Vassili Nesterenko (2 December 1934 – 25 August 2008) was a Soviet and Belarusian physicist from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and a former director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1977–1987).

Biography

Vassili Nesterenko (sometimes romanized as Vasilii) was born in Krasny Kut Village, Antratsyt Raion,

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast ( uk, Луга́нська о́бласть, translit=Luhanska oblast; russian: Луганская область, translit=Luganskaya oblast; also referred to as Luhanshchyna, uk, Луга́нщина) is the easternmost oblast ...

, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (now

). He had a diploma from the

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University, BMSTU (russian: link=no, Московский государственный технический университет им. Н. Э. Баумана (МГТУ им. Н. Э. Баумана)), some ...

. In 1972 Nesterenko was elected a corresponding member of Academy of Sciences of Byelorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic in the field of Nuclear Power Plants. He worked on the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Since 1990, he had been the director of the Belarusian Independent Institute of "Belrad", created in 1989 with the help of

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...

Ales Adamovich Aleksandr Mikhailovich Adamovich ( be, Аляксандр Міхайлавіч Адамовіч, translit=Aliaksandr Michailavič Adamovič, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Адамо́вич; 3 September 1927 – 26 January ...

and

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

. He attempted to warn the public of the dangerous radiation caused during the Chernobyl explosion. Because of his activities, he lost his job and got problems with the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

. Vassioy Nesterenko died on 25 August 2008 at the age of 73 and was survived by his son.

Work in Chernobyl

Nesterenko intervened immediately after news of the accident in the nuclear power plant started to spread. As an expert on the subject and with his experience as a fire fighter, he threw liquid nitrogen containers from a helicopter on the burning reactor core. To do this he had to move into the middle of radioactive smoke. Despite the heavy radioactive contamination of the area, Nesterenko survived. However, of the four passengers of his helicopter, three died from radioactive irradiation and contamination.''Le Crime de Tchernobyl, le Goulag nucléaire'', de

Wladimir Tchertkoff Wladimir Tchertkoff is an Italian journalist. He released with Emanuela Andreoli in 2003 the film ''The Sacrifice'', a documentary on the liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This film received an award from the Île-de-France counc ...

, Actes Sud, avril 2006. In 1990 Nesterenko founded the Institute of Radiation Safety (BELRAD), which carries out "

radiation monitoring Radiation monitoring involves the measurement of radiation dose or radionuclide contamination for reasons related to the assessment or control of exposure to radiation or radioactive substances, and the interpretation of the results. Environment ...

of the inhabitants of Chernobyl zone and their foodstuffs, development of measures on maintenance of radiation safety and protection of the population on territories, contaminated by radionuclides by realization of necessary scientific researches, development and organization of implementation of their results in practice."

References

External links

* http://www.dissident-media.org/infonucleaire/cv_nesterenko.html * ''Le Crime de Tchernobyl, le Goulag nucléaire'', de

, Actes Sud, avril 2006. * http://enfants-tchernobyl-belarus.org French site of an association which dedicates all its efforts in helping BELRAD * http://www.independentwho.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Nesterenko, Vassili 1934 births 2008 deaths People from Luhansk Oblast Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni Belarusian physicists Soviet physicists 20th-century physicists Belarusian people of Ukrainian descent Chernobyl liquidators