Chernobyl,a tourist hot spot?

[bsfins]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101213/ap_on_sc/eu_ukraine_chernobyl_tourism

Really? I admit, I thought it was cool seeing Josh Gates do a paranormal investigation in Chernobyl..Would I want to visit? hell no...

Would you want to visit Chernobyl if it were available to you?

[Dave Gray]

Sure, I'd go, assuming it was safe to do so.  I'd be interested in it.

[Philly Fin Fan]

As long as it was safe, I'd love to go. It'd almost be like something out of a sci-fi movie.

[Lee]

Never in 15 half lifes! ;-)

[fyo]

Never in 15 half lifes! ;-)

So in about 425 years you might be willing to give it a shot?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Not now, but I would be willing to go when I was 70 or so.  I figure by the time the effect of radiation might start to cause cancer twenty years later...I would be long dead. 

My thought is to do more risky behavior as I get older not less.  Die skydiving at 20 and you might miss out on 50-60 years.  Did sky diving at 70 you ain't giving up that many years, so its worth the risk so you can cross it off the bucket list.   

[Lee]

So in about 425 years you might be willing to give it a shot?

Yeah, pretty much.  I was hoping 15 half lifes was closer to a million years, but I have long since forgotten those calculations :-)

[fyo]

I was hoping 15 half lifes was closer to a million years

Plutonium-244 has a half-life of nearly 81 million years, but that's not a significant isotope in the Chernobyl disaster. Pu-239, however, has a half-life of some 24000 years and is present to a small degree.

The main radiological contaminants from Chernobyl are/were various iodine, cesium and strontium isotopes. The iodine (I-131) has a half-life of 8 days, so it's no longer an issue. Cesium (Cs-137) and strontium (Sr-90), however, have half-lives of about 30 years and pose the greatest risk today. That's where the 425 years I used came from.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

FYO and Lee -- You guys seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff and there is nothing in the article about the relative level of radiation....

We are exposed to radiation every day....

If this is one of those deals were a one day visit would expose me to the same amount of radiation as going thru airport security 20 times.  Or in one day I would get the same radiation as 2 weeks of normal living due to TV, microwave ect.  Then heck why not go.  On the other hand if it is the same as going thru airport security 20,000 times or what I would get normally in 10 years.  Well then maybe not.

Do either of you know who much is left? 

[fyo]

FYO and Lee -- You guys seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff and there is nothing in the article about the relative level of radiation....

We are exposed to radiation every day....

If this is one of those deals were a one day visit would expose me to the same amount of radiation as going thru airport security 20 times.  Or in one day I would get the same radiation as 2 weeks of normal living due to TV, microwave ect.  Then heck why not go.  On the other hand if it is the same as going thru airport security 20,000 times or what I would get normally in 10 years.  Well then maybe not.

Do either of you know who much is left? 

I doubt wandering around for a day will pose any significant risk, but I wouldn't start digging around or eating anything from the area...

Looking it up, there's actually a company specializing in tours of the area -- not surprising, I guess -- and they claim the radiation levels are on par with what you would experience in Kiev:

http://tour2chernobyl.com/faq.html

That's a predetermined route, though, and you are strongly advised to stick to it. It's inside the 20-mile exclusion zone and you get to visit the ghost towns. Doesn't look like the Chernobyl Reactor Site itself is part of the itinerary, though

Even worse, they warn that "You will NOT see zombies, three head horses and other monsters. ", which is a major letdown IMHO

Anyhow, trying to figure out exactly what kind of exposure you can expect is a bit of a mess. Best I could come up with was:

At the site (which you can't visit, apparently), current radiation levels are up to 0.01 mSi/h, which is about 20-30x the typical exposure you get from just living in the US -- or about half that of a standard X-Ray.

Basically, the danger isn't the radiation levels there (if you only visit), but the contaminants you might pick up.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

At the site (which you can't visit, apparently), current radiation levels are up to 0.01 mSi/h, which is about 20-30x the typical exposure you get from just living in the US -- or about half that of a standard X-Ray.

Basically, the danger isn't the radiation levels there (if you only visit), but the contaminants you might pick up.

Then why not go?  Just don't bring home any souvenirs. 

After reading the site I would probably do more than they suggest and either wear some sort of disposable suit or at min. wear old clothes and especially shoes and throw them out afterward.   

webpage says you get within 100 meters of the reactor.  That seems close enough. 

Its now on my bucket list. 

[fyo]

Hoodie, not that I suspect it's critical, but looking around for info, apparently the Ukrainian government considers these tourist operations "rogue", perhaps even illegal (although in typical right-hand meet left-hand fashion, the local government issues day-permits to tourists entering the area). Sometime next year, the government is planning on some official sightseeing tours.

I wouldn't mind seeing it either (although it's not high on my list -- currently dominated by sites in South America, Africa, and Asia), but I'd also err on the side of caution and throw out my clothing afterwards.

[Dave Gray]

It'd be cool  if you got to wear a radiation suit (if only to add to the mystique) and tour right up close to the reactor.

[bsfins]

I'll take a clean radiation suit,but Avoid the trip ....Having a suit might be cool thing...

[Landshark]

You actually wouldn't need a radiation suit.  From what I've read, it's safe to visit there now.  It's not save to live there though because there are dangerous levels of radiation in the ground and in the water supply. 

I watched a documentary on the Sci Fi channel on what the world would be like if people suddenly disappeared.  They went over some pointers on what would happen in six months, one year, two years, five years, ten years, twenty years, etc.....   It was pretty scary.  They used Chernobyl as a model.