The former director of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant did not have any doubts concerning the safety of the plant’s equipment, according to KyivWeekly. “The plant seemed to be harmless and we thought it would operate forever. The commissioning of Chornobyl was a major breakthrough,“ Viktor Bryukhanov said in an exclusive interview to Kyiv Weekly. He went on to remind that major Soviet authorities, including President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences physicist Academician Anatoliy Aleksandrov claimed that the plant was airtight safe and nothing would ever happen to it. Western scientists say such reactors do not meet international safety standards.
After four units of the plant were commissioned the construction team started the construction of another two units, Bryukhanov said. “In 1986 the installation of the reactor and the turbine at the fifth unit began. We planned that it would be launched in 1987 and then we would build the sixth unit a year later,” the former director said.
According to Bryukhanov, the Soviet government planned the construction of another nuclear plant on the opposite bank of the Prypyat River: “This huge crew of 25,000 workers was gathered, they needed work after the sixth unit is launched. Had everything turned out okay, they would have most likely begun the construction of a second plant.”
