But the warren of nuclear dumps had been hurriedly excavated and poorly maintained. Nobody had bothered to keep track of what had been buried where, and by the beginning of 1990, the liquidation was being starved of manpower. Even offered twice the average Soviet salary and bonus payments paid directly into their bank accounts, when military reservists were told they were being sent to Chernobyl, many refused to go. The continued mobilizations created a public outcry, and, at last, the Soviet military authorities decided to stop sending troops to the zone. In December 1990 the liquidation
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