danarhea

There is no accurate count of how many died in the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, partly because the Soviet Union attempted to cover it up. But, 23 years later, a large portion of the Ukraine is still uninhabitable. Take a virtual tour of Chernobyl, and afterwards, reflect on the fact that Earth is a precious commodity, that there is only so much Earth to go around, and that stewardship is what God had in mind, not despoiling. It is appalling that, 23 years after Chernobyl, this horrific incident still flies under the radar of history. It shouldn't, lest we are prepared not to accept the lesson of Chernobyl, and repeat it some time in the future.

Virtual tour of Chernobyl is here.

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Jack Kevorkian for President's Physician: 2012

chevydriver1123

Amazing and scary as the same time.

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Currently Reading: Fear and Loathing in Las Vega by Hunter S Thomson
http://www.downsizedc.org/
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Khayembii Communique

I have always been fascinated with everything surrounding the Chernobyl disaster; from the disaster itself to the aftermath to the site and the aesthetics of the ruins. Here's some more photos:

English Russia Lost City of Chernobyl

Also check these out. They're from people that actually play out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on the actual Chernobyl site.

English Russia The Real STALKER 2

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"I do not claim that every incident in the history of empire can be explained in directly economic terms. Economic interests are filtered through a political process, policies are implemented by a complex state apparatus, and the whole system generates its own momentum."

MrVicchio

There is a great site, can't find it at the moment, of a gal that rides her motor cycle through there and gets great pics.

Sadly it happened, fortunate for us, such a disaster is impossible at a US Nuclear site.

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"We can't risk people making the wrong choice, we must make it for them!"
The call of Liberalism, and slave

Khayembii Communique

I believe you're referring to this site:

KIDDofSPEED - GHOST TOWN - Chernobyl Pictures - Kidofspeed - Elena

Yes, the US was incredibly lucky to have its only major nuclear disaster to be what happened to the Three Mile Island plant. Only after both Chernobyl and that incident were regulations and multi-layer security measures implemented.

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"I do not claim that every incident in the history of empire can be explained in directly economic terms. Economic interests are filtered through a political process, policies are implemented by a complex state apparatus, and the whole system generates its own momentum."

MrVicchio

HEY! Yeah that's it.

And you are very misinformed sir. Three Mile was a media event. No one was hurt, no one was in danger, but the media played it up like we were on the verge of a mega radiation event.

Seriously, prior to Three Mile, we were in no danger, and the security and safety protocols would ensure none of our reactors would do what Chernobyl's did because they CANNOT. It's a physical impossibility.

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"We can't risk people making the wrong choice, we must make it for them!"
The call of Liberalism, and slave

Elena

A town of Chernobyl and its surrounds is not "a large portion of the Ukraine", stop scaremongering! Belarus was affected far worse.

Joby

The Soviets at Chernobyl was using material with a positive temperature coefficient (graphite) as the moderator in their reactor. Once the coolant water had evaporated from a temp spike during shutdown, the reactor exploded and this caused the graphite moderator to burst into flames, which was the largest reason the large release of radioactivity. Obviously that's a simple, but truthful, explanation.

They experimented with it, they paid the price.

We won't.

We use water in our reactors as the moderator because negative temperature coefficients are cool Mr Vicchio is right to an extent, the causes of Chernobyl could not cause the same accident here, but of course and accident is possible. But it's also nowhere near likely.

Three Mile Island was mainly, in my opinion, a problem with the employees working there. A pump stopped working, so the system (correctly) turned off the turbines, pressure began to build and, instead of applying coolant, nothing was done until most of the core in that reactor was melted. As bad as that may sound, the effects were negligible, and a radioactive cloud engulfing the US was not going to happen. Mainly a media event that's unfortunately stunted our growth as many people are scared ****less of the idea of nuclear power for no good reason.

But really, how many people fled when these nuclear-disasters in wait rolled in?

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down for you is up

MrVicchio

The design of our Reactors is such that the sort of explosive failure suffered by the Soviet design just... can't happen here. ARE there ways our reactors could screw up, sure, but none of them will cause anywhere near the disaster that was Chernobyl. That includes our Navy Vessels.

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"We can't risk people making the wrong choice, we must make it for them!"
The call of Liberalism, and slave

Alex Libman

I was in the Soviet Union in 1986 and I know three things:

(1) Only a government, and specifically a Communist government, could ever be this incompetent!

(2) The extent of the disaster was overblown by the Soviet government to use it as a scapegoat for other problems of Communism - collapsing economy, previously fudged medical data for that area, etc. A lot of people actually moved to Chernobyl shortly after the disaster to get compensation!

(3) Pro-government interests in the west helped exaggerate the extent of the disaster for their own interests - make people afraid of cheap, clean, limitless energy (which by now could have evolved to be even cheaper and more portable), and keep people dependent on energy sources that profit the government, particularly oil!