April 26th, 1986.Follow

20 years since the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, and 400 times the radiation of Hiroshima fell upon the Ukranian towns and countryside near the plant, slowly for ten days.

This is a compelling photo-essay about what has happened since, entitled Chernobyl Legacy by Paul Fusco. You must click on the left-hand side to view it on flash player, but it can also be seen on the MSN/Slate site here, however it was very choppy when I tried it, so good luck.

The frightening thing about Chernobyl is that it was an accident, resulting from human error and carelessness. Scary to think what could happen here or anywhere for that matter, if someone were to intentionally do something or another accident occurred.

Chernobyl Heart was an excellent Documentary on HBO. I am sure its available now on demand if you have it. Quite disturbing how things are over there. Some towns are just wastelands with folk still living there.

Here is a really interesting tour of the ghost town, pictures and narration by some science biker girl (that's hawt).

(Click on the "beginning" link to start the tour. Then "next" on each page")

Yeah my Girlfriend had to leave the room a couple times.

I am on Chapter 22 so far and got a couple left, the Ghost Town is some crazy Shit.

I'll have to check On Demand tonight and see if it's there. Looks very interesting.

I remember when this happened. I was only 12 and I remember the headlines on the newspapers. It was kind of along the lines "Goddam Commies deserve what happened" Of course the stories of how this could NEVER happen in the United States were right along side this tragedy. As a kid, I was scared because when the media started talkinga about radiation and mutations possible, I wondered whether people were going to grow a second hand and a 3rd foot kind of thing. But at the same time, because I was pretty young, I know that my parents and teachers tried to shield the younglings from the horror of what actually occurred.

I'm serious. I'd never heard about this until you linked it. I mean I'd heard there was a nuclear explosion but I didnt know where it was, what happened, when or any of that.

Well in your defense, I am sure a lot of people just knew it as a meltdown and really had no clue how severe it was and still is.

Ignorant yokels.

Mommas, don't letcher babies grow up to be rednecks...

That was really well put together. I liked it a lot and have sent links too all my friends. I can't get over the child with the external brain.

I knew what happened, but to actually put human faces on the disaster there and how bad it REALLY is for them.... just brings to light how FUBAR that is..

A side note, I love living in Illinois

Another side note, I love living between (Less then 20 miles) 4 of the major nuclear plants IN Illinois (6 major nuclear reactors, 7 if you count the shutdown one).

And I live on the fu'cking Kankakee River.
I glow at night sometimes.....


Braidwood, Ill., United States (2 reactors)
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
Net Output: 1120 MWe
Operable. Initial criticality: 05/1987. Commercial start: 07/1988.

Morris, Ill., United States (2 active, 1 shutdown reactors)
Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)
Net Output: 794 MWe
Operable. Initial criticality: 01/1970. Commercial start: 06/1970.

Seneca, Ill., United States (2 reactors)
Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)
Net Output: 1078 MWe
Operable. Initial criticality: 06/1982. Commercial start: 01/1984.

We have been getting reports of people who live near these areas having over 4X the cancer related deaths. I'll see if I can dig up some supporting articles on this....

EDIT: link was being stupid....

Edited, Wed Apr 26 13:30:59 2006 by Molish