Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev
c. June 30, 1926—1999
Captain First Rank Zateyev in 1962
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Navy
Rank	Captain First Rank
Commands held	K-19
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize nominee
Other work	Author

Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev (Russian: Николай Владимирович Затеев) (c. June 30, 1926—1999) was Russian submariner and a Captain First Rank in the Soviet Navy, notable as the commander of the ill-fated Soviet submarine K-19 in July 1961 during the Hotel class submarines nuclear-reactor coolant leak. Zateyev and the actions of his crew managed to avert disaster, despite severe radiation exposure.^[1] After the event, Zateyev and his crew were sworn to secrecy regarding the events that transpired by the Soviet government, and were only permitted to reveal the story after its collapse. Zateyev later released his memoirs on the event, which were used as the basis for a number of literary works on the disaster, as well as a 2002 documentary^[2] and film.^[3] In these memoirs, Zateyev criticised the rushed production of Russia's first nuclear ballistic submarine,^[4] while their actions on July 4, 1961 earned the then-deceased captain and his crew a joint nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in March 2006.^[5]

[edit] Early life and career

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] K-19

Main article: K-19

On July 4, 1961, while K-19 was operating near southern Greenland, water pressure in the starboard nuclear reactor plummetted due a coolant leak in an area of the reactor very difficult to access. The loss of coolant caused the reactor to begin to overheat, endangering the integrity of the control rods and, as Zateyev mistakenly believed, risking a nuclear explosion.^[5] The captain believed that such an explosion would damage a nearby NATO base and could cause a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. Mikhail Gorbachov later wrote that "An explosion on board the K-19 could have been taken for a military provocation or even an attempt to launch a nuclear strike on the North American coast. An immediate response by the United States and NATO could have triggered off a Third World War."^[5] Eight crewmen died in the days that followed July 4, after working in the reactor core,^[1] however a jury-rigged coolant system successfully averted any catastrophe. The K-19 was later towed back to harbor and its reactors were replaced over a period of two years.

Following the incident, Zateyev and the crew were instructed to keep silent about the accident, and neither the replacement crew for the K-19 or the families of those who had died were notified. The victims of radiation poisoning were buried in lead coffins at sea, according to the letter written by Mikhail Gorbachev to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 2006. Only in 1990 were the survivors, 56 by February 1, 2006, permitted to speak.^[5]

[edit] Notes