I would love to visit Chernobyl, the disaster is the first that I was able to understand, I have always tried to learn more about it.
A few things have stuck with me,
Firstly is the helicopter that rotor-blades catch on a crane as it is trying to drop boron onto the reactor, where it then falls into Helicopter crash in Chernobyl the burning reactor,
Then the bio-robots on the roof, who were there because the electronic and mechanical robots some that were designed to go to the moon failed due to the intense radiation, they used shovels and even (rubber gloved hands) to throw reactor roof fragments off an adjoining roof Battle of Chernobyl-These guys saved the world
The other is the three that volunteered to swim underneath the reactor to release water to stop an steam explosion
the graphite "moderator", 2,500 tonnes of radioactive carbon, which was ablaze and if unchecked would burn for the next three months, sending more radioactive material into the atmosphere with each passing hour. The damaged reactor was sinking and burning through its strengthened floor and was in danger of collapsing into rooms flooded with water. This would trigger a nuclear explosion that, so Soviet physicists calculated, would vaporise the fuel in the three other reactors, level 200 square kilometres, destroy Kiev, contaminate the water supply used by 30 million people and render northern Ukraine uninhabitable for more than a century.
A group of three men were required to suit up in scuba-gear and swim through the flooded chambers of the basement to the gate valve, twist it open and so allow the trapped water to drain out. It was a "suicide mission". Radiation was at lethal levels.
They knew they would die and due to the high radioactivity levels on their bodies, they were buried in lead coffins that were soldered shut.
Everyone should remember the sacrifices the thousands of people who tried to contain and clean up the site.
Nope, fortunately all my eleven fingers are there and counted for.
The fact that the land will not be usable or livable for many many years is mindblowing.
Until we can find a way to make safer nuclear energy without all the waste the benefits don't outweigh the risks.
Nuclear research focused almost exclusively and plutonium and uranium because those materials can also be used to make nuclear weapons.
Simply switching to different fissile element, like thorium, would resolve a lot of safety and nuclear waste issues.
Sadly, because it isn't suited to making nuclear weapons, militaries and governments around the world haven't funded research into thorium, and now they are too invested in plutonium and uranium reactors to switch over.
It is the best solution short of sustainable fusion. Nuclear technology has improved greatly. Do you really think a Soviet reactor was really built up to snuff?
Molten salt reactors have almost no risk of meltdown and modern designs for regular reactors are magnitudes safer. Problem is most reactors in service now are super old. Spent nuclear fuel can be recycled and if people weren't so irrationally scared of nuclear power we could find safe disposal avenues for waste like deep bore holes, subduction zones, and Yucca.
Depends on your definition of useable and livable. There are people who still live there, never having left or coming back soon after, while the wildlife is having a ball. The only factor is whatever level of increased cancer risk you find unacceptable.
It is the best solution short of sustainable fusion. Nuclear technology has improved greatly. Do you really think a Soviet reactor was really built up to snuff?
Molten salt reactors have almost no risk of meltdown and modern designs for regular reactors are magnitudes safer. Problem is most reactors in service now are super old. Spent nuclear fuel can be recycled and if people weren't so irrationally scared of nuclear power we could find safe disposal avenues for waste like deep bore holes, subduction zones, and Yucca.
Exactly, hell modern nuclear power is very safe even, but then a freak accident like Fukushima happens and dominates the media for weeks. Irrational fear occurs and everyone thinks they understand exactly how it works based on what CNN said.
Doesn't help when they get michio kaku as their "expert"
Doesn't help when they get michio kaku as their "expert"
As bad as Chernobyl? Uhh no. Handled poorly and without care yes very dangerous but nothing even as close to as disruptive as nuclear.Which in the case of fossil fuels can be just as bad or worse.
Surprised there isn't anything in the news or documentaries on for this.
Echo the posts about the brave people stopping further disaster and cleaning up. Heroes.