[nocoiner]

But which was it? Was “aviation instrumental in containing the disaster” or did “virtually none of the neutron absorbers” reach the core? Those are both quotes from your post.

In literal or figurative battles, there are plenty of examples of actions that are simultaneously indisputably brave and utterly futile.

[rl3]

>But which was it? Was “aviation instrumental in containing the disaster” ...

I just naïvely assumed dumping 5,000 tons of material over a burning reactor probably did help significantly given the fire went out around days 10-12.

In retrospect, that assumption appears incorrect despite being congruent with the narrative of virtually every documentary I saw on Chernobyl in the late 90s/early 2000s:

"But I'm surprised that at Vienna they would have claimed that the core was smothered. It turns out, at least from my investigations, that the core froze by itself, solidified by itself, and stopped releasing." [0] (1994)

I was even able to find some research suggesting the aerial drops acted as an insulator, worsening subsequent radiation releases. At least they covered the glowing red target, which was thought to be a piece of the core ejected from the explosion and not the core itself as originally thought.

The divers at least appear to have saved the day from complete catastrophe, not to detract from the air crews' heroism.[1]

[0] https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=94-P13-000...

[1] https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-real-story-of-the-cher...