"Chernobyl!" Topic

Well this is hardly wargaming and it is in 1/35 scale, but I was surprised to see this product advertised. But why not I guess? It pays homage to some very brave men, or maybe shows how a ruthless totalitarian system can exploit its soldiers. It certainly showed imagination!

Thanks for sharing this. I was in high school when this happened. I was in total shock during the cable mini-series. I thought the mini-series was incredible and I could not agree with you more about how the people were treated with such utter disregard and expendability.

Human robots…

ICM is a Ukrainian company.
And Ukrainians despise the old Soviet Union.

Chernobyl is in Ukraine, and a substantial portion of
the irradiated area is also in that nation.

Maybe good for 54mm post apoc/zombie games.

I wonder what other options could there be for collecting radioactive debris? At first, they tried to use robots, including the most advanced Western designs, but any technique quickly failed.
Regarding utter disregard and expendability. of people – I think it will be interesting:

YouTube link

Cuprum2,

I don't think your comparison is accurate. The US tests were done in the 50's, when we knew much less about the effects, both immediate and long-term, of radiation. By the time Chernobyl happened, it was very clear what exposure meant for the Chernobyl workers.

In the 1950s, more than enough was known about the negative effects of radiation. Here's a poster from 1947:

Servicemen of the radiochemical troops worked to clean up the radioactive debris on the roof of the reactor, these are people who took the military oath and understood the full risk of their military service. In the end, military service is always a high risk of perishing while fulfilling your soldier's duty. In addition, only volunteers worked there. Someone had to do this job – and they did it.
By the way, the Soviet state immediately provided all the participants in the liquidation of the Chernobyl disaster with all the relevant benefits, payments and medical care. Ask how the United States has dealt with its "atomic soldiers".

In the USSR, there were also similar exercises (though with the participation of much smaller contingents of military personnel and no one sent them to the epicenter of the explosion). I am simply amazed at the duplicity, when one side accuses the other of inhumanity, while itself is no different from it.

Not a big surprise that the words "liquidation" and "Soviet" appear in the same posting.

There just was not any other option for the clean up. Hopefully, the Soviet troops were fully aware of what they were getting into. I can only imagine the lawsuits that would have occurred if something similar happened in the free world. I expect some high ranking corporate executives would have grown old inside of Club Fed.

I guess when the corporation is the government other rules apply.

Nuclear weapons have been tested in the "free world", including on US servicemen. One of them is shown in the video above.
Until 1988, there were no preferential programs for "atomic veterans" in the United States, and they themselves were bound by a nondisclosure agreement about participation in nuclear tests. Information about these tests was announced only in 1996.
I wonder how many of the "atomic veterans" died without receiving any help from the state, which used them as guinea pigs? And it was not an extreme situation, like in Chernobyl – it was a cold and planned experiment on living people.