I bet a good number of you know about Chernobyl. The 1986 reactor explosion. But this is for those of you interested in it, or the ones who dont know about it.

There was one girl who decided she wanted to go to Chernobyl. And she got a government permit from her father.
Kid of speed
She's lucky, in my opinion. I would love to go to Chernobyl. I have HUGE interest in it, and plan to go when I am older. And dont say you can't. Because there is Tourism in Chernobyl
Before we know it, that place is gonna go from a zone of death to being completely reopened.

Even though the place is completely evacuated of humanity, wildlife still is there.
BBC Chernobyl wildlife
Its pretty suprising that the sarcophagus is home to birds! I expected wildlife to be there but taking THAT much radiation is incredible.

Here's the part most of you will have fun with. Google Earth has moderate quality Chernobyl pictures now.
Find the city of Kiev in Ukraine and there is a river that runs through it heading north. Follow the river. It starts to split into many small rivers but there are two major ones, one heading north and one heading northwest. Follow the one going northwest.
You quickly run into a quality change in pictures, the quality change is the picture of Chernobyl.
If you are having trouble finding it refer to this picture
Chernobyl Google earth instructions


BBC news had a 20th year anniversary of chernobyl, getting stories of people who were evacuated or things planned for it. They also have many pictures of places around chernobyl, that are in the forbidden zone. Its neat to see what people said about it.
BBC Chernobyl 20th Anniversary

I also want to see what you all think of chernobyl. And those of you who were alive during the time, what was the news like about it, if you remember.

EDIT: Title has typo! Oops, and there is a gallery with neat pictures of chernobyl
LINK to pictures

It was pretty bad. News trickled in very slowely, as the sovjet gov refused to acknowledge anything had happened at all. Very slowely, the full scale of the desaster was made known. It took everyone here in western europe a while to realize what that meant, and that even though it was so very far away, it still effected us. All that radioactive crap from Chernobyl would rain down on us, and it would embed itself in the ground, contaminating it. 1000s of hectoliters of milk and other foodstuffs had to be destroyed because of radioactive contamination, and we couldn't eat mushrooms for many years because mushrooms seem to have a tendendcy to store all kinds of minerals and also radioactive particles or something.

Anyway, your OP reads as if Chernobyl was some kind of amusement park. Please don't forget that it was the worst desaster in the history of civilly used nuclear power, and not only did many people lose their lifes, people still do. Also know ye that the effects of this desaster have been allegedly downplayed not only by the USSR but also by several international treaty organizations of the west. Read this for more information on the controvery over how many people really died.

Even from official estimates which are quite low compared to other estimates, 4000 people died, plus 5000 additional victims in the future, dieing of cancer.

I can understand the fascination for it, of course. I too have seen the pictures of that biker woman, and they're really quite interesting. This whole area has a very Fallout-like character to it, with it's ruined and abandoned buildings. Everything looks as if people left from one minute to the other, and as if the whole area was stuck in a different period of time.

That whole year is really forever stuck in my memory. Not only because of the Chernobyl desaster, but also because, in the same year, the Challenger accident happened. Despite the fact that I was rather young at the time, I remember how irritating all of this was. Up until that point many people had believed in technology without question, and now, all of a sudden, that believe was questioned massively. Technology seemed to have failed massively and catastrophically twice in a very short span of time. I think that forever changed many people, who became more critical towards things like nuclear power plants.

Yeah, I know chernobyl isnt an amusement park. I know it has killed over 100,000 people. And I know that the actual town is so still, that its completely eerie.

I know the whole disaster happened over a few peoples stupidity, and its sad that it could cause all of that. And I know that it is VERY dangerous there. The radiation levels have went down enough that you can get around there now. The amazing part is how many stories are in that town. Ranging from the people in the control room to the people evacuating and many more things.

I still want to visit there, I know it wont be like going to six flags, and I know that in many places, walking into the wrong place can affect me greatly. I plan to go there knowing what to avoid and what not. I even know that I might not even like it. The fear that must of been in people too. I know that they lied to them about coming back, but that was to keep panic at minimum.

Whats amazing is that the other reactors ran until the year 2000. If the technology is so bad, why can it do that. Its kind of dumb that they let it sit there running, if something went completely out of control, they could have another reactor exploding. Luckily none of that happened.
I wasnt able to see the news about things, I was born in 1992. But Ive read that one person thought it was gonna end the world. I know that chernobyl is serious.

I live in on the eastern coast of Sweden, as you can see on this picture the radiation was actually affecting my area the days after the disaster.

I was pregnant at the time, my daughter was born in july so I was six months into pregnancy. The news were on all channels, radio and TV. We were told it would not be immediate danger for us, we didn´t have to stay inside or so, but we were adviced NOT to pick mushrooms, or stuff from the woods. I was also adviced not to eat my own vegetables from my garden, maybe because of the pregnancy.

Anyway like all news they were very active the first weeks but then diminished as usual. Now in northern sweden the reindeers did accumulate cesium-37 a lot because they got it in them from the bait..and the nuclide accumulate in their muscles so the ppl north could not eat their reindeers!

My daughter was born without any problems....not then and not everafter!

What also concerns me is the fact that they tried to hide such a lot of information then at the time, the whole extent of the catastrophe was unknown for a long time!

I had the opportunity to work together with a german engineer in Germany 2004, who in fact had been living in Slavutich, the new town that was built in stead of Pripyat, the "ghost-town" where the former nuclear-workers lived. Slavutich is pretty modern according to ukrainian standards and my friend bought a small hpouse there. He was working with the aftermaths of the accident.

Anyway it also concerns me how, when they used normal firemen, helicopterdrivers and so on did not equip them with proper shielding and special clothes!, I blame it on ignorance and the somewhat "normal" russian or soviet way of being a bit nonchalante about human lives!

If an nuclear accident would happen today, the consequenses would be handled in a far better way....at least here in Sweden.

I´m still pro-nuclear power....not only because I´m in the business myself, but I think it´s a good way of producing cheap, available and environmentally good electricity...

Not only did the Challenger accident occur around then, but sometime near when Chernobyl happened, the US had it's own nuclear mishap - Three Mile Island. I should remember better when it was exactly because my dad got called in to help fix the electrical systems although his company had nothing to do with designing or building Three Mile Island ... but it was an emergency assignment.

I agree with Stargelman that it definitely put a crimp in people's unabashed belief in technology at the time, and for many - for a long time to come. I felt bad at the time for the parts of Europe like Minque's who got affected by the clouds passing over and of course felt terrible for all the people who died.

I know there is a fascination with all places of human mistake or misery, it seems - Alcatraz Island is a tourist place, I think people still visit some of the concentration camp sites from WWII, the landing sites in New Mexico & Florida of supposed alien vessel crashes are touristy indeed. But I would strongly discourage visiting one that is still in any way radioactive ... you do like your healthy self the way you are now, don't you? Two eyes, one nose, ten fingers? - why go looking for trouble???

Much of the radiation around the city has cleared up. Stay on the paths and dont walk in grass or wooden houses and you should be fine. Also carry a geigometer (I think thats what its called, tool that measures radiation) and avoid high radiation places. Within the time Ill be able to go it will be a lot less worse. You can actually walk near the reactor, not right up to it but near it, and come out perfectly fine.
Ive looked into it a bit more than that, I know Chernobyl is a dangerous place, but you get hurt if you act like an idiot there.

Yes it has....but if you´re into this business you know about nuclides and half-life! Co-60 has a half-life of 5,6 years so there´s not so much of it left but on the other hand those transuranian nuclides like Am-241 are nothing to play around with. Cs-37 is hazardous as well....and all those have higher half-lives than Co-60!.

Most geiger-apparatuses mainly measure Co-60, it´s the "fingerprint " of nuclear radiation, but in this case you´ll need one that measures Am-241 at least!

I´ve read a lot about Chernobyl, and I know thay say "avoid high radiation places" yes that´s good but are you sure they really mark all those places? And of course it´s better to stay on the asphalt instead of walking around in the grassy areas because the soil is still contaminated.

Now I wouldn´t recommend to go near the reactor...even if you could, but you don´t because of the sarcophague that is built over the whole thing....

Nevertheless.....I´d still like to see it....but from a safe distance!

Get near enough that you can see it. And get binoculars.
The people who get hurt by it in the whole area are the ones who have been exposed for long amounts of time.



The sarcophagus was just built to keep more radiation from pouring out. Its still there, and obviously still gets out in smaller amounts.
Only bad thing is that the sarcophagus was built in a major rush, so it is deteriorating.
They are building a newer sarcophagus, if you read the BBC anniversary article you will know about it.
They are building it near the reactor. And then after done constructing it simply sliding it over.
It will be long finished by the time Im old enough to get there. So all that will be out of the way. Im going to of looked a lot more into safety around radiation by the time I will have gone there. There's a large chance that I might not even get to go. A lot of things will be different there. If its better, then its better for people to be there. If its worse (IE The slightly leaning 1000 ton lid falling over) then I wont go.

Try here.


I'm not sure I'd use the word "simply" in the same sentence as referring to the worlds largest movable structure ever (to be) built. I guess the lid you mentioned would be the UBS (upper biological shield). I guess the roof coming down would be worse. That whole thing is just another disaster waiting to happen. Probably the worst part about it is that nobody really knows just how much radioactive material is actually left in that thing. The only thing most experts seem to be certain about is that a lot of what's left exists as dust that would enter the athmosphere if that thing was to crumble....

NOOO!!! They're gonna break the record of our Troll oil platform?!

Seriously, regarding this whole Tsjernobyl accident (yes I remember it clearly, and a lot of Norwegian children and animals have been born deformed bacause of it); it is amazing that there haven't been more meltdowns considering all the nuclear power plants around the world. How many are there? 100s? 1000s?

Nuclear power is still considered the safest (and definitaley most efficient) power in the world amongst scientists, but of course accidents like these leave a mark in the memories of the general public. Renewable energy plants like water plants (like we use in Norway) are of course much safer, but not very efficient compared to nuclear power plants.

I recently read an article about 'fool-proof' nuclear power plants developed by Sweden or Finland, I think. The cores will be submerged 1000s of feet into the ground with access to ground water, so in the case of a meltdown they will be isolated and cooled down immediately. The main buildings will be built inside a fortress-like wall/dome that can handle the largest bombs, in case of terrorism. This same concept is going to be used for storing burned out nuclear cores etc. Don't remember more about the details, but rest assured nuclear power will be around for a long time, and until we discover how to build fusion power plants (or it is fission? I keep mixing them...), nuclear power plants will be essential for providing the human race with enough power for a long time to come.

Recently Statoil (the company I'm working for) discovered a coal deposit underneath one of the oilfields in the North Sea, large enough to provide the entire planet with energy for hundreds of years, but for now there aren't any efficient ways to bring this coal to the surface, and as you all may know - burning coal is extremely polluting. However Statoil have already half-planned to ignite the coal while it is still down there, thus freeing immense amounts of hydrogen, which is a very clean and safe (if handled correctly) source of power. Some of you may already have hydrogen powered buses/cars etc. in your cities?

Anyway there will probaly be accidents like Tsjernobyl again, although not in the same scale, since most nuclear power plants - many of them much older than Tsjernobyl - have been rebuilt and secured to prevent an accident as devastating as Tsjernobyl.

What's so interesting to do there anyway?

I would rather be on some tropical island with lots of sun and nice beach, instead of visiting some radioactive dump.

Well I'm sure we all would like that(?), but unfortunately we can't all be in unexplored, magic islands. Well perhaps we could, but the cities would become quite desertd if we did...

Anyway only the future will tell if we're doing things right now or if we're continuing to bring the world to its doom...

Its the fascination of it. The true silence. The abandoned town. The feeling the town would have. You feel different when you are in an area full of death, and thats a feeling that if safe, a lot of people enjoy.
Example, a roller coaster, you scream when falling because its in a way scary, but you're safe from the constraints holding you down. So its fun, a lot of fun. Now lets take those constraints off, you would end up falling off and being killed.
If you are smart in chernobyl, those constraints stay on. Go without the right equipment and acting like an idiot takes those constraints off.

I truly would find a tropical island boring. I dont know why, but the human mind finds great interest in trouble. Such as the news is 90% bad news. Everybody likes to think the worlds gonna end. Its just an interest in what bad has happened.

What I meant by simply is that they wouldnt like be doing a bunch of other stuff such as deconstructing or stuff like that. There are ways to move it. And that they are building it to move will make it a lot easier. Its not going to be an easy job I know that.

Those pictures make me want to go there more! Its hard to see a place like that through pictures. Ah well.

Its so weird to look at the pictures of Pripyat before the meltdown. How normal the town seems. And just look what one flaw can cause. Kinda scary.

How old was the reactor before it exploded? Did it actually live a decent life (10-15 years, I know, still short, but yeah) Or did it explode in less than 5?

Its also scary to think that most of those kids, and just overall people in those pictures are dead. Lifes cut short by stupidity.

Whatever suits you people, I don't have any intrests in going there myself. For me, it sounds more like a bore, than a spectacle.

While on seaside.... heh, sea, coctails, volleyball, friends and lots of nice babes

Could never have said it better! I'm with you HyPNO, all the way - life is to be enjoyed.

I agree most definitely, but life should also be about learning what other people have suffered, and how fortunate we are to be able to do what we want, generally...

Just make sure you don't go to some of the out of the way islands in the pacific, in some of them there is little differance. The French, US and British way back (or not so far back in some cases) were doing nuclear tests to see the effects on humans But those ones are hard to get to anyway, because the inhabitants were killed by it.

Indeed
If someone will enjoy visiting Chernobyl, well what can I say, go for it. Not that I could stop you anyway
Not my idea of fun though!

Nah, thank you but I'll pass

Hehe, thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind

Mmm very interesting link Starge! One I obviously missed the other day when I was searching ferosciously for linkeys about Chernobyl!

Now I agree with you building that new sarcophagus is a really big task! Much due to the unknown amount of radioactivity inside the ruined plant. I had the opportunity to work with this German who was one in the team making the Safety-Report on Chernobyl. He actually lived in Slavutich for 5 years, and got a very close view of the thing.Besides he did talk to a lot of ppl who really was there....at the time. Unfortunately a lot of his friends were dying and still are..due to radiation-induced cancer!

Tough assignment for him, Minque. Let's hope he doesn't develop any problems himself.

Nah....he´s old enough to be very careful, besides he´s been in the nuclear business for a looong time.....hmm I´ve been in the business for ten years myself this summer!

Thread from the dead!

Alright, Im posting here because I found a large picture gallery, and it has some nice ones of inside the sarcophagus

http://insp.pnl.gov/-library-uk_ch_1-1.htm



Edit:

Why does this picture have a canadian and american flag in it? Its on the Nuclear Power plant..
http://insp.pnl.gov/photobook/UK_CH/picturefiles/307.html
North americans didnt help them with that..right?