Thus, the duration of my stay was determined by the dose. As I said, N.I. Ryzhkov sent me there, without any formalities, and I stayed there with I.S. Silaev, Y.D. Maslyukov and L.A. Voronin. We arrived with I.M. Shchadov and the Marshal at night. They were stationed elsewhere, but I stayed the night at the headquarters, which occupied the building of the City Party Committee and the City Council. As I recall, there was nobody there, and I slept either on the chairs, or on the table. All night the telephone rang, the evacuation of the population began, and poor townsfolk asked me a bunch of questions. I had to respond since I was on the staff, I tried to answer using common sense, though even now I’m not sure that I, and the rest of the team, had common sense back then. Confusion was complete, no one really knew what happened. As in the beginning of the war…
B. E. Shcherbina, as the Vice Premiere in charge of energy, discussed the plans for launching the fifth block. From Moscow, they were demanding we measure the temperature of a reactor that almost did not exist. In Kiev, V.V. Shcherbitsky organized a public rally to calm down the population (!) and at night I was trying to figure out what would happen to the livestock. I was asked by the people of Chernobyl about this. In the West, they have already written about the tens of thousands killed in the accident. I. Morozov, the first deputy of E.P. Slavsky, was preparing on behalf of Sredmash an excusatory report. In the morning we went with the Marshal to the station for reconnaissance. The damage was minimal, but the dose was monstrous. I asked the Marshal once more how they would deal with such objects during a war. «Go around» he replied again. It is possible to go around a contaminated site, but impossible to go around a cloud of radioactive dust.
The liquidators began to dump sand into the reactor shaft, and then decided to drop the lead shot into the core, which was not the wisest decision. They began to think about fixing the dust and protecting the groundwater. I called the director of the largest chemical institute in Leningrad, the Academician B.V. Gidaspov, and he made a very sticky resin. We covered the block with this resin, and as we poured we were glued to it like flies to a sticky paper, and our feet became desperately contaminated. The resin was expensive, so energetic and practical L.D. Ryabev organized production of a similar resin from auxiliary materials, and it helped greatly for fixation of radioactive dust. Silaev began discussing with his aviation colleagues a construction of a sarcophagus, and V. D. Pismenny together with the Minister of Coal Industry, I.M. Shchadov, immediately upon arrival discussed construction of the trap beneath the unit, which was then built by the heroic miners.
The weather was perfect, the gardens were in bloom, and the sight of the city, abandoned by its residents, the sight of dogs and cats that were left behind, brought people to tears. The ancient town, peaceful and soulful Gogol’s Ukraine, where Ukrainian songs sounded for centuries, and supreme Jewish wisdom found refuge. The departing folks asked: «How soon will we back?» What could I answer them? I replied «Never!» On the other hand, the traditional Soviet super-secrecy clearly had damaging effect. I called A.N. Yakovlev and asked him to send the press, including foreigners. The result was unexpected. In the evening, A.M. Petrosyants called, he was something like a nominal chairman of Atomic Industry of the U.S.S.R., and informed Silaev and me that an «auditor» was coming, Hans Blix, the General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and M. Rosen, his deputy. According to the Moscow plan they would fly to Kiev and from there would be driven by car to the Chernobyl site, we would tell them everything, and they would come back. I was horrified. Why go to Chernobyl for a talk? You could tell all in Vienna, the question is would they believe it? Especially on the way, they would get radioactive dust and would be exposed to the worst rumors. Petrosyants asked «What should we do?» I replied «Put them in a helicopter, fly them over the station, they will see everything, and we will tell them all on the way.» «No,» he said «it’s impossible, there is a secret object on the route, and the KGB is opposed.» I knew what the object was, so I said «Everyone has already fled from there.» But Petrosyants did not agree. Silaev said «Call Gorbachev.» I could not call home to my wife for two weeks, but I was connected with Gorbachev in his car at once. I was in a panic, thinking «What can I say?» He is a man from the south, he knows the local conditions… I asked Silaev «Tell him that our outhouse is full, and people have to go through a pile of crap.» Silaev was a straight man, and he said exactly what I suggested. Gorbachev groaned, but agreed with my plan.
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