Your average Soviet citizen perhaps, I was a kid in the 80's and at least understood the basic dangers of radiation. I imagine adults had a much better grasp of the concept. That's part of the tragedy, the propaganda in relation to nuclear energy safety, and the belief that the state was infallible, and not capable of making mistakes.
Chernobyl isn't a lesson, or an example to fear nuclear energy.
It's yet another lesson on the joys of socialism, how a system that tells people what and how to think, leads to an environment of fear and distrust, especially among leadership, which results in chaos when a crisis occurs. That's the simple way to put it anyway.
I've read the shit out of this topic over the years, and still enjoyed the first episode. The moment the dude started walking down that catwalk to get a look at the reactor (or lack of it), I was gritting my teeth hard before I realized.
Weren't the Soviets fucking around with liquid sodium cooled reactors as well, and the tech was really unsafe? I'm hazy on that, could be getting mixed up with something else. I don't mean at Chernobyl, just USSR in general.