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This is pure clickbait. The fungus in question thrives in high-radiation environments, but it in no way helps to clean them up or shield against the radiation.
by mppm 2y ago
This is pure clickbait. The fungus in question thrives in high-radiation environments, but it in no way helps to clean them up or shield against the radiation. The main radiation hazard around Chernobyl is Cs-137. Its gamma emissions happen to be in an energy range that can only be shielded against by raw mass -- it makes only a small difference whether you use water, dirt, lead, or fungus -- unless you cover every square meter of ground with 100s kg of shielding, this will not make the area more livable.
- scarab92 2y agoCs-137 half life seems to only be 30 years. I assume the best solution then is just to keep an exclusion zone, and shrink it over the decades as the Cs decays? Why did they expose so many humans (liquidators) to radiation trying to clean this up? Shouldn't they have just evacuated the area and waited a few decades?
- voxadam 2y agoIs the Cs-137 contamination from the original reactor disaster or is it a part of some decay chain?
- mppm 2y ago> I assume the best solution then is just to keep an exclusion zone, and shrink it over the decades as the Cs decays? That's exactly how it's handled now, but it takes several multiples of 30 years to make a real dent in the radiation levels. 200 years maybe, depending on where you set the cutoff. > Why did they expose so many humans (liquidators) to radiation trying to clean this up? Shouldn't they have just evacuated the area and waited a few decades? The liquidators were exposed cleaning up and building the containment unit around the actual reactor building, not working in the wider exclusion zone, where radiation levels would be much lower.
- gus_massa 2y agoI agree. Moreover, the article cites a 2007 paper. Is there any new update or reproduction of the result?