The Soviet nuclear industry, lacking even rudimentary safety practices, had relied upon its operators to behave with robotic precision night after night, despite constant pressure to beat deadlines and “exceed the plan” that made disregard for the letter of the regulations almost inevitable. He reported that Dyatlov and the now deceased operators in Control Room Number Four had brought the reactor into an unstable condition, but only on account of the acute pressure they felt to complete the test on the turbine.
