ABSTRACT
The extent of contamination had been verified not only in the former Soviet republics but also on neighbours' territories. Many people still remember the tragic death of academician Valery Legasov, who was in charge of the clean-up operation at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and then took his life on the second anniversary of the accident. At that secret session of the Politburo, Legasov told Comrade M. S. Gorbachev the following: The reaktor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny (RBMK) reactor was not up to international and domestic standards in several respects. Assessing the operational safety of the RBMK reactor, the group of specialists working on the commission's instructions concluded that its characteristics were not up to modern safety standards. The RBMK reactors were potentially hazardous. The commission chairman's report was followed by the Central Committee discussion of reactor safety. And it was then that some little-known secrets of the Soviet reactor saw the light of day.
