Shevaldin, who brought the Ignalina nuclear power plant to life, on the disease, the Chernobyl secret report and life-threatening events

I remember talking to this man when he was sitting in the office of the boss of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) in such a tight suit. And when they were both running, and then just one reactor. In the voice of a man who knew his work and loved it madly, there was anxiety at first about the future of the power plant, and then it was resentment that he was unable to defend and preserve it.

So I really wanted to meet again, talk, listen, see what this nuclear scientist is experiencing now and how he values ​​what he had to do, experience and live in Lithuania: the beginnings of the Ignalina power station, its prosperity and its final.

Raise the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant like your baby, check it out, dedicate its days, nights, holidays and bank holidays, and then bury it. It sounds macabre, but that is exactly what V. Shevaldin, who dedicated his life to the Ignalina power plant, had to experience.

Work equals life

I have seen and heard many business gurus speaking in motivational speeches at various conferences. They often have little taste in practice, just a theorist. V. Shevaldin in this context is a living example that can tell how to inspire and motivate people, how to run a company, how to obtain results that depend not only on the earnings of the shareholders, but also on the radiation safety of the entire country. and the continent.

This story about a man who had no work hours on weekends, and his youngest son as a child, he was sure the phone was called Shevaldin, because that was how his father answered the phone at any time.

It is the story of the highest level of nuclear energy specialist who was among the fifty professionals of that level in that vast space of the Soviet Union.

And the story of an expert who was called to close the Moscow offices after the Chernobyl accident and looked at the documents received at the table after the accident wrote conclusions about the reasons for that terrible accident. And then he signed confidential documents on the basis of which the final conclusion of the Chernobyl accident was written.

The disease is not related to radiation.

Aukštaitija’s winding paths lead to Ignalina. We are converting a block of private houses lined up on the Paplovinis coast. Here, at the gates of the farm floating surrounded by rings, V. Shevaldin himself is found.

He immediately admits: his eyes see little. But it opens with eyes so blue that he does not doubt for a moment that the interviewer not only listens to it, but also sees it.

“I visited the professors in Vilnius and Saint Petersburg, but they say that nothing can be done. It is an inherited eye disease, very thin blood vessels that nourish the eyes. Less and less blood enters. If you don’t water the flowers, it will wilt, It will too. What will you do, like me and a million people in the world, “says the former head of the nuclear power plant, who has reached his seventies.

And he adds that it has nothing to do with working at the power plant or radiation.

He grew up on the Volga.

V. Shevaldin was born and raised on the great Russian river Volga in the city of Kineshma, which is a little below Kostroma and above Nizhny Novgorod. It was a city of textile workers and a land of textile workers.

The parents worked all their lives in a textile factory, they were common workers. That land protected them.

Viktor grew up alone in the family, he had no brothers or sisters. The father was wounded in the head in the war and was recognized as the first disabled group. The family initially had no place to live, then built a house on the banks of the Volga for a long time. Victor nostalgically remembers that it was a beautiful wooden house surrounded by a garden cared for by his parents. That’s where it grew up.

“I used to think about taking them to Lithuania. I was getting ready, getting ready, but I still haven’t managed. The Soviet Union collapsed, then the visa problem arose. You needed a foreign passport to get them. I buried my father first and then my mother. I had already bought her a small apartment at Visaginas, and we made a foreign passport, all that was left was to organize a visa, but then she paralyzed it. After that, my mother went to the hospital for another month and a half and came out, ”a painful cock sounds in the caller’s voice.

Haunted electricity

His parents predicted Victor a job in a textile factory.

But after graduating from school, he entered the Ivanovo Energy Institute.

“I saw how hard the work was, so I said I was going to high school. If I had not joined, I would have been forced to serve in the Soviet Army, then there would have been another fate. But I joined for the first time, I studied well. My mother was very satisfied that after studying I fell to Leningrad, the place is good, the connection to my homeland is good, and the trains were running and the planes were flying, “recalled the interlocutor in the past.

Why did the Volga boy choose such studies?

“I spent my childhood in a village, in the Kostroma region, at my parents’ birthplace. By the way, where is the famous Shchelykov mansion, where the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky lived?

There was no electricity in the town where he lived, only a kerosene lamp that needed to be cleaned, filled with kerosene. When I turned on the electricity and the light bulb came on, I was amazed: it was so beautiful, clean and without kerosene smell. So I joined that institute. I was trained as a process automation engineer for thermal and nuclear power plants. I was going to work with thermal energy, because the nuclear power plant was still woven, the projects were closed, in secret, “recalled the interviewer.

Atomic forge

However, fate led a representative from Minsredmash (Ministry of Medium Machinery Production) coming from Moscow to graduate from the institute. I was looking for two young engineers. He invited Viktor and fellow student Valery Lebedev, who later became the director of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, for an interview.

“Nothing was explained to us, nor where we will go to work or why. We simply filled out a questionnaire, sent it, then verified it and invited me to an interview with Minsredmash, where I immediately received a shipment to the Leningrad nuclear power plant, where the first RBMK high capacity channel reactor was being built. “

Thus, he graduated from the university in 1971. and already in the fall of the same year he worked at the Leningrad nuclear power plant.

“We came to Leningrad, the power plant was still under construction, there was nowhere to work and my specialization was automation. And as soon as the first reactor unit management and parameter control computer was produced. Without it , the reactor would not have been able to function, since neither the devices nor the eyes or the hands would be sufficient. The computer was manufactured in Moscow and we participated in the development, test and test process of the design institute together with the engineers and manufacturers during Another six months. After that, we took it to the Leningrad nuclear power plant, built and coordinated it, and that’s how I started my life as an atomist, “said a famous atomist throughout the Soviet Union.

The first unit of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was launched by V. Shevaldin along with other nuclear pilots in 1973. In December, and exactly ten years later, it also contributed one hundred percent to the commissioning of the first unit of the Nuclear Power Plant. by Ignalina.

“I spent eleven years at the Leningrad nuclear power plant. I worked as an automation specialist, then as a chief specialist for these systems, and ended my career there as the shift manager of the fourth unit,” said V. Shevaldin, who was involved in the start-up and management processes of the four units of the Leningrad power plant.

Collaborators and related persons

V. Shevaldin says that after the commissioning of the fourth unit, it was clear that everything had already been built in Leningrad, and at that time the Ignalina nuclear power plant was already under construction.

Only two nuclear power plants, Leningrad and Ignalina, were subordinate to Minsredmash. The Ministry of Energy then, together with its subordinate institute, built Kursk, Smolensk, Chernobyl and other power plants in the USSR.

The team of specialists at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant relied on colleagues from V. Shevaldin from Leningrad. Among them was Nikolaj Lukonin, one of the first managers of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. V. Shevaldin had to work with him at the Leningrad and Ignalina power plants.

Became a volunteer

Lithuania appeared in the life of V. Shevaldin in a similar way to others: the robbery in Kazakhstan (otherwise the famous Celina) or the construction of the Baikal-Amur highway (BAM).

“Those who knew and believed in them as specialists were informed that volunteers are being selected who wish to go to the Ignalina nuclear power plant. Immediately, a higher salary and a stronger position were offered: the position of the shift manager of the power plant. I led all operational personnel. Later, my career was such that I also worked as a deputy chief engineer in charge of operations. After the proclamation of the independence of Lithuania, the Minister of Energy, Leonas Ašmantas, invited me to the Ministry and offered to assume the position of manager of the INPP ”. V. Ševaldinas briefly reviewed his career in Lithuania.

But so far, so much had happened that keeping it quiet would leave a huge huge gap.

At first I didn’t like it

When V. Shevaldin first arrived at Visaginas (at that time it was called Sniečkus – ed.), The construction of the city was just beginning.

“I probably came in 1980. I only came for one day, I just wanted to see what about the construction site, what about the city. Because you will accept to work, and what if you don’t like it. I came, I looked and said it was too early to go here, “V. Shevaldin does not hide that Visaginas did not disappoint him at the time. Around – large construction, land, ditches, pits. The forest is crossed, there are almost no roads yet.

“I didn’t see what I could do in those buildings. I said I would make a decision later, and then I would go when everyone else was driving, too. And back in 1982. In May, 38 years ago, I came a second time and stayed forever. In Leningrad I had already signed the documents for the transfer, I came here where he already knew me, he waited, he agreed.

At first there was not much to live on. A three-bedroom apartment was occupied where several families lived. Others still lived in tents, in temporary housing. The nuclear power plant was built by builder soldiers who lived in tents and caravans. I got to work on a serious job, so immediately a lot came along, I had to manage the documentation, put together and put together shifts, specialists, person.

We study the projects and explain how the Ignalina power plant differs from Leningrad. First, a one and a half times more powerful power plant was built in Ignalina, where completely different equipment was installed, a much larger one with more safety, accident location systems, which were not available at the Leningrad nuclear power plant. at that moment. Therefore, it was a much better and more polished RBMK project ”, recalled the interlocutor almost four decades ago.

Thus began V. Shevaldin’s life in Lithuania.

Three fateful events

V. Shevaldin is convinced that he and the nuclear power plant, its employees and the residents of Visaginas were affected by three major events, over which they had no power to influence.

“First, it is the Chernobyl accident, the second is the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the third is Lithuania’s accession to the EU, which involves the closure of the nuclear power plant.” These three global events affected the fate of both me and my colleagues, “said the interlocutor.

V. Shevaldin says that when he arrived in Sniečkas (now Visaginas) it was as rare and unusual to meet a Lithuanian as to be Aboriginal.

“Only one Lithuanian worked in the management chain of the Ignalina nuclear power plant: Edmundas Krūminis, Deputy Director General, who moved from Elektrėnai to INPP. It is true that a group of specialists for the operation has been chosen at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (now – Kaunas University of Technology) for several years. They reached the nuclear power plant, but they did not stay long. There was no experience or desire, just fear. They said about Sniečkas: “This is not Lithuania.” And what to want: only Russian is spoken. And when the Russians came, they said, “No, this is not Russia.” That is what I said to myself when I went to Russia: “Oh, litovec prijechal” (Oh, the Lithuanian came).

But we live in a friendly way and we feel no discomfort, “recalled V. Shevaldin.

However, he never had the desire to turn around and return to Russia, as his work, goals, and objectives eventually included him.

Only after moving to Lithuania did V. Ševaldinas start attending Lithuanian language courses. But before starting the first block, there was so much work that he was not only told, but also understood himself: what kind of courses, after all, takes twelve hours to work. Thus ended the sciences of the Lithuanian language.

Everything works at the same time

Thus, in 1983. the first unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant was commissioned.

“It just caught our eye then. But I won’t hide, and sin would say otherwise, but the condition of the first block was such that if it had happened these days, no one would have accepted and allowed it to take effect. And then allowed. By On the other hand, Lithuania and the entire western region needed electricity.It all happened at the same time: the block was already working, another was being built here, equipment was being brought in for it, and someone was taking out the garbage and various construction debris. The most needed system was already working, but the walls were still being painted, and the mess and debris were handled and collected for another year and a half, ”said a witness at the time.

The second block already originated here. Upon completing one block, the builders were immediately transferred to another. The second unit would be operational in 1986. in the summer. But the Chernobyl accident occurred and the commissioning of the second unit was delayed until 1987.

What happened the day of the Chernobyl accident?

The Chernobyl accident happened in 1986. April 26 This is how V. Shevaldin remembers that time: “It was Saturday morning. At that time, I was already the senior shift manager of the nuclear power plant, all the shift managers were subordinate to me. When I got up, I wrote shift assignments every morning.

That morning, without even washing, I called work to ask the shift supervisor how the night shift had gone, how things were going, if anything had happened, if there were defects, violations or any problems. He said everything was fine. And already around noon I received a call from Moscow.

N. Lukonin, the then director of the Ignalina nuclear power plant (until 1983 – the former director of the Leningrad nuclear power plant called), said he was on a business trip to Moscow and asked how things were going at the nuclear power plant in Ignalina. I ask him what happened. I think: “Nothing for me, a person goes on a business trip and calls me home for the weekend with questions like that.” I said that everything was fine, that the block worked, I have no comments. And he said: “That is why I am calling you. I have sad news: there was an accident in one of the Chernobyl CN units.” I asked for a more detailed explanation. However, he said the situation is still unclear and even Moscow does not have complete information.

Tell me, “Call your family members again and tell them to strictly follow the rules and instructions.” I say, “You’re kidding, we always keep them strict.” And he repeated: “But they warn their boys again so that there are no unnecessary movements, because there is a situation in which, God forbid, nothing happens and be sure to call me.” So there was no mobile, this is where I call. He says, “You will call this number and find me.”

This is how I found out about the accident, “V. Shevaldin recalled the morning after the Chernobyl accident.

Mr. Lukonin’s warning was not accidental, as fun was considered the number one cause of the Chernobyl accident. Therefore, V. Shevaldin was warned that the employees of the Ignalina nuclear power plant would take all safety measures.

Called to Moscow after the accident.

In the first week after the Chernobyl accident, specialists at the Ignalina nuclear power plant were contacted only on rumors, there was no reliable information.

“The first information appeared when a commission flew to Chernobyl from Moscow. Later, designers and engineers from Moscow and Saint Petersburg came there and some of that information came from them. Drop by drop, we continue to learn something. About the fact that some program was running there, that the reactor exploded and how it could have happened. It seemed like that, it had been running for fifteen years and nothing had happened. There was a lot of ambiguity. The first version was that a hydrogen explosion occurred in one of the reactor circuits. But I did not believe it, “recalled the interlocutor to the players of that time.

Shevaldin was soon summoned to Moscow.

“Me and Sergei Tiurin, a specialist in reactor safety control systems, went from Moscow to the Ignalina nuclear power plant. The head of the Technical Production Association, an experienced atomist, Mikhail Shavlov, also came from Leningrad. We were invited and we said, “Guys, now we will show you some documents, copies of which were brought from Chernobyl.” He told us to review them as experts and write our conclusions, “said a famous atomist about the extremely secret task he received.

V. Shevaldin found himself in the hands of hot documents received at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the accident: copies of diagrams, computer records.

“He told us, ‘Sit down and work.’ Divided into separate cabinets. In my practice, there were several situations that arose at the power plant: various riots, shutdowns. We all had experience working with those reactors operating at the Leningrad nuclear power plant. or Chernobyl. Mr. Shavlov was also very experienced. The three of us wrote the conclusions and signed them.

It is true that the information was scarce, some graphics were incomplete, some records were poor. It was difficult to judge for them what had happened. But we express our opinion, which was in line with around 90 percent.

It was important to find out why it was then, at that hour, that minute and that second that the accident occurred. What happened? I immediately identified the cause that pressing the emergency reactor protection button was supposed to stop the reactor. But instead of stopping, it further increased its power. Those conclusions of mine took only two pages. They asked us to sign a written promise not to disclose information and everything: we arrived in the morning and in the afternoon we boarded the Moscow-Vilnius train and left in return, “says V. Shevaldin, who wrote the conclusions on the Chernobyl accident.

He speculates that specialists who sat in Moscow detected the cause, but had to investigate a possible one. Because at that time various rumors were circulating, there were many opinions. Therefore, he invited practitioners who spend every day in the reactor.

Later it became clear that what experts at the time, including V. Shevaldin, had identified and was the main cause of the Chernobyl accident.

“It just caught our eye then. Maybe we didn’t reveal everything, because we lacked a lot of data then, but the main thing we wrote later was included in the relevant published research papers,” said V. Ševaldinas.

Visited Chernobyl

V. Shevaldin visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the first time a decade after the accident. As soon as the World Organization of Nuclear Power Operators (WANO) was established, started by the former British Energy Minister, the famous Lord Walhall Marshall (Lord Mashall of Goring). He was awarded the title of Lord for his contribution to the development of nuclear energy.

V. Shevaldin personally knew this man, visited him at his home.

1989 Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant became a member of this organization. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuania joined the organization as an independent state.

“During the eighteen years that I had to run the Ignalina nuclear power plant, I was a member of the board of the Moscow branch of this organization.

Therefore, one of the periodic meetings of this organization took place in Kiev. Then an excursion to Chernobyl was arranged. After that, I visited there several more times. My last visits were related to the desire to familiarize myself with the operation of the power plant after its shutdown, “said the nuclear scientist.

According to the interlocutor, while driving through Pripet, the view was simply impressive, like the others who visited him.

“It is not for nothing that Westerners who have seen this say that all similar power plants should be closed immediately. And I think the city needs to be demolished, but why is it still there?”, The interlocutor is convinced.

Fixed radiation also in Lithuania

Recalling the Chernobyl accident, V. Shevaldin says that employees at the Ignalina power plant also recorded a small radiation background at the time:

“Our laboratory technicians found signs of radiation and discovered that it was not related to Ignalina, but to Chernobyl. Thank God the radiation clouds only took Lithuania a little bit,” said the interlocutor.

According to V. Shevaldin, the most interesting things started already after the Chernobyl accident. First, the loads on the first unit were reduced.

“Until then, we worked with the maximum design capacity of 1,500 megawatts. It was the greatest power not only at Ignalina but also in the world. It was reduced to 1250 megawatts. A little later, we created a new application and increased the capacity a little. “An additional verification of the quality and reliability of the systems of the second unit was carried out. The deadlines for the launch of the second unit were also postponed,” recalled the interlocutor months after the Chernobyl accident.

Positions like Diatlov

Shortly after the Chernobyl accident, when the former head of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, N. Lukonin, became the Minister of Atomic Energy of the newly established USSR and was replaced by former chief engineer Anatoly Chromchenko, the latter was replaced. by Gennady Negrivoda and Shevaldin became Deputy Chief Engineer. This was the same position taken by the main protagonist of the Chernobyl accident, Anatoly Diatlov.

“In this position, I repeatedly had to direct the startup or shutdown of a nuclear power plant. After Chernobyl, everything hardened: both the various procedures and the execution of the programs. New directives were issued that could not be violated. A procedure has been established so that there is a manager next to the shift supervisor who can make any decision. It was necessary to build additional reactor rod absorbers, install additional guards and alarms, conduct training for each shift, organize unscheduled examinations for each employee. He was the chairman of the examination commission, and I went to Moscow to retain them.

Very hard work was done to prevent a recurrence of the Chernobyl accident. It was even more difficult to work with him than to start the new block. And the start-up requirements for the second unit were so high that they could hardly be implemented. Therefore, I can assure you that I was much better prepared for the job than the first ”, one of the most important witnesses of that time told about the work done in preparation for the commissioning of the second unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant .

He was released in 1987. in August.

He has his own opinion on Astrava.

And already in 1988. The first “Ring of Life” organized by the Sąjūdis took place near the Ignalina nuclear power plant, and the construction of the third unit was suspended in the same year.

“Almost 60 percent was built. and he could have worked for at least thirty years.

But then it was not so much the “Ring of Life” that influenced, but the decision to build more nuclear power plants with RBMK in the entire Soviet Union, otherwise, stop the construction of uranium graphite reactors.

After the Chernobyl accident, only Ignalina’s second units and Smolensk’s third unit were put into service and therefore the era of RBMK reactors ended, ”said V. Shevaldin.

According to him, hull and pressurized water reactors have been found to be much safer and cause far fewer problems in stopping operation.

“The biggest problems with decommissioning are the radioactive graphite found in uranium graphite reactors. This is still a global problem. Therefore, I think it is a very correct decision not to build more uranium graphite reactors ”, the interlocutor is convinced.

V. Shevaldin assured that the hull pressurized water reactor under construction in the Belarusian territory, Astrave, is modern and reliable. Such blocks are being built by Finland and Hungary, and are already operating in Leningrad and Voronezh.

“In terms of safety and ecology, this is the best reactor currently being developed in the field of energy. It is the latest technical and scientific achievement. China and other countries are preparing to build the same blocks. That is why Belarusians are building the latest and most modern reactor.

Most importantly, builders do their jobs honestly, diligently, and responsibly. Your supervision, requirements, responsibilities, control are also important: everything must be described, verified and of high quality.

I am sure 50 percent. The success of the job depends on the qualifications of the staff, from the operators to the administration of the nuclear power plant. I hope everything is fine there, “said the interlocutor.

Pero aquí está la historia de otra planta de energía nuclear.

En la segunda parte de este artículo, lea sobre lo que sucedió en la central eléctrica de Ignalina antes y después del 13 de enero y qué choques tuvo que soportar V. Shevaldin frente al cierre de la central nuclear.