Boris Shcherbina

Lore & Background

Shcherbina was born in Debaltsevo, the son of a railroad worker. He volunteered for the army in 1939, graduated as a railway engineer in 1942 and rose through party posts in Kharkov, Irkutsk and Tyumen. As first secretary in Tyumen from 1961 to 1973 he oversaw rapid growth in the oil and gas industry of the region, and from 1973 to 1984 he was the minister responsible for building oil and gas facilities.

He was in Siberia when the reactor exploded and reached Chernobyl late on the night of 26 April. On 27 April the commission announced the evacuation of nearby residents. According to a newspaper account he had at first rejected appeals for an immediate evacuation. On 6 May he gave the first Soviet news conference on the disaster, admitting that people near the plant had been exposed for 36 hours before they were moved.

Reader's Guide

At a Politburo session on 3 July 1986 he presented the findings of the commission. He blamed the leadership of the plant for a culture of carelessness, and he also reported that the designers of the RBMK reactor and the institutions behind it bore some responsibility. He described the reactors as incompatible with modern safety requirements.

Two days later the press agency TASS reported that he had been replaced as head of the commission, amid rumours about his health. In September 1986 he attended the Soviet signing in Vienna of two conventions on nuclear accidents.

He went on to lead the commission dealing with refugees after the 1988 Armenian earthquake, retired in 1989 and died in 1990. How large a part radiation from Chernobyl played in his death has never been established.

Did You Know?

• He fought in the Winter War against Finland as a volunteer.
• He was decorated as a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1983.