Abagian, Armen Artavazdovich (1933–2005). Director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operations (VNIIAES) from 1984 to 2005. Under his leadership, VNIIAES became the leading source of scientific and technical support for the civilian nuclear industry. Trained as a physicist, he worked at the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering for twenty years, specializing in the problems of radiation protection and the design of special-purpose nuclear power plants. Abagian was a member of the coordinating group, under G. A. Veretennikov, that investigated the Chernobyl accident for Minenergo and a coauthor of the report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the causes of the Chernobyl accident.
Aleksandrov, Anatolii Petrovich (1903–1994). Director of the Institute of Atomic Energy (Kurchatov Institute) from 1960, following I. V. Kurchatov's death. Trained as a nuclear physicist, he was a protégée of Abram F. Ioffe and worked under him at the Radium Institute and Ioffe's Physical-Technical Institute. He and Kurchatov both moved to the Institute of Atomic Energy in 1943 to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project. During his years at the institute Aleksandrov was instrumental in developing reactors for the Soviet naval fleet, both commercial and military. He also served as the scientific director for the development of the RBMK reactor. In 1975, Aleksandrov became president of the Academy of Sciences, retiring after the Chernobyl accident.
Beria, Lavrentii Pavlovich (1899–1953). In 1942, while serving as deputy prime minister, controlling the Soviet Union's internal security system as well as strategic raw materials production using slave labor in the GULag camps, Beria was appointed administrative leader of atomic research. He chaired the Special Committee on the Atomic Bomb from 1945 to 1953. After Stalin's death, he was tried and executed for crimes against the state.
Briukhanov, Viktor Petrovich (b. 1936). Director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from 1970 to 1986. He worked at a fossil fuel and a hydropower plant before being promoted to his position at Chernobyl. Following the Chernobyl accident, he received ten years in prison. Briukhanov was released in 1991 and worked as a consultant for Ukrinterenergo, a Ukrainian energy company, until his retirement. He has been interviewed during many a Chernobyl anniversary and always steadfastly denied the charges that sent him to prison.
Diatlov, Anatolii Stepanovich (1931–1995). Deputy chief engineer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from 1973 to 1986. Trained as a physicist, he worked at a shipyard installing reactors on submarines for thirteen years before coming to Chernobyl. Diatlov was the test supervisor on duty at the time of the Chernobyl accident. He received ten years in prison but was released in 1991 due to illness.
Dolgikh, Vladimir Ivanovich (b. 1924). Secretary of the Central Committee from 1972 to 1988. Trained as a metallurgical mining engineer, he was a member of the Central Committee from 1971 to 1989, and a candidate for the Politburo from 1982 to 1988. From 1976 to 1984, he headed the Central Committee's Department of Heavy Industry and Energy. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing the Soviet Union's energy production, including nuclear energy. Officially retired since 1988, he currently serves as the senator from Moscow to the Federation Council.
Dollezhal’, Nikolai Antonovich (1899–2000). Trained as a mechanical engineer; academician since 1962; director of the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technologies (NIKIET). His institute designed the nuclear power plant for the first Soviet nuclear submarine, the world's first nuclear power plant in Obninsk, the first dual-purpose (civilian energy and weapons-grade plutonium) power reactor for Siberia, the first purely industrial reactor for Beloiarsk, and the RBMK.
Dubovskii, Boris Grigor’evich (1919–2008). Physicist who worked under I. V. Kurchatov at Laboratory No. 2. In 1944, he produced the first micrograms of plutonium transmuted outside the United States. In 1946, while working on the first experimental reactor, he designed and manufactured the first professional dosimetry service. He worked at military facilities before coming to Obninsk, where he spent the rest of his career. He supervised the start-up of the Obninsk plant, and subsequently two industrial-scale reactors at the Beloiarsk site. He organized and headed the All-Union Nuclear Safety Service (1958–1973) and actively participated in the creation of norms for nuclear safety. Following the Chernobyl accident, he publically criticized the failure of NIKIET to make design improvements he had recommended many years before.
Dymshits, Veniamin Emmanuelovich (1910–1993). Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1962 to 1985, and first chairman of the State Committee for Material and Technical Supplies, Gossnab, from 1965 to 1976. Originally a miner from the Donbass, Dymshits worked his way up through the Party and eventually completed a technical college degree in Moscow while working at numerous industrial construction sites. Not supportive of perestroika, he retired in 1985.
Emel’ianov, Ivan Iakovlevich (1913–1991). First deputy director (for science) at the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technologies (NIKIET) since 1954, but had worked at what would eventually become known as NIKIET since 1946. Trained as an engineer, he worked in the aviation industry until World War II. Emel’ianov developed the control and safety systems for the RBMK reactors, noting early on the possibility for instability in the control rods. Following Chernobyl, he lost his leadership position but still led the redesign efforts to automate the RBMK control and safety systems.
Emel’ianov, Vasilii Semenovich (1901–1988). Director of the Chief Administration for the Utilization of Atomic Energy from 1957 to 1962, replacing Efim Slavskii. Trained as a metallurgist, he began working in the nuclear industry after World War II. Emel’ianov was well known in the international nuclear energy community due to his membership on the program committee for the First UN International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955, and also because he served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the IAEA's Director General from 1958 to 1965. He was President of the Third Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1964.
Feinberg, Savelii Moiseevich (1910–1973). Headed the nuclear reactor theory section at the Institute of Atomic Energy; credited with the invention of the RBMK's core design. Originally a construction engineer with a strong interest in mathematics, he started working for I. V. Kurchatov in 1946. He contributed to the research and design of many Soviet reactors, including the research reactor SM-2 at Melekess (Dmitrovgrad).
Flerov, Georgii Nikolaevich (1913–1990). While working as a junior nuclear physicist supporting the war effort, in 1942 Flerov first noticed the conspicuous silence surrounding nuclear fission in publications from the United States, Britain, and Germany. From this, he concluded that all three countries must be working on an atomic bomb and urged his superiors to “build the uranium bomb without delay.” From 1942 until the end of the war, Flerov worked with I. V. Kurchatov on the Soviet atomic bomb project. After the war, he continued his research in theoretical nuclear physics, and served as the director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna for over thirty years (the institute now bears his name).
Fomin, Nikolai Maksimovich (b. 1935). Chief engineer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1985–1986. An electrician by training, he began work at Chernobyl in 1972 under V. P. Briukhanov. Following the Chernobyl accident, he received ten years in prison. Fomin was transferred from prison to a neuropsychiatric hospital in 1988. Two years later he was declared sane and released early. He went to work at the Kalinin nuclear power plant in 1990, remaining for five years until his retirement.
Grigor’iants, Artem Nikolaevich (1916–2002). Chief engineer of Sredmash's Chief Administration for the Use of Atomic Energy in 1958–1959. From 1959 to 1967 he worked at Sredmash and from 1967 to 1978 he was director of Minenergo's Glavatomenergo. He was part of a team that developed the Beloiarsk nuclear power plant. Trained as an electrical engineer, he worked at the Obninsk nuclear power plant from 1953 on and from 1956 to 1958 served as the plant's chief engineer. From 1978 to 1985, Grigor’iants was head of the Soviet construction crew in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Iadrikhinskii, Aleksandr A. (no dates). Nuclear specialist and safety inspector at the Kursk nuclear power plant. He had expressed concern to Gosatomenergonadzor about the design of the control and safety rods in the RBMK even before the Chernobyl accident. In 1989, he authored a report that became the basis for a reexamination of the Chernobyl disaster by Gosatomenergonadzor and that resulted in the “Shteinberg report” of 1991.
Isaev, Vasillii Iakovlevich (1917–2008). First deputy chairman of the State Committee for Planning (Gosplan) from 1966 until his retirement in 1984. Isaev worked in the construction industry throughout his career. While first deputy chairman he oversaw the construction industry and allocation of capital investments. He is credited with managing a significant increase in construction and labor productivity in the early 1970s.
Kapitsa, Petr Leonidovich (1894–1984). Founder of the Institute of Physical Problems in Moscow and director from 1934 to 1946, when he was removed by Stalin for quarreling with Beria. He was reinstated in 1955. A physicist by training, Kapitsa began his institute in Moscow with equipment he brought with him from the Cavendish Lab at Oxford, where he worked for over ten years before returning home. Kapitsa served as a member of the presidium of the Academy of Sciences from 1957 until his death. He was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Kopchinskii, Georgii Alekseevich (b. 1939). Deputy chief engineer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from 1973 on and later director of the Smolensk nuclear power plant. Starting in 1983, he worked in the Central Committee's Sector for Nuclear Energy; as of 1989, he headed the Council of Ministers’ Department of Nuclear Energy (in the Bureau for the Fuel and Energy Complex). A graduate of MEI's department of Nuclear Power Plants, he is a leading nuclear safety expert in Ukrainian state agencies.
Kozlov, Frol Romanovich (1908–1965). First deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1960 and second secretary of the Communist Party from 1960 to 1963. Kozlov began his career as a factory laborer and worked his way up through the Party system. In 1957, he backed his mentor, N. S. Krushchev, against the Antiparty Group and for many years was considered Krushchev's likely replacement.
Kulov, Evgenii Vladimirovich (1929–1996). Chairman of the State Oversight Committee for the Safe Conduct of Work in the Nuclear Power Industry, Gosatomenergonadzor, from its inception in 1983 until 1986. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he began working for Sredmash in 1953 and by 1982 had worked his way up to deputy minister. He was dismissed from his position in 1986 following the Chernobyl accident.
Kurchatov, Igor’ Vasil’evich (1903–1960). Known as the “Father of the Soviet Atomic Bomb,” Kurchatov was trained as a physicist and naval engineer and worked at the State Radium Institute prior to World War II. In 1942, he was appointed scientific director of atomic research under Stalin. His “Laboratory No. 2” (the later Institute of Atomic Energy) would become the center of the Soviet nuclear weapons program. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear bomb in 1949 and its first hydrogen bomb in 1953. Although he continued to lead the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program until his death, from the mid-1950s onward he also devoted himself to the development of commercial nuclear energy. He oversaw development and start-up of the Obninsk nuclear power plant in 1954, the first civilian nuclear power plant in the world.
Kuz'min, Iosif Iosifovich (1910–1996). First deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1957 to 1958 and director of Gosplan from 1957 to 1959. Kuz'min opposed the development of a civilian nuclear program. He was succeeded on the Council of Ministers by F. R. Kozlov.
Lavrenenko, Konstantin Dmitrievich (1908–unknown). The first director of Minenergo's Glavatomenergo from 1956 to 1958. Subsequently, he worked at Gosplan and later the State Committee for Science and Technology (GKNT).
Legasov, Valerii Alekseevich (1936–1988). First deputy director of the Institute of Atomic Energy from 1983 to 1988. He was a professor of physics at Moscow State University from 1978 to 1983 and chairman of the Radiochemistry and Chemical Technology Department there from 1983 until his death. Legasov served under B. E. Shcherbina as a member of the government commission investigating the Chernobyl accident. He was also head of the Soviet delegation and presented the official accident report to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1986. He committed suicide on the second anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, reportedly distraught over the secrecy in the Soviet nuclear industry and the suppression of transparency about the accident.
Leipunskii, Aleksandr Il’ich (1903–1972). Nuclear physicist, director of the fast neutron reactor program at Laboratory V in Obninsk from 1949–1972. Leipunskii studied under A. F. Ioffe in Leningrad and under E. Rutherford in Cambridge. In 1928, he transferred from Ioffe's Institute in Leningrad to the newly founded Ukrainian Physical-Technical Institute in Kharkov, where he became deputy director in 1930, and director 1933. In 1938, he was arrested for allegedly assisting “enemies of the people,” but the following year, Stalin assigned him to the Soviet nuclear weapons project. From 1941 until 1949, he directed two different institutes at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, before he came to Obninsk in 1949.
Maiorets, Anatolii Ivanovich (b. 1929). Minister of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo) from 1985 to 1989, replacing P. S. Neporozhnii. He began his career as an elevator mechanic and electrician and worked his way up to the position of minister of the Electrotechnical Industry (1980–1985) before he switched ministries. He served under B. E. Shcherbina as a member of the government commission investigating the Chernobyl accident. He received a strict reprimand and retired in 1989.
Malyshev, Viacheslav Aleksandrovich (1902–1957). The first minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) from 1953 to 1955. Trained as a locomotive engineer and mechanic, he worked at the Kuibyshev locomotive plant from 1934 to 1939 before beginning his Party career. In 1952–1953, he was a member of the Presidium of the Party's Central Committee. In 1953, in addition to serving as minister of Medium Machine Building, he was concurrently appointed deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. In 1955, Malyshev became chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology (GKNT), and a year later, first vice chairman of Gosplan.
Margulova, Tereza Khristoforovna (1912–1994). Professor, founder, and chair of the Department of Nuclear Power Plants at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI). Trained as an engineer at the Industrial Institute in Baku, Azerbaidzhan, and later MEI, she taught at MEI her entire career and developed the first Soviet university level program to train nuclear engineers through the doctorate level. All the major engineering universities throughout the Soviet Union subsequently copied her program. She is the author of over 300 publications, and her textbook—Atomnye elektricheskie stantsii (“Nuclear Power Plants”)—remains the core textbook for all Russian and former Eastern Bloc countries’ graduate nuclear engineering programs.
Mar’in, Vladimir Vasil’evich (no dates). Worked in the Central Committee's nuclear energy sector since 1969; in 1986 in the Department for Machine Building; after 1988 in the Department for Heavy Machine Building and Power Engineering.
Meshkov, Aleksandr Grigor’evich (1927–1994). First deputy minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) from 1982 to 1986. Trained as a chemical engineer, he worked on the first industrial uranium-graphite reactor in Cheliabinsk. He began working for Sredmash in 1979. Dismissed from his position following the Chernobyl accident, he worked as director of an engineering plant in Elektrostal from 1986 to 1990. He was promoted to deputy minister of Minatomenergoprom in 1990 and retired a year later.
Neporozhnii, Petr Stepanovich (1910–1999). Minister of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo) from 1962 to 1985. Neporozhnii became first deputy minister of the Construction of Electrical Power Plants in 1959. He advanced to chairman of the Soviet State Production Committee for Energy and Electrification, Minenergo's predecessor, and as head of Minenergo accomplished a massive power plant construction program. Internationally, he was widely known for his innovations in large-scale hydroelectric power plants.
Pavlenko, Aleksei Sergeevich (1904–1984). Head of Gosplan's Department of Energy and Electrification from 1959 to 1974, when he retired. Trained as an electrical engineer, Pavlenko worked as a civil servant in various ministries throughout his career, notably serving as minister of power plants in 1954–1955 and 1957–1958.
Pervukhin, Mikhail Georgievich (1904–1978). Minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) between April and June 1957. Trained as an electrical engineer, his early career in the electrical industry culminated in his appointment to the People's Commissar for Electric Power Stations in 1939. His short tenure as head of Sredmash was due to his involvement with the Antiparty Group's failed attempt to remove N. S. Khrushchev from office. Pervukhin was demoted to ambassador to the German Democratic Republic from 1958 to 1963. There, he was Khrushchev's personal representative during construction of the Berlin Wall. He was called back in 1963 and served in Gosplan's collegium, first as head of the Department for Energy and Electrification and then from 1965 to 1978 as head of the Department for Territorial Planning, where he oversaw site selection for new power plants.
Petros’iants, Andranik Melkonovich (1906–2005). Director of the Chief Administration for the Utilization of Atomic Energy from 1962 to 1986, replacing V. S. Emel’ianov. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he held a number of positions on heavy industry committees before joining the Ministry of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) in 1953. He represented Sredmash internationally and became a key public figure in international nuclear cooperation, especially through his role in the Soviet Union's Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). He retired in 1987 following the Chernobyl accident, of which he infamously said, “Science requires sacrifices.”
Polushkin, Konstantin Konstantinovich (no dates). One of the RBMK-1000 designers at the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technologies (NIKIET). He was also a member of the coordinating group, under G. A. Veretennikov, that investigated the Chernobyl accident for Minenergo. Polushkin served as an expert witness for the state at the trial of the Chernobyl accident defendants.
Prushinskii, Boris Iakovlevich (b. 1938). Soiuzatomenergo's chief engineer in 1986; one of the first nuclear experts from Minenergo to arrive at the disaster site. Graduated from MEI in 1962, as a specialist in the planning and operation of nuclear power plants. Between 1962 and 1974 worked at the Beloiarsk nuclear power plant, and later at other Minenergo enterprises.
Riabev, Lev Dmitrievich (b. 1933). Deputy minister of Sredmash from 1984 to 1986, then succeeded Slavskii as minister of Medium Machine Building. From 1989 to 1991, he served as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, and simultaneously chaired the Council's influential Bureau for the Fuel and Energy Complex. From 1993 to 2002 he served as first deputy minister of Atomic Energy (Minatom), then began compiling many volumes of primary sources on the Soviet weapons program. Riabev graduated from MIFI as an engineer-physicist, and from 1957 to 1978 worked at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Physics in the closed city of Arzamas-16, where he worked his way up from rank-and-file engineer to the institute's director. From 1978 to 1984, he directed the Central Committee's Sector for Medium Machine Building.
Rumiantsev, Alexander Iur’evich (b. 1945). Appointed minister of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation in 2001. Trained as a nuclear physicist, he began working at the Kurchatov Institute in 1969 and became director in 1994. In 2004, when the ministry was reorganized into the Federal Agency on Atomic Energy, Rumiantsev became chief executive officer. In 2005, he signed the nuclear fuel agreement with Iran. Later that year he stepped down from his post in the wake of the international scandal involving his predecessor, Iu. O. Adamov, and subsequently served as Russian ambassador to Finland.
Ryzhkov, Nikolai Ivanovich (b. 1929). Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1985 to 1990. As leader of the Strategic Group reporting directly to M. S. Gorbachev, Ryzhkov personally toured the Chernobyl accident site on May 2–4, 1986, and arbitrarily (he later admitted) established the 30-km exclusion zone that still exists. A graduate of the Urals Polytechnic Institute, he worked his way up in industry and in 1975 was appointed first deputy minister of Heavy and Transport Engineering. In 1979 he transferred to Gosplan as first deputy chairman. He became a member of the Central Committee in 1981 and the following year was elected secretary.
Semenov, Aleksandr Nikolaevich (b. 1926). Deputy minister of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo) from 1977 to 1992. A hydropower engineer by training, he worked in the hydroelectric industry in Turkmenistan in his early career. In 1982, he was assigned responsibility for all nuclear power plant construction. Semenov served under B. E. Shcherbina as a member of the government commission investigating the Chernobyl accident, and following the accident he was responsible for shutting down unit 4 at Chernobyl. Since 1993, Semenov has managed several national energy trade associations.
Shasharin, Gennadii Aleksandrovich (1934–2004). Deputy minister of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo), responsible for nuclear power, from 1982 to 1986. He was trained as a power engineer and worked in leading positions at the Obninsk, Beloiarsk, and Loviisa nuclear power plants from 1957 to 1977. In 1986, he ran a working group for Minenergo responsible for keeping units 1, 2, and 3 online during the period immediately after the Chernobyl accident. He was dismissed from his position after Chernobyl, but subsequently became general director of Interatomenergo from 1986 to 2004, one of the leading CMEA associations connected to nuclear technology transfer.
Shcherbina, Boris Evdokimovich (1919–1990). Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1984 to 1989. A railroad transportation engineer by training, he worked his way up through the Party and became minister for the Construction of Oil and Gas Facilities in 1973. He joined the Central Committee in 1976. Shcherbina was appointed head of the government commission on Chernobyl in April 1986. He led the first group of government commission representatives to Chernobyl and ordered the evacuation of Pripyat. His commission reported to the Central Committee's Strategic Group, led by N. I. Ryzhkov.
Shteinberg, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (b. 1947). Appointed chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in May 1986, following the accident. In April 1987 he became deputy chair of Gosatomenergonadzor, and beginning in 1989 he spearheaded efforts to revise the initial Chernobyl investigation report. A graduate of MEI's Department of Nuclear Power Plants, he had worked at the Chernobyl and then the Balakovo nuclear power plant from 1971 to 1986. In August 1991 the Ukrainian State Committee for nuclear and radiological safety appointed him its chair. From 2002 to 2006, he served as Ukraine's deputy minister for fuel and energy. Most recently, he was chair of the Council for Reactor Safety under the Ukrainian regulatory agency.
Sidorenko, Viktor Alekseevich (b. 1929). First deputy chairman of Gosatomenergonadzor in 1986. He was reprimanded for safety failures that led to the Chernobyl accident. Sidorenko graduated from MEI and spent most of his career at the Institute of Atomic Energy. He is a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, a former member of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and a former deputy director at the Kurchatov Institute. Sidorenko also served as deputy minister of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy from 1993 to 1996.
Slavskii, Efim Pavlovich (1898–1991). Minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) from 1957 to 1986. Slavskii was trained as a coal miner, but following World War I went to college and became a metallurgical engineer and worked in the aluminum industry until 1945. Due to his long tenure as minister of Sredmash, as well as briefly serving as the first director of the Chief Administration for the Utilization of Atomic Energy under the Council of Ministers in 1956, he is considered one of the founders and leaders of the nuclear industry in the Soviet Union. He retired in 1986, after the completion of the sarcophagus.
Vannikov, Boris L’vovich (1897–1962). From 1945 through 1953 General Vannikov was head of the First Chief Administration of the Council of People's Commissars. In this position he worked under L. P. Beria, overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project. Although a three-star general and Commissar for Armament, he was briefly arrested in 1941 for “failing to carry out his duties,” but was soon released. Following Beria's execution in 1953 he was appointed deputy minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash); on A. P. Zaveniagin's death he was promoted to minister, briefly serving in 1956–1957. He retired from government service in 1958.
Vavilov, Sergei Ivanovich (1891–1951). Founder and director of the Lebedev Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences (FIAN) in Moscow from 1934 to 1951. Under Vavilov's leadership FIAN grew from a small physics laboratory to the premier scientific institution in Russia that would produce six Nobel laureates and major discoveries, such as the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect. In 1945, Vavilov was elected president of the Academy of Sciences, and he served in this role until his death. During his tenure, he is widely credited with greatly improving the overall international standing of the Soviet scientific community, their access to resources, and their domestic status during Stalin's regime.
Velikhov, Evgenii Pavlovich (b. 1935). Vice president of the Academy of Sciences from 1977 to 1996. Trained as a physicist, he began working at the Institute of Atomic Energy (Kurchatov Institute) in 1961 and spent his entire career there. He was named director in 1988 and president in 1992. Velikhov also served as president (1992) and chairman (2009) of the international council of the ITER Program on the creation of a fusion reactor.
Veretennikov, Gennadii Anatol’evich (b. 1934). Director of Soiuzatomenergo from 1982 to 1986. He briefly served as deputy minister of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo) in 1983–1984. Trained as an engineer-physicist, in 1982 he led a government commission investigating radiation leaks at unit 1 in Chernobyl. In 1986, he ran Minenergo's coordinating emergency response group during the Chernobyl accident. He was removed from his position after Chernobyl and subsequently worked as a senior researcher for the Academy of Sciences.
Vernadskii, Vladimir Ivanovich (1863–1945). Founder of the State Radium Institute in Leningrad and director from 1922 to 1939. The Radium Institute grew out of Vernadskii's 1910s research, where he predicted the potential of radioactive material to produce energy and surveyed the radium and uranium deposits in Siberia. At Vernadskii's urging in 1940, the government established a Commission on the Uranium Problem to explore nuclear energy's potential to meet the electrical needs of the economy.
Volkov, Vladimir P. (no dates). Scientific researcher at the Institute of Atomic Energy. Volkov warned about the RBMK's design flaws before Chernobyl; reportedly, he had the support of I. F. Zhezherun, a physicist and senior collaborator at the Institute of Atomic Energy. Volkov took his concerns “public”—that is, wrote to Gorbachev directly—after the Chernobyl disaster.
Zaveniagin, Avraamii Pavlovich (1901–1956). Minister of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) in 1955–1956, replacing V. A. Malyshev. Trained as a mining engineer, he worked in the mining industry until 1941. Zaveniagin worked closely with L. P. Beria in the Commissariat for Internal Affairs from 1941 to 1950. He became deputy minister of Sredmash in 1953–1954 and vice chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1955.