Yefim Slavsky

Efim Pavlovich Slavsky (, ; romanized: Yefim Pavlovich Slavskiy, Yukhym Pavlovych Slavskyi; 7 November 1898 – 28 November 1991) was a Soviet-Ukrainian politician and engineer best known for his role in liquidating the Kyshtym and Chernobyl nuclear accidents in the Soviet Union.

Before his political appointment, Slavsky worked as an engineer in the Soviet nuclear weapons program, where he became one of the senior program managers. Slavsky was later tasked with leading the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building, overseeing the Soviet nuclear program from 1956 until his forced retirement in 1986.

Early life Slavsky was born in Dmytriivsk to a peasant family in the Russian Empire. His father, Faivel Slavsky, perished, after which Efim became a shepherd at age 8. When he was 15, Slavsky went to work in the Donbas region coal mines. In 1918, Slavsky joined the Red Guard before fighting with the Petliurists. After its dissolution in 1923, Slavsky took a political course and became a regiment commissar as part of a cavalry brigade. In 1945, he left the Kurchatov Institute to work as the interim deputy minister of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. For his work on the RDS-1 prototype used in the original Joe-1 test, Slavsky received his first Hero of Socialist Labour in 1949. Five years later, in 1954, he received his second for the production of the first thermonuclear weapon in the Soviet Union. and received considerably more than the already extremely high 30 REM/annum exposure limit.

The Accident

In 1957, an explosion occurred at the Mayak nuclear waste storage facility. Slavsky was placed in charge of the cleanup and liquidation operation. He ordered a quarantine of the surrounding region and evacuated the communities downwind of the distraught plant. To slow the spread of radiation and radionuclides, Slavsky and his fellow workers created a burial enclosure technique; this was later also employed after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The Ministry of Medium Machine Building In July 1957, Slavsky was appointed the 5th Minister of Medium Machine-Building. The ministry was established per the Soviet First Directorate (nuclear industry) and Third Directorate (long-range weapons). He was instrumental in creating the Tsar Bomba (the world's most powerful thermonuclear weapon).

Chernobyl On May 20, 1986, Slavsky was put in charge of Construction Committee 605, responsible for liquidating the consequences of the April 26th accident at Chernobyl. Slavsky was 88 at his retirement, making him the oldest member of the Soviet cabinet. Many have speculated that Slavsky's retirement was not his choice and that he had been ousted from the Soviet cabinet.

On November 28, 1991, Efim P. Slavsky died at 93 shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.