NUCLEAR MISHAPS HAUNT SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940054-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: May 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940054-0
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WASHINGTON POST
14 May 1986
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA
Nuclear Mishaps Haunt Soviets
T he Soviet government's appallingly cavalier
attitude toward the dangers of nuclear power
came as no surprise to us. Two years ago this
month, when we reported secret details of earlier
Soviet nuclear accidents, the Soviet Embassy here
responded with a smart-aleck letter ridiculing our
revelations.
The wisecracks of the embassy information
officer, Eugene Zykov, must have turned to ashes
in his mouth since the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl
last month. His letter's tone of sarcasm and
braggadocio was inappropriate in light of what now
is confirmed about the Soviets' failure to build and
maintain nuclear reactors with a rudimentary
concern for safety.
One grim disclosure we made two years ago,
citing secret and too secret CIA reports was that
many hairless sailors were in cnyipt veterans'
homes, suggesting overexposure to radiation
leaking fault' nuclear submarine reactors.
1 -his evidently ttic e the embassy flack's funny
bone. Our story on the "radioactive nightmare" in the
Soviet Union, he wrote, "could cause even those
'hairless sailors' ... to have their hair stand on end."
Zykov continued: "Being too engrossed in his
macabre narration, the author failed to mention one
more point. No organizations such as 'National
Campaign for Radioactive Waste Energy,'
'Supporters of Silkwood' or 'Musicians United for
Safe Energy' exist in the USSR .... They do not
exist because we have not had the same problem
[asj the nuclear power industry in the U.S."
We suggest that other reasons may explain why
antinuclear protest groups do not exist in the
Soviet Union. Ask Andrei Sakharov or the hapless
monitors of the Helsinki Accords how the KGB
treats outspoken critics of the Soviet regime.
The embassy letter claimed that all Soviet
nuclear power stations must have "at least three or
four fail-safe systems for protection against
radioactivity," and that about half the construction
coats go into the protection systems. The letter
then lists three government agencies responsible
for "overseeing the strictly required safety
measures," and added: "That's why it stands to
reason that Soviet experience in nuclear power
engineering wins recognition among many
prominent foreign experts."
The embassy letter then descends to a flat-out
lie, stating that "within the last 30 years, the
prestige of the Soviet stations has never been
undermined by tragic accidents like the one which
occurred at Three Mile Island in May 1979."
In fact, the Soviets had two serious reactor
shutdowns in the early 1980s, and a near-holocaust
in 1957, when carelessly stored nuclear wastes
exploded at a plant near Chelyabinsk, rendering
hundreds of square miles uninhabitable to this day.
Comrade Zykov stated that people living within
two to three miles of Soviet nuclear plants get an
annual dose of radiation equivalent to "a few hours
on the coast of Miami Beach."
He added: "That is why the USSR plans to
construct more stations close to major industrial
cities in the European part of the country, to
provide heat and energy."
The frightening thing is that the Soviet leaders
may do just that.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940054-0