AN INTERESTING NEWS STORY

["K. K. S. Pillay" <s_pillay@lanl.gov>]

At age 95, survivor of nuclear cloud flight tells his
story


MOSCOW (Oct 19, 1996) -- A 95-year-old scientist ordered to fly into the mushroom cloud of a
nuclear bomb test 45 years ago says he has suffered no ill health effects.

In an interview published Saturday, Dmitry Shustov said the Soviet Union's nuclear program director, Igor
Kurchatov, ordered the mission because he was not satisfied with the results of tests done on nuclear ash found
on the ground.

"It was decided to send a scout plane with a crew and a radiochemist instead of a navigator" to take samples
from the blast at the Semipalatinsk test site on Oct. 18, 1951, Shustov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda
newspaper.

The plane took off about 30 miles from the site and was in the air when the bomb went off.

"The explosion was so bright that we jumped back from the window," he said. "Then we saw the mushroom."

He said the plane stayed inside the base of the mushroom for 30 minutes, but air currents from the cap of the
cloud caused turbulence and forced the plane to leave. At least two other people were aboard the plane with
Shustov.

Now 95, Shustov said he is generally healthy and suffers only ailments "that are unavoidable at my age."

He said he did not know what happened to the crew of the aircraft because the mission was top secret. He also
said he did not know how much radioactivity he was exposed to because the crew was not carrying personal
radiation detectors.

Semipalatinsk is about 300 miles northeast of Almaty, a city in southern Kazakstan.



K.K.S.Pillay
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