This is a collection of memoirs compiled by the editors of Skepsis from numerous online publications of transcripts of audio recordings from the voice of Academician Legasov. Nuclear chemist Valery Alekseevich Legasov, one of the leaders of the Kurchatov Atomic Institute, was at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as a member of the scientific commission from the first days of the accident, repeatedly putting his life and health in danger: he returned to the capital of the USSR only under strong pressure from doctors, having spent more than 4 months at the site instead of the permitted two weeks.

Acutely feeling personal responsibility for the disaster that occurred, Legasov considered it his duty to voice its reasons, which, in his opinion, lay not only in errors during the construction and operation of the Chernobyl reactor specifically, but also in the entire development of the Soviet nuclear industry since the late 50s - early 60s. On April 27, 1988, on the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the academician was found hanged in his office. Whatever the cause of his death - the same sense of personal responsibility or the pressure of the Soviet nomenklatura (governmental and academic), which stood in the throat of his speeches and comments; - no matter what guides him in trying to create the most complete picture of what happened (sometimes career moments are cited as a motive), Legasov's memories and reasoning are a valuable source for studying the Chernobyl accident and nuclear safety in general. This is especially relevant now, when, a quarter of a century after Chernobyl, it is even more clear that without a reasonably organized production of nuclear fuel, humanity will not be able to exist.V. A. Legasov about himself Memories of the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. On scientific work in the field of nuclear energy. The causes that led to the Chernobyl accident and the consequences arising from it. [Sketches for an article on the nuclear energy industry of the USSR for V.M. Novikova, V.F. Demina, V.K. Sukhoruchkina] Interview with Ales Adamovich