MetaChat - Chernobyl 20 years on

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

26 March 2006

Chernobyl 20 years on The sheer weight of everything they had dropped on the reactor from the air - including 2,400 tons of lead - had not only caused structural damage but was pressing the hot reactor core against its concrete base. And if the uranium reached meltdown temperature - 2,900C -a single sphere of molten fuel would burn through the concrete foundations of the reactor building, and keep going until it reached the water table. At that moment, there would be another explosion; the three remaining reactors would be destroyed in a nuclear blast that would render Ukraine, Belarus and Russia uninhabitable for decades to come.

post by: matteo at: 11:13 | 7 comments

People talk about all the people who died under Stalin yet you have to wonder how many died just because of Soviet bureaucratic incompetence. Sobering reading for anyone, no matter what their opinion of nuclear power.

posted by tommasz 26 March | 12:12

Great article.

posted by killdevil 26 March | 12:45

This is great. I have a sick obsession with Chernobyl, always have.

posted by kellydamnit 26 March | 13:00

I'm going to the dead city around Chernobyl later this year. It should be interesting.

posted by cmonkey 26 March | 13:32

cmonkey: I am so jealous.
I've been hoping to go there, but I just can't find a way to make it financially do-able for at least a few more years. I guess it's really amazing. I've seen some photos taken by other people who have gone, it looks so humbling to see what we as a species have done, and how far nature has gone to reclaim that land in just a couple decades.

posted by kellydamnit 26 March | 13:55

I'm also rather obsessed with Chernobyl. I'd love to actually don an effective (if fictional) anti-rad suit and explore the sarcophogus and surrounding ruins, as well as exploring the ghost city around it. (Ghost towns, cities, and ruins in general are fascinating. There's a bunch of abandoned mining towns around AZ, and I've explored the massive smelter and slag pile in Cottonwood.)

One of the things I've always wanted to witness with my own eyes is Cherenkov radiation, which I believe can also be seen in a number of spent fuel-rod holding pools.

Awesome article and interviews.

posted by loquacious 26 March | 16:12

I'm going there to experience the silence. I've heard it's overwhelmingly quiet.

posted by cmonkey 26 March | 17:24

← Dear Bunnies || looking for an old movie →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN