Extraordinary Session of the CC CPSU Politburo April 28 1986 Working copy 1 Information about the accident at the fourth block of the Chernobyl NPS Nuclear Power Station Gorbachev M S Let's hear cde V I Dolgikh's information Dolgikh V I On April 26 at 1 30 a m there was an explosion at the Chernobyl NPS when the fourth block was being decelerated for repairs All work was being performed according to regulations Version of events proposed by specialists an explosion of hydrogen occurred in the lower tank as a result of which the graphite rods were pushed up and the top lid torn off Seventeen people were at work at the time One died one was not found The level of radiation as of 9 in the morning of April 28 was 1 000 roentgen in the vicinity of the reactor and 230 milliroentgen in the city The population has been evacuated Out of the 45 000 residents only 5 000 who service the station canteens etc remain in the city The evacuees are provided for The radioactive cloud has spread for 60 kilometers Ryzhkov N I Yesterday it reached Vilnius at the upper levels of atmosphere Dolgikh V I What is being done Measures are being taken to prevent eruptions by pouring sand red clay and lead from helicopters into the main crater of the reactor Gorbachev M S Don't we have planned measures Dolgikh V I We need to undertake comprehensive analysis of the causes of the accident and to devise appropriate measures to eliminate the consequences of the accident At this point we only have hypotheses One hundred and thirty persons suffered radiation poisoning They were transported to Moscow But this number could rise Now the main priority is to extinguish the reactor The fourth block as such is lost It has to be buried Second--protection of the other three blocks Explanatory work is being conducted in the party organizations of Ukraine People at the station acted stoically Now we need to find employment for the evacuees and also find compensation for the lost electrical power Gorbachev M S Are they dropping sacks of sand and boron from the air Dolgikh V I From helicopters Sixty sacks had been dropped We need 1 800 But it is not safe to fly the helicopters either Solomentsev M S Was the accumulation of hydrogen supposed to be controlled Dolgikh V I Yes but I repeat this is just a hypothesis Gromyko A A Is this phenomenon unpredictable Gorbachev M S This is still just guessing We need the most comprehensive analysis of all circumstances We will discuss the results at a Politburo session We cannot give up on the NPS but we must take all necessary measures to strengthen safety Akhromeev S F Until last night the level of radiation was rising It has spread over 600 square kilometers but the cloud is moving south and west Decontamination measures are being taken Tomorrow a special unit will arrive for this purpose We provided tents for 15 000 people to the local authorities We have not found any contamination of the Dnepr Gorbachev M S What in your opinion should be done Akhromeev S F Realistically only dropping bags of sand and boron on the reactor Gorbachev M S Have we engaged our scientific forces Dolgikh V I A P Aleksandrov and other scientists are working on it Gorbachev M S Maybe we should create groups of scientists for separate issues Dolgikh V I They have been created Chebrikov V M There is nothing of concern so far in our area The population is calm But we have to keep in mind that only a small circle of people know about the accident Ryzhkov N I Cde Dolgikh told us in detail about the situation at the Chernobyl NPS On Saturday the information was more or less calm However after cdes B E Scherbina and A I Majorets flew to the site it turned out that the situation was in reality more complicated Temperature in the reactor is about 900 degrees We have to extinguish the fire What can be done They decided on sand and boron A second way of putting it out would be to drop lead with pig iron pellets One hundred and fifty tons of lead was already delivered Altogether 1 500 will be needed It has been found We discovered another 20 people in the Chernigov oblast who were exposed to radiation Most likely those are fishermen We found people who observed the explosion We must analyze the accident and draw necessary conclusions Ligachev E K I talked with the first secretary of Kiev city party committee cde G I Revenko I also spoke with cde V V Shcherbitsky They are conducting active work to explain what happened to the population Gorbachev M S What are we going to do with the information Dolgikh V I We must complete the containment of the source of radiation Gorbachev M S We should issue a statement quickly we must not delay We should say that there was an explosion that we are taking necessary measures to contain its consequences This is first of all Vorotnikov V I Yes Gorbachev M S And secondly we should continue work on decontamination We should take all necessary measures to protect the property of citizens from looters We should create the necessary material and living conditions for the evacuees take care of their nutrition employment schooling for children and so on Ligachev E K People were relocated well We should not delay the information statement Yakovlev A N The sooner we make an announcement the better Aliev G A We should provide information Chebrikov V M That's right Dobrynin A F The Americans will notice the fact of the explosion and the spread of the radioactive cloud anyway Chebrikov V M The victims are being given the necessary assistance Gromyko A A The statement should be written in such a way that it does not cause excessive anxiety or panic Gorbachev M S We have 18 nuclear power stations We must analyze the causes of the accident at the Chernobyl NPS thoroughly We have to take a look at what our Atomic Oversight agency is doing Was everything done at the Chernobyl NPS to ensure safety We created the Atomic Oversight agency precisely for this purpose The accident took place at a time when the fourth reactor was supposed to be switched over to repairs That means there had to be representatives of Atomic Oversight on site We have to investigate it all thoroughly We need a most serious a most dispassionate analysis of this case Chebrikov V M A criminal investigation has been launched into this accident Gromyko A A Maybe we should provide our friends with special information about what happened Because they buy our equipment for NPSs Gorbachev M S First of all we should inform our own public When making a final assessment of what happened we should pay attention to the issue of the location of NPSs and discuss once again where we should build them Yeltsin B N Maybe we should close the zone where the radioactive cloud is spreading to entry from the outside Dobrynin A F We should take into account the experience of eradicating the consequences of accidents at nuclear power stations when explosions took place in the United States Gorbachev M S Then let's take the following decision take into account cde V I Dolgikh's information on this issue continue measures to eliminate consequences of the accident for the Council of Ministers take measures to ensure material and living conditions and employment for the citizens who were evacuated from the region of the accident prepare and publish an announcement for the press about the accident report to the CC Politburo about the final results of the investigation of the accident Politburo members We agree The resolution is adopted Source Archive of the President of the Russian Federation APRF Record of Session of the CC CPSU Politburo 28 April 1986 working copy published in Rudolph Pikhoia Sovetskii Soyuz Istoriya Vlasti 1945-1991 Novosibirsk Sibirskii Khronograph 2000 pp 429-432 Translated by Svetlana Savranskaya for the National Security Archive This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu