Soviets Blamed at Chernobyl to Be Tried Soon

A Soviet official said Friday that those responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster will go on trial soon.

Andronik M. Petrosyants, chairman of the State Committee for the Utilization of Atomic Energy, told a news conference that he does not know how many people are being prosecuted, what the charges are or exactly when the proceedings will 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.

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, vice president 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 Level Acceptable

He said 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 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.

Nearby Town

He said the group did not visit Pripyat, the evacuated town next to the power station. No official announcement has been made of plans for the town, where as many as 40,000 people lived before the accident. There has been speculation that Pripyat may never be habitable again.

Soviet energy officials are convinced that the design for the reactors at Chernobyl is safe, Petrosyants said. He said construction has begun on a fifth reactor and a sixth unit will be started soon.

Bernthal noted that reactors of the Chernobyl type lack containment structures, which some foreign nuclear experts have said could have limited the damage caused by the accident.

He said a Soviet delegation of nuclear energy experts will visit the United States in October or November and tour the Three Mile Island power station near Harrisburg, Pa. In 1979, the facility was the site of the United States’ worst nuclear accident, though no one was killed.