Chernobyl for the uneducated.

[Don Corleone]

In light of the pending release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Shadow of Chernobyl I was doing a bit of googling around the story behind the game and the story behind Chernobly, it crossed my mind that I knew very little about the world's worst nuclear disaster and indeed one of the world's worst human disaster stories, wikipedia wet my appetite but the following 'personal diary' really gets you going, personally speaking when i was reading it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, its very creepy :eek:

Here's an image from the town itself, just a taster of what's in the full story, for the uneducated, this is the ultimate guide to the Chernobyl disaster.

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/imag21.1.jpg

Full Diary linky (http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/chapter1.html)

[Cosmo_1847]

I have heard about this from the BBC but mostly the stuff I know about it has been what my physics teachers have told me. I'll have a look as I'm intrested in the story.

[Don Corleone]

I have heard about this from the BBC but mostly the stuff I know about it has been what my physics teachers have told me. I'll have a look as I'm intrested in the story.

Yeah same here cosmo, I just realised how little I actually knew about the whole sorry mess that it was/is - the picture diary is compelling to say the least, it gives quite a detailed account of the aftermath and the thousands that were and still are affected by it.

Its amazing how a 'hollywood' style feature was never made about it, maybe there is :confused:

[Forthy]

Wanna hear something spooky? Espescially for those on the forums ith a religious disposition :)

The Chernobyl disaster was predicted in the bible.

Fact.

I can't remember the exact bit, but IIRC it's in revelations and it talks about the star of wormwood (or similar). The Russian for wormwood (or whatever) is Chernobyl.

/googles

http://www.endtime.com/magarchive.asp?ID=34

[shifty.ricky]

People have always found "evidence" where none exists in my mind. Like bits of toast that look like "god".

[Forthy]

That was just me messing with the filament :p

Sorry.

[shifty.ricky]

Do we have to provide a link to a russian govt press release stating that the expolsion never took place in the interests of being neutral :D

[Don Corleone]

Do we have to provide a link to a russian govt press release stating that the expolsion never took place in the interests of being neutral :D

:eek: Never thought about that :rolleyes:

I'm still reading 'eye-witness' accounts on this supposed incident that may or may not have taken place, i must have more info :rolleyes:

[Craig]

There's some level of inaccuracy to the photoset and comments originally posted, http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=8951 explains it better than I can.

[ArTizan]

I saw an excellent documentary on discovery about it, the safety officers turning all the failsafes off because of an inspection and they HAD to run the reacter more than it had ever been ran, or something. It practically was two guys fault, or something.

But it did imply that russian nuclear powerstations are complete pants also.

[Don Corleone]

There's some level of inaccuracy to the photoset and comments originally posted, http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=8951 explains it better than I can.

:eek: It never even entered my mind that this might be a spin on the truth, what a complete b1tch she is - I had my doubts about a few of the photographs but i thought that was just me trying to find something that wasn't there (over active imagination or ADD, you decide;) ) but to stage the kindergarten photograph, well that's just sick !!

I'm annoyed now 'cos i thought it was a pretty good diary, pffft bloody internet, should have known better :mad:

strolls over to chernobyl.info for the 'real' facts :rolleyes:

[Arc]

The original linked story is worth it only for the pictures ;).

I saw an excellent documentary on discovery about it, the safety officers turning all the failsafes off because of an inspection and they HAD to run the reacter more than it had ever been ran, or something. It practically was two guys fault, or something.

But it did imply that russian nuclear powerstations are complete pants also.

On the night in question, a test was to be performed to determine if the running down power from a generator set that had been tripped would be sufficient to power some reactor coolant pumps. It was a test designed to see if an alternative power source could be used for safety. This is what a lot of people forget, the plant was not in its normal running mode, it was in a configuration that, if you like it to a car, would be like having a lead weight on the accelerator, the brake pedal disconnected and your window misted up.

RBMK's are a little unstable below 20% power so you dont keep them there for long if possible. Now, to do this test they had to have the reactor in a low power state. They ended up with the reactor at 6% power (with most of the safetys off) which allowed them to withdraw the control rods almost completely out of the core. Now that aint a great idea, they were now not in control of the reactor.

They got into this state because they didnt understand the Xenon 135 levels in the core (easier to google and read up on it than for me to explain it). Fast forward to the test and the reactor coolant pumps shutdown due to lack of power (the running down turbine couldnt provide the power in other words) and the coolant feed flow reduced. This caused the power level to increase exponentially and there was a rather large steam explosion (plus a few other factors came into play). The rest as they say is history..........

[shifty.ricky]

if you like it to a car, would be like having a lead weight on the accelerator, the brake pedal disconnected and your window misted up.


So in a word "fun".

[DT1]

Perhaps, but if it had a double containment system then that wouldn't have been a problem. Well, it would but it wouldn't have involved the rest of Europe.

[Don Corleone]

Perhaps, but if it had a double containment system then that wouldn't have been a problem. Well, it would but it wouldn't have involved the rest of Europe.

I take your point and agree.

Anyway, on to the questions.

So basically they covered the leaking reactor with a mass of concrete (or the rather eerily named sarcophagus), in effect, trapping the radiation, and from what i've read was designed to last up to 100 years but they're not sure, so what happens then or what happens if in 10 years time its no longer suffice, do we have another fallout, a part II :eek: :confused:

so many questions :rolleyes:

I was also reading about the 'liquidators' the clean up soldiers and that the majority of them where forced into this job, jeez what a death sentence that must have been, i know most people hate the thought of 'liquidators' but hey..... I dont mean to make light of these people though, jeez what a job that must have been :eek:

[shifty.ricky]

First they poured a feck load of sand, graphite and other crud onto the reactor to kill the fire.

[Arc]

So in a word "fun".

Well thats one way of putting it ;).

Perhaps, but if it had a double containment system then that wouldn't have been a problem. Well, it would but it wouldn't have involved the rest of Europe.

A double containment would have reduced the effects but the explosion was that immense that it may not have helped from a gaseous release point of view.


So basically they covered the leaking reactor with a mass of concrete (or the rather eerily named sarcophagus), in effect, trapping the radiation, and from what i've read was designed to last up to 100 years but they're not sure, so what happens then or what happens if in 10 years time its no longer suffice, do we have another fallout, a part II :eek: :confused:


Well, you'll get some bits and pieces (contaminated dust to keep it simple) coming out but it depends on how much dust there is, what the weather conditions are like at the time etc.

The sarcophagus was constructed quickly and its not what you'd call secure, to be fair its done its job but it needs replaced. Due to this, one of the worlds biggest structures is going to be constructed above the current sarcophagus:
http://martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/chernobyl3.jpg


I was also reading about the 'liquidators' the clean up soldiers and that the majority of them where forced into this job, jeez what a death sentence that must have been, i know most people hate the thought of 'liquidators' but hey..... I dont mean to make light of these people though, jeez what a job that must have been :eek:

Good old communisim in action :eek:. Their time at site was limited (e.g. move one shovel load of debris) so although they received a high dose it wasnt as bad as made out. Dont think any of them have died but I'd need to check that.

[Alan]

What seemed to get missed is that thousands did not die as a result of Chernobyl and outwith the direct area there have apparently been no increases in the various types of cancer that they expected to increase.

It's something to do with the exposure level. Figures are correct for high levels of radiation but to calculate down to low levels they projected the graph down in a straight line down to zero which would give you some cancers over the largest possible area. It turns out that below a certain level of radiation, nothing happens at all. The body's defence system is actually strengthened by a little radiation - (e.g. an X-ray is totally harmless).

[Don Corleone]

The sarcophagus was constructed quickly and its not what you'd call secure, to be fair its done its job but it needs replaced. Due to this, one of the worlds biggest structures is going to be constructed above the current sarcophagus:
http://martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/chernobyl3.jpg

Jeez what a building :eek:

lets hope this one last's or they'll need an even bigger structure next time :rolleyes:

I thought the stories on the 'liquidators' where a little bit of scaremongering, communism aside, surely they wouldnt send young men/women to their deaths, bleeding t'internet :mad:

[Slamdog]

have a read of this...

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/

and this....

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-land-of-the-wolves/

[Don Corleone]

have a read of this...

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/

and this....

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-land-of-the-wolves/

Ermmm thats how this whole debate/post kicked of slam :rolleyes:

It seems that 'diary' was fabricated, at best :mad:

[Slamdog]

yep, didn't see the link at the bottom of the first post.

I still have my doubts as to how fabricated the diary is. it is pretty well done if it is a total fabrication, but then it could be anywhere remote and rundown in the ex soviet republic.

on the other hand... the disaster did happen. the effects are pretty much described in the diary with enough scientific knowledge to ring true but not being knowledgeable enough myself i would hate to jump one way or the other.