Apr 11, 2020
The photograph above shows a team of human liquidators as they prepare to clean the radioactive debris off the roof of the No. 4 Reactor.
The Soviet Union sent in 600,000 humans who did everything from hosing down the street, felling trees, removing radioactive debris, and building a concrete sarcophagus around the exposed reactor. Their bravery - of course - came at a price; the white charged subatomic particles ravaged their cells and shortened their life spans. The selfless actions of the human liquidators were credited with limiting both the immediate and long-term damage from the disaster.
There is a monument to commemorate the human liquidators outside the fire station in Chernobyl town.