Suskov's request is caught in the political and scientific fallout that continues one year after the accident inside reactor unit #4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine. Doubts about the quality of the available data, combined with the traditional reluctance of the Soviet Union to share information and the red tape involved in any collaboration between the Soviets and Western nations, have dampened hopes that a better understanding of the effects of radiation on humans and the environment would be the silver lining in the worst civilian nuclear reactor disaster on record.
There are few collaborative efforts underway between Soviet scientists and their international colleagues. Robert Gale, the UCLA physician and scientist who performed bone marrow transplants on several victims shortly after the accident, has been granted the greatest access, through the backing of industrialist Armand Hammer. But his efforts have barely dented the wall of secrecy ...
