{{short description|1986 Chernobyl disaster cleanup personnel}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2014}} alt=Liquidators of Chernobyl, gathered at the Slavutych museum on the 32nd anniversary of the disaster.|thumb|A group of liquidators gathered at the {{ill|Museum of Slavutych|uk|Краєзнавчий музей міста Славутич та Чорнобильської АЕС}} on the 32nd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, 2018|247x247px [[File:Médailles liquidateurs.jpg|thumb|250px|Soviet military badge (left) and medal awarded to liquidators.]] thumb|250px|The central detail of the Liquidators' medal, with traces of alpha (α) and beta (β) particles and gamma (γ) rays over a drop of blood.
'''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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chernobyl disaster liquidators recall horrors of nuclear accident |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/chernobyl-disaster-liquidators-recall-horrors-of-nuclear-accident/2221276 |access-date=2026-06-01 |website=Anadolu |language=tr}}</ref> The liquidators are widely credited with limiting both the immediate and long-term damage from the disaster.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chernobyl Liquidators. The People and the Doses |url=https://irpa.net/irpa10/cdrom/00666.pdf}}</ref> On the overall recruitment and human scale, It remains one of the largest man-made environmental clean up operations in modern history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Environmental Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident |url=https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1239_web.pdf}}</ref>
Surviving liquidators are qualified for significant social benefits due to their veteran status in the former countries of the Soviet Union and abroad. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled for years to have their participation, healthcare or stories officially recognized.
== Name == The euphemism "liquidator" ({{langx|uk|ліквідатор}}, {{langx|be|ліквідатар}}, {{langx|ru|ликвида́тор}}, ''likvidator'') originates from the Soviet official definition "участник ликвидации после��ствий 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.
== Roles == 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,<ref>[http://www.xliby.ru/transport_i_aviacija/aviacija_i_vremja_2011_03/p5.php "Воздушная битва при Чернобыле"] in ''Aviatsiya i Vremia'' magazine, 2011, #2 {{in lang|ru}}</ref> including Mykola Melnyk, a civilian helicopter pilot who placed radiation sensors on the reactor<ref>[http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=3713 "Former Chernobyl Pilot Soars Above His Obstacles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317233041/http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=3713 |date=2011-03-17 }}. ''The St. Petersburg Times''. May 31, 2005.</ref> * 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. Technically, they may also qualify for liquidator status depending on their exact location and tasks at the time of participation.
== Health effects == According to the WHO, 240,000 recovery workers were called upon in 1986 and 1987 alone. Altogether, special certificates were issued for 600,000 people recognizing them as liquidators.<ref>{{cite web|title=WHO: Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident and Special Health Care Programs, 2006, p.2|url=https://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/who_chernobyl_report_2006.pdf|publisher=World Health Organization}}</ref>
Total recorded doses to individual workers in Chernobyl recovery operations during the period through 1990 ranged from less than 10 millisieverts (less than 1 rem) to more than 1 sievert (100 rems), due primarily to external radiation. The average dose is estimated to have been 120 millisieverts (12 rem) and 85% of the recorded doses were between 20 and 500 millisieverts (2 to 50 rems). There are large uncertainties in these individual doses; estimates of the size of the uncertainty range from 50% to a factor of five and dose records for military personnel are thought to be biased toward high values.<ref name=UNSCEAR2008>{{cite web |url=http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_D.pdf |title=Annex D. Health effects due to radiation from the Chernobyl accident |work=Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation UNSCEAR 2008, Report to the General Assembly with Scientific Annexes |author=United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation |date=April 2011 |publisher=United Nations |author-link=United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation |access-date=2013-03-20 |archive-date=2011-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804232629/http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_D.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) estimates the total collective dose to the total of about 530,000 recovery operations workers as about 60,000 person-sieverts (6,000,000 person-rem).<ref name=UNSCEAR2008/>
According to Vyacheslav Grishin<!-- "Viatcheslav Grichine" in the French source --> of the Chernobyl Union, the main organization of liquidators, "25,000 of the Russian liquidators are dead and 70,000 disabled, about the same in Ukraine, and 10,000 dead in Belarus and 25,000 disabled", which makes a total of 60,000 dead and 165,000 disabled. (10% and 27,5% of the 600,000 liquidators)<ref>{{Cite news | title=Selon un rapport indépendant, les chiffres de l'ONU sur les victimes de Tchernobyl ont été sous-estimés (According to an independent report, UN numbers on Chernobyl's victims has been underestimated | publisher=Le Monde | date=April 7, 2006 | url=http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2006/04/07/les-chiffres-de-l-onu-sur-les-victimes-de-tchernobyl-auraient-ete-sous-estimes_759215_3244.html|language=fr}}</ref> Estimates of the number of deaths potentially resulting from the accident vary enormously: the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest it could reach 4,000:
{{blockquote|A total of up to 4,000 people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident nearly 20 years ago, an international team of more than 100 scientists has concluded.
As of mid-2005, however, fewer than 50 deaths had been directly attributed to radiation from the disaster, almost all being highly exposed rescue workers, many who died within months of the accident but others who died as late as 2004.<ref name="who.int">{{cite web|title=Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index.html|work=Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts|access-date=2011-04-15}}</ref>}}
Ivanov et al. (2001)<ref>Ivanov, V. K.; Gorski, A. I.; Maksioutov, M. A.; Tsyb, A. F.; Souchkevitch, G. N. "Mortality Among the Chernobyl Emergency Workers: Estimation of Radiation Risks (Preliminary Analysis)." Health Physics: November 2001 - Volume 81 - Issue 5 - pp 514-521</ref> studied nearly 66,000 liquidators from Russia, and found no increase in overall mortality from cancer or non-cancer causes. However, a statistically significant dose-related excess mortality risk was found for both cancer and heart disease.
Rahu et al. (2006)<ref>Rahu, M., Rahu, K., Auvinen, A., Tekkel, M., Stengrevics, A., Hakulinen, T., Boice, J. D. and Inskip, P. D. (2006), Cancer risk among Chernobyl cleanup workers in Estonia and Latvia, 1986–1998. Int. J. Cancer, 119: 162–168. doi: 10.1002/ijc.21733</ref> studied some 10,000 liquidators from Latvia and Estonia and found no significant increase in overall cancer rate. Among specific cancer types, statistically significant increases in both thyroid and brain cancer were found, although the authors believe these may have been the result of better cancer screening among liquidators (for thyroid cancer) or a random result (for brain cancer) because of the very low overall incidence.
While there is rough agreement that a total of either 31 or 54 people died from blast trauma or acute radiation syndrome (ARS) as a direct result of the disaster,<ref name=PBSNewsHourWeekend2019>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-impact-of-chernobyls-nuclear-disaster-33-years-later |title=The impact of Chernobyl's nuclear disaster 33 years later |work=PBS NewsHour Weekend |date=April 21, 2019 |access-date=May 9, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Wellerstein2016>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-battles-of-chernobyl |title=The Battles of Chernobyl |magazine=The New Yorker |author=Wellerstein, Alex |date=April 26, 2016 |access-date=May 10, 2019}}</ref><ref name=UNSCEAR2008/> there is considerable debate concerning the accurate number of deaths due to the disaster's long-term health effects, with estimates ranging from 4,000 (per the 2005 and 2006 conclusions of a joint consortium of the United Nations and the governments of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia), to no fewer than 93,000 (per the conflicting conclusions of various scientific, health, environmental, and survivors' organizations).<ref name=Parfitt2006>{{cite news|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)68559-0/fulltext |title=Opinion remains divided over Chernobyl's true toll |work=The Lancet |author=Parfitt, Tom |date=April 26, 2006 |pages=1305–1306 |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Ahlstrom2016>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/chernobyl-anniversary-the-disputed-casualty-figures-1.2595302 |title=Chernobyl anniversary: The disputed casualty figures |newspaper=The Irish Times |author=Ahlstrom, Dick |date=April 2, 2016 |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Mycio2013>{{cite news|url=https://slate.com/technology/2013/04/chernobyl-death-toll-how-many-cancer-cases-are-caused-by-low-level-radiation.html |title=How Many People Have Really Been Killed by Chernobyl? Why estimates differ by tens of thousands of deaths |work=Slate |author=Mycio, Mary |date=April 26, 2013 |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Ritchie2017>{{cite news|url=https://ourworldindata.org/what-was-the-death-toll-from-chernobyl-and-fukushima |title=What was the death toll from Chernobyl and Fukushima? |work=Our World in Data |author=Ritchie, Hannah |author-link=Hannah Ritchie |date=July 24, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Highfield2011>{{cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20403-how-many-died-because-of-the-chernobyl-disaster-we-dont-really-know/ |title=How many died because of the Chernobyl disaster? We don't really know (Article updated May 7, 2019) |work=New Scientist |author=Highfield, Roger |date=April 21, 2011 |access-date=May 10, 2019}}</ref>
== Legacy == The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe in 2006 was marked by a series of events and developments.
The liquidators held a rally in Kyiv to protest deteriorated compensation and medical support.<ref>[http://ntn.tv/ru/news/ukraine/06/04/29/1617.html April 2006 liquidators' rally in Kyiv] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504112400/http://ntn.tv/ru/news/ukraine/06/04/29/1617.html |date=May 4, 2006 }} {{in lang|ru}}</ref> Similar rallies were held in many other cities of the former Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2006/04/27/chernobil.html|title=Россия, Беларусь и Украина отметили 20-летие Чернобыля|website=Российская газета|date=27 April 2006 }}</ref>
More than 4,500 Estonian residents were sent to help in the liquidation.<ref name=BaltTim>{{Cite news|url=https://www.baltictimes.com/estonia__chernobyl_nuclear_disaster_liquidators_to_start_receiving_eur_230_per_year/|title=Estonia: Chernobyl nuclear disaster liquidators to start receiving EUR 230 per year|newspaper=The Baltic Times|date=7 December 2017|access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> The liquidators who reside in Estonia (some 4,200 as reported in 2006,<ref name= EstPres/> 3,140 as of 2011<ref name=CherVet>[http://news.err.ee/bb691d9e-23f6-4f41-86f8-0eda6f1d124a "Chernobyl Veterans Disturbed by Unequal Treatment"], Estonian Public Broadcasting, 27 April 2011</ref>) campaigned in hope for the introduction of an Estonian law for their relief. Under Estonian law, the state was only obliged to provide help and relief only to citizens, who are "legal descendants" of the citizens of 1918–1940 Republic of Estonia. At the same time, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine do not provide any relief to the liquidators residing abroad.<ref name= EstPres>{{Cite web|url=https://regnum.ru/news/631685.html|title=Президент Эстонии|website=ИА REGNUM}}</ref> The problem is tied to the fact that Chernobyl veterans are classified under the ''Estonian Persons Repressed by Occupying Powers Act''. It was reported in 2017 that an agreement had been reached by the Estonian parliament to provide all liquidators residing in Estonia, including over 1,400 non citizens, with a payment of €230 per year.<ref name=BaltTim />
The most highly exposed clean-up workers were significantly more symptomatic on the somatization and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom scales. The workers with the greatest exposure reported more impairment than the two less-exposed groups, especially on the PTSD measures. Consistent with the findings of The Chernobyl Forum (2006) and with findings from other disasters involving radiation, the results show that the accident had a deleterious effect on mental health.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5799734|title=The mental health of clean-up workers 18 years after the Chernobyl accident|last=Loganovsky, Havenaar, Tintle, Guey, Kotov, Bromet|journal=Psychological Medicine|volume=38|issue=4|pages=481–8|pmid=18047772|year=2008|doi=10.1017/S0033291707002371|s2cid=20466387}}</ref>
A number of military liquidators residing in Khabarovsk (Russia) were denied a certain compensation for loss of health on grounds that they were not salaried workers, but rather under military order. They had to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2006/04/26/chernobl.html|title=20 лет спустя ликвидаторы аварии на АЭС ищут защиты у европейской Фемиды|website=Российская газета|date=26 April 2006|access-date=5 March 2021|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308102350/https://rg.ru/2006/04/26/chernobl.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 29 December 2004 and 21 March 2006, the Russian government adopted ECHR Rulings, according to which accommodation for Chernobyl victims and servicemen, including former servicemen, shall be granted either financial aid or state housing. However an interim ECHR Resolution in 2009 CM/ResDH(2009)43 indicated that the Russian government was failing to implement the policies.<ref>{{cite court|url=https://rm.coe.int/168059ddb0|court=European Court of Human Rights|litigants=Burdov No. 2 against the Russian Federation|reporter=Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2009)158 relative to the failure or serious delay in abiding by final domestic judicial decisions delivered against the state and its entities as well as the absence of an effective remedy|pinpoint=page 93|date=4 May 2009}}</ref>
== Heroes of Ukraine == <!-- https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%93%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%97%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%B8_%E2%80%94_%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%BA%D0%B2%D1%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%96%D0%B2_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B4%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B2_%D0%A7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%97_%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B8
On the night of April 26, 1986 at 1:23 an explosion occurred at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A large fire broke out on the roof of the reactor. To extinguish this fire, the guards of the 2nd paramilitary fire department for the protection of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant under the command of Volodymyr Pravyk and the 6th independent paramilitary fire department for the protection of the city of Pripyat under the command of Lieutenant Viktor Kibenok were alerted. Leonid Telyatnikov a major of the internal service took full control over the situation and extinguishing the fire. --> About forty firefighters took part in extinguishing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sequence of Events – Chernobyl Accident Appendix 1 - World Nuclear Association |url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/appendices/chernobyl-accident-appendix-1-sequence-of-events |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=world-nuclear.org}}</ref> After the explosion, a large amount of cesium-137 isotopes rose into the air together with the smoke, with an increase in the radiation background. All firefighters who participated in extinguishing received large doses of radiation. Many firefighters died of acute radiation syndrome and radiation burns in a fairly short period of time, but there were survivors. For their heroic actions and courage, they were presented with state awards of the Soviet Union, and some received the highest title of Heroes of the Soviet Union, among them Viktor Kibenok (posthumously), Volodymyr Pravyk (posthumously) and Leonid Telyatnikov, who survived and after treatment continued his service in the Soviet, and then in the Ukrainian fire brigade. In 1995, he retired with the rank of major general, and in 2004 he died of cancer in the city of Kyiv. In addition to firefighters, station employees took part in the extinguishing, they were engaged in turning off equipment, clearing debris, extinguishing fires on equipment and other work, as well as police officers who helped with the organization of the initial and subsequent liquidation, and doctors who were the first to treat the injured from the explosion and radiation.<ref name="chnpp1">{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=АКІМОВ Олександр Федорович – начальник зміни 4-го енергоблока Чорнобильської АЕС |url=https://chnpp.gov.ua/ua/about/labour-glory/heroi-likvidatory |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref>
The actions of the liquidators were noted in Ukraine at the state level. Many of them were posthumously awarded state honors of Ukraine, in particular the highest - Hero of Ukraine with the award of the "Golden Star" order. In 2006, Mykola Vashchuk, Vasily Ignatenko, Tytenko Mykola, Volodymyr Tyshur, Volodymyr Pravyk and station worker Oleksandr Lelechenko were posthumously awarded this title.<ref name="chnpp1" /> On June 24, 2019, the title of Hero of Ukraine with the awarding of the "Golden Star" order was awarded to: Ananenka Oleksiy, Bespalova Valery and Boris Baranov (posthumously).<ref name="ukaz2019">{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Про присвоєння звання Герой України |url=https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/4682019-27817 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website=www.president.gov.ua |publisher=}}</ref> They were three volunteers who, a few days after the explosion, descended into the bubble pool and emptied it. This was done so that the spewed nuclear material of the destroyed reactor did not reach the water. In this way, the three engineers prevented a steam explosion, thereby saving the world from an even greater disaster.<ref name="dobr1">{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Ананенко Олексій Михайлович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/AnanenkoOM.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref><ref name="dobr2">{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Беспалов Валерій Олексійович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/BespalovVO.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref><ref name="dobr3">{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Баранов Борис Олександрович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/BaranovBO.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref>
In many cities of Ukraine, monuments have been erected, memorials and plaques have been opened to heroes, and various objects have been named after them. In the memorial complex of victims of the Chernobyl disaster in Kyiv, busts of Chernobyl firefighters Heroes of Ukraine have been installed.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Титенок Микола Іванович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/TitenkoMIpam.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Ващук Микола Васильович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/VaschukMVpam.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Ігнатенко Василь Іванович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/IgnatenkoVI.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Тішура Володимир Іванович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/TishuraVI.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref> Oleksandr Lelechenko's name is engraved on one of the Commemorative plaque to the Heroes of Chernobyl in Kyiv at the intersection of Verkhovna Rada Boulevard and Myru Avenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Лелеченко Олександр Григорович |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/LelechenkoOGpam.html |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}</ref> [[File:Меморіальний комплекс «Пам'ятник Жертвам Чорнобильської трагедії» на розі проспекта Перемоги і вулиці Чорнобильської Київ.JPG|thumb|Monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Kyiv, built in 1994]]
== Public record == The National Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, keeps a "Remembrance Book" ({{langx|uk|Книга пам'яті}}, ''Knyha Pamyati'') {{spaced ndash}} an open to the public online database of ''liquidators'' featuring personal pages with photo and brief structured information on their input.<ref>[http://memory.chornobylmuseum.kiev.ua/searchform.php "Remembrance Book"] ''memory.chornobylmuseum.kiev.ua''</ref> Data fields include "Radiation damage suffered", "Field of liquidation activity" and "Subsequent fate". The project started in 1997, containing over 5,000 entries as of February, 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chornobylmuseum.kiev.ua/en/?option=com_content&view=article&id=8|title=Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum » Languages » English}}</ref> The database is currently available in the Ukrainian language only.
Despite the existence and efforts of the “Remembrance Book” in the National Chernobyl Museum bringing the actions of the liquidators public, much information regarding the surviving liquidators are hidden and ignored by the state.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Davies |first=Thom |date=2013 |title=A Visual Geography of Chernobyl: Double Exposure |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302730 |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |issue=84 |pages=116–139 |issn=0147-5479}}</ref> One such information includes how the Soviet authorities often downplayed and concealed the dangers that many of these liquidators had to face.<ref name=":0" /> Many were forced to sign fake documents that downplayed the amount of radiation they were actually exposed to.<ref name=":0" /> This in turn puts them in a position where they won’t be able to access proper compensation for their services or receive basic medical care resulting from being exposed to large amounts of radiation.<ref name=":0" /> Furthermore, even in the case where the health of the liquidators are declining so fast that it can no longer be ignored, the soviet government officials would frame it as a health problem not related to radiation but a result of personal lifestyle choices such as alcoholism or heart diseases thus putting the blame on the liquidators themselves.<ref name=":0" /> The state has full power to decide whether to report the actual amount of radiation the liquidators are absorbing but instead chooses to keep it all hidden.<ref name=":0" /> This is achieved by forcing the surviving liquidators to underreport the actual amount of radiation they were exposed to.<ref name=":0" /> This lack of recognition and forced manipulation further adds on to the suffering of the liquidators, thus leaving them marginalized and excluded from state support.<ref name=":0" /> Thus while the actual Chernobyl incident is known publicly, the information on the victims of the disaster and their treatment by their own government does not cover all bases and leaves a lot to be desired.<ref name=":0" />
== See also == * ''Chernobyl: Abyss'', a 2021 Russian film about a fictionalized liquidator * Fukushima 50, a similar group of workers from the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan * Hibakusha, Japanese terms for a person who has been irradiated by a nuclear bomb * Nuclear labor issues * List of Chernobyl-related articles
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category|Chernobyl liquidators}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110427205224/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/04/110426/chernobyl-25-years-liquidators-pictures/ Pictures: "Liquidators" Endured Chernobyl 25 Years Ago] - annotated set of Liquidators photos by Igor Kostin in ''National Geographic'' * [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042500747.html A Worker Recalls the Chernobyl Disaster] 2006 article by ''The Washington Post'' * {{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Всі документи (станом на 17 вересня 2024 р.) |url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}} * {{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Візит дипломатичних представників на Чорнобильську АЕС |url=https://chnpp.gov.ua/ua/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}} * {{Cite web |last= |date= |title=Інтернет-проект "Герої України" адаптований під браузер Internet Explorer, відображення в інших браузерах може бути некоректним |url=http://www.ukrgeroes.com.ua/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}
{{Chernobyl disaster}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Chernobyl liquidators Category:Radiation health effects