Efim P. Slavsky

Efim Slavsky
Ефим Славский
Slavsky's Official Portrait
Minister of Medium Machine Building
In office July 24, 1957 – November 22, 1986
Deputy Head of the First Main Directorate
In office April 9, 1946 – November 22, 1986
Deputy Minister of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR
In office 1945–1946

Efim Pavlovich Slavsky (October 26, 1898 – November 8, 1991) was a Soviet statesman, head of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, and three-time recipient of the Hero of Socialist Labour award.^[1] Slavsky was best known for his work cleaning up the Kyshtym disaster in 1957 and again at Chernobyl in 1986.^[2] Slavsky was in charge of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, the agency responsible for the construction of nuclear installations in the Soviet Union. Slavsky was also one of the chief designers of the Soviet RBMK nuclear reactor.^[3]

Slavsky was born on October 26, 1898, in Makiivka to a peasant family in the Russian Empire.^[4] His father, Faivel Slavsky, perished at the age of 70 after which Efim became a shepherd at age 8. At age 15, Slavsky went to work in the Donbas region coal mines. In 1918, Efim joined the Red Guard before fighting with the Petliurists. After its dissolution in 1923, Slavsky took a political course and became a regiment commissar as part of a cavalry brigade.^[4] In 1928, Slavsky quit the armed forces to attend the Moscow Institute of Nonferrous Metals where he graduated in 1933. After graduation, Slavsky moved to Ordzhonikidze to work at the Electrozink manufacturing plant producing zinc, lead, and copper. He worked first as an engineer and then, 6 years later, as the plant director.

When war broke out, Slavsky transferred to the Urals Aluminium Plant, at the time the biggest aluminium plant in the Soviet Union. Throughout the course of the war, Slavsky received 3 Orders of Lenin awards for his service.^[4] In 1941, Slavsky got into trouble with the State Defence Committee for violating orders regarding the distribution of rations to children. In 1943, Slavsky worked at the newly founded Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy where he helped procure the large quantities of highly pure graphite needed for the construction of the Soviet Union's first nuclear reactor.^[5] In 1945, he left the Kurchatov institute to work as the interim deputy minister of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy.^[1]

Slavsky joined forces with Igor Kurchatov and a host of other Soviet scientists to begin the Soviet version of The Manhattan Project. Soviet spies helped greatly in the creation of the bomb, as they thieved plans and schematics from the Americans.^[6] For his work on the RDS-1 prototype used in the original Joe-1 test, Slavsky received his first Hero of Socialist Labour in 1949. Five years later in 1954, he received his second for the production of the first thermonuclear weapon in the Soviet Union.^[1]

In 1945, Slavsky and other Soviet engineers and physicists began construction on the top secret Maiak Complex near the settlement of Kyshtym. Here, the Soviet A-1 reactor nicknamed "Annushka" would produce the plutonium necessary for the Soviet atomic bomb. The reactor went online in 1948 but suffered innumerable teething problems. Loss-of-Coolant Accidents were commonplace as the aluminum cooling pipes were prone to leaks causing fuel to overheat and melt fuel channels shut. In these cases, workers would drill through the damaged channel and remove the radioactive contents. In November 1948, A-1 had finally produced enough plutonium for use in an atomic bomb. Immediately after the removal of plutonium began, a fresh accident occurred – the loading equipment for the reactor broke leading to workers needing to enter the reactor and remove the fuel with their bare hands. Despite the protests of his medical staff, Slavsky entered the reactor hall on multiple occasions to assist his workers^[7] and received considerably more than the already extremely high 30 REM/annum exposure limit.^[8]

In 1957, an explosion occurred at the Maiak nuclear waste storage facility.^[9] Slavsky was placed in charge of the cleanup and liquidation operation. He ordered a quarantine of the surrounding region and an evacuation of the communities downwind of the distraught plant. In order to slow the spread of radiation and radionuclides, Slavsky and his fellow workers created the burial enclosure technique employed at Chernobyl in 1986 to shield reactor unit 4 from the elements and keep radiation in.

On May 20, 1986, Slavsky was put in charge of Construction Committee 605 responsible for liquidating the consequences of the April 26th accident at Chernobyl.^[10][11] He travelled to Pripyat to assess the damage and conceived the plans for what would become the Chernobyl sarcophagus.

In July 1957, Slavsky was appointed the 5th Minister of Medium Machine Building. The ministry was established per the Soviet First Directorate (nuclear industry) and Third Directorate (long-range weapons). He was instrumental in the creation of Tsar Bomba (world's most powerful thermonuclear weapon).^[1] Slavsky is known for turning the ministry into a very private organization accepting very little oversight from the All-Union government, actions that would later lead to the breakup of his nuclear empire. During his time at the ministry, Slavsky assisted in the design of the Soviet RBMK nuclear reactor.^[12]

In 1986 following the disaster at Chernobyl, Slavsky retired from the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. The ministry was later folded into the Soviet Ministry of Atomic Energy to create the Ministry of Atomic Energy and Industry of the USSR.^[13] Slavsky was 88 at the time of his retirement making him the oldest member of the cabinet.^[14] Many have speculated that Slavsky's retirement was not his choice and that he had actually been ousted from the Soviet cabinet.^[2] On November 28, 1991, Efim P. Slavsky died at the age of 93 shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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