| Author | Message | ||
     Phillyblast |
I found this fascinating. It's a photo diary of a woman that lives near Chernobyl - she rides her ZX-11 through it. Sad but at the same time - no cops and no red lights  | ||
| Roc |
Very interesting reading. Sad too. | ||
| Buckinfubba |
Man the desolation of that place is powerful. I can't imagine what it like the day they started eveacuating. what would go thru your mind | ||
| Kevyn |
Not to harp on the negative, those are very powerful images of nuclear pollution without the blast damage and would be similar to what would happen in America if 'terrorists' are able to obtain a 'dirty' bomb and bring it here... | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Very moving piece. It really makes you stop to appreciate that the life we lead could all change in an instant. | ||
| Timbo |
Wow, Thanks for the link Philly. Sad, humbling report, very well done by the woman. Timbo | ||
| Unibear12r |
By our standards she might getting a big hit on the rad meter anyway. I know that the Russian's limits used to be about 3 times ours. They had 40 scientist working in the blasted/encased part of the reactor building. 20 older & 20 younger. The faster a cell metabolizes the more radiation effects it. Only the 20 old guys are alive now. Maybe. Last I knew the encasement was in danger of caving in. If it does cancer deaths as far away as the U.S. will increase. | ||
| Smitty |
Sobering images and commentary. Thanks Philly. | ||
| Phillyblast |
Uni, Did you catch the part about the head of the oncology hospital dying of cancer, and the subsequent closing of the hospital - I grew up near Three Mile Island and stuff like this still scares the bejeezus out of me. | ||
| Phonemanjustin |
A link to close calls in the US and UK http://www.prop1.org/2000/accident/facts1.htm | ||
| Dynarider |
I spent 2 years working for Nuclear power plants as a steam generator plugger. Interesting job & we received extensive training on rad limits, lowering exposure, etc etc. Not as scary as you might think...course thats so long as you know its there. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Dyna is right on Philly. Knowing what your doing and what is around you is the key. I did a little rad training to work inside Diablo Canyon's reactor area.Also they had an extensive library on radiation & nuclear power. The Soviets did things WAY on the risky side compared to the west. Chernobyls reactor design isn't used here because it could become unstable & dangerous and we knew it. The plant managers there put the reactor in that state purposely to learn how to recover from it. Kaboom. Both the heroisms & foolishness of what was done there is a story that just rips at the heart. | ||
| Unibear12r |
The real danger for this woman is breathing or swallowing contaminated particles, not the background radiation. Also it can be hard to wash it out of your hair. At the very least she should keep her head covered & wear a mask at all times there. From her pictures it looks like she's not. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Philly- as critical as I am about Chernobyl I'm still pro nuclear. The newest designs seems to be very safe and some will soon be real-time tested. In the end the final safties/containment at Three Mile did work. The new designs are supposed to be far more idiot proof. It seems at this point no matter what we do about other forms of energy generation we are going to have to build more nuclear and/or coal plants so we better learn to build them cleaner. | ||
| Phillyblast |
Uni - thanks - I understand as much as the next layman that Chernobyl was a result of the design choices, etc. as much as anything. TMI in my mind is actually a success in many ways - meltdown could very easily have been the outcome. It's kinda like my irrational fear of flying - safer than driving according to the stats, but all that goes through my mind is the worst-case scenario. Hydro and coal don't have nearly the "ka-boom" potential Of course, it's probably why the safeguards at a nuclear generating plant are that much more stringent. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Philly- most of the fuel is still in Chernobyl. Most of the fuel did the meltdown thing right down to the bottom most basement floor. Took those scientist something like three years to make sure it didn't make it all the way out.They had oddly used sand as part of their containment and it melted into the fuel and thinned it out. I love flying but fear heights. Never flown commercial. 11 take offs in fixed wing,1 landing & 10 jumps to face that fear. Love helicopter rides. I'm the irrational one-your just cautious. Cars,trains & boats just coast to a stop when the engine quits but most large aircraft glide about like a brick when unpowered. | ||
| Dullorb |
The really funky thing is that coal power plants release more radiation through their by-products than nuclear plants do. How's that for a mind bender. |
