Interesting link to recent Chernobyl pics

[WakkoSS]

Got this off another board, definitely worth the look.

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

[v8eater]

Damn....don't know what to say.
Thanks for that reading.

[Steve Petro]

Thats very erie looking to say the least.
Very interesting. Sad.

[Quick6]

Thats incredible to read and to realize we here were close also in the 80's with Three mile Island.

[Lee_Burough]

Originally posted by Quick6
Thats incredible to read and to realize we here were close also in the 80's with Three mile Island.

Yes Quick6, Chernobyl was incredible. Three mile island was not even close in comparison. Not even close. Our nuclear power safety processes, while flawed, did work to keep the US countryside safe enough to live in. By choice, Chernobil did not have the safety systems we designed into our nuclear power generation sites. That is the difference. A HUGE difference!

Chernobyl's reactor core melted its containment and melted its way into the crust of the earth, until it cooled enough to remain stationary. The Soviets put concrete on top of the melted core to reduce contamination of the surrounding surface area.

Like the motorcyclist wrote, it will only be 600 years before the area is inhabitable again. A far, far cry from a little steam released at three mile island.

Yes that is a terrible loss,,but I bet it looks somewhat better in the summer,,you can see there is snow on the ground,,Kind of looks like the south side of Chicago in the winter,,true sad loss of life

[Quick6]

Originally posted by lburou
Yes Quick6, Chernobyl was incredible. Three mile island was not even close in comparison. Not even close. Our nuclear power safety processes, while flawed, did work to keep the US countryside safe enough to live in. By choice, Chernobil did not have the safety systems we designed into our nuclear power generation sites. That is the difference. A HUGE difference!

Chernobyl's reactor core melted its containment and melted its way into the crust of the earth, until it cooled enough to remain stationary. The Soviets put concrete on top of the melted core to reduce contamination of the surrounding surface area.

Like the motorcyclist wrote, it will only be 600 years before the area is inhabitable again. A far, far cry from a little steam released at three mile island.

Iburou, TMI was alot more than a "little steam released". The combination of both hardware (pump) failure and human failure TMI narrowly missed being a total melt down of number 2 core.
Over 40,000 gallons of coolant leaked out before the reaction was slowed finally by a right thinking control room person and the use of boron to slow the reaction in the core. Number 2 reactor was damaged and has never been online since. I think to describe TMI as just a little steam released misses the point as to this was a major accident that was just missed...thank God.

TROUBLE AT TMI
THE CAUSE: When a pump malfunction triggered a shutdown of the TMI Unit 2 reactor, a relief valve stuck open, allowing coolant to drain undetected from the hot reactor. A series of human errors and misunderstandings followed, compounding the trouble.

THE EFFECT: Half of the radioactive core melted in temperatures exceeding 4,000 degrees. The reactor vessel contained the deadly material, but total meltdown was only narrowly averted.

THE SOLUTION: Two hours after the crisis began, a control room supervisor ordered a backup valve to be shut, preventing the entire core from melting.

THE STUMBLES: Plant owner Met-Ed was assailed for not alerting the community to risks more quickly and for releasing inaccurate information. Public officials also realized that plans for evacuation, detection of radiation and communication were inadequate.

THE RESULTS: Unit 2 was shut down and dismantled. The Unit 1 reactor sustained no damage and went on to set industry standards for safety and efficiency. No death or injury has ever been tied to the accident.

THE INDUSTRY: No new nuclear power plants have been ordered in the United States since the accident at TMI. Nuclear power generates about 20 percent of all electricity used in the nation, and many power plants have received extensions on their operating licences.

[Lee_Burough]

My assertion has two points:

1) The Soviets did not build safety into their nuclear power generation systems.

2) We did. Because we had better monitoring systems and more options during a potential melt down, the threat to the community was much, much less. Comparing damage to TMI, where people are still living today, and the damage and 600 year contamination around Chernobyl is like apples and bananas.

Chernobyl was a million times worse than TMI....Thank Heaven

We were lucky at TMI.

[Quick6]

Originally posted by lburou
My assertion has two points:

1) The Soviets did not build safety into their nuclear power generation systems.

2) We did. Because we had better monitoring systems and more options during a potential melt down, the threat to the community was much, much less. Comparing damage to TMI, where people are still living today, and the damage and 600 year contamination around Chernobyl is like apples and bananas.

Chernobyl was a million times worse than TMI....Thank Heaven

We were lucky at TMI.

Iburou,

I agree with your first assertion, but I take issue with the second.
Yes the operators then had more training, better monitoring and much better equipment, still the disaster was close. What is even more troubling regarding the event at TMI is that the line between total destruction similar to Chernobyl and only a partial core meltdown like at TMI was and may still be a very very thin line.

Having more options does not always prove to be beneficial, such was the case at TMI. Regardless of the technology available to them at the time, core meltdown was only adverted because someone hours into the event finally made sense of the problem with human Intell and may I add without much time left to spare.

Yes, Iburou....we were lucky.

[Lee_Burough]

That woman with the motorcycle has Brass Cahonas

I wouldn't want to be anywhere close to that ghost town.

My mother's ancestry goes back to Belarus. I'm sad for the loss of those people and that culture.

[David65]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_accidents

more to think about...

[Justin231]

That was a very good read. I enjoyed it and she seems like a pretty cool girl.

[SilverSleeper]

I dont really know what to say..

Those are some unbelievable photos.
It kinda shakes you out of the reality youre in at the moment.
She does seem kinda cool, she is about my age, so I can relate to the way she tells her story.
Really good read.

[Sleeper]

Very sobering.

Paul

[mrwiizrd]

Originally posted by Justin231
That was a very good read. I enjoyed it and she seems like a pretty cool girl.

I agree.

[UNGN]

I've seen numbers all over the map about Deaths from Chernobyl... up to 300,000 But the Media gets 125,000 stuck in their heads for some reason.

If there were only 135,000 people in the area and MOST of them are still alive, how can there be 300K or even 125K deaths? I would guess MOST of the firefighters died, but it isn't more than 300-400. 2 to 3 times more than this die in China in a year working in the coal mines. Russian experts put the number at less than 2000 including all the possible cancer deaths (and most of them would not have gotten cancer if they have been given iodine).

This weekend on the 25th anniversary of TMI, they interviewed a lady that lived across the river from the plant. The interviewer had a Geiger Counter and shows it going off when she holds it up to a dinner plate.

Everybody knows Mexican Clay is radioactive and it has ZERO to do with TMI.

On any given day there are hundreds of Nuclear reactors outside major cities around the world (mostly on ships) and yet we haven't built a nuclear power plant in the US in 25 years.

People probably worried their plates will become radioactive.

[SinistrV6]

Thank you for the link. Very sobering and sad.

[231twannabe]

The last page was a little shocking. The pic of of the shoes and the gas masks, and especially where she read the diary of the teacher. When I read that they had to postpone their day out that Saturday, I got chills

It would be cool to take a TR over and run down those deserted roads though. She kept talking about how quiet it was. Can you imagine what a TR flying down those roads would sound like?

[norbs]

Great place to take a TR, just dont break down! I watched a show on this, every single person who was there to put out the fire or even worked to concrete it up all died shortly after. Very sad indeed.

[wiked87gn]

I wanna take my TR down that road with the open dump and that woman on the passenger seat, all i can say is ,if i could find a woman with that kind of free spirit for adventure and good looking as her i marry her in a new york second.