Nikolai Maximovich Fomin (, ; born 1937 in Novoekonomichne,

Donetsk Oblast The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

) is a Ukrainian engineer. He was the chief engineer of the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP; ; ), is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, ...

from 1981 until the

Chernobyl nuclear disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR in the Sov ...

in 1986. Galina Tri︠a︡nova: ''Posledniĭ raspad'' Uz︠h︡gorod : Karpaty, 2006., ISBN 9666710897.

Biography

Fomin was a member of the central

CPSU "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

, but was expelled after the Chernobyl disaster. He started his career at the

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station ( uk, Запорізька атомна електростанція, translit=Zaporiz'ka atomna elektrostantsiya, russian: Запорожская атомная электростанция, Zaporozhskaya ...

.Попали в историю по приговору
/ref> In 1972 he began working at the Chernobyl plant. As chief engineer, he approved the infamous turbine safety test that led to the explosion of the reactor. However, the deputy chief engineer

Anatoly Dyatlov Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov (russian: Анатолий Степанович Дятлов, uk, Анатолій Степанович Дятлов; 3 March 1931 – 13 December 1995) was a Soviet engineer who was the deputy chief engineer for the ...

was the principal person responsible for the test. Fomin learned of the accident at about 4 am on April 26, 1986, and participated in cleaning up the aftermath. He was subsequently arrested together with plant director

Viktor Bryukhanov Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov ( uk, Віктор Петрович Брюханов, russian: Виктор Петрович Брюханов; 1 December 1935 – 12 October 2021) was the manager of construction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant ...

. The start of the trial, originally scheduled for March 24, 1987, had to be postponed several times due to Fomin's

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an attempt to die by suicide that results in survival. It may be referred to as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, though these terms are discouraged by mental health professionals for implying that a suicide res ...

.Nikolai Fomin's Fate Is Unclear After The Chernobyl Disaster
/ref> During the trial, Fomin partly blamed the operators for deviating from the test plan.Higginbotham, Adam (2019). '' Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster''. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

9781501134616. Eventually, he and Bryukhanov were found guilty and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. While in prison, Fomin received psychiatric treatment several times. For health reasons, he was released from prison early and transferred to a psychiatric hospital. After his release from the hospital, he worked at the

Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant The Kalinin Nuclear Power Station (russian: Калининская АЭС []) is located about north west of Moscow, in Tver Oblast near the town of Udomlya. Owner and operator of the plant is the state enterprise Rosenergoatom. Kalinin Nuclear ...

. Since his retirement in 2000, he has lived with his wife, children and grandchildren in

Udomlya Udomlya (russian: Удо́мля) is a town and the administrative center of Udomelsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake Pesvo on the Rybinsk–Bologoye railway, north of Tver, the administrative center of the oblas ...

In popular culture

In the television series ''

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

'', he is portrayed by

Adrian Rawlins Adrian John Rawlins (born 27 March 1958) is an English actor best known for playing Arthur Kidd in '' The Woman in Black'' and James Potter in the ''Harry Potter'' films. In 2019, he starred in ''Chernobyl'' as Nikolai Fomin. Early life Rawli ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fomin, Nikolai Nuclear engineers Soviet engineers 20th-century Ukrainian engineers 1937 births Living people