In the West, scientists had been simulating the worst-case scenarios of reactor meltdowns for fifteen years, in ongoing research that had only intensified after the disaster in Three Mile Island. But Soviet physicists had been so confident of the safety of their own reactors that they had never bothered indulging in the heretical theorizing of beyond design-basis accidents. And appealing directly to Western specialists for help at this stage seemed unthinkable. Despite the growing atmosphere of alarm among the physicists at the burning reactor, the government commission and the Politburo
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