3 ms·

I visited about five years ago. Quite frankly it's pretty safe at this point. There were a few spots here and there that made the Geiger counter tick faster tha

I visited about five years ago. Quite frankly it's pretty safe at this point. There were a few spots here and there that made the Geiger counter tick faster than usual, but for the most part the radiation level wasn't out of the ordinary. I definitely wouldn't think twice about going back. Actually, I'm pretty sure some wanderers live there these days. Photos from my trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127718378@N07/albums/72157648501650282 https://www.flickr.com/photos/127718378@N07/albums/721576485...

phreeza 10y ago
There are other risks which won't show up on a geiger counter. For example the ingestion of radioactive material, which will cause a much higher effective dose than estimated by a geiger counter or dosimeter. This is called a committed dose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committed_dose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committed_dose
- saganus 10y ago
  How easy is it to ingest something by accident while in the area? I mean, I don't imagine people going there to be eating random stuff they find. So maybe from dust and other small particles you don't notice?
  - ommunist 10y ago
    From experience. Contamination is patchy. Especially there. You can briefly step into some plutonium contaminated patch for a second, and if you had no proper decontamination on exit - bring this shit home. Once its inside the body - there is no cure.
  - mikeokner 10y ago
    They had all of us go through these scanners on our way out of the city to ensure nothing dangerously radioactive clung to our clothes. They didn't look like the most robust or reliable of devices, though. Found someone else's photo of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/73155136@N00/518812012 https://www.flickr.com/photos/73155136@N00/518812012
- ommunist 10y ago
  When I worked there, and I spent 2 field seasons in 1993-94 in the 80-120Ci/sq.km zone, we had two proverbs, briefly translated as: "If you want to be a parent, keep you balls contained in lead" and "You can eat apples here, but you should bury stubs at least 140 cm deep". Only the second one was true. Mesocarp of fruits was clean, but seeds were normally contaminated with Cs 137 (replaces potassium in meristema).
  - hammock 10y ago
    Took me a minute to figure out what a stub was. Apple core, for those wondering.
swagv 10y ago
I don't understand why disaster tourism has become a thing.

phreeza 10y ago

There are other risks which won't show up on a geiger counter. For example the ingestion of radioactive material, which will cause a much higher effective dose than estimated by a geiger counter or dosimeter. This is called a committed dose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committed_dose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committed_dose

saganus 10y ago
How easy is it to ingest something by accident while in the area? I mean, I don't imagine people going there to be eating random stuff they find. So maybe from dust and other small particles you don't notice?
- ommunist 10y ago
  From experience. Contamination is patchy. Especially there. You can briefly step into some plutonium contaminated patch for a second, and if you had no proper decontamination on exit - bring this shit home. Once its inside the body - there is no cure.
- mikeokner 10y ago
  They had all of us go through these scanners on our way out of the city to ensure nothing dangerously radioactive clung to our clothes. They didn't look like the most robust or reliable of devices, though. Found someone else's photo of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/73155136@N00/518812012 https://www.flickr.com/photos/73155136@N00/518812012
ommunist 10y ago
When I worked there, and I spent 2 field seasons in 1993-94 in the 80-120Ci/sq.km zone, we had two proverbs, briefly translated as: "If you want to be a parent, keep you balls contained in lead" and "You can eat apples here, but you should bury stubs at least 140 cm deep". Only the second one was true. Mesocarp of fruits was clean, but seeds were normally contaminated with Cs 137 (replaces potassium in meristema).
- hammock 10y ago
  Took me a minute to figure out what a stub was. Apple core, for those wondering.

swagv 10y ago

I don't understand why disaster tourism has become a thing.