Nikolai Dmitrievich cockroaches. Chernobyl takes revenge on its heroes The fight against invisible death
He led the operation to remove highly radioactive elements from particularly dangerous areas of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and restoration work after the earthquake in Spitak.
Biography
Born on May 19, 1934 on the Don in the village of Gremyache into a large peasant family. In 1953 he graduated from Gremyachensky secondary school and entered the Kharkov Military Technical School. He graduated from college as an excellent student, with the rank of lieutenant. After several years of service at the school, he wrote a report on his transfer to the army. Soon he was sent to the Red Banner Civil Defense Regiment (city of Merefa) as commander of an electrical platoon.
He led the operation to remove highly radioactive elements from particularly dangerous areas of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and restoration work after the earthquake in Spitak. He is a disabled person of the second group due to radiation sickness that he developed.
Since 1993 - Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. As of 2008, General Director of the Moscow Association "Science - Production", General Director of the scientific center "Union of Disabled Persons of Chernobyl", Vice-President of the Public Academy for Social and Environmental Protection of Disaster Victims, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, laureate of the International Literary Prize named after. M. A. Sholokhova.
Ratings and opinions
N. D. Tarakanov, retired major general, in 1986 the head of the operation to eliminate the consequences of the Chernobyl accident in a particularly dangerous zone:
N.D. Tarakanov, retired major general, in 1988 the head of the work to eliminate the consequences of the Spitak earthquake:
Awards
- Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" II degree
- International Prize named after M. A. Sholokhov in the field of literature and art
Proceedings
- Tarakanov N.D. Two tragedies of the 20th century. - M.: Soviet writer, 1992. - 432 p. - 30,000 copies. - ISBN 5-265-02615-0
- Tarakanov N.D. Operation in a particularly dangerous zone, September 1986. Monograph “Moscow - Chernobyl”.. - M., 1998.
On Monday, June 6, 2016, the birthday of A.S. Pushkin, a creative meeting took place in the Central House of Writers, unlike the usual literary events in Moscow. The meeting is noteworthy in that the author of the book “Serdyukov and his Women’s Battalion” is Major General Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov, who participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster; Doctor of Technical Sciences, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, laureate of the International Literary Prize named after. M.A. Sholokhov, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Friends, colleagues in literary and scientific activities, and senior officers of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation gathered for a creative meeting with Nikolai Dmitrievich from Prague. It was nice to note that the officers of Honor remained in our country and are not idle! How many words have been said about Nikolai Dmitrievich’s straightforwardness, about his fight against corruption in the ranks of the army, about his irreconcilable attitude towards unprofessional work and unfair selection of personnel! No, the speech of officers and scientists cannot be called a backstage conversation in a close circle; facts from the life of Nikolai Dmitrievich were recalled: how he was not afraid to openly oppose Yeltsin’s policies and how he responded to a warning about deprivation of his rank...
- “You didn’t give me the title, and it’s not for you to deprive me of it.”
They talked about the invaluable contribution of Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov - his leadership of the operation to remove highly radioactive elements from especially dangerous zones of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about the leadership of restoration work after the earthquake in Spitak, about the consequences for himself - the development of radiation sickness, about the endurance and fortitude of the general's spirit. It was pleasant to note that everyone who was present at the creative evening read Nikolai Dmitrievich’s book “Serdyukov and His Women’s Battalion” and spoke in detail, quoting the author. That doesn't happen very often these days. According to eyewitnesses, the revealing book is so true that the author may need protection. Yes, this is not a tabloid novel, the book contains the bitter truth of life...
But there is another truth. How wonderful were the words of Zoya Ivanovna Tarakanova addressed to her husband, how much support and strength was felt in the words of the charming woman, how much wisdom was contained in her words...
It was pleasant to listen to officers recite Pushkin and Tyutchev, remember and talk about the greatness of the Russian language, the preservation of the traditions of our people, and reunification with Crimea.
The meeting was not pompous. People smiled, joked, but sincerely wished Nikolai Dmitrievich creative longevity and gave gifts. The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Tourist" Yuri Evgenievich Machkin presented the hero of the occasion with three issues of the magazine for 2016, which tell about the meeting of writers in Moscow, about the "living hero of the dead city" - Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov. The hall of the Central House of Writers was full. The meeting was held with the support of the NP "Presidential Club "Doveriya", writers, poets, author-performers of the Izba-Chitalnya portal. The organizer and host of the creative evening is a poet, composer, author-performer - Boris Bocharov, who gathered his colleagues at the creative evening of Nikolai Dmitrievich. The concert program was attended by: Irina Tsareva, who read the poems of her husband - Igor Tsarev, Stanislav Pak, Olga Bardina-Malyarovskaya, Boris Bocharov, Olga Karagodina, Elena Zhmachinskaya.
On one of the sites, in her photo report, Olga Bardina-Malyarovskaya wrote: “Elena Zhmachinskaya spoke so warmly and soulfully that Nikolai Dmitrievich himself showered her with gifts.” Having extensive experience in conducting creative meetings, I was worried like a child. People’s words were too close to me. They turned out to have passed through the soul. I spoke about the continuity of generations, about preserving the honor of officers in the family. My words of gratitude to Nikolai Dmitrievich, for the opportunity to feel this Honor - here and now. Thank you so much for the gifts! Nikolai Dmitrievich, leaving the place of honor as the hero of the occasion, presented three books “Serdyukov and his Women’s Battalion” to be given to my brother (Colonel, Candidate of Sciences), nephew (Major), grandson (student of the Tagansky Cadet Corps). The book "Selected Novels" is a gift for me personally. It is difficult to convey the state of my soul at this moment, but the smile does not leave my face, and the warmth remains in my heart. Thank you…
Thanks to Olga Karagodina, who performed the song “Wishes”, written based on my poems. Olga is not only an excellent composer and singer-songwriter, she makes delightful photo reports of creative meetings, which are included in publications. Olga Karagodina's performance completed the concert program.
Nikolai Dmitrievich's final speech was brief. The author presented other books that he presented to all participants of the meeting: “Two tragedies of the 20th century”, “Notes of a Russian general”, “Under the constellation of the bull”, “Russian knot”, “President Putin in a new version!”, “When the mountains cry”, "Selected Novels", "Tourist" magazine with publications of interesting articles. Words of gratitude were addressed to all the participants in the evening, but how many tender words were said to his wife, his fighting friend, Zoya Ivanovna, with whom we shared more than sixty years of life’s journey! It is probably this tenderness that preserves the youth of the soul and love of life, despite all the “Serdyukovs”.
During the festive banquet, congratulations continued. Three “Hurrays!” were heard, toasts were made, songs were sung, and poems were read. Boris Prakhov pleased with his poems, whose anniversary creative evening is scheduled at the Central House of Writers on June 15th. I recited Veronica Tushnova’s poems, dear to my soul and conveying Nikolai Dmitrievich’s reverent attitude towards his wife. Songs by Olga Bardina-Malyarovskaya, Boris Bocharov and Mikhail Volovlikov were performed, ending the evening. For a long time, people communicated with each other, exchanged contacts, and talked about joint projects. Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov united in his person the army and writers - people who are not indifferent to the cultural heritage and fate of Russia. Not every person is able to spend such an evening in the eighty-third year of life. But if this figure had not been announced, I would not have believed it. Long life to Nikolai Dmitrievich, new books and productive work at the Academy! I am very grateful for this evening, for the opportunity to participate in it.
Member of the Russian Writers' Union, poet,
Head of the Creative Commonwealth "Caring"
Elena Zhmachinskaya. 
Man-made disasters have, unfortunately, been an integral part of humanity since the beginning of the 20th century. Centralia, now called nothing less than “Silent Hill”, the collision of “Mont Blanc” and “Imo” in Halifax Bay, the Bhopal disaster, they all had completely different reasons, but they had the same consequences - the death of a huge number of people, destruction, defeat of the affected territories and their unsuitability for life. However, what man-made disaster comes to mind when we talk about the Soviet or post-Soviet space? Perhaps the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that occurred on April 26, 1986 near the city of Pripyat. “One of the most powerful nuclear power plants in the world” - this thesis alone speaks volumes.
A moment of history
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the first structure of its kind in Ukraine. Its launch took place in 1970. The city of Pripyat was built specifically to accommodate employees of the new nuclear power plant, designed for approximately 80 thousand residents. On April 25, 1986, work began to shut down the fourth power unit of the nuclear power plant. Their goal was routine repairs.
During this procedure, on April 26, 1986, at 1:23 a.m., an explosion occurred, which served only as the beginning of the disaster. Less than an hour after the start of extinguishing the fire, the Emergency Situations Ministry employees began to show signs of radiation exposure, but none of them intended to stop working. General Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov was appointed head of the work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster.
Biography
He was born on May 19, 1934 in the village of Gremyache on the Don, in the Voronezh region. He grew up in a simple peasant family. In 1953, the future General Tarakanov graduated from a local school, after which he entered the Kharkov Military Technical School. In the 1980s, he served in the Civil Defense Research Institute and was Deputy Chief of Staff of the USSR Civil Defense. It was Major General Tarakanov who was one of those heroes who stood in the way of the most terrible enemy of humanity - radiation. In 1986, few people understood what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And even if they knew that an explosion had occurred, they still had little idea of its consequences.
Fighting invisible death
It is enough that the first fire crews to arrive on the scene were not equipped with any radiation protection equipment. They extinguished the fire with their bare hands, which, of course, later affected their health. Most of them died from radiation sickness in the first months, and some even in the first days after the explosion. General Tarakanov did not find Chernobyl in this form. His tasks included organizing the cleanup of the fourth power unit from radiation contamination.
He arrived at the place after, albeit a short, but still a period of time. Initially, it was planned to use special robots imported from the GDR, however, according to the memoirs of General Tarakanov himself, these machines were not adapted to work in conditions of extreme radiation pollution. Their use at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant turned out to be useless; the machines simply did not work. At the same time, it was decided to involve ordinary soldiers in cleaning the roof of the fourth power unit from the remains of nuclear fuel.
General plan
It was here that Nikolai Tarakanov - General with a capital G - proposed a specific plan. He was well aware that soldiers should not be allowed to spend more than 3-4 minutes cleaning, otherwise they risk receiving lethal doses of radiation. And he followed his plan unquestioningly, since none of his subordinates spent more than the allotted time there, with the exception of Cheban, Sviridov and Makarov. These three climbed to the roof of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant three times, but all of them are still alive to this day.
Initially, it was assumed that General Tarakanov, upon arrival at Chernobyl, would direct the operation from a command post located 15 kilometers from the work site. However, he found this unreasonable, because at such a distance it is impossible to control such important and delicate work. As a result, a station was equipped for him near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Subsequently, this decision greatly affected his health.
The soldiers spoke exceptionally warmly about their commander, because he was next to them, also fighting radiation.
After some time, the question arose about awarding General Tarakanov the title of Hero of the USSR. However, due to tense relations with superiors, Nikolai Dmitrievich never received this award. He himself does not lament this, but still admits that he feels some resentment.
Today's days
Now Nikolai Dmitrievich Tarakanov suffers from radiation sickness, which he has to fight with the help of medications. In his few interviews, he honestly admits that he is depressed by the current attitude of the state towards the liquidator soldiers who, at the cost of their lives, decontaminated the territory of the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They did this not for the sake of rewards, it was their duty, and now they have been undeservedly forgotten. Nikolai Dmitrievich very much hopes that he will see the day when this omission will be corrected.
Major General Nikolai Tarakanov, who led the operation to clear the station: “I wouldn’t go there now!”
“The Germans paid for us for the 25th anniversary of the nuclear accident last year. And the president and prime minister are at zero. I was Putin’s confidant during his first election campaign, I became one only to help the liquidators, I asked: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, don’t abandon the Chernobyl victims!” He promised. And four years later our benefits were taken away...”
Major General Tarakanov Nikolai Dmitrievich, Doctor of Technical Sciences, academician, member of the Writers' Union, president of the Center for Social Protection of Disabled People of Chernobyl. In 1986, it was he, the first deputy head of the USSR Defense Scientific Center, who was tasked with deactivating the station and preparing it for the construction of a sarcophagus.
Since March of this year, changes have been made to the Federal Law on Days of Military Glory and Memorial Dates in Russia. From now on, April 26 is not only the Day of Participants in the Elimination of the Chernobyl Disaster, it is also the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of these Accidents.
There are fewer and fewer of those who were the first to eliminate the consequences of the worst technological disaster in the USSR twenty-six years ago.
On General Tarakanov’s table is a joint photo with Putin.
“This feat can be compared to war,” General Tarakanov is convinced. — 3.5 thousand volunteers who responded to the call of the party and the state arrived in Chernobyl to carry out the initial cleanup of the territory at the station. These were soldiers of the Soviet Army, “partisans” called up from the reserves. In just five years, about 500 thousand people passed through the station, more than Napoleonic army.
— Nikolai Dmitrievich, was it really impossible to involve equipment in the removal of nuclear fuel?
— Initially, robots were ordered from the GDR to clean the contaminated area. But the robots broke down as soon as they got there. And on September 16, 1986, a government commission signed a resolution to involve conscripts and reserve soldiers in the removal of nuclear fuel manually.
- This is obvious death!
- If you did it crazy, like the firefighters extinguished the reactor immediately after the explosion, the soldiers would be suicide bombers. We thought about people and did everything to minimize harm to health. But it was impossible to do without human hands. Soldiers transported 300 thousand cubic meters of contaminated soil to ten specially equipped burial grounds. They removed 300 tons of nuclear fuel, explosion debris, nuclear graphite, and uranium oxide from the surface. The soldier received his wartime dose for 2-3 minutes of work in the zone. The sappers made a hole in the roof of the station and installed a fire escape, at the foot of which there was an officer with a stopwatch. After briefing at the command post, a group of five people jumped out onto the roof and removed the radioactive materials. Using the monitor at the command post, we made sure that no one fell, God forbid, into the reactor fissure.
- They didn’t return to the roof the second time?
- No, it was prohibited. There were only three Muscovites Cheban, Sviridov and Makarov, who worked three times. They were nominated for the title of Hero already under Putin, but not a single one received this title. These three are still alive. To be honest, I didn’t specifically track the fate of the others. But I know that of those who were on the roof then, only five percent died from diseases directly related to Chernobyl. By the way, a tool for cleaning the roof was prepared for us by a junior researcher at VNIIKHIMMASH, Mikhail Zurabov.
— The same one who, having become the Minister of Health, took away benefits from Chernobyl victims?
“I don’t think he alone is to blame for what happened with the benefits.” In Soviet times, Chernobyl survivors were carried in their arms. Everyone was grateful to us for saving the world at the cost of our health. And we should have gotten at least something for it. Even in modern times, we were given an interest-free loan for housing, a free telephone, a car, and housing and communal services. When the country fell apart, the relationship ended. The Duma considered the law on benefits three times, but never adopted it. When Putin first ran for president, I was offered to become his confidant. I agreed only to convey to him the problems of the Chernobyl victims. At the first meeting, Vladimir Vladimirovich asked directly: “My dear confidants, do you have any requests?” I took the microphone: “The soldiers of Chernobyl brought me here. They hang themselves, shoot themselves, jump from rooftops, their wives leave them - isn’t what they did worth at least some concern from the state? I’m ready to go into battle for you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, but restore benefits to Chernobyl victims!” He promised. As the candidate’s confidant, I was given the most difficult red belts: Kaluga region, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Krasnodar region. I, a sick general, held 75 meetings in support of Putin. It was 2000, and no one yet knew whether the election would be won. For example, they gathered a gathering in Rostov - the Cossacks shouted: “Why are you campaigning for Putin? Let him give us land first!” I told them: elect him and he will fulfill all his promises...
— Has Putin fulfilled his promise to you?
— A law was passed immediately after the inauguration to restore benefits to Chernobyl victims. I wrote books about Putin, here they are on the shelf, one of them is called “Vivat for President Putin!” I would give my life for him! But four years later, our benefits were taken away again.
- Chernobyl survivor Zurabov?
“These people are still in power.” Documents on monetization were prepared by the current Minister of Economy Nabiullina, for example. I don’t think that Putin broke his word, I think that he himself was deceived... Those who did this have no excuse, I think they themselves understand perfectly well what they did. That is why the topic of Chernobyl victims is now hushed up. Because it’s easier for officials to assume that there are no more liquidators.
— What benefits have been preserved?
— Only 50 percent payment for housing and communal services. We even buy our own medicine. And those that are on the free list, most often they are not available in the pharmacy. I can't live without pills. Radiation sickness is practically incurable. Once at the clinic they prescribed injections, one costs one and a half thousand rubles. I’m a general, I got it done according to a quota, but what’s left for the privates? I was sent to the States twice for treatment, I spent six months there - but I earned a penny myself, I gave lectures about Chernobyl in 22 states... In America they remember us. And at home... Last year, when it was the quarter-century anniversary of the disaster, Medvedev did not even come to the conference for us, the Russian liquidators. We sent an invitation, but he went to Ukraine to remember Chernobyl there, at the invitation of their prime minister, he didn’t even send a greeting. But there were more than three hundred thousand liquidators from Russia. When I had my last meeting with Putin at a concert several years ago, I again lashed out honestly: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, you didn’t keep your promise!” Lord, Russian men gave their lives and health, and they were so offended. My soldiers, with whom I ate the bitter porridge of Chernobyl... For what? Now I would never climb onto that roof and never send anyone...
The most terrible man-made disaster of the twentieth century - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - truly remained only in the memory of those who survived it, who were there, in dead, depopulated Pripyat, at the walls of the sarcophagus that covered the insides of the exploded fourth power unit. 81-year-old Nikolai Tarakanov is one of the few who know the truth first-hand. It was he who sent soldiers literally to death - for the sake of life on Earth.
General Tarakanov. Legendary personality. He went through fire, water and radioactive dust, and two years later led rescuers in earthquake-ravaged Armenia. With a story about the fate of a veteran, “Culture” opens a series of publications dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the tragedy that happened on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
In Chernobyl, Nikolai Tarakanov led the operation to remove highly radioactive elements from particularly dangerous areas of the nuclear power plant. He climbed into the thick of it, suffered from radiation sickness, and became a second group disabled person. But he ordered himself to survive, and is still in service. On the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, our interlocutor, together with his colleague, General Nikolai Antoshkin, another Chernobyl hero, was officially nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
75 meetings for Putin
I go to the military aviation hospital, a branch of Burdenko, where the general is once again improving his health. Tarakanov meets me in ordinary civilian clothes at the checkpoint. It’s unusual to see him without military orders. And suddenly, bad luck: it turns out that the hospital has been quarantined and visitors, even journalists, are not allowed.
“I am General Tarakanov,” is heard throughout the entire area in a booming bass voice. - Let my guest through!” Under this cry, the guards immediately ran in, rustled lists of those who had free access, despite the flu epidemic, and finally found a document signed by the head of the medical department: everyone should be allowed to see Tarakanov.
At the main entrance there is a running line: “Dear patients, the hospital management welcomes you and wishes you a speedy recovery.” The general nods, that’s all right, he can’t be sick for a long time. Illness is weakness. But generals are never weak.
In the room, he immediately takes out a pile of papers from the closet. My last book. Or rather, it’s better to say extreme. Still in manuscript. But the veteran hopes: he will finish it in time, and maybe more than one. In total, he has published more than thirty documentary novels. Here are the memories of an eyewitness to the Chernobyl tragedy, and a story about how people were pulled out from under the rubble in 1988 in Armenia. And about corruption in the army under Serdyukov - “thank God that Shoigu came and restored the honor of the military uniform.” And already from peaceful life: in 2000, Tarakanov was a confidant of the future president of Russia, and held 75 meetings with voters in the most difficult regions of the “red belt” at that time. “The latest book is also about Putin,” Tarakanov promises. - “Supreme Commander-in-Chief” - that’s what it will be called.”
I ask about the most important experience in life: what was memorable, what was worth giving all of yourself for? Nikolai Dmitrievich starts slowly. It is impossible to describe in a nutshell, one story leads to another, then a third, and now the individual branches form a mighty tree of heroic fate - a story about a real general. The main character speaks in the first person.
“An encrypted message has arrived from the General Staff”
In 1986, I was the first deputy head of the scientific center of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The task that was set before me at Chernobyl: to reduce the level of radiation around, decontaminate the station and prepare for the installation of an impenetrable sarcophagus - it was to be built over the fourth power unit.
I went to Chernobyl, not being sure that I would return. I remember how at the end of April I was urgently summoned to Moscow. But they didn’t immediately say what exactly happened. There is some trouble in Ukraine. Only a few days later I learned about the explosion of the nuclear power plant. Chernobyl is a black reality. You can't say it more precisely.
For the first month after the emergency, we, the command staff, monitored transport from Ukraine and Belarus. Or rather, there was almost no traffic, the roads were blocked by the military: the columns were slowed down, and they could not advance further to Moscow. Cars and cargo, goods and products were checked for radiation.
To be honest, there were also officers who, as soon as we were alerted, immediately ran away on leave. They had to be looked for - first of all, to inform them that they had been dismissed from the army. We were even friends with many, but they did not pass the test of danger and death.
Anything can happen. But it is precisely such terrible tragedies that, I think, highlight the true human essence. If you want to understand for yourself who you are, find your Chernobyl. My wife and I were also planning to go on vacation in May, we had already bought vouchers, but we received an encrypted message from the General Staff...
Upon arrival at the accident area, I was met by two majors and immediately taken to the site. The scientific center near Pripyat was located on the territory of a tank division. Officers, generals, scientists, all lived in ordinary barracks, without demanding any privileges.
The next day, Academician Valery Legasov visually assessed the situation from an army helicopter. Members of the government commission also took to the air. And suddenly they noticed that at night a strange purple glow was coming from the sarcophagus. We thought a chain reaction had started...
Legasov, first deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, took an armored personnel carrier and personally went to the fourth block - he wanted to understand what was happening. He then took a very large dose. I didn’t feel sorry for myself, but I did all the measurements personally and couldn’t rely on anyone. Thank God, the glow turned out to be not so dangerous - it was the refraction of radiation from radionuclides, and the darkness gave such an unusual shade. And Valera passed away exactly two years after the Chernobyl disaster, on April 27, 1988.
The State Commission was considering how to reduce the flow of radiation. The pilots were ordered to throw sandbags directly into the burning void of the fourth power unit. Know-how, in my opinion, was a waste of time. The pilots did this for two weeks. The graphite was burning inside, everything was boiling! And the pilots did hard and dangerous work. Although they didn’t even put a lead sheet on half of the helicopter. So they circled over this hell, collecting x-rays.
I proposed a fundamentally different solution: burying nuclear waste. Order a hundred cubic containers in Kyiv, then lift them onto the roof and collect nuclear waste in them. Collected. Closed. They took me away. Buried. But I was informed that such an operation is too labor-intensive and is unlikely to be feasible in the current realities, that Gorbachev is about to arrive at Chernobyl - we need to prepare for his visit...
Later, all nuclear fuel was covered with an impenetrable sarcophagus. The 30th anniversary is approaching, the steel plates and metal structures are cracking, it's time to replace. Recently, Ukrainians called out that help is needed. By the way, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been transferred to them (this is open information). I wonder if the money reached its intended purpose?
“The Soviet soldier is tougher than a robot”
Initially, the GDR ordered robots that were supposed to clean the contaminated area. But as soon as they got to Chernobyl, they immediately failed. On September 16, 1986, a government commission signed a resolution: to manually remove nuclear fuel, involve conscripts and those in reserve in the cleaning. It turns out that no robot has been able to replace human hands. It’s a pity that our body doesn’t have that many reserves. In Chernobyl they worked literally to their limits.
This feat can be compared to a war - 3,500 volunteers immediately responded to the call of the party and state and arrived in Chernobyl to complete the initial cleanup of the station. These were “partisans” (reserves) of the Soviet Army. In just five years, more than 500,000 people passed through the source of the disaster, which is comparable to Napoleonic army. But most guys have been on the roof only once - rarely twice in their lives.
Only three Muscovites Cheban, Sviridov and Makarov climbed there three times. They were even nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR, although no one received it.
All three survived - and that’s good. To be honest, I didn’t specifically track the fate of the majority. But I know that of those who were on the roof at that time, only five percent died from diseases directly related to radiation. I consider this to be my merit. The fact that they saved young guys for a future full life.
If they had done it recklessly, then all the privates would have definitely been suicide bombers. Just like the firefighters who died due to stupidity, who immediately after the explosion, without thinking, extinguished the reactor with almost bare hands, unprotected by anything, without controlling the level of radiation. It’s one thing to extinguish a pigsty, quite another to put out a nuclear reactor. Certain death. But this was on the first day of confusion.
By the time I arrived in Chernobyl, fortunately, specialists had done everything to minimize harm to health. People were taken care of. The government commission to eliminate the consequences met in a room completely lined with lead sheets. I demanded from its head, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Boris Evdokimovich Shcherbina, that these sheets be removed and given as additional protection to the soldiers. The soldiers of the 25th Chapaev Division, as I remember now, cut them into “shirts” on the chest and back, made helmets and swimming trunks from lead - as they themselves joked, “baskets for eggs.” Young ones! I want to live, I want to love... They also put on an X-ray apron on top of the sheets and two pairs of gloves on their hands, and a kebash leotard underneath.
Together it weighed 26 kilograms. And we, accordingly, selected stronger guys so that they could climb to heights in such equipment. In groups of ten people. The operators placed cameras on the roof, and at the command post they could see on the monitor what was happening and where. I also brought the soldier to the screen and asked: “Son, you see, there’s graphite - it’s literally soldered into the roof, and you take a sledgehammer and beat it off.”
The nuclear fuel in the fuel rods - fuel elements on the roof - resembled scattered aspirin tablets. I understood that the soldier would, of course, be exposed to radiation, but if you train him and he does everything correctly, then it is not life-threatening. There was simply no other way out. It was impossible to do without human hands completely.
Soldiers transported 300,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil to ten specially equipped burial grounds. They removed 300 tons of nuclear fuel, explosion debris, nuclear graphite, and uranium oxide from the surface. The guys received their wartime dose in two or three minutes of work in the zone. Five minutes maximum. The sappers made a hole in the roof of the station and installed a fire escape, at the foot of which there was an officer with a stopwatch. After briefing at the command post, a group of five people jumped out onto the roof and removed the radioactive materials. Using the monitor, we made sure that no one fell, God forbid, into the reactor fissure.
I was told that it is necessary to lead from the command post. And he is 15 kilometers from the station - and how can I give orders from there? Screaming through a megaphone, or what? Of course, I went into the thick of it. My command post was set up at a 50-meter altitude in the third block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. I spent more than three months there, then radiation sickness, two years of medication, hospitals...
“My nose was bleeding, radiation sickness was setting in”
For Chernobyl, I received the Order “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR”, II degree. With gilding, enamel and inlay. But he did not become a Hero of the Soviet Union because of his straightforwardness.
The first time I was put on the list immediately after the events: our work on removing nuclear fuel was accepted by the same government commission for eliminating the consequences of the accident. And so we all sit together, have a friendly dinner, and Colonel General Pikalov says to me: “Well, Nikolai Dmitrievich, you are our real national hero.” And he immediately adds that the roof, they say, is not cleaned smoothly everywhere, there are flaws. That is, on the one hand, he seemed to praise him, but on the other...
Roof! It “seemed” to them that we hadn’t cleaned the roof cleanly! First, we collected everything, and then we also washed off the remnants with high-pressure jets. We did everything we could in that situation.
I probably should have endured the criticism, but I got so nervous that I yelled at my senior officer. “Take brooms and sweep yourself if you are not happy with something.” And he threw the spoon in his hearts. Lunch didn't work out.
Yes, I could not silently endure the undeserved insult to my soldiers. All senses were heightened - this is how radiation sickness began. Blood was constantly oozing from my nose and gums, the skin on my cheeks was torn from the touch of a razor... A week after that dinner, I collapsed. According to all data, he received more than 200 rem of radiation. This dose still does not go away.
But, naturally, after a scandal at a government dinner, I was quietly removed from the list of Heroes. Many people are perplexed: how can it be that you commanded an operation, but you don’t have a rank. I just throw up my hands. Yes, this happens too. Twice more I was nominated for the highest award after the fact, but in the end I received nothing. The award committee explained it simply: you have an order, why do you need another, even a gold medal?
Of course I'm a little offended. On the other hand, a person does not live by titles. I didn’t go there for awards. What am I saying - not a single ordinary soldier received the title of Hero of the USSR for Chernobyl. These miracle heroes, who were on the roof for several minutes, risked everything. They acted like real Russian patriots, took and saved the planet from destruction, how can such a feat be appreciated? They are now over fifty. The same age as me then. You’re asking about the main thing in life... I’m sure the main thing for them is Chernobyl. What then?
“We are waiting for an invitation to the Kremlin”
Today the topic of Chernobyl victims is not the most popular. It’s easier for officials to assume that there are no more liquidators. But in the year of our 30th anniversary, I think we have the right to remind ourselves. Think about it, it’s already getting to the point that each country will celebrate “its own Chernobyl” independently. Ukraine, Belarus, Russia. We fought a terrible disaster together, but now we don’t even turn our noses to each other. Something needs to change. We are specially preparing invitation letters for our Ukrainian brothers, and for Belarusians too: I don’t know if they will come...
I think that if such a catastrophe had occurred not in the USSR, but somewhere else, or in later times, the consequences would have been irreversible. Not only would the fourth power unit explode, but the entire nuclear power plant would burn down in a fire. And only our Soviet people, at the cost of their health, with sheer enthusiasm, were able to “fill out” this hell.
In Soviet times, Chernobyl survivors were carried in their arms. They were grateful to us for saving the world. After the collapse of the Union, the privileges immediately ended. When Putin ran for president, I was offered to become his confidant. I agreed in order to convey the problems of the Chernobyl victims. At the very first meeting, Vladimir Vladimirovich asked directly: “My dear confidants, do you have any requests?” I took the microphone: “The soldiers of Chernobyl brought me here...” Putin put things in order with benefits, but five years later officials came up with “monetization” - we were among the losers.
They say that now there is also a crisis - that’s why they are cutting back on social services a little bit. Now those who were exposed to radiation during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will pay not 50 percent of the cost of electricity, as before, but half of the consumption standard. This savings, to put it mildly, is not very noticeable.
Don't we deserve at least a little respect for ourselves? Of course, in the anniversary year we will gather as usual. We are waiting to be invited to the Kremlin. The plans are to hold an international scientific and practical conference. In Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, the Moscow government, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Russian Ministry of Defense installed the foundation stone for the monument to liquidator soldiers. Concerts for the memorable date will certainly take place. What's next? All these anniversary and applause badges, I’m already tired of them. People who really sacrificed themselves should be given special rewards. I hope I will have time to wait for the corresponding presidential decree.
