Viktor Bryukhanov

Chernobyl disaster

On 26 April 1986, the head of the chemical division called Bryukhanov to report an incident at the station. He had not been informed that there was another attempt at the rundown test that night. He ordered all authorities to meet at the nuclear bunker in the basement of the administration building. Bryukhanov attempted to contact the shift supervisor, but there was no answer at the fourth reactor block. He then activated a General Radiation Accident on the automatic telephone system, which sent a coded message to the Ministry of Energy. He then had to report the situation to his superiors in Moscow and to the local Communist officials. In attendance was the RBMK designer Anatoly Alexandrov, Efim Slavsky of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building (Sredmash) and Valery Legasov of the Kurchatov Institute. Bryukhanov was accused of mismanagement and it was decided that operator error was the primary cause of the accident, while reactor design flaws were also a factor. Mikhail Gorbachev was furious and accused the nuclear designers of covering up dangerous problems with the Soviet nuclear industry for decades.

On his return, he faced further questioning by investigators. On 19 July, an official explanation was published in Vremya, blaming the disaster entirely on the operators and local management. The KGB classified the true cause of the accident. On hearing the news on TV, Bryukhanov's mother collapsed from a heart attack and died. Bryukhanov was charged on 12 August and imprisoned by the KGB. At first, he refused legal representation since he regarded the verdict as pre-determined, but his wife, during her permitted monthly visit, changed his mind. As part of discovery procedures dictated by the law, investigators brought him the materials they uncovered during their inquiries, which were used in a case against him. Bryukhanov also found a letter written by one of the Kurchatov Institute experts, which revealed the perilous design faults that were kept hidden from him and his staff for 16 years. On 20 January 1987, after he sat in isolation for six weeks, the prosecutor's office filed their closing indictment with the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union. All of the 48 files of evidence sent to Moscow were classified. For the lesser charges of administrative negligence, Bryukhanov entered a guilty plea. He contested the more serious charges of abuse of power brought against him. In his testimony, he defended the plant's safety record and emphasized the difficulty of his duties but did little else to defend himself. He knew the outcome was largely predetermined and he had to play his part at least. He was sent to a penal colony in Donetsk to serve his sentence.

In 1995, Bryukhanov worked as an employee of Ukrinterenergo, Ukraine's state-owned energy company, in charge of liquidating the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. By his 80th birthday in December 2015, Bryukhanov had retired due to failing eyesight.

Bryukhanov stressed in various interviews that neither he nor his employees were to blame for the Chernobyl disaster, and claimed the accident was caused by "the imperfection of technology."

Bryukhanov died in Kyiv on 13 October 2021, at the age of 85. The official cause of death was not communicated. in addition to having suffered a series of strokes in 2015 and 2016. In the miniseries Chernobyl, Con O'Neill played the role of Viktor Bryukhanov.