Chernobyl liquidators

Chernobyl liquidators were the civil and military personnel who were called upon to deal with the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union on the site of the event. The liquidators are widely credited with limiting both the immediate and long-term damage from the disaster. Surviving liquidators are qualified for significant social benefits due to their veteran status. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled for years to have their participation officially recognized. The colloquial term "liquidator" (ліквідатор, ліквідатар, ликвида́тор, likvidator) originates from the Soviet official definition "участник ликвидации последствий аварии на Чернобыльской АЭС" (uchastnik likvidatsii posledstviy avarii na Chernobylʹskoy AES, literally "participant in liquidation of the Chernobyl NPP accident consequences") which was widely used to describe the liquidators' activities regarding their employment, healthcare, and retirement. This exact phrase is engraved on the Soviet medals and badges awarded to the liquidators. Disaster management at Chernobyl included a diverse range of occupations, positions, and tasks, and in particular: Operational personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Firefighters who immediately responded to the reactor accident Civil defense troops of the Soviet Armed Forces who removed contaminated materials and the deactivation on the reactor and all affected territories Internal Troops and police who provided security, access control and population evacuation Military and civil medical and sanitation personnel, including: Groups of female janitors tasked with the cleanup of food left inside abandoned homes to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases Special hunting squads assigned to exterminate domestic animals left in evacuated settlements Soviet Air Force and civil aviation units who fulfilled critical helicopter-assisted operations on the reactor building, air transportation and aerial radioactive contamination monitoring, including Mykola Melnyk, a civilian helicopter pilot who placed radiation sensors on the reactor Various civilian scientists, engineers, and workers involved in all stages of disaster management: Transportation workers A team of coal miners who built a large protective foundation to prevent radioactive material from entering the aquifer below the reactor Construction professionals Media professionals who risked their lives to document the disaster on the ground, including photographers Igor Kostin and Volodymyr Shevchenko, who are credited with taking the most immediate and graphic pictures of the destroyed reactor, and liquidators conducting hazardous manual tasks A small number of foreigners (mostly from the Western countries) volunteered to participate in international medicine- and science-related on-the-ground projects related to the relief operation.