American Thinker has an excellent article on what the Russian Army did when it took over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plants:

“A New Disaster is Unfolding in Chernobyl”

For thirty-six years the radiation has been degrading and leaching into the soil.

When the troops moved in they did the following:

• unearthed hundreds of tons of radioactive poison
• dug foxholes
• dug 6-foot deep trenches
• dug revertment for tanks and artillery pieces

Before the digging, the readiation level was about about 500 counts per minute, the same as for Denver.

“The strontium 90 and cesium 137 both have half-lives of about 30 years. That means 36 years after the meltdown; they are still about 43.5% as poisonous as they were the night the plant exploded.”

In 1996 two -oot holes were dug to install fencing.

The dirt removed measured “from 5000 to 7500 counts per minute.”

“Best estimates predict radiation levels [now are] between 5000 and 10,000 counts per minute….not survivable.”

“The Russian soldiers lived and slept in their foxholes and trenches 24 hours a day. That’s a month of living inside a radioactive cauldron…

“There were probably at least 800 to 1000 Russian soldiers committed to defending Chernobyl from the Ukrainians.