So you thing you're hard core?

**tonghands** · 03-27-2004, 01:46 PM

Elena takes her motorcycle the only place she can run it at top speed without worrying about getting pulled over by the police.

Chernobyl.

Incredible pictures. It's a full on ghost town nightmare, like something out of a horror novel.

**DJSapp** · 03-27-2004, 02:03 PM

Wow, amazing pictures straight out of the world's largest time capsule. Scary.

**Sublime** · 03-27-2004, 02:09 PM

Whoa. That is the best read i've had in awhile. Just damn cool.

But I still don't understand how radiation works? It seems like even low level doses would cause some effect.

**tonghands** · 03-27-2004, 02:13 PM

Radiation is a super complex topic, which I'm not qualified to talk about really, but from what I understand the doses she's getting are nothing to worry about at all. About the same as you would get while flying in an airplane. Apparently if she didn't have that dosimeter. however, she'd be in real trouble.

**mtnjam** · 03-27-2004, 02:40 PM

what do you need to know about radiation, I work with radioactive isotopes for a living in a hospital.
Sublime, you are right, small doses of radiation are really not all that good for you, nor is any kind of ionizing radiation. Different isotopes have different radiation levels and different biological half-lifes and physical half-lifes. The kind of contamination that happened at Chernobyl is super deadly, long lived isotopes and long biological half-lifes, like isotopes of Iodine and Strontium and others in that category are not too friendly.
Scary shit in that ghost town when you think also of how many reactors we have here in the U.S., proabably even scarier to think about the area around Three Mile Island with a higher population. Too bad they had to put the reactor from TMI at INEEL in Idaho though or anywhere for that fact

**Cornholio** · 03-27-2004, 02:58 PM

That's incredibly spooky.

I have a recurring nightmare where I wake up and I'm in the middle of a totally empty town-- a lot like that page. Great find.

**iceman** · 03-27-2004, 03:57 PM

Originally posted by Cornholio
I have a recurring nightmare where I wake up and I'm in the middle of a totally empty town

Dream interpretation can be difficult, but you live in Cleveland. I think I understand your dream.

Blurred Elevens · 03-27-2004, 04:14 PM

Incredible.

And you wouldn't find me there.

**Ski Monkey** · 03-27-2004, 04:22 PM

Amazing. Defiantly the worlds largest time capsule.

So she needs to stay on the black-top to stay alive, but how are these horses, boars, and wolves able to live there?

**dipstik** · 03-27-2004, 04:29 PM

scary, but interesting stuff. It's amazing how high the levels of radiation still are. I wonder what will ever become of that place.

This pic totally threw me off:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/ki.../image23.2.JPG

**phUnk** · 03-27-2004, 04:54 PM

Man, if her story ends with a broken hyperlink on page 11, I'll be pissed.

**The AD** · 03-27-2004, 04:56 PM

Pretty cool. I don't think I could take it. Not just because of worrying about the radiation, but also the dead silence.

How do animals survive there? They probably don't if they get too close to where the reactor is. I would guess that many more have very short lives. Radiation doesn't necessarily kill you right away. Some animals probably live long enough to reproduce, but I'm sure most live short lives due to the cumulative effects of the radiation.

What an incredible tragedy. The part about the people standing on top of the building watching the "beautiful glow" from the reactor is damn chilling.

**Meat's of Evil** · 03-27-2004, 05:59 PM

Wow. That place has a beauty about it still. I would love to go there and take photos. Great story.

**dipstik** · 03-27-2004, 06:10 PM

I was just driving home on some dark back roads (no street lights) and it made me think how scary it must be there at night. I wonder why no one's ever made a horror movie about that place.

**sandytheskier** · 03-27-2004, 06:22 PM

Really creepy.
In fire academy we are taught how to treat radiation situations. That sucks that no one was clued in. The animals will eventually die from their cells deforming and turning into cancer, etc.

**iceman** · 03-27-2004, 11:11 PM

Worth the read, even on dialup.

**Ski Monkey** · 03-28-2004, 01:31 AM

Originally posted by The AD
How do animals survive there? They probably don't if they get too close to where the reactor is. I would guess that many more have very short lives. Radiation doesn't necessarily kill you right away. Some animals probably live long enough to reproduce, but I'm sure most live short lives due to the cumulative effects of the radiation.

Ok, this is what I was fishing for and leads me to the second part of my question.

Does something like this jumpstart evolution? Granted, were talking about an evolutionary trait benefiting a small amount of animals to a small geographic location. However, do we see the animals that live long enough to reproduce passing on radiation hardened evolved genes or simply lucky animals that didn't stray to close to the glow sticks?

**Il Eagle** · 03-28-2004, 10:14 AM

Man, even though she's a russian her grammar is still better than DINMS.

**splat** · 03-28-2004, 11:41 AM

Too bad the US government is so much better at hiding their nuclear debacles. The National Plutonium Processing Plant in Hanford released massive amounts of plutonium, cesium and other radioactive elements into the air over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana for forty years. And yes, people died and suffered as a result. Yet, few people are aware of it. And, as always, denial and suppression of evidence is the governments method of choice in dealing with what they did.

Kudos to this chick for putting up that site.

**Sublime** · 03-28-2004, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by Ski Monkey
Ok, this is what I was fishing for and leads me to the second part of my question.

Does something like this jumpstart evolution? Granted, were talking about an evolutionary trait benefiting a small amount of animals to a small geographic location. However, do we see the animals that live long enough to reproduce passing on radiation hardened evolved genes or simply lucky animals that didn't stray to close to the glow sticks?

I would think it would be a little more then odds. The horses would be some trait that would allow the animals to survive. Since horses can roam 15 - 20 miles in a day. There is a gene that is weading out the weak animals. But what trait would they be posesing? Would it be a 6th sense to not wander towards anything with major radiation?

**iskibc** · 03-28-2004, 11:20 PM

wow, very interesting story and pics. Kind of gives me the creeps at the same time.

**bad_roo** · 03-29-2004, 01:36 AM

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/ki.../image25.1.jpg

Tiny abandoned shoes and gas masks. Eerie.

**Twoplanker** · 03-29-2004, 09:33 AM

Unbelievable, totally worthy of a National Geo special.

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/ki.../image26.1.JPG

Awful, beautiful, horrific and disturbing. I had to go give my son a big hug after I saw these pictures.