The United States has declassified its secret archive on Chernobyl
The US National Security Archive has declassified some documents related to the Chernobyl accident. These documents reveal that in the first days after the explosion, US intelligence doubted the veracity of official casualty reports and was convinced that personnel were evacuated immediately after the disaster, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
This was written in a secret message addressed to the US Secretary of State on May 2, 1986, according to declassified documents from the US National Security Archive.
Morton Abramowitz, assistant for intelligence and research to the US Secretary of State, wrote a report to his supervisor, George Shultz, six days after the Chernobyl explosion.
“The entire intelligence community considers it nonsense that only two people died,” Abramowitz writes, referring to the official death toll released by the USSR.
However, in fact, two people died directly from the explosion of the fourth power unit. The United States could not believe such information, given the scale of destruction that they observed. According to American intelligence officers, given the scale of the incident, most personnel should have been evacuated immediately. In fact, the staff remained at their jobs after the explosion.
“...the composition of the rescue team would have changed as the severity of the incident became more apparent,” the report says.
Its author also noted that, in addition to new members of the rescue team, foremen from other units should have arrived at the scene to ensure the correct actions were taken to avoid a further disaster.
The US has declassified its secret archive on Chernobyl.