The last Soviet energy minister sent into the Chernobyl disaster zone
At dawn on 26 April 1986 Mayorets received the first report of the Chernobyl accident, informed Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov, and flew to the site. As soon as he arrived he ordered the two reactor blocks still running at nominal load to be stopped and emergency-disconnected immediately.
An industrial administrator who rose from electrician to director of the Zaporizhzhia Transformer Plant, Mayorets guided the Soviet electrical engineering and energy sector for a quarter-century. As Minister of the Electrical Engineering Industry (1980–1985) and Minister of Energy and Electrification (1985–1989), he oversaw power-grid infrastructure and nuclear generation. On 26 April 1986 he was the first official to receive word of the Chernobyl disaster; after reporting to Premier Ryzhkov he left immediately for the site and ordered the emergency shutdown of two reactors still under load. He served on the Shcherbina government commission during the initial liquidation phase and later pressed for reform of the Soviet nuclear safety regime.
Career Timeline
- 1953–1962Zaporizhzhia Transformer Plant: electrician → senior foreman → shop chief
- 1962–1965Director, Zaporizhzhia Transformer Plant
- 1965–1974Deputy Minister of the Electrical Engineering Industry, USSR
- 1974–1980First Deputy Minister of the Electrical Engineering Industry, USSR
- 1980–1985Minister of the Electrical Engineering Industry, USSR
- 1985–1989Minister of Energy and Electrification, USSR
- 1986Member, Government Commission on Chernobyl (chair: Shcherbina)