Chernobyl 19 years later...

[Larry Gude]

OK physicists, what gives?

The Histroy Channel has done Chernobyl in the Engineeering Disasters series and none of the doom and gloom has occured.

They explained how it happened fairly well and I am more comfortable with nuclear power than ever before. What they didn't explain very well was why we're all, or at least a great many more of us, are not dead or deformed.

And this blows my mind:

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/

She taught me this:

To begin our journey, we must learn a little something about radiation. It is really very simple, and the device we use for measuring radiation levels is called a geiger counter . If you flick it on in Kiev, it will measure about 12-16 microroentgen per hour. In a typical city of Russia and America, it will read 10-12 microroentgen per hour. In the center of many European cities are 20 microR per hour, the radioactivity of the stone. 1,000 microroentgens equal one milliroentgen and 1,000 milliroentgens equal 1 roentgen. So one roentgen is 100,000 times the average radiation of a typical city. A dose of 500 roentgens within 5 hours is fatal to humans. Interestingly, it takes about 2 1/2 times that dosage to kill a chicken and over 100 times that to kill a cockroach. This sort of radiation level can not be found in Chernobyl now. In the first days after explosion, some places around the reactor were emitting 3,000-30,000 roentgens per hour

So, what happens to radiation?

Are nuclear weapons and potential nuclear accidents far less dangerous than we fear?

 

[Larry Gude]

I just got finished...

...going through her whole site.

Awe. Horror.

Take the tour!

 

[Railroad]

So, what happens to radiation?

Are nuclear weapons and potential nuclear accidents far less dangerous than we fear?

It depends on the type of radiation (Alpha, beta, or gamma). Alpha radiation is like dust, in that it penetrates nothing and can be cleaned up. Beta radiation can penetrate tissue and can cause radiation sickness. Gamma radiation can penetrate tissue and go through a certain amount of material before it's stopped. Radiation sickness is the result of too much radiation in a given amount of time.

What changed at Chernobyl? The substance that was generating the radiation has become depleted. The fissile reaction being stopped, exposed radioactive material still generates "free" radiation, until the material is depleted. That is why the area isn't as "hot" as it was 19 years ago.

 

[Lenny]

...going through her whole site.

Awe. Horror.

Take the tour!

I agree. I've been pulsing this website for about three years and it's interesting that this girl has defied the authorities and the urban legends to walk through this area. Very interesting.