Approaching the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a part of the government commission, on which the accident had happened the day before, Valery Alekseevich Legasov, deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute, did not assume that he was on the way to an event of superplanetary significance. It will go down in history as a tragedy comparable to the death of Pompeii, and will radically change his life and the very idea of it. And it will cause death at the 52nd year of life.
Biography Pages
A world-renowned inorganic chemist was born in Tula on 09/09/1936, but studied already in Moscow. His parents were ordinary employees, and his son showed serious hopes already on the school bench, finishing it with a gold medal. As a Komsomol secretary, he became famous for rewriting the charter of the Komsomol, considering its certain provisions incorrect. Later he became a convinced communist with thirty years of experience, having absorbed the air of free “sixties”.
Enrolling in 1956 at the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry of Moscow Art Theater. Mendeleev (now RCTU), Legasov Valery Alekseevich, along with everyone participated in poetry evenings by B. Akhmadullina, E. Evtushenko, A. Voznesensky, rejoiced at the manned flight into space and quoted the film “Nine Days of One Year” that appeared on the screen. The surnames of Kurchatov and Korolev were often pronounced in his entourage. Being an activist, at the end of his studies he headed the Komsomol committee, participated in organizing the 1957 Festival of Youth and Students, receiving delegations from foreign countries.
He studied so well that immediately after graduation he was sent to graduate school. But he left for distribution at a chemical plant in Tomsk, because he simply could not do otherwise.
Scientific success
In 31 Legasov Valery Alekseevich became a candidate, and in 36 - a doctor of chemical sciences, dealing with the problems of noble gases. Already in 40 developments in the field of their chemical compounds will be evaluated by the State Prize. His work is 1977-1984. brought this direction to the world peaks, for which the leader and his group were awarded the highest award - the Lenin Prize. The second direction of his activity was energy technology systems, which is also associated with noble gases. Combining science, technology and design, he participated in the development of a new type of fuel, which was an important step towards the creation of nuclear reactors.
Safety issues in the industry worried him long before the Chernobyl accident. He developed the concept of zero and acceptable risk, which also met with the understanding of the scientific community. The scientist became the youngest Soviet academician, having been elected to the USSR Academy of Sciences at the age of 45.
Working at the Department of Chemistry of Moscow State University, since 1983 he becomes deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute, headed by academician Aleksandrov.
Academician Legasov at Chernobyl
On the morning of April 26, 1986, Moscow discussed the events in Chernobyl, from where information about the accident came. Nobody imagined its scale, although the Ministry of Energy received an encryption with signals 1,2,3,4, which meant a situation of nuclear, radiation, fire and explosive danger. Valery Alekseevich Legasov also became a member of the USSR government commission led by B. E. Shcherbina. He was not a nuclear physicist, but he dealt with security issues, so the choice fell on him.
Driving up to Chernobyl in government cars and seeing the crimson sky, Legasov, like many others, realized that a real catastrophe had happened. When flying over an exploded reactor in helicopters, the question of the possibility of a second explosion remained open. Having shown personal courage, the academician drove up to the reactor in an armored personnel carrier belonging to the chemical forces in order to check for neutron emission. Already in the first moments of being at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, he allegedly received his first 100 x-rays.
His merit lies in the fact that he organized immediate actions that subsequently saved the lives of many people: he insisted on the evacuation of Pripyat, although the doctors hesitated, waiting for a command from Moscow, organized a refueling of the reactor with a mixture of sand, lead and boron, suppressing the release of radioactive substances and graphite. And it does not matter that subsequently the effectiveness of this measure will be challenged. In a situation where Chernobyl was underestimated, Legasov would not be afraid to speak at a meeting of the Politburo on May 5 with a question and suggestions on how to eliminate the consequences of a terrible accident, revealing the real picture of the tragedy and demanding the adoption of systemic conclusions.
Speech to IAEA Experts
After the meeting of the political bureau, no one will return from the composition of the first government commission to the Chernobyl except the academician. He will spend four months at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, hiding the testimony of a personal dosimeter, showing the level of radiation received by him during the rescue operations. He was struck by the slowness of the country's leadership and the ignoring of safety requirements at the emergency nuclear power plant in the complete absence of protective equipment. The views expressed at the Politburo aroused the hostility of M.S. Gorbachev, nevertheless he will be entrusted with speaking to the IAEA at the end of summer in Vienna.
It was expected that experts would demand punishment from the USSR and reparations for damage from a radioactive cloud rushing to Europe. But the openness and competence of a Soviet scientist who spoke for five hours, who revealed the true nature and scope of the tragedy, saved the country's reputation and raised concern about the safety system at all nuclear power plants. Academician Legasov will be recognized by the United States as the Person of the Year, but not everyone will like the triumph after his speech.
Harassing a scientist
The last two years of Legasov’s life were overshadowed by his state of health, lack of support from colleagues against the backdrop of hostility of the authorities and indifference to the scientist’s feat to eliminate the Chernobyl accident. Some specialists of the institute began to consider the speech of Valery Alekseevich as a hoax on academician Aleksandrov, who always kept talking about the safety of nuclear reactors. In fact, Anatoly Petrovich himself fought for their construction with "caps of protection", but surrendered under the pressure of financiers, because such reactors would cost the country 30% more. He did not feel himself in a state of conflict with Legasov and was the first to report on the upcoming deputy Hero Star.
But when publishing the lists of those awarded for eliminating the Chernobyl accident, the names of the academician were not in them. This was later explained by M.S. Gorbachev, who believes that it is impossible to award representatives of the Kurchatov Institute, because "the people will not understand." In 1987 there was an offensive situation when Legasov was not elected to the Academic Council. He understood the situation at the institute and wanted to recuse himself, but Aleksandrov considered it wrong if his deputy was not a member of the Academic Council. The voting results shocked the scientist.
Cough, nausea, sleep loss - all testified to the development of the disease. Legasov suffered a serious depression back in 1987, taking a huge dose of sleeping pills. Then he was saved, and this fact did not become public. The scientist understood that he had important knowledge about the Chernobyl tragedy, trying to publish an article in the newspaper Pravda. The editorial staff denied him. As they do not support the proposal in scientific circles on the establishment of a nuclear safety institute.
The death of academician Legasov
On the eve of the second anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy, Legasov brought home a lot of papers. But he did not give them a minute of attention, looking at family photographs all evening. Wife Margarita Mikhailovna was somewhat surprised that the husband did not answer the calls of colleagues, but did not attach any serious significance to this. In a mansion on Infantry, a son and his family lived with them, who was the first to return the next day from work at lunchtime. It was he who found his father hanged without any suicide note.
The mystery of Legasov’s death was studied by the investigation, which put forward two versions: murder and suicide. Investigator Boris Pogorelov reports that none of them found their confirmation. It was a suicide of a physically and morally man driven to despair. But in this case there is still a blank spot that raises questions. Legasov left five audio cassettes, where he recited his memories and his conclusions on the events in Chernobyl. The main one is that the accident was the apotheosis of improper housekeeping for several decades. Some of the records on these tapes were mysteriously deleted by someone.
Hero of Russia
Justice triumphed in 1996. Valery Alekseevich Legasov was posthumously presented to the title of Hero of Russia for his courage during the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident by President Yeltsin.