Liquidator machines. The technique that fought in Chernobyl
An armored dump truck, a bus with steel sheets, a remote-controlled bulldozer, a robot moon
rover, and other vehicles that fought the spread of radiation after the terrible disaster
in Chernobyl
33 years after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the exclusion zone again
poses a huge danger. The strongest fire around the nuclear power plant has already destroyed
the abandoned villages, as well as the famous Red Forest with trees that have changed greatly
under the influence of radiation. The fire has already approached Pripyat and the storage
facilities with radioactive waste. The fire also affected burial grounds with buried equipment,
which was used to eliminate the consequences of a terrible accident on April 26, 1986.
We decided to remember what machines helped people to eliminate and prevent the spread
of radiation then, almost 34 years ago.
ZIL-131 At the first stage, completely ordinary machines
worked at the crash site, without additional protection from radiation. For example, in
many photographs you can see an army four-wheel drive truck ZIL-131. In particular, this car
was used to move goods to temporary storage sites in the area of the villages of Yanov,
Zalesye and the city of Pripyat, as well as to deliver personnel to the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant. By the way, the truck can also be seen in the second episode of the Chernobyl
series, where people are notified of the beginning of the evacuation with the help of a loudspeaker
installed on it. The production of the legendary truck was carried out until 2002, and many
copies of the ZIL-131 are still used in the Russian army.
URAL-375 In the first hours after the accident at the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the AC-40 vehicle based on the URAL-375 of Lieutenant Viktor
Kibenko took part in extinguishing the fire at the fourth reactor. The firefighter received
a high dose of radiation and later died in Moscow. He was posthumously awarded the title
of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Kibenk's car, like many other fire engines, was buried
in the burial ground of contaminated equipment near Buryakovka. Also, firefighters "Urals"
were actively used to carry out decontamination work on the territory of the exclusion zone.
For example, these machines were treated with a special solution of buildings and roads
in Pripyat.
RAF-22031 "Latvia"
RAF-22031 "Latvia" from the second half of the 1970s replaced the old medical "Rafiki"
RAF-977IM at ambulance stations. As a result, this model became the most massive minibus
in the USSR. RAF-22031 "Latvia" vehicles evacuated the victims from the crash site to the hospital
starting from the night of April 26. They continued to be used during the liquidation
of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The vehicles that accumulated significant
doses of radiation after the accident at the nuclear power plant were crushed by caterpillars
and buried in burial grounds.
KamAZ-5511
KamAZ-5511 in the exclusion zone was used as a concrete mixer and a dump truck. In the
photographs, the cars can be seen with lead sheets on the body. Of course, such tuning
was a weak protection against radiation. If dump trucks were used most often to remove
radioactive waste, then concrete mixers became indispensable during the construction of the
Shelter object - a concrete sarcophagus around the reactor. The production of KamAZ-5511
was completed in 1990, but this car can still be found on the roads of some cities.
KrAZ-256
After the real level of threat for the liquidators became clear, the development of special versions
of vehicles for work in the affected area began as soon as possible. Thus, at the Kremenchug
Automobile Plant, a working group prepared a whole batch of special KrAZ-256 dump trucks
for the removal of highly radioactive debris. The cabin of the car was protected with steel
sheets with a layer of lead, and from the inside the capsule was sheathed with special
plastic. The dump truck was also equipped with a FVUA-100N filtering unit. After this
modification, the weight of the capsule exceeded 3 tons, which required the modification of
the KrAZ-256 undercarriage.
LAZ-692
The Lviv Bus Plant has released a special bus with protection from radiation to help
liquidators of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The car with the index
LAZ-692 was built on the basis of the LAZ-695N model and equipped with lead plates on the
windows. A special air filtration system was also installed in the cabin, and the roof
hatches were welded. The bus had a lower level of protection than the KrAZ-256, but unlike
a dump truck, it did not have to work for hours in the exclusion zone.
UAZ-469
Of course, Soviet off-road vehicles UAZ-469 took part in the liquidation of the terrible
disaster. This car, which was popularly nicknamed "Bobik", was the main command vehicle of the
army of those times and was distinguished by good cross-country ability and ease of
repair. A car with a 75-horsepower engine in the exclusion zone was used to transport
military commanders or for reconnaissance activities. In the photographs of that time,
sometimes cars are captured right at the power unit. After the raids, all cars were subject
to mandatory processing at special points. Komatsu D-355W
The Japanese Komatsu D-355W bulldozer was an indispensable assistant in clearing the
construction site from radioactive soil. The car was controlled remotely using a special
remote control. However, its range was not very large, so the operator was in the immediate
vicinity. Most often, such a "driver" was put in the cockpit of protected army armored
vehicles. How many such bulldozers Japan sent to help the USSR is still unknown.
STR-1
Probably the most famous among the "steel liquidators" was the specialized transport
robot (STR-1). It is this apparatus that can be seen in the chronicle during the cleaning
of the roof of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the debris of highly radioactive
elements of the destroyed reactor. Dozens of scientific institutes took part in the
work on this machine, and the self-propelled chassis of the lunokhod was taken as a basis.
Scientists spent three and a half months to create this unique machine. The STR-1 was
remotely controlled and set in motion by means of two silver-zinc batteries. The vehicle
was delivered to the roof of the power unit using an MI-8 helicopter. Strange, but STR-1
was ignored by the creators of the British TV series "Chernobyl", in which the car is
only casually mentioned by Academician Valery Legasov performed by actor Jared Harris.
GAZ-66
The legendary GAZ-66 ("Shishiga") was used to transport liquidators to the disaster zone
from places of temporary residence. An all-wheel drive truck with a ground clearance of 315
mm could carry about 20 people at a time. The car was equipped with a winch, an eight-cylinder
engine and even a berth for the driver. Of course, no one thought about the low level
of comfort for passengers then. In the troops, the GAZ-66 was used both as a truck, as a
command vehicle, and as a medical vehicle.