As dawn broke over the Kremlin—and even as an increasing volume of high-frequency traffic flashed across the special telephone lines connecting Moscow, Kiev, and Chernobyl—Brukhanov’s reassuring assessment of what had happened began to percolate through the upper echelons of Soviet government. By 6:00 a.m., news of the accident had reached USSR energy minister Anatoly Mayorets, and he called the Soviet prime minister, Nikolai Ryzhkov, at home. He told Ryzhkov that there had been a fire at the Chernobyl station. One unit was out of commission, but the situation was under control: a team of
...more
