Saints. Very responsible, very moral scientists, I'd say. And, I think we can safely say, they got paid close to jack shit for their work, though it sounds like their health is 'taken care of'.
And to deal with 'cleanup' of the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the world, they had a budget that allowed them the best in, well, remote controlled children's toys and the stickiest packaging tape around. The Soviet/Russian government was held a million times less accountable than a Western government of the same era would/could have been.
