8 ms·

Chernobyl wildlife forty years on

161 points by reconnecting 6mo ago

roenxi 6mo ago
1) It is always interesting with nuclear articles to separate the language from the actual measure of harm. On the one hand we have the "abandoned, irradiated landscape of Chernobyl... not far from the ruins of the power plant at the centre of the world's worst nuclear disaster". On the other hand we have all these animals who, being unable to read and forced to rely on observable harm, think the situation is pretty good. This article is much better than most because it links a study that talks about the actual levels of radiation around Chernobyl, but the amount of legwork these reporters make people do to try and figure out the "so what?" of the thing is remarkably lazy. It baffles me how fearful people get without being at all worried about whether there is an observable problem. > For years, researchers have documented weird, twisted trees, swallows troubled by tumours and even an eerie black fungus that lives inside the radioactive ruins of the reactor building itself. I mean, y'know, oh no! Outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone I can't imagine encountering a twisted tree or a cancerous swallow. How big an issue are we talking? Are they going to make me spend my afternoon reading papers? Are these swallows helpful enough to live only in the irradiated areas for us or are these swallows migratory? What's their air-speed velocity? I won't even begin on the horrifying implications of black fungus. My poor bathroom needs a clean. 2) This is one of the few places on earth where these animals are safe from the #1 apex predator that is actively ... I don't know what the next one up from genocide is, lets say ... speciescidal. I'd expect wild mutations since the most important evolutionary pressure in the rest of the world isn't present. While evolution due to radiation is possible it is going to be quite challenging to tease that out. Evolution due to human irrationality creating an animal sanctuary seems more likely.
- SoftTalker 6mo ago
  Are we talking about an African or a European swallow?
- watwut 6mo ago
  The chernobyl radiation issue denial on HN runs strong.
  - pjc50 6mo ago
    Amateur nuclear propagandists desperately want to win one against the solarbros and windwakers.
  - leonidasrup 6mo ago
    The opposite psychological symptom is Radiophobia. The psychological effects of radiation fear after Chernobyl accident were strong: "As the increase in radiation in Denmark was so low that almost no increased risk of birth defects was expected, the public debate and anxiety among the pregnant women and their husbands "caused" more fetal deaths in Denmark than the accident. This underlines the importance of public debate, the role of the mass media and of the way in which National Health authorities participate in this debate." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiophobia#Chernobyl_abortions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiophobia#Chernobyl_abortion...
- actionfromafar 6mo ago
  The longer you live, the more of a problem cancer is. Most animals have pretty short lifespans compared to humans. I think that must also be a factor.
lemming 6mo ago
What's amazing to me is how little space is required to have a completely self-sustaining ecosystem. A 60km diameter circle just doesn't seem like a very big space to have enough plants to support "flourishing" numbers of multiple types of large herbivores, without migration, as well as all the different prey species required to keep things in balance. Regardless of the arguments about radiation, it seems pretty clear that lack of humans is really the most important thing for animals to flourish.
- masklinn 6mo ago
  The European green belt is an even starker example, it’s thousands of miles long but just a few tens to hundreds meters wide in most locations, yet its stability and continuity have made it a huge wildlife conservation area.
  - solstice 6mo ago
    thank you. TIL. Hiking the Green Belt sounds like an interesting long-term hiking project
    - Tade0 6mo ago
      At a glance the part of it that goes along the Polish coastline is largely forests growing on the sand dunes at the coast. The experience is mixed, as while you can find amazing places like Słowiński Park Narodowy, where due to proximity to the lake and sea light pollution is low enough to behold the Milky Way, most of that section is interrupted by footpaths for beachgoers and really busy in season.
- leonidasrup 6mo ago
  Chernobyl exclusion zone is not same as it was 40 years ago. For example in 2019 research was done on growing crop in the exclusion zone. You could even buy Atomik vodka, made with grain and water from the Chernobyl exclusion zone. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49251471 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49251471 In 2022 the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in cooperation with State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has published the initial results of the radiological remapping of the exclusion zone. The data can be used to assess which areas of the exclusion zone could be reopened for use. The start of Russian invasion halted all this activities and research. https://www.bfs.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/BfS/EN/2022/006.html https://www.bfs.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/BfS/EN/2022...
mianos 6mo ago
They write all this `scientificy` stuff then put stuff like "Recent research has found that the combination of heat emitted from radioactive contamination ..." The energy released by these environmental isotopes is microscopic. By the time that energy dissipates into the surroundings, the macroscopic thermal output is practically zero. It cannot alter local temperatures, it cannot warm a microclimate, and it certainly cannot cause "heat" stress to wildlife. I wonder if the editors added this bit in a bout of 'whatboutism' to get some global warming agenda in there?
- ofrzeta 6mo ago
  They totally made this up because in the linked source it's just "Radioactive contamination and climate warming affect physiological performance of Chornobyl barn swallows" and not "radioactive warming". https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0329769 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
- aaron695 6mo ago
  [dead]
cratermoon 6mo ago
For a deep dive into the state of life in the exclusion zone about a decade and a half after the disaster, I highly recommend reading Wormwood Forest, by Mary Mycio, published in 2005.
kwar13 6mo ago
Related, if you haven't seen the TV show Chernobyl, I could not recommend it highly enough!
- lb1lf 6mo ago
  This. Also, Higginbotham's "Midnight in Chernobyl" is brilliant prose about the disaster, from the run-up through to the aftermath. At times, it reads more like a thriller (and a fast-paced one at that!) than prose.
  - ffritz 6mo ago
    Same goes for his other book Challenger.
  - man8alexd 6mo ago
    Higginbotham uses Medvedev's book as a source. Medvedev worked in the Ministry of Energy and he was their special representative in Chernobyl after the incident. His task was to cover the asses of the ministry and the reactor designers, so this book invented a lot of "facts" to put the blame on the operators, Dyatlov and Fomin.
- materiallie 6mo ago
  I thought the show was horrible. It was moralistic, quite on the nose, and the dialogue was pretty corny. There were a lot of obvious appeals to your average NYT and Atlantic type viewer, which is surely the main factor behind its critical acclaim.
  - watwut 6mo ago
    I found the dialog fairly realistic. Maybe because I grew up in a similar country - it sounded like real world people talk. Also, events and actions were close to how reality unfolded with simplified cast of characters, basically.
    - lukan 6mo ago
jl6 6mo ago
It’s embarrassing for humanity that we cause an almighty ecological disaster and then one of the biggest factors in the recovery of local ecosystems is our absence.
- contingencies 6mo ago
  Nice one! Added to https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup
  - titaniumtown 6mo ago
    What does that project have to do with the above comment?
    - contingencies 6mo ago
      Did you read the page? It's a long-running manual project to document interesting quotes a good portion of which are from HN, with a vague focus on philosophy of design and the modern human condition. You can run it as a fortune-like program at login: brain food upon opening a terminal is a unix tradition dating from 1979. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(Unix) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(Unix) Here's a few randoms to give you a sense: In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face. - J.C.R. Licklider and R. W. Taylor (1968) Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it. - Eric S. Raymond, The Art of Unix Programming (2003) The benefit of using [a formal specification language] is that it teaches you to think rigorously, to think precisely, and the important point is the precise thinking. So what you need to avoid at all costs is any language that's all syntax and no semantics. - Leslie Lamport The only function of what we do, of art or of anything, is to give voice to the unspoken: to give it a form that it's never been perceived in before. We can't change the evolution of history or gentrification, you can't stop it but at least you can say "look what you're losing". All we can do is give an image to an idea. - Chris Doyle The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it. - Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid
- 6mo ago
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]
vmxdev 6mo ago
What surprises me is the constant attention to Chernobyl (TV series, books, articles, games) and the almost complete silence about Fukushima. Yet these are quite comparable accidents. I wonder what the reason is?
- alexejb 6mo ago
  cynical take: propaganda value
- Neil44 6mo ago
  They are not comparable accidents, Fukishima had no direct casualties and mostly very local effects and Chernobyl needs no introduction. I guess the cause / back story is more interesting for Chernobyl as well because of the human and political aspects.
- Revanche1367 6mo ago
  First big disaster of its kind directly resulting in death, almost certain to get more attention. Plus it allowed for substantial propaganda points (probably well deserved) against the USSR during the Cold War, their opponents would have been stupid not to take advantage of the disaster to ridicule them for their incompetence.
- defrost 6mo ago
  There are regular reports on Fukushima progress from the Japanese media agency (whose initials escape me for now*). I'm guessing you're not seeing these. These are not comparable accidents for a number of reasons, direct radiation deaths for one: Chernobyl: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-sec... The accident destroyed the Chernobyl 4 reactor, killing 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. One person was killed immediately and a second died in hospital soon after as a result of injuries received. Another person is reported to have died at the time from a coronary thrombosisc. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) was originally diagnosed in 237 people onsite and involved with the clean-up and it was later confirmed in 134 cases. Of these, 28 people died as a result of ARS within a few weeks of the accident. Fukushima: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-daiichi-accident https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-sec... There have been no deaths or cases of radiation sickness from the nuclear accident, but over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a preventative measure. Both quotes from the same source: https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/who-we-are https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/who-we-are * --- EDIT: NHK is Japan's public service broadcaster!(??) See: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/tag/8/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/tag/8/ for those tagged "Fukishima" (I think) .. they have had something new every three to six months since it happened (more doco's then, fewer now)
aledevv 6mo ago
> During the 40 years since the disaster, it has become clear that many species are living quite happily within the 37-mile-wide (60km) exclusion zone set up around the ruined power plant. But that's not to say nature hasn't changed here – sometimes for the worse. So.. the radiations has had virtually no impact on the natural ecosystem's regrowth? Not only... we've always been told about the disastrous consequences of nuclear radiation, but, according to the BBC article (by Chris Baraniuk), that's not the case. I don't know... I'm quite perplexed.
- pjc50 6mo ago
  Nobody's measuring cancer rates in wild animals. Due to our long lifespan, humans are relatively vulnerable to radiation, radioactive materials, and other bioaccumulative poisons. A fish might not accumulate enough mercury to kill itself over its lifetime, but when you eat one every day it all adds up. This was why the disaster was so bad for so many farmers across Europe: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-36112372 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-36112372 ; the caesium is not enough to kill a sheep, which has a life of one or two years before slaughter, but should not be consumed by humans.
  - leonidasrup 6mo ago
    The man-made radioactive isotope caesium-137 can be detected in the bodies of all living humans and it was there even before the Chernobyl accident. The first nuclear explosion in 1945 spread, for the first time, the isotope caesium-137 over the whole planet. We have so sensitive methods of detecting caesium-137 that we can use them to check if a bottle of wine was produces before 1945 https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/03/318241738/how-atomic-particles-became-the-smoking-gun-in-wine-fraud-mystery https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/03/318241738/ho... Of-course there were radionuclides in our bodies even before the first nuclear test in 1945. For example Potassium-40 or Carbon-14. The presence of Carbon-14 in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. The big question is how much radionuclides is safe and how much radionuclides is a health risk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relationship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relation... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_dose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_dose
Devasta 6mo ago
Just like the Falkland's penguins who inhabit an area filled with landmines, keeping humans out is just as crucial to biodiversity as any measure to assist the wildlife within.
nephihaha 6mo ago
I am going to the funeral of a woman tomorrow who was in her forties and from the Ukraine. Her parents think it is likely her cancer may be a result of Chernobyl. I don't know, but its shadow is still with us, way after the fall of the USSR and deep into a new century.

161 points by reconnecting 6mo ago

1) It is always interesting with nuclear articles to separate the language from the actual measure of harm. On the one hand we have the "abandoned, irradiated landscape of Chernobyl... not far from the ruins of the power plant at the centre of the world's worst nuclear disaster". On the other hand we have all these animals who, being unable to read and forced to rely on observable harm, think the situation is pretty good. This article is much better than most because it links a study that talks about the actual levels of radiation around Chernobyl, but the amount of legwork these reporters make people do to try and figure out the "so what?" of the thing is remarkably lazy. It baffles me how fearful people get without being at all worried about whether there is an observable problem. > For years, researchers have documented weird, twisted trees, swallows troubled by tumours and even an eerie black fungus that lives inside the radioactive ruins of the reactor building itself. I mean, y'know, oh no! Outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone I can't imagine encountering a twisted tree or a cancerous swallow. How big an issue are we talking? Are they going to make me spend my afternoon reading papers? Are these swallows helpful enough to live only in the irradiated areas for us or are these swallows migratory? What's their air-speed velocity? I won't even begin on the horrifying implications of black fungus. My poor bathroom needs a clean. 2) This is one of the few places on earth where these animals are safe from the #1 apex predator that is actively ... I don't know what the next one up from genocide is, lets say ... speciescidal. I'd expect wild mutations since the most important evolutionary pressure in the rest of the world isn't present. While evolution due to radiation is possible it is going to be quite challenging to tease that out. Evolution due to human irrationality creating an animal sanctuary seems more likely.

SoftTalker 6mo ago
Are we talking about an African or a European swallow?
watwut 6mo ago
The chernobyl radiation issue denial on HN runs strong.
- pjc50 6mo ago
  Amateur nuclear propagandists desperately want to win one against the solarbros and windwakers.
- leonidasrup 6mo ago
  The opposite psychological symptom is Radiophobia. The psychological effects of radiation fear after Chernobyl accident were strong: "As the increase in radiation in Denmark was so low that almost no increased risk of birth defects was expected, the public debate and anxiety among the pregnant women and their husbands "caused" more fetal deaths in Denmark than the accident. This underlines the importance of public debate, the role of the mass media and of the way in which National Health authorities participate in this debate." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiophobia#Chernobyl_abortions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiophobia#Chernobyl_abortion...
actionfromafar 6mo ago
The longer you live, the more of a problem cancer is. Most animals have pretty short lifespans compared to humans. I think that must also be a factor.

lemming 6mo ago

What's amazing to me is how little space is required to have a completely self-sustaining ecosystem. A 60km diameter circle just doesn't seem like a very big space to have enough plants to support "flourishing" numbers of multiple types of large herbivores, without migration, as well as all the different prey species required to keep things in balance. Regardless of the arguments about radiation, it seems pretty clear that lack of humans is really the most important thing for animals to flourish.

masklinn 6mo ago
The European green belt is an even starker example, it’s thousands of miles long but just a few tens to hundreds meters wide in most locations, yet its stability and continuity have made it a huge wildlife conservation area.
- solstice 6mo ago
  thank you. TIL. Hiking the Green Belt sounds like an interesting long-term hiking project
  - Tade0 6mo ago
    At a glance the part of it that goes along the Polish coastline is largely forests growing on the sand dunes at the coast. The experience is mixed, as while you can find amazing places like Słowiński Park Narodowy, where due to proximity to the lake and sea light pollution is low enough to behold the Milky Way, most of that section is interrupted by footpaths for beachgoers and really busy in season.
leonidasrup 6mo ago
Chernobyl exclusion zone is not same as it was 40 years ago. For example in 2019 research was done on growing crop in the exclusion zone. You could even buy Atomik vodka, made with grain and water from the Chernobyl exclusion zone. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49251471 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49251471 In 2022 the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in cooperation with State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has published the initial results of the radiological remapping of the exclusion zone. The data can be used to assess which areas of the exclusion zone could be reopened for use. The start of Russian invasion halted all this activities and research. https://www.bfs.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/BfS/EN/2022/006.html https://www.bfs.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/BfS/EN/2022...

mianos 6mo ago

They write all this `scientificy` stuff then put stuff like "Recent research has found that the combination of heat emitted from radioactive contamination ..." The energy released by these environmental isotopes is microscopic. By the time that energy dissipates into the surroundings, the macroscopic thermal output is practically zero. It cannot alter local temperatures, it cannot warm a microclimate, and it certainly cannot cause "heat" stress to wildlife. I wonder if the editors added this bit in a bout of 'whatboutism' to get some global warming agenda in there?

ofrzeta 6mo ago
They totally made this up because in the linked source it's just "Radioactive contamination and climate warming affect physiological performance of Chornobyl barn swallows" and not "radioactive warming". https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0329769 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
aaron695 6mo ago
[dead]

cratermoon 6mo ago

For a deep dive into the state of life in the exclusion zone about a decade and a half after the disaster, I highly recommend reading Wormwood Forest, by Mary Mycio, published in 2005.

kwar13 6mo ago

Related, if you haven't seen the TV show Chernobyl, I could not recommend it highly enough!

lb1lf 6mo ago
This. Also, Higginbotham's "Midnight in Chernobyl" is brilliant prose about the disaster, from the run-up through to the aftermath. At times, it reads more like a thriller (and a fast-paced one at that!) than prose.
- ffritz 6mo ago
  Same goes for his other book Challenger.
- man8alexd 6mo ago
  Higginbotham uses Medvedev's book as a source. Medvedev worked in the Ministry of Energy and he was their special representative in Chernobyl after the incident. His task was to cover the asses of the ministry and the reactor designers, so this book invented a lot of "facts" to put the blame on the operators, Dyatlov and Fomin.
materiallie 6mo ago
I thought the show was horrible. It was moralistic, quite on the nose, and the dialogue was pretty corny. There were a lot of obvious appeals to your average NYT and Atlantic type viewer, which is surely the main factor behind its critical acclaim.
- watwut 6mo ago
  I found the dialog fairly realistic. Maybe because I grew up in a similar country - it sounded like real world people talk. Also, events and actions were close to how reality unfolded with simplified cast of characters, basically.
  - lukan 6mo ago

jl6 6mo ago

It’s embarrassing for humanity that we cause an almighty ecological disaster and then one of the biggest factors in the recovery of local ecosystems is our absence.

contingencies 6mo ago
Nice one! Added to https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup
- titaniumtown 6mo ago
  What does that project have to do with the above comment?
  - contingencies 6mo ago
    Did you read the page? It's a long-running manual project to document interesting quotes a good portion of which are from HN, with a vague focus on philosophy of design and the modern human condition. You can run it as a fortune-like program at login: brain food upon opening a terminal is a unix tradition dating from 1979. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(Unix) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(Unix) Here's a few randoms to give you a sense: In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face. - J.C.R. Licklider and R. W. Taylor (1968) Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it. - Eric S. Raymond, The Art of Unix Programming (2003) The benefit of using [a formal specification language] is that it teaches you to think rigorously, to think precisely, and the important point is the precise thinking. So what you need to avoid at all costs is any language that's all syntax and no semantics. - Leslie Lamport The only function of what we do, of art or of anything, is to give voice to the unspoken: to give it a form that it's never been perceived in before. We can't change the evolution of history or gentrification, you can't stop it but at least you can say "look what you're losing". All we can do is give an image to an idea. - Chris Doyle The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it. - Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid
6mo ago

deleted 6mo ago

[deleted]

vmxdev 6mo ago

What surprises me is the constant attention to Chernobyl (TV series, books, articles, games) and the almost complete silence about Fukushima. Yet these are quite comparable accidents. I wonder what the reason is?

alexejb 6mo ago
cynical take: propaganda value
Neil44 6mo ago
They are not comparable accidents, Fukishima had no direct casualties and mostly very local effects and Chernobyl needs no introduction. I guess the cause / back story is more interesting for Chernobyl as well because of the human and political aspects.
Revanche1367 6mo ago
First big disaster of its kind directly resulting in death, almost certain to get more attention. Plus it allowed for substantial propaganda points (probably well deserved) against the USSR during the Cold War, their opponents would have been stupid not to take advantage of the disaster to ridicule them for their incompetence.
defrost 6mo ago
There are regular reports on Fukushima progress from the Japanese media agency (whose initials escape me for now*). I'm guessing you're not seeing these. These are not comparable accidents for a number of reasons, direct radiation deaths for one: Chernobyl: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-sec... The accident destroyed the Chernobyl 4 reactor, killing 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. One person was killed immediately and a second died in hospital soon after as a result of injuries received. Another person is reported to have died at the time from a coronary thrombosisc. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) was originally diagnosed in 237 people onsite and involved with the clean-up and it was later confirmed in 134 cases. Of these, 28 people died as a result of ARS within a few weeks of the accident. Fukushima: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-daiichi-accident https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-sec... There have been no deaths or cases of radiation sickness from the nuclear accident, but over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a preventative measure. Both quotes from the same source: https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/who-we-are https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/who-we-are * --- EDIT: NHK is Japan's public service broadcaster!(??) See: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/tag/8/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/tag/8/ for those tagged "Fukishima" (I think) .. they have had something new every three to six months since it happened (more doco's then, fewer now)

aledevv 6mo ago

> During the 40 years since the disaster, it has become clear that many species are living quite happily within the 37-mile-wide (60km) exclusion zone set up around the ruined power plant. But that's not to say nature hasn't changed here – sometimes for the worse. So.. the radiations has had virtually no impact on the natural ecosystem's regrowth? Not only... we've always been told about the disastrous consequences of nuclear radiation, but, according to the BBC article (by Chris Baraniuk), that's not the case. I don't know... I'm quite perplexed.

pjc50 6mo ago
Nobody's measuring cancer rates in wild animals. Due to our long lifespan, humans are relatively vulnerable to radiation, radioactive materials, and other bioaccumulative poisons. A fish might not accumulate enough mercury to kill itself over its lifetime, but when you eat one every day it all adds up. This was why the disaster was so bad for so many farmers across Europe: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-36112372 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-36112372 ; the caesium is not enough to kill a sheep, which has a life of one or two years before slaughter, but should not be consumed by humans.
- leonidasrup 6mo ago
  The man-made radioactive isotope caesium-137 can be detected in the bodies of all living humans and it was there even before the Chernobyl accident. The first nuclear explosion in 1945 spread, for the first time, the isotope caesium-137 over the whole planet. We have so sensitive methods of detecting caesium-137 that we can use them to check if a bottle of wine was produces before 1945 https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/03/318241738/how-atomic-particles-became-the-smoking-gun-in-wine-fraud-mystery https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/03/318241738/ho... Of-course there were radionuclides in our bodies even before the first nuclear test in 1945. For example Potassium-40 or Carbon-14. The presence of Carbon-14 in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. The big question is how much radionuclides is safe and how much radionuclides is a health risk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relationship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relation... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_dose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_dose

Devasta 6mo ago

Just like the Falkland's penguins who inhabit an area filled with landmines, keeping humans out is just as crucial to biodiversity as any measure to assist the wildlife within.

nephihaha 6mo ago

I am going to the funeral of a woman tomorrow who was in her forties and from the Ukraine. Her parents think it is likely her cancer may be a result of Chernobyl. I don't know, but its shadow is still with us, way after the fall of the USSR and deep into a new century.