Valery Legasov

Lore & Background

Legasov was born in Tula and schooled in Kursk and Moscow. He graduated in 1961 from the Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemistry and Technology, worked as a shift supervisor at the Siberian Chemical Combine, and joined the Kurchatov Institute in 1962. His research centred on the chemistry of noble gases. He took his doctorate in 1972, became a full member of the Academy in 1981 and first deputy director of the institute in 1983.

After the explosion he was assigned to the government commission headed by Boris Shcherbina. In Pripyat he was put in charge of containing the radiation, backed the call to evacuate the town, and proposed and managed the effort to put out the reactor fire. An air force general recalled that he flew over the reactor by helicopter several times a day. He spent four months in and around Chernobyl and received a high dose of radiation.

Reader's Guide

His report to the agency in Vienna was noted for its detail, though it left out some design flaws of the RBMK reactor. At a Politburo meeting on 3 July he said that scientists had failed in their duty and that he had warned about the safety of the reactor type for years.

Legasov did not always agree with the measures taken at the site. He thought an explosion from the water beneath the reactor was not possible and regarded some containment steps as excessive but understandable.

In poor health from radiation exposure, and frustrated that his attempts to reform Soviet academic chemistry had been rebuffed, he took his own life in 1988. His former school in Moscow now bears his name.

Did You Know?

• He composed poetry in his private life.
• He finished School No. 56 in Moscow with a gold medal.
• He was driven to the reactor site in an armored personnel carrier to take direct measurements.