Chernobyl's Red Forest: The Long Decay
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2024
- On the night of April 26th, 1986, as the fourth reactor building at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant burned, a plume of radioactive material ejected from the core of the reactor was carried west by the wind. Two people became immediate casualties of this plume: Katerina Ivanenko and Ivan Orlov. But the plume did not only cause immediate human damage; it left a wound on the face of the Earth, commonly referred to as The Red Forest. Thirty years later, the site of The Red Forest turned red again. This is that story, from beginning to end.
It's a sad but fascinating glimpse into a future where human beings cease to exist and a certain number of our reactors go into a runaway state with nobody to control them. The original forest ecosystem died out but a new one will eventually grow in it's place, and it seems to us like it'll take such a long time but to nature it's only a moment.
If it makes you feel any better, most modern reactors have fail-safes to prevent neglect from destroying anything.
But yeah, I was thinking something similar! This is a microcosm of what would happen to a planet if it got hit by a supernova or a quasar beam. Things might not even burn or melt in any conventional way.. life would just be suspended, dead but never decaying.
I’ve seen videos from scientists doing research in the red forest and at least in the early 2000’s there were still thousands of hotspots the material from which were obvious but were sometimes a highly radioactive piece of cesium 137 the size of a grain of sand or tiny pieces of graphite that had to be found with separation and a Geiger counter to collect the offending particles. Some of these were emitting 20-70 mili sieverts which isn’t insignificant.
Those woods cant catch a break.
"... life always finds a way".
-Jurassic Park
tl;dr
During *The Acident* a small area of forest got cooked by the fallout.
Years later it turns out that the decomposers, insects, microbes and most importantly, Fungi, hadn't come back, and there were 30+ year old dead trees all over the place, un-decomposed, dry as a bone, turning the whole damn thing into a tinderbox.
Because Chernobyl, and because of course, it all went on fire.
tl:dr tree not like atom, atom bad, tree dead, not good
The problem is the wood that grows there is radioactive and when it burns, the smoke and particles that blow over other areas are radioactive. I understand that wood samples there have such a high Carbon-14 ratio that when carbon dated, they generate dates in the future.
Nature finds a way. I recently watched an old documentary on the revitalization of forest and wildlife after the Mt. St. Helens eruption. It wiped out all wildlife and forest, poisoned Spirit Lake and nearby rivers. 15 years later the replanted forests were thriving and all the wildlife returned naturally, even the fish.
This is my worst nightmare come to life. :(
Also, good music choice! I love the instrumental. Very moving.
Were you even alive when it happened? SMH
Thanks for another good installment
Another great video and content, thanks
I’m quite curious to learn more about “The Heap”.
I love watching your videos they're so interesting and they're not super long and you just the way you explain them is great and this video you had said somebody started the fire do you know why the person started it or was it like accidentally done
Great video
thanks for the album tip. Never heard of post-rock before.
Imagine what happend to that forest is scary
bruh you edited that comment and it still dont make sense
@@nimbusshadow-wingslol
At 3:25, the north side of the Y in the roads at the northwest border is where the Russians dug their fighting positions and trenches and spent a month manning them. It was a fairly safe place to walk around (elevated but not dangerous radiation levels) and a common route for stalkers, but digging there might not have been such a good idea.
I’m trying to figure out that those soldiers digging was a good idea? I hope they have some potassium iodine in stock.
@@2410jrod = It was a very bad idea, and way too late for iodine to do anything.
@@GWNorth-db8vn I was being sarcastic.
@@2410jrod - I'm literally holding my first cup of coffee for the day.
from what I hear they also mined the whole area extensively and set other traps, most heavily around the Duga
Aw dude, If These Trees Could Talk is dope!
It's such a shame a beautiful area like this one it's a dangerous place to inhabit both for human and for animals, there's something i've always loved about eastern european landscapes
What about the radioactive smoke?
Beautifully told, very touching. : )
I never understood why some people would start wildfire, but I REALLY don’t understand who would start one on a radioactive forest. Surely there are better ways to spend one’s time.
Oh and, nice sound design. I hear the flames in the background.
Absolutely tragic
My guy was walking the Forrest in an n95 mask and no gloves....
I wonder what the readings are currently vs ten years ago? No doubt still highly radioactive but still would like to see it. Hopefully there is some improvement…I hope.
Huh. Odd. In september of 2020 some people torched larges swathes of the PNW as well. At my home the day time sky was blood red and as dim as twilight while ash fell like snow.
Im pretty sure that wolf was a red fox.
Apparently when the Russians came back to Ukraine to 'visit'... some of their infantry actually dug extensive trenches here-- right in the middle of the Red Forest. None of them even knew about Chernobyl. It's amazing.
Music please?
A list of music used is at the end of the video, but IIRC the music is by Myuu :)
@@thatchernobylguy2915 Thank you.
That’s a fox not a wolf 😂
And don't forget about those Muscovites "Orcs" who started digging trenches in this contaminated land...
That warms the cockles of my heart. And the area below the cockles; the subcockle area.
Are you Denis Leary?
@@dongately2817 I'm an asshoooole!
@@ostrich67 I knew it!!!!
This is the question no one asks of nuclear power: how many more radiologic exclusion zones do you want? We have two in just sixty years. It's only a matter of time before we have another and another and another.
Wait until you hear about all the other exclusion zones humans have created, via mining, landfills and other activities. Compared to those exclusion zones, which no one ever even thinks about, radiation zones are wonderful. They are positively tiny, only a fraction of a millionth of all the land humans have destroyed or degraded. And wildlife is thriving in Chernobyl and Fukushima. 100 more Chernobyl disasters would be far better for the planet than 100 new strip mines.
Not to mention, in 300 years Fukushima and 90% of the Chernobyl Zone will be perfectly safe. That's not a luxury we have with microplastics and PFAS 'forever chemicals' that have NO half-life at all...
@@MinSredMash You'll get no argument from me on chemicals like dioxin & PFAs but to justify radiologic exclusion zones is bats. Only 300 years. BTW strip mines have to be rehabbed in many countries and if not will return to the wild through ecological succession naturally but without the contamination of radioisotopes the environment has never seen until we created them.
That's only because humans are irrationally scared of nuclear power while not caring about other types of contamination.
A typical coal plant kills more people a year with air pollution than all nuclear accidents ever combined.
If we treated air pollution in cities as seriously as we treat nuclear pollution - all cities on Earth should be immediately evacuated and declared "exclusion zones".
It's actually safer to live in Pripyat now than before the accident as there are no cars or air pollution there now 😂
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