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Some of these workers, approximately 7% of all liquidators, received high doses (0.20-0.25 Gy). Within this group are further subgroups including those who participated in clean-up works during 1986.
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With 123,536 liquidators from Ukraine and 63,500 liquidators from Belarus, providing a total of around 355,000. The report from the Russian National Medical Dosimetric Registry quotes 168,000 liquidators in Russia. The International Conference “One Decade After Chernobyl” refers to “about 200,000 ‘liquidators’ who worked in Chernobyl during the period 1986-1987 and estimating the total number of people registered as involved in activities relating to alleviating the consequences of the accident at between 600,000 to 800,000.Īccording to the main, parental All-Union Distribution Register (USSR, 1986-1989) the number of liquidators is 293,100. A report by the Nuclear Energy Agency quotes a figure “up to 800,000”.
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It is likely that at least 300,000 – 350,000 people were directly involved. The number of liquidatorsįigures for the number of liquidators involved vary greatly from several hundred thousand to nearly a million people. Thousands of liquidators however, mostly military officers and skilled professionals, volunteered to participate or to extend their work beyond the initial compulsory term. Many of liquidators during the Soviet period were coerced to work for a set period of time by means of a direct order. Other names used to describe workers involved in the clean-up include, emergency workers, accident recovery workers, salvage personnel or decontamination participants. Soon after the explosion it became clear that the consequences of the accident could not be “eliminated” but only “reduced” however the title was already in common use by this point. The word “liquidator” is derived from the Russian verb “likvidator” (ликвида́торы, which means “to eliminate” or “to eliminate the consequences of an accident”.
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The white streaks at the bottom of the photo were due to the high levels of radiation emanating from below.
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A photograph of “liquidators” on the roof of Reactor three taken by Igor Kostin.
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