[egao1980]

Reasons for hope - no elevated radiation levels, still unknown scale of destruction to the core. As soon as things were getting known next stages of protocol were brought in action.

In this case we know for sure it was volonteers. First of all most of them are alive and USSR is long gone, so they'd already came up with their stories of forced participation. You just trying to diminish geunine heroism of people just because they lived in USSR.