posted March 26, 2004 07:38 PM
The zx-11 Gal who rode through Chernobyl updated her site! Check it out - the original was posted on the board about 2 months ago or so:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/
Amazing. I'd like to write to her and tell her how much I appreciate her "opening my eyes" to the reality of what happened - and congratulate her on such a nice bike (I had the EXACT same bike before my 12 ). WTG grrl.
posted March 27, 2004 10:27 AM
I think that is her address Scooter - but I'll be DAMNED if I can figure out how the Soviet State adress system works . If I figure it out, I'm going to mail her and tell her about this site .
posted March 27, 2004 10:00 PM
I keep going back to that website, and look at the pics over and over, and I don't know quite what the emotion is. It is so sad that a scar of that size exists in the world and yet most of us know nothing about it. Like she stated on her website....the material cost is the only tangible way to determine the scale of the disaster....and yet that is nothing compared to the real tragedies, most of which we will never know about. I think about the physical size of the area that is contaminated and it is just shocking. I understand why the internation community wasn't able to help at the time with an attempt to clean the mess up, but what about now? The Exxon Valdez was a huge tragedy, and yet is nothing compared to this....and yet the environmentalists went to Alaska in droves to help clean up the oil spill. Is it just a question of the difficulty of cleaning the radioactivity up (1/2 life, etc, etc), or is it the international attitude of burying their heads in the sand or sweeping it under the rug?
posted March 28, 2004 07:17 AM
I agree with you maxxer - although I think the emotion that I feel is apathy. I think that the international community has not focused on this problem, because nobody knows what an appropriate approach would be. I mean, what do you do? When the radioactivity (radioactivity is due to particles of matter that are radioactive) is dispersed over such a large area, I have to believe that the particles are SUPER fine and small. How the heck can you "suck it all up" or something to remove it? I'm no expert, but this sounds like an impossible task. It just goes to show you the finality of some of our current science, and should teach the world a lesson about consiquences.
posted March 28, 2004 07:32 AM
I think the current technology consists of scraping all of the contaminated material into barrels and storing them in a salt mine. For this area that is a lot of barrels. I wonder if recycling all of those vehicles (including the ships in the harbor) is possible, or if the smelting process would reintroduce the radioactivity into the atmosphere. It would seem that reducing the number of items in the area would reduce the total amount of radiation. At least then theradioactive dust washed from the vehicles could be put into barrels, and put into the salt mine.
I guess all of this speculation is just a waste of time, considering none of us are in a position to do anything about it......it's just sad.
posted March 28, 2004 07:57 AM
yep - very sad. I have an interesting collection of DVD's from www.vce.com - they are documentaries on various portions of America's nuclear history. Very Very Very interesting (good soundtracks) and scarey. There was test series in the late 40's I believe - called Able and Baker tests. These tests we to determine what would happen to a fleet of ships under nuclear attack (DUH). At one point in the footage (after the blast) you can see US sailors coming in to survey the damage - before entering a ship, they are HOSING IT DOWN WITH SALT WATER. The vid goes on to say that this was a mostly futile effort. I think this is because the radioactive particles may in turn make surrounding metals radioactive through neutron bombardment. I'm not sure if a blast will do this, but I know a neutron bomb will (one of the main drawbacks of neutron bomb tech). I guess you are right. We can't do anything about it - but also think of this (not that I'm a hippy - I'm the exact opposite) one of the other videos also goes on to tell the story about the largest underground blast (US in Alaska). The effects of this blast on the local ecology are what prompted the creation of the greenpeace organization. I wonder if getting the word out on this disaster will spark a similary social change?
posted March 28, 2004 09:39 PM
That is somthin else! I would love to have an experience like that on my 10! Would that radiation be a problem? Maybe we could have bikeland group tour there? Once in a life time experience!??
Hey Chernobyl girl please contact us!
____________
"Ya Gotta Have Big Ones!"
posted March 29, 2004 06:35 AM
PHEH - whats a few extra rads swft??? - ride of a lifetime, unlimited speed, no cops... and just when you are thinking "this is perfects, kill me now" you will get your wish!! DOH!
posted March 29, 2004 08:01 PM
Well,
I lived about 80 miles near that place for about 6 years.... I was 13
then.
now I am here, and I do not want to ride bikes were she rides.
And I know that from the outside the place is sort an amuzment for
many ('hot', 'glowing at night'... etc)
For many scientists, even the ones from the international community
Gomel and its surroundings (the over half a million population city
that got 70% of the radiation (because the wind happen to be blowing
our way that day)) is a great research lab (and from what I understand
many want to keep it that way).
But cancers are just killing lots of people there, from little kidds to
grownups, cancers that were considered 'rarety' before, also
many new immune system deseases like MS.
I am actually, not sure that nuclear power is that bad... it just
how it was managed in Chernobyl. The station was build in such
a way that the bi-product of the reactions was used for military
purposes, so there were special provisions in the design for that
that made the station less secure. Then people who were running
the system that day ignored the warning systems and continued with
their experiments...
I am more concerned about the people who still live there...
posted March 30, 2004 04:11 AM
Elena has said she only rides there alone, to keep the radioactive dust down so she isn't inhaling it. She states the radio activity in the center of the road is far less than the edges, and the shoulders are far hotter than either.
IF a group was to ride there I would think they would stir up a cloud of dust that would be unhealthy to all.
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posted March 26, 2004 07:38 PM
). WTG grrl.
posted March 27, 2004 08:19 AM
