Nikolai Melnik - Chernobyl Liquidator Mission

Chernobyl Liquidator Mission

After the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Melnyk was directed to work in the cleanup operations. Lethal levels of radiation created after the Reactor #4 fire prevented ground liquidator teams from most operations on the roof of the power plant building. However, helicopters could reach and leave the area above the building within seconds, thus inflicting less health damage to the personnel on board. They were employed to cover building openings with sandbags and lead slabs, install necessary equipment, commence aerial photography and atmospheric radioactive contamination monitoring.

Melnyk, among others, was assigned to such missions as an experienced civilian helicopter pilot. He flew 46 sorties over the reactor building, for a combined total duration of 52 hours. The most important of those sorties was the so-called "Operation Igla" (Operation Needle), the June 19, 1986 installation of a giant 18-meter-long radiation probe on top of the building by means of a precision drop from the Kamov coaxial rotor helicopter. This operation was described as dropping a "needle" into a precise spot; it was considered especially difficult. When Melnyk successfully completed the operation during a training exercise in Moscow, the observers broke into applause. Melnyk did not know the purpose of the training, however, until several days later when he flew to Kiev to undertake the actual mission. It took three attempts to insert the "needle" into the actual reactor. The first attempt was foiled by a frozen crust above the target; Melnyk succeeded on the third try.

According to the "Remembrance Book" by the Chornobyl Museum, Mykola Melnyk participated in the Liquidator operations on site of the disaster from May 20, 1986 until September 9, 1986. In 1994, he underwent two surgeries related to health problems attributed to his radiation exposure.