Soviet archives reveal cover-ups at the Chornobyl plant before the nuclear disaster

The Soviet Union knew the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dangerous and covered up emergencies there before the 1986 disaster, the Ukrainian authorities said as they released documents to mark the 35th anniversary of the accident on April 26. The Chernobyl disaster, whose repercussions are felt to date, involved an accident in one of the four reactors of the gigantic power plant. The accident released a large amount of radioactive material, not only in Pripyat but also in the neighbouring areas of Soviet Ukraine and Russia extending as far as France and Italy.

"The 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy is a reminder of how state-sponsored disinformation, as propagated by the totalitarian Soviet regime, led to the greatest man-made disaster in human history," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

In the report released on Monday, Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) highlighted the Soviet Union’s botched handling of the accident as well as accused it of using its security agency KGB to cover alarming signs preceding the disaster. The report claimed that the plant first released radiations in 1982, which were covered up using measures "to prevent panic and provocative rumours".

"In 1983, the Moscow leadership received information that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was one of the most dangerous nuclear power plants in the USSR due to lack of safety equipment," an excerpt the report read.

Swapped samples

Citing a discreet KGB report, the SBU also accused USSR of covering up in the aftermath of the tragedy. When a French journalist collected water and soil samples from the Chernobyl area after the accident in 1987, the KGB swapped the samples for fake ones in a special operation, the SBU highlighted.  

Separately, the Ukrainian President unveiled a new nuclear waste repository at the Chernobyl site. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Chernobyl together with Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and vowed to “transform the exclusion zone, as Chernobyl is referred to, into a revival zone.” “Ukraine is not alone, it has wide support (from its) partners,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by AP “Today the new repository has been put into operation and it is very important that today a license to maintain the new repository will be obtained," he added.

(Image Credits: The Associated Press)