June 15, 2005

"It's amazing ... so dreamlike and silent."

Chernobyl tourism. Wouldn't you love to take a photography tour through a city that 45,000 persons suddenly abandoned twenty years ago?
A lethal exposure of radiation ranges from 300 to 500 roentgens an hour; levels in the tour areas vary from 15 to several hundred microroentgens an hour. A microroentgen is one-millionth of a roentgen. Dangers at these levels, the agency says, lie in long-term exposure.
So why not? Let's go!

6 comments:

Frank from Delavan said...

I worked with high level readiation sources for 30 years, including pencil beams that generated 1000 rads per pulse at 60 pulses per second.

Levels at the micro-rad are probably beneficial rather than harmful. Life grew up in a sea of radiation, and our bodies generally take advantage of all of our enviroment.

Look up "radiation hormesis" for some interesting ideas.

Contributors said...

"and exposing the Communist Party as an institution wormy with hypocrisy and lies."

When did the NY Times change their opinion of Communism? Shouldn't they have released a notice or something? Or, did it slip by?

LizrdGizrd said...

There's a great site I saw a few yearss ago where a woman rides through the Chernobyl "dead zone" on her motorcycle. She basically has a tour of the ruins on her site complete with some haunting pictures. I highly recommend it.

NotClauswitz said...

Hey, I was going to post about the Russian (Ukrainian I guess) motorcycle girl's site!! I think her dad was a scientist there? At least that's the impression I got, she says he's a nuclear physicist who's worked there researching it. I remember reading her site, several years ago, back when I worked at another company. The Ghost Town section was the creepiest, especially the Kindergarten page.

amy said...

There was a great documentary about Chernobyl (mostly focusing on the children born from women who were exposed to the radiation, if I recal right) on HBO. If I can find the name, I'll let ya know.

amy said...

Hah! Found it. Yay for the internet.

It was called Chernobyl Heart
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/chernobylheart/