[en] At the end of August 1986, there was a well attended meeting of IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) in Vienna, devoted to the catastrophe at Chernobyl and its sequels. Little came out of a 430 page report submitted by the Russians. The truths are difficult to decipher and the paper comments on information available and makes a few conjectures. The Soviets seemed keen to put the blame on human errors and breaks in the chain of command and some doubt is placed on the place of dogma in Soviet reasoning. The actions leading up to the accident are examined and then follows some reasoned thinking on the results, both immediately and in the future, both near the plant and for a very large area around it. (G.V.D.)