnected them, opening the way for a chain of fatal mishaps. The consequence was an explosion and fire that for more than a week spewed streams of radioactive material into the atmosphere above the Soviet Union and across Eastern and Western Europe.
So far, 31 people who were in or near the plant at the time of the accident have died, and that number only begins to state the extent of the health damage. Using data from the report on the levels of human contamination, American experts conclude that a total of more than 5,000 people are likely to die prematurely from radiation-induced cancer. There will be 10,000 cases of thyroid cancer alone, the experts predict, resulting in 1,500 deaths. Though there is still concern about contamination in other European countries, the information indicates that all the premature deaths will be in the Soviet Union.
The region surrounding the plant will continue to be dangerous for years to come, the report says, with radiation levels as much as 2,500 times normal. Officials at last week's news conference said that 135,000 people have been evacuated from an area of more than 300 sq. mi. around the plant. Previous / estimates were 100,000. The evacuees will eventually be housed in 52 villages, most of them in the Makarov district, west of Kiev. More than 2,000 new homes have been occupied, and 5,000 more are planned. The houses are being donated to the people, and sponsoring agencies, like local farm collectives, are giving them food and clothing. The evacuees were forced to abandon their contaminated belongings when they fled to safety.
Though Chernobyl was a civilian atomic-power facility, Soviet officials used the accident report as a platform for their campaign against the American nuclear-defense program. After first ignoring and then minimizing the mishap, Moscow has tried to establish a link between Chernobyl and atomic weapons. Said the report: "The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant has again demonstrated the danger of uncontrolled nuclear power and highlighted the destructive consequences to which its military use or damage to peaceful nuclear facilities during military operations could lead." And Petrosyants told the press conference, "The explosion of the smallest nuclear warhead would be equal to three Chernobyls." U.S. officials quickly pointed out that Moscow's attempt to link Chernobyl to the arms race was a predictable effort to divert attention from its own failures.
Indeed, the Soviet account of Chernobyl revealed that the power-plant explosion was a case of incompetence on an astounding scale. According to the report, the group of unnamed technicians who were responsible for the disaster committed six serious blunders. If any one of these mistakes had not been made, Soviet officials claimed, the accident would not have occurred.