49 Facts About Valery Legasov

Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was a Soviet inorganic chemist and a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.

Valery Legasov is primarily known for his efforts to contain the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was born on 1 September 1936 in Tula, Russian SFSR, into a family of civil workers.

Valery Legasov often visited the theater with his wife, having a love of reading Russian and foreign literature, particularly the works of Yuri Bondarev.

Valery Legasov frequently made excursions with his wife and children by car and saw many parts of the country.

Valery Legasov was not religious but very interested in religious history and heritage.

Since December 1978, the Valery Legasov family kept a high-bred pet chow-chow.

Valery Legasov took this role in order to gain practical experience that would be the basis for later research.

Valery Legasov received the degree of Candidate in 1967 and his doctorate in chemistry in 1972.

At some stage, Valery Legasov experienced facial injuries and minor scarring as a result of chemical experimentation.

In 1976, Valery Legasov was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.

Valery Legasov was a member of the Science and Technology Council of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building.

Valery Legasov researched hydrogen energy as a byproduct of nuclear energy, nuclear energy strategy, energy generation safety and synthesis of unusual compounds, which he regarded as a neglected niche within the institute's activities.

In January 1986, Valery Legasov co-authored a propaganda piece in Soviet Life magazine claiming there had been no nuclear accidents that had seriously threatened personnel or risked contamination, which ignored multiple serious nuclear incidents in the Soviet Union.

Valery Legasov had been involved in work on industrial safety with the State Committee for Science and Technology, in which he had explored the risks involved in energy generation.

Valery Legasov was particularly concerned with complex systems reliant on a single operator without adequate safety systems.

Valery Legasov had the opportunity to visit nuclear power plants in the West, such as the Soviet designed Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant in Finland, and was shocked at the higher safety standards, better equipment, a containment structure and superior construction.

Valery Legasov was told he was assigned to a government commission that was looking into the accident.

At Vnukovo airport, Valery Legasov met Boris Shcherbina, the head of the government commission dealing with the accident response.

Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko called for immediate evacuation of Pripyat, which Valery Legasov supported, as the situation was expected to deteriorate in the town, and this decision was approved by Shcherbina.

One Kurchatov scientist warned him that the helicopter drops might not be effective but Valery Legasov replied that they had to be seen to do something.

Valery Legasov admired the leadership of Shcherbina, particularly his ability to grasp what the specialists were telling him and his decision making.

Valery Legasov was a man of courage, understanding everything, but at the same time defenseless.

Valery Legasov received many telegrams from around the world containing advice ranging from benevolent to provocative.

Water in the lower barboteur was drained but Valery Legasov was convinced that an explosion was not possible, in contrast to what some scientists and politicians feared.

Valery Legasov considered the possibility of ground water contamination to be extremely low, but precautionary work was initiated to cool the reactor using an underground system.

Valery Legasov considered these containment steps to be excessive but understandable, while providing the infrastructure for the eventual construction of a shelter sarcophagus over the reactor.

Valery Legasov opposed a plan to extend the underground cooling system outside the reactor 4 building, as well as other projects he considered to be redundant.

Valery Legasov was impressed by the operation of the KGB in the area but considered the Civil Defence group to be in shambles.

Valery Legasov was concerned at the lack of safety literature distributed to the population.

Valery Legasov thought people worked together efficiently and this put them in good spirits.

Valery Legasov reassured Gorbachev by phone that the scale of contamination was understood and the reactor was not a continuing threat to other countries.

Valery Legasov developed a plan to extinguish the reactor fire using nitrogen gas pumped throughout the plant's pipe network but the pipes were too badly damaged to be effective.

Valery Legasov was assigned to compile a report for the International Atomic Energy Agency about the causes and aftermath of the accident.

Some in the Ministry of Medium Machine Building opposed his appointment, fearing Valery Legasov would be difficult to control, since the nuclear establishment wanted to divert blame to others if possible.

Valery Legasov only spoke up to admit that scientists had failed in their duty and that he had been warning about the safety problems of the RBMK reactor for years but nothing had been done.

Valery Legasov's report was noted for its great detail and relative openness in discussing the extent and consequences of the tragedy, disclosed to Western media some defects in the RBMK reactor design such as the positive void coefficient, as well as problems with operator training.

Valery Legasov noted that the operators were able to disable the reactor safety systems and stated that improvements to existing RBMK reactors were underway.

Valery Legasov was very disappointed that he was the only member of his Chernobyl team that did not receive the award "hero of socialist labor".

Valery Legasov's health had worsened and he often made visits to Moscow Hospital 6 for long term effects of radiation exposure.

Valery Legasov recorded his memoir The Valery Legasov Testament using audio tapes where he described his involvement with the Chernobyl liquidation.

Valery Legasov had a lengthy stay in hospital during the fall of 1987, including experiencing acute appendicitis, during which he attempted suicide.

Valery Legasov had an article on industrial safety entitled "From Today to Tomorrow" published in Pravda on 5 October 1987, but it received little interest.

Valery Legasov gave interviews to Novy Mir and Yunost in which he changed his public stance and expressed his concern that cultural failings and Soviet science losing its way had led inevitably to nuclear disaster.

Valery Legasov continued his attempts to introduce reforms in academic chemistry by establishing an interdepartmental council to try to overcome stagnation in the field.

On 27 April 1988, the day after the second anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident and one day before he was due to release the outcomes of the investigation into the causes of the disaster, Valery Legasov hung himself in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment.

Valery Legasov was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Valery Legasov is no better or worse than any manager of this rank, and he followed the accepted rules of the game, moving up the career and scientific ladder.

Valery Legasov is covered by Adam Curtis in his documentary series Pandora's Box.