Aleksandr Akimov

For Russian football coach and player, see Aleksandr Akimov (footballer).

Template:Eastern Slavic name Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov (Template:Lang-ru; 6 May 1953 – 11 May 1986) was the shift supervisor of the night crew that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Unit #4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, April 26, 1986.

Biography

Aleksandr Akimov was born on May 6, 1953 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR (Republic of the Soviet Union). In 1976, Akimov graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, with the degree of specialist in engineering and automation of heat and power processes. He began his career at the Chernobyl Nunclear Power Plant in September, 1979. During his first years at Chernobyl, he held positions of a senior turbine management engineer and a shift supervisor of the turbine hall. On July 10, 1984 Aleksandr Akimov was appointed to the position of a shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4.

Chernobyl disaster

On the night of April 26, 1986, Alexander Fedorovich performed his duties as the shift supervisor of the 4th power unit.

The turbine was shut down as planned and the power surged. Akimov pressed the AZ-5—class five emergency—to shut down the poisoned reactor. The control rods seized around two to two and a half meters (6.6 to 8.2 ft) into the reactor, which goes down to a depth of seven meters (23 ft) total, but the boron bars had graphite tips that caused an increase in power. The reactor then exploded, and the communications networks were suddenly flooded with calls and information – Akimov heard reports of massive reactor damage, but would not believe it and therefore relayed false information about the state of the reactor for a few hours. Once he knew the full extent of the accident, he worked with his crew in the reactor building until early morning, trying to pump water into the exposed reactor.

Akimov died on May 11, 1986,two weeks after the accident, due to acute radiation syndrome, at the age of 33. In the initial inquiry, he and his co-workers were blamed. Only later did the blame shift to the plant's director and manager. The crew and directors did not adhere to the plant's safety guidelines and ignored repeated warnings.

Recognition

Aleksandr Akimov was posthumously awarded with the Order of Courage of the 3rd degree by the President of Ukraine.

In media

He was portrayed by Sam Troughton in the 2019 HBO Miniseries Chernobyl, and by Alex Lowe in the 2006 BBC production Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.

See also

• Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster
• Individual involvement in the Chernobyl disaster