Soviets Will Try Figures in Chernobyl Disaster Soon

The Soviet Union announced today that those responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster will be put on trial soon.

Andranik Petrosyants, chairman of the State Committee for the Utilization of Atomic Energy, told a news conference he did not know how many people are being prosecuted, what the charges are or when the proceedings would begin.

“All I can say is that it will be soon and it will be in Kiev,” he said.

The disaster, the world’s worst nuclear accident, destroyed the No. 4 reactor at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986. Two workers were killed on the spot and at least 29 other people died from radiation-related illnesses. Hundreds of victims were hospitalized after being exposed to harmful levels of radiation.

Human Error Blamed

Soviet newspapers have reported that at least six senior plant officials, including the director, were fired after the accident. Petrosyants declined to say whether any of these officials would be prosecuted, but he repeated official statements that blamed the accident entirely on human error.

His news conference was held to discuss the visit of 11 American nuclear energy experts who toured the Chernobyl facility and other nuclear plants and training institutes. The Americans arrived on Feb. 27.

Delegation chief Fredrich Bernthal, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the visit was aimed at expanding cooperation on nuclear safety.

Bernthal said his group had only a brief tour of the Chernobyl station, 80 miles north of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

Radiation Levels Acceptable

He said that the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the four-unit station are operating at full capacity and meeting international safety standards and that the radiation levels at the plant are well within the acceptable range.

Petrosyants said the No. 3 reactor will be put into service this year. It was not damaged in the accident but had to be shut down because it was housed in a building near the ruined No. 4 unit.

The No. 4 reactor has been sealed in concrete. Petrosyants said that the radiation level around No. 4 is no higher than the normal background level for the area and that plant employees are now working full shifts.

Bernthal said the group noticed that communities within the 18-mile restricted zone established after the accident “are still receiving limited use,” but that life in other settlements outside the restricted area has returned to normal.