In charge of the plant in Ukraine, he was held responsible for the world’s worst nuclear-power disaster and imprisoned.
Viktor Bryukhanov, who helped build and manage the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where a reactor explosion in 1986 released a radioactive dust cloud over Europe and a humbling fog of finger-pointing and political fallout that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Oct. 13 in Kyiv. He was 85.
His death was announced by a spokesman for the now-closed power plant. After serving five years in prison, Mr. Bryukhanov returned to government service in Ukraine to head the technical department in its Economic Development and Trade Ministry.
He had been treated for Parkinson’s disease and had sustained several strokes since he retired in 2015.
Mr. Bryukhanov — the curly-haired, chain-smoking figure played by Con O’Neill in the award-winning HBO series “Chernobyl” in 2019 — accepted professional responsibility for what is considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster, measured by cost and casualties.
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