iv been an avid reader of all things chernobyl for the past few years, and im planning to visit the place hopefully later this year, there was a story on the news a few weeks ago about it, aparantly the government may be getting funding to build what resembled a giant tent over the blown reactor to stop any further radiation, in hope of possibly re-populating pypriat, i thought to be honest, that was a stretch of the imagination as most of the surrounding ares are still extremely high in radiation, it would be an epic feat if they manage to do this, if anyone wants to have a look at some more of this kind of stuff, im a member of a uk based urban exploration website www.28dayslater.co.uk and there are numerous reports and pictures detailing peoples visits to the city, iv found myself spending hours on this forum looking at the pics, im not sure if you need to register to view the forums, but its worth it for some of the places these looooonatics visit.
Chernobyl disaster 25th anniversary (pics)
- Thread starter Duke
- Start date
Cheers for the link. It seems they have relaxed the prohibition.
Not massive holes but there are fissures that are leaking radiation. The Sarcaphagus is indeed collapsing. When it was initially built it was not designed as a permanent measure. A new, much larger sarcaphagus is required to enclose the orginal one as it is collopsing from the inside out. The Ukranian Gvt are however reluctant to be the only ones to fund it, instead asking for help from the World Nuclear Association and associated bodies for aid. To be fair it was a Soviet controlled area during the disaster so those soviet countries should at least burden the cost. Sadly, those countries have there own economic problems.
October 1986: To mark the end of the clean-up operation atop reactor 3, the authorities ordered three men to attach a red flag to the summit of the chimney. A group of liquidators had already made two fruitless attempts by helicopter, so the three men had to climb the 78 metre chimney via a spiral staircase, despite the dangerous radiation levels. Radiation expert Alexander Yourtchenko carried the pole, followed by Valéri Starodoumov with the flag, while lieutenant-colonel Alexander Sotnikov ascended with the radio. The whole operation was timed to last only 9 minutes given the high radiation levels. At then end, the trio were rewarded with a bottle of Pepsi (a luxury in 1986) and a day off.
September 1986: Liquidators clean the roof of reactor 3. Initially, workers tried clearing the radioactive debris using West German, Japanese and Russian robots, but they could not cope with the extreme radiation levels, so the authorities decided to use humans. Employees could not stay any longer than 40 seconds any one time, before the radiation dose they received reached the maximum a human should receive in his entire life. Many liquidators have since died or suffer from severe health problems
Wow, great set of links in this thead thanks.
The robots malfunctioned and were wholly unreliable for the most part. Humans were a much more viable (read expendable) option and despite the extremely short time allowed on clean up duty. Even those working in vehicles could not be shielded (despite lead panels being added to bulldozers etc). Many died and those that did survive have lived in fear of cancer and a reduced immune system throughout their lives. To add insult to injury those involved in the clean up are having there 'danger money' reduced by the Ukranian Govt.
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Terrible stuff, I just read on one of those links that it will be 24,000 years before pripyat is habitable. That's a stunning effort by humans on the earth
Terrible stuff, I just read on one of those links that it will be 24,000 years before pripyat is habitable. That's a stunning effort by humans on the earth
Yup and in the meantime nature, in some form flourishes. Nature will always find a way'.
I would imagine in 24,000 years we won't be here or will have developed technology ot neutralise the radiation.
2hour documentary just started on discovery history channel 217(virgin)
Discovery History
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
10:00pm to 12:00am(Other show times...)
Using personal accounts, archive footage and updated scientific research to re-examine the day-by-day developments of the disaster at Chernobyl.
Keywords: Documentary, Science, Scientific
Discovery History
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
10:00pm to 12:00am(Other show times...)
Using personal accounts, archive footage and updated scientific research to re-examine the day-by-day developments of the disaster at Chernobyl.
Keywords: Documentary, Science, Scientific
Yeah I've seen that (if it's a repeat of the one shown last year). Makes for good viewing.
Lots of interesting pictures on the Kid of Speed site too, a young lass riding solo through the area on a Kawasaki taking snaps, as you do.
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
Anyone know how true it is. Seen on several documentaries that if it had burnt through the concrete slab and hit the. Water tanks, it would have exploded and spread nuclear fuel all over Europe rendering most of it uninhabitable. This sounds like sacre mongering to me, especially with both japaniese cities still believed in.