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>Chernobyl very nearly was that serious. No it wasn't. At no point did Chernobyl threaten to make 'much of Europe and the Middle East' uninhabitable for hundre
by macspoofing 7y ago
>Chernobyl very nearly was that serious.
No it wasn't. At no point did Chernobyl threaten to make 'much of Europe and the Middle East' uninhabitable for hundreds of years. About the worst that could have happened with Chernobyl happened. There just wasn't enough radioactive material in the reactor to have that big of an impact at that scale, and saying this does not invalidate the regional devastation that it did cause.
- klingonopera 7y agoNo, it actually could've been much worse: https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-volunteers-divers-nuclear-mission-2016-4?IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-volunteers-divers-...
- macspoofing 7y agoI don't think so. I'm trying to find some sources, and it seems like all the clickbait articles reference a book by some guy named Andrew Leatherbarrow, "Chernobyl 01:23:40" (and Leatherbarrow is just some guy without any particular expertise). I can't find any justification for why there was a chance that millions would have died and half of Europe was almost rendered uninhabitable. It smells like clickbait bullshit.
- klingonopera 7y agoI actually agree with you that the article sounds click-baity, unfortunately, HBO has made it so much harder to get good information regarding Chernobyl on the Internet nowadays[0]. Just one of four reactors "melted down". I'm no expert, but I imagine the worst possible is all four reactors literally exploding simultaneously, or one after the other in a rapid chain reaction, or something like that. [0]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/05/09/the-reason-they-fictionalize-nuclear-disasters-like-chernobyl-is-because-they-kill-so-few-people/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/05/09...
- jeremyjh 7y agoNo, nearly all the uranium was contained at Chernobyl. If it had melted down a little faster it could have hit a flooded basement before it was drained. The steam explosion would have distributed uranium dust over potentially thousands of miles.
- vonmoltke 7y agoDo you have a source for the likelihood of that, as well as the likelihood of it rendering those thousands of miles uninhabitable?
- beerandt 7y agoI think this theory has been mostly debunked, ironically because it pretty much happened in multiple reactors at fukashima without that disastrous result.