The civilian nuclear industry specialists arriving from other atomic plants across the USSR to help in the cleanup were horrified by the lack of preparation around them. They found too few trained dosimetrists to effectively monitor their radiation exposure. No comprehensive survey had yet been made of the area, and the volume of radionuclides belching from the reactor changed constantly, so reliable radiation information was almost impossible to obtain. There was a chronic shortage of dosimeters. A platoon of thirty soldiers often had to share a single monitoring device: the dose registered
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