READER'S REPORT

SYNOPSIS

    On January 28th. 1992, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy was created. Professor "M", Mikhailov, became its First Minister. This engineering professor, author of numerous scientific works and winner of Lenin and State prizes, was to give voice to concerns about Russia's recent unilateral moves towards nuclear disarmament.

    Born in 1934 and raised like millions of others in Russia, war for Mikhailov was to mean hunger, cold and the death of loved ones. His soldier father was one of the many who never returned. Determined to make something of his life, he studied hard and entered the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute, specializing in Theoretical Nuclear Physics. The direction of his life was thus determined.

    Success in obtaining a post at the closed city of Arzamas-16 meant working under such eminent scientists as Sakharov and Zeldovich. The work fostered a strong sense of the need for secrecy and responsibility for each vital step of the work.

    "All it takes to make a theorist happy - the agreement of the theory with the experiment!" and Mikhailov was no exception.

    The Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan witnessed many atmospheric tests in the 1950s, and for Mikhailov it was truly baptism by fire, but by the 1960s and the Moscow Treaty, such testing had moved underground. The beauty and grandeur of the region, with its annual migration of birds and herds of saigas, was breathtaking. This was a happy time, his work imbued with a deep sense of satisfaction of a vital job well done, and a signal for hope for a nuclear-free world in the future.

Moving to the remote Arctic test site amid the Novaya Zemlya islands, Mikhailov was again struck by the sheer beauty of the surroundings. Life here involved waiting for the right weather conditions - a cyclone was needed to lift and carry away any radioactive gases after an explosion, to take them north over the Kara Sea for dispersal.

    Trips up the Strait of Matochkin Shar to the Kara Sea revealed the myriad wonders and delights of glaciers, whirlpools and the old abandoned rock-crystal mines, where seals and polar bears could be watched in their wild, untamed habitat. The summer months saw the tundra as a living Persian carpet of delicate flowers and grasses and, eminent scientist or not, Mikhailov gave thanks for the miracle of life in its endless cycle and prayed that it would always continue thus.

    Daily life continued amid rigorous and meticulous checking. As the "Tch" hour of detonation approached, no room for doubt could be allowed to exist. Yet even then, things were changing on the world's political stage and bilateral negotiations between the USA and the USSR, working towards nuclear disarmament and joint verification experiments (JVE) were underway.

For Mikhailov, communication was the watchword, the trend which would bring the peoples of the world together. While nuclear weapons proliferated, peace was as fragile as "an ice-floe in spring". Thus had begun the long, faltering steps towards a universal ban. Not that he was free of concerns and nagging doubts - other nations such as France and China were not party to the agreement. What was crucial was the building of an environment of mutual trust and understanding - far better than developing a third generation of tactical weapons.

    Gorbachev had a vision of a nuclear-free world by the year 2000, and although Mikhailov endorsed and applauded the concept, he viewed the West with deepening concern. The USA and NATO continued to improve their nuclear arsenals, and NATO had no commitment not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. Amid worries of a new spiral in the arms race, he saw it as vital to end a potentially infinite proliferation of such weapons of destruction. The whole world, not Russia alone, must reduce their horrifying capability.

    August 1991 had witnessed a turning point in Soviet history. Now working in the Ministry for Atomic Power and Industry, Mikhailov knew that the emerging state must make intelligent use of its scientific and technical potential to witness a rebirth of industry and an economic revitalization of Russia. She must be open to international markets and investments while developing a modern, safe nuclear industry.

For Mikhailov, as he assumed his high Ministerial role in 1992, closer cooperation between scientists, specialists and the Ministry was vital. The problems of storing weapons - grade plutonium and uranium were a bottleneck in the elimination of tactical nuclear weapons - USA cooperation and finance would be crucial. The future could provide opportunities to strengthen universal security, if only politicians in Russia and throughout the world could be persuaded to be altruistic and not merely use the situation to raise their own popularity.

    Russia must maintain her scientific and technical potential - without them progress was but a dream. Centralized coordination of the conversion projects in the nuclear weapons complex were vital. Safety enhancement was to be the priority objective of the whole weapons program , but for Mikhailov "How safe is safety?" Russia was beset by much lower financial resources and relative backwardness of her laboratory and computing bases compared to the USA.

    The agreement between Bush and Yeltsin certainly marked a new approach to the problems Mikhailov pondered, and hope was alive. Looking back over the decades he saw that the practical results of the revolution in physics was perhaps the greatest achievement of the twentieth century, triggering phenomenal growth of productive forces. As the century draws to a close, an era of transition, of momentous decisions is indeed at hand.

For Mikhailov, both as eminent scientist and decision-maker, and as a citizen of the world, all nations have their own traditions and customs, their own paths to take, but they all share a common environment, a common planet. Man has indeed paid dearly for his knowledge of nuclear energy - Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Cold War itself are testiment to that.

    Mikhailov sees no "straight road to paradise", but with better knowledge of each other, the nations of the earth may yet all prosper. Cooperation and straight dealing are all. Will the next century need its "hawks", powerful and swift and imbued with a "paternal concern for its progeny"? For Mikhailov, the world will always need its "hawks", the very nature of mankind makes it so.

    "I am a Hawk" is an autobiographical account of the life and thoughts of one of Russia's most eminent nuclear physicists, Viktor Mikhaylov. Written as a first person narrative, it charts his career as part of the nuclear testing team within the Soviet Union and also reveals much of the man beneath.

For Mikhaylov, wars bring terrible misery to ever-increasing numbers of people, and all peoples should thus be interested in achieving a reliable reduction of the nuclear arsenals. He is both dreamer and realist.

    "We all want a world without weapons and wars. This is a dream of mankind but I think we will still be living without this for a very long time".

    The precisionist, the dedicated scientist is highlighted throughout, working he believes for the best of reasons. There is always an underlying justification for what he and his colleagues were doing. Scientists were in essence lowering the level of nuclear confrontation, and Mikhaylov is at pains to show this. He is particularly excited by the JVE developments, post 1988.

    "Their seismic signals circled our planet, like a harbinger of a new era in mankind's journey to a nuclear-free world. It was a signal of hope".

    Meeting his Nevada contemporaries, seeing the cities which were "target cities" during the Cold War, only confirmed the deadly folly of the nuclear arms race.

    The book is full of eloquent testimony to such deadly folly and the decisions that must be taken if global catastrophe is to be avoided, plus the warning that Russia cannot assume the mantle of disarmament alone. What lifts it above yet another account of self-justification for man and country are the glimpses of the real man beneath, in essence revealing the open, generous and loving great heart of Mother Russia herself. That "Russia endures" and will continue to do so is evident, not least; because of the Russian psyche itself.

    For Russians, man and his environment are inextricably entwined. The natural world is full of wonders and deserves to be cherished, both for its own sake and for the future of all. Mikhailov seems to encapsulate the almost parental, all-embracing protectiveness usually common to all astronauts as they speak of Earth as an entity. Amid the frozen grandeur of the test site, as he revels in the scenery and wildlife, he muses,

    "Mother Nature smiled upon me, and this love was mutual".

    She may be cruel and unforgiving of mistakes, but she is genuine and straightforward. Mikhailov poignantly contrasts the human reaction during a possible radiation leak at Novaya Zemlya to the innocent and loving trust of a shaggy dog and her puppies looking for protection.

    "Their faithful eyes were watching me with love. There is love for you".

    Mikhailov's concern for mankind and the planet is probably genuine and not mere political posturing, and readers will be able to feel this throughout the book. The language is often poetic and positively romantic.

    "All of us are children of the earth, children of the one Creator of the beautiful and infinite world in which our life is only an instant in eternity".

    Heady stuff, but this only adds to the mental picture of the man. After all, he is Russian, and expresses himself as only they can.

    The book is a message of hope, but it is also a dire warning. It pulls no punches about what the future may hold. Particular concern is voiced about a third generation of tactical nuclear weapons, and the awful possibility of terrorists gaming access to both knowledge and weaponry to use in some local conflict. Preventing their development is seen as the most responsible and over-riding objective of mankind,

    "Dear compatriots, be vigilant!"

    is aimed at his countrymen and mankind generally. His is the voice that must be listened to to avoid the descent into madness - for MAD (mutually assured destruction) is likely to be the inevitable outcome otherwise. He is, and must continue to be, a "hawk". He, his contemporaries worldwide, and those to follow must inevitably assume this role, for lack of vigilance may have unthinkable consequences. This is Mikhailov's message to any who will listen.

    "The hawk is a bird known for its swift flight and graceful landings, its keen hearing and vision, its powerful beak, and its paternal concern for its progeny" .

    A hawk cannot change its nature and survive.