Soviets Blame Atom Disaster on Negligence

The Politburo on Saturday blamed the Chernobyl disaster on gross negligence, said four government officials were fired and increased the official death toll from history’s worst civilian nuclear accident to 28.

In a statement distributed by the official news agency Tass, the Communist Party’s ruling body said those who caused the accident would be put on trial. It said the accident caused the equivalent of $2.8 billion in damage.

Tass said the Politburo, headed by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, met in special session Saturday to study the results of a government inquiry into the April 26 Chernobyl disaster, which occurred in the northern Ukraine about 60 miles north of Kiev.

Poor Supervision Cited

The Politburo said the Chernobyl reactor exploded as workers conducted improperly supervised and badly prepared experiments on a turbine generator without proper safety measures while the unit was sidelined for repairs at night.

It indicated that safety procedures and technical training also were inadequate at the nation’s other nuclear plants, which include 13 graphite-moderated reactors like the one at Chernobyl.

Painting the most graphic picture yet of the scope of the disaster, the Politburo said 28 people have died so far, 30 are still hospitalized and 173 others were stricken by radiation sickness. The death toll had previously stood at 26.

The accident disrupted the nation’s power supply, forced closing of local factories and contaminated 400 square miles of land in the northern Ukraine and southern Byelorussia, the Politburo said.

The area reported contaminated appears to be much smaller than the zone from which residents were evacuated following the accident. That area measures at least 1,000 square miles.

Sweeping Condemnation

The Politburo issued a sweeping condemnation of the local, Ukrainian and national officials responsible for operating the Chernobyl reactor.

“It was established that the accident had been caused by a series of gross breaches of the reactor operational regulations by workers of the atomic power station,” it said. It repeated earlier reports that the disaster occurred while the No. 4 reactor at the four-reactor complex was nearly shut down.

“Irresponsibility, negligence and indiscipline led to grave consequences,” the Politburo said. It singled out the Ministry of Power and Electrification and the State Atomic Power Safety Committee for special blame.

“Experiments with turbo-generator operation regimes were (being) conducted,” the Politburo said.

“The managers and specialists of the atomic power station themselves had not prepared for that experiment, nor agreed (on) it with appropriate organizations, although it had been their duty to do so,” it said. “Finally, proper supervision was not organized when those experiments were carried out, nor proper safety measures taken.”

Press reports and government statements have said the reactor surged out of control. The cooling system failed, radioactive steam was vented and combined with the reactor’s graphite core to produce hydrogen that exploded in a giant fireball, ripping open the reactor.

The radioactive cloud that spewed into the atmosphere was eventually detected around the world.

The Politburo said the Soviet prosecutor general was investigating “persons guilty of the accident” and that they will be brought to trial.

Yevgeny Kulov, head of the State Atomic Safety Committee, was fired for “bad errors and shortcomings,” the statement said. Also dismissed were G.A. Shasharin, deputy minister of power and electrification; Ivan Y. Yemelyanov, deputy director of the institute that designed the Chernobyl reactor, and Alexander Meshkov, a first deputy minister of medium engineering.

Tass said V. Bryukhanov, the former director of the Chernobyl power plant who was dismissed last month, had been expelled from the Communist Party.

The Politburo said Anatoly Mayorets, minister of power and electrification, deserved to be fired but was given a reprieve because he had been in office only since March, 1985.

Local party and government bodies were instructed to investigate other officials responsible for operation of the Chernobyl plant, an action suggesting that others may be dismissed.

New Nuclear Ministry

The Politburo created a new Atomic Power Engineering Ministry charged with raising standards and overseeing the development of the nuclear energy industry. It said atomic plant workers would be retrained but gave no other details of what the Kremlin had in mind to improve atomic safety nationwide.

The Politburo assured the public the reactor is now “under dependable control and causes no worry.”

But it ordered local government and party bodies to speed up the burial of the reactor in a concrete shell and install devices that will keep it under control for the hundreds of years it will take for the radioactive core to decay.

Radiation has been reduced to normal levels everywhere except the plant and “a few nearby localities,” the Politburo said.

Compensation to Evacuees

A 12-mile-long embankment is being constructed along the Pripyat River, which flows near the reactor, to prevent pollution.

The more than 100,000 people evacuated from an 18-mile radius around Chernobyl are being compensated and given housing and jobs, the report said. It made no prediction about as to when, if ever, they would be able to return home.

The Politburo concluded with a political statement calling for arms control and adding: “The world community is awaiting a positive answer from the American side to the unilateral Soviet moratorium on nuclear testing.”