Former Academy President Aleksandrov on Chernobyl, Sakharov

This document is a transcript of an interview conducted by OGONEK correspondent Vanda Beletskaya with Academician Anatoliy Petrovich Aleksandrov, the former President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, published in August 1990. The interview covers a wide range of topics, primarily focusing on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the state of Soviet nuclear power, and the political climate surrounding Soviet science. Aleksandrov asserts that he was not informed of the experiment that led to the Chernobyl catastrophe, describing it as a tragic, ill-conceived operation conducted by the organization Donenergo without proper authorization or oversight. He emphasizes that the reactor design, while having flaws, was not the primary cause of the accident, but rather the gross violation of safety instructions and the disconnection of the emergency reactor cooling system. Aleksandrov discusses his career, his relationship with other prominent Soviet scientists like Kurchatov, Kapitsa, and Keldysh, and his interactions with Soviet leadership, including Beria and Gorbachev. He reflects on the moral dilemmas faced by scientists under the Soviet regime, the pressure to conform, and the challenges of maintaining scientific integrity. Additionally, he addresses the 'blue blood' blood substitute project, the exile of Andrei Sakharov, and his concerns regarding the current state of the Academy of Sciences, including the emergence of 'parascientific' interests such as unidentified flying objects, which he views as a distraction from serious scientific progress. Throughout the interview, Aleksandrov advocates for the continued development of nuclear power under strict, transparent, and legally mandated safety standards, arguing that abandoning the field would be a mistake for the country's future.