4 ms·

Russian Blunders in Chernobyl: ‘They Came and Did Whatever They Wanted.’

4 points by mzs 5y ago

mzs 5y ago
>In a particularly ill-advised action, a Russian soldier from a chemical, biological and nuclear protection unit picked up a source of cobalt-60 at one waste storage site with his bare hands, exposing himself to so much radiation in a few seconds that it went off the scales of a Geiger counter, Mr. Simyonov said. It was not clear what happened to the man, he said.
NoPie 5y ago
https://archive.ph/WaihY https://archive.ph/WaihY Interesting that they cannot independently confirm the quick death of some soldiers from radiation. It seemed unbelievable because even quick cancer requires some time to kill.
- db48x 5y ago
  Acute radiation poisoning doesn’t cause cancer. Cancer can be caused by damage to your DNA, which radiation can certainly cause. However, high doses of radiation tend to completely kill the cell completely rather than damaging the DNA while leaving the cell alive. Kill enough individual cells and the whole body dies a few days later.
  - NoPie 5y ago
    Of course, but has anything like that happened in this case? My understanding is that getting a year's dose in an hour normally is not sufficient for that. The biggest risk was ingesting Cs-137 and other radioactive isotopes that would stay in the body and will cause cancer eventually.
    - db48x 5y ago
      Who knows? It’s possible, but unless the Russians document everything well we will probably never know for sure. My only point was that if anyone has died, it was not because they got cancer.
mzs 5y ago
>A couple weeks ago a Wagner source told me of a hastily out together new PMC, owned by a son-in-law of a GRU general, and set up to get a piece of the money pie available during the war. A unit numbering approx 200 was stationed in Pripyaty >They stationed them in old condemned apartment blocks, seemingly unaware of the risks. A couple days later a wounded merc ended up in a Belarus clinic, causing the Geiger counter to almost break. The rest of the mercs, hearing of this, deserted in panic. MoD were looking for them https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html edit: Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko states that the soldiers who breathed the radioactive dust filling sand bags have a year to live: https://www.facebook.com/100064438669026/posts/345025537655399/ https://www.facebook.com/100064438669026/posts/3450255376553...
- mzs 5y ago
  more https://twitter.com/OSINTI1/status/1511670425251635204 https://twitter.com/OSINTI1/status/1511670425251635204 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://twitter.com/fpleitgenCNN/status/1512328089480667136 https://twitter.com/fpleitgenCNN/status/1512328089480667136

4 points by mzs 5y ago

mzs 5y ago

>In a particularly ill-advised action, a Russian soldier from a chemical, biological and nuclear protection unit picked up a source of cobalt-60 at one waste storage site with his bare hands, exposing himself to so much radiation in a few seconds that it went off the scales of a Geiger counter, Mr. Simyonov said. It was not clear what happened to the man, he said.

NoPie 5y ago

https://archive.ph/WaihY https://archive.ph/WaihY Interesting that they cannot independently confirm the quick death of some soldiers from radiation. It seemed unbelievable because even quick cancer requires some time to kill.

db48x 5y ago
Acute radiation poisoning doesn’t cause cancer. Cancer can be caused by damage to your DNA, which radiation can certainly cause. However, high doses of radiation tend to completely kill the cell completely rather than damaging the DNA while leaving the cell alive. Kill enough individual cells and the whole body dies a few days later.
- NoPie 5y ago
  Of course, but has anything like that happened in this case? My understanding is that getting a year's dose in an hour normally is not sufficient for that. The biggest risk was ingesting Cs-137 and other radioactive isotopes that would stay in the body and will cause cancer eventually.
  - db48x 5y ago
    Who knows? It’s possible, but unless the Russians document everything well we will probably never know for sure. My only point was that if anyone has died, it was not because they got cancer.

mzs 5y ago

>A couple weeks ago a Wagner source told me of a hastily out together new PMC, owned by a son-in-law of a GRU general, and set up to get a piece of the money pie available during the war. A unit numbering approx 200 was stationed in Pripyaty >They stationed them in old condemned apartment blocks, seemingly unaware of the risks. A couple days later a wounded merc ended up in a Belarus clinic, causing the Geiger counter to almost break. The rest of the mercs, hearing of this, deserted in panic. MoD were looking for them https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html edit: Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko states that the soldiers who breathed the radioactive dust filling sand bags have a year to live: https://www.facebook.com/100064438669026/posts/345025537655399/ https://www.facebook.com/100064438669026/posts/3450255376553...

mzs 5y ago
more https://twitter.com/OSINTI1/status/1511670425251635204 https://twitter.com/OSINTI1/status/1511670425251635204 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512795850619170826.html https://twitter.com/fpleitgenCNN/status/1512328089480667136 https://twitter.com/fpleitgenCNN/status/1512328089480667136