Soviet Aide Reports 3 More Fatal Chernobyl Accidents

Three more fatal accidents have occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant this year, and radiation continues to be a problem there, according to a report Friday by a Communist Party official.

The surprising report was made by an official identified only as V. Lukyanenko, head of the party in the new town of Slavutich. The town was built to accommodate the Chernobyl staff and their families after the April 26, 1986, accident, in which one of the plant’s four reactors exploded and caught fire, releasing radioactive material.

The accident at the plant in the Ukraine, north of Kiev, was the world’s worst accident involving atomic power, leaving at least 31 people dead. Radioactivity contaminated the town of Pripyat, where most of the plant’s workers lived.

Winds then carried the dangerous material over large portions of Europe, spreading the contamination from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. The disaster caused worldwide fears of nuclear power mishaps, and Soviet authorities repeatedly promised that the Chernobyl complex would be strictly supervised in the future.

36 Accidents in 10 Months

Yet Lukyanenko declared in a report published by the newspaper Socialist Industry: “In the past 10 months in our organization, there have been 36 accidents, including three with fatal consequences.

“Despite the measures which have been taken, incidents of radiation overdoses have not been excluded up to the present time.”

The devastated reactor was sealed in concrete, and repair work was done on the second reactor--severely damaged in the accident--while two other reactors in a different building continued to be operational.

On Friday, the official news agency Tass reported that the damaged reactor had been repaired and that the 1-million kilowatt facility was back on line.

Lukyanenko added that the power plant’s directors have been disciplined for workers’ security infractions during the extraction of nuclear fuel. He said the plant’s supervisors and power workers did not make nuclear safety a needed priority.

The party official gave no details of the more recent accidents and problems at Chernobyl. However, the newspaper commented that it did not agree with the opinion of the Kiev regional Communist Party leader that conditions are entirely satisfactory at Chernobyl.