460 



Greenpeace Vladivattok Report 

 6 November 1991 



Aixording to the report, the clean-up eventually invoKed the removal of 5,000 m3 of 

 contaminated materials and 760 tons of metal construction, deactivation of 2,100 ni2 of metal 

 construction and 34,000 m2 of roads with cement and asphalt tops. 400 ni2 of docks were also * 

 decontaminated. 



According to residents of the area, civilian worken did participate in the clean-up, and 

 received radiation doses. Some local people claimed clean-up workers were running in and out of 

 the accident site picking up radioactive debris with their hands. (The Navy officers denied this. 

 They said quick runs were only used to practice the attaching of lifting cables to the damaged 

 reactor, and then to attach the cables.) 



One detailed eyewitness account was provided by the chief mechanic from the floating 

 crane Vityaz (a civilian rescue vessel commandeered from the Far East Shipping Company) He 

 recoimted that at the time his vessel was given an emergen^ assignment in Chazma Bay, without 

 being told the nature of this assignment '' ' 



Their job was quite simple, he said. They were to approach the sub from the back and 

 keep it afloat from the rear. The nose section was being supported by a Nakhodka ship, Bogatyr. 

 The Vityaz crew was told there was a crack in the sub. The crack needed to be ckxed, and at the 

 same time water in the sub needed to be pumped out 



The mechanic said when they arrived the water was being pumped out of the sixth section 

 containing the reactor, out of the top of the submarine, and directly into the waters of Giazma 

 Bay. Because it was a hot August day, the Vityaz crewmen were walking around shirtless. He 

 said the Navy sailors on the submarine also were also shirtless. Some of the saDors were sitting 

 on the edge of the hole made by the reactor explosion and dangling their feet into the reactor 

 space. 



On the second day the Vityaz was there, he said the second mechanic accidentally turned 

 on the KP-S dosemeter aboard the ship. The measuring eqtiipment immediately went off scale, 

 and because it is coiuected to the emergency mobilization equipment aboard the ship, a siren 

 began to sound. At that point the captain of the ship, Kuznebx>v, went to clarify with the Navy 

 what they were dealing with. 



On the third day, he said the Vityaz received 14 sets of protective equipment and 

 dosemeters, and explanations of how to avoid radioactive contamination. The Vityaz crew worked 

 for a week, after which they had a dose measuring of the persoimeL All of the spaces in the ship, 

 such as the bridge and living spaces, were so contaminated it was impossible to take 

 measurements there. The only part of the ship that was not contaminated was the machine 

 compartment; nobody had entered this space because the ship was not imderway. 



The crew was not told the amount of exposure they had received, he said, but they were 

 tokl all the clothes they were wearing during the week had to be burned. Nothing about their 

 work was recorded the ship's oCflcial medical log. In addition, the Vityaz crew had to sign a 



