A bike ride thru Chernobyl

[ramanth]

I was 9 when the accident happened, so I don't remember much at the time. In high school I learned a little about it.

Don't think I'd ever be brave enough to venture there.

The photos are just eerie...

Ghost Town (http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/)

[robinh]

I remember it. How very frightening - for those who were there and for us now to look back at what it might have been like for them. Gives me the cold shivers!

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

:eek:

wow.. i had never even heard of that...

what an interesting site!!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

All I can say is wow, and not in a good way. I remember hearing of this disaster, but I was young and in my own world at the time and something like this happening on the other side of the world didn't mean anything to me at the time. But now, almost 20 years later...... And it appears that 20 years is miniscule in the big scheme of things.

Wow. :(

[bluekat]

Thats interesting...I don't think I've ever heard of that before though.

I kind of like visiting those kinds of places even though I never have...those pictures scared me a little though:p

[Edwina's Secretary]

Her site should be mandatory viewing! I think of a movie that haunted my youth...On The Beach.

I will not sleep well tonight....

[CathyBogart]

I read this a few weeks ago...chilling. Great site though, thanks for posting it!!

[Corinna]

I posted this sight a couple weeks ago , It was both horrifing and refreshing . I saw how mother nature renews herself so fast. I afree the girl is very brave.

[anna_66]

Thanks Kim for posting this. Mark & I both read it and found it very interesting.

[Tonya]

I had never heard of that. That was very intriguing...thank you for sharing.

[ramanth]

Hey Corinna, sorry for the re-post. :)

Sara, I had never heard of 'On The Beach' , so I went searching and found this site: Animal Logic's On The Beach (http://www.animallogic.com/film/otb/index.html) . It looks eerie.

I remember seeing a film in History class in High School about what would happen if a terrorist had a nuclear device on american soil. The movie had a guy with a bomb on a boat in a South Carolina harbor if I can recall correctly.

Gave me nightmares for weeks.

[Edwina's Secretary]

The "On the Beach" I saw was an earlier version -- not much in the special effects I suppose but powerful nonetheless. The story as I remember (this was a looonnngg time ago).

There had been a nuclear holocaust. These men were on a submarine and had therefore, survived. They were unsucessfully looking for any other life.

They kept picking up a Morse code message (Long time ago..:eek: ) Hopeful there were in fact other survivors they hunted and hunted for it. Finally found it on the beach somewhere in the South Seas.

Remember those window shades with a ring on the end of a cord for raising and lowering the shade? An empty pop bottle had fallen into the ring and as the breeze blew the shade back and forth the bottle would tap.

The End.

[ramanth]

How sad!!! :(

[Logan]

Kimmy this was enlightening and horrifying at the same time. :( What a sad, sad thing. I remember Chernobyl very well, but had not seen anything like this before. Thank you for sharing.

Logan

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

My Aunt just got back from a trip to Paris and England and she said that the main source of electricity in France is nuclear power. I was thinking about sending her the link to this site....but then I remembered that her and my mom and 99% of the rest of my family live within 25 miles of 2 nuclear plants. :eek: :eek:

We never thought anything of it as we were growing up, they were just there, with big fences around and they had educational, interpretive stuff that was pretty cool (we'd go on field trips for school). Then the next thing you know they're putting up huge sirens on a pole in the middle of corn fields. Supposedly to warn us about impending tornadoes and such, but we also knew they were there in the event of an accident at the nuclear plants. Again, we just didn't think anything of it, it was just another part of our lives.

Scarey.

Oh, and I also read a book about dropping the bomb on Nagasaki when I was in high school. Somehow I didn't connect that with the nuclear plants though, I think because it was a bomb and it did what it was meant to do whereas the nuclear plant had all sorts of safety plans and apparatus that was supposed to keep us safe - supposedly so we never had to worry about it. The amazing part is it worked - we never did worry about it.

[ramanth]

Originally posted by Tubby & Peanut's Mom
My Aunt just got back from a trip to Paris and England and she said that the main source of electricity in France is nuclear power. I was thinking about sending her the link to this site....but then I remembered that her and my mom and 99% of the rest of my family live within 25 miles of 2 nuclear plants. :eek: :eek:
Seems there are a lot of nuclear power plants still up and running.

US Nuclear Power Plant Locations and Websites (http://www.nucleartourist.com/us/address.htm)

We pass the one in Newport, MI on our way to Findlay. It has the same shape as the one in The Simpsons.

That's what I relate all nuclear power plants too, but I guess they come in all shapes and sizes.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

This one (http://www.nmcco.com/about_us/locations/kewaunee.htm) and this one (http://www.nmcco.com/about_us/locations/point_beach.htm) are the ones near my parents. The Point Beach one (second one) is the closer of the two and the one I'm more familiar with because they are the ones that had the educational center. The educational center has been closed since 9-11 and security has increased dramatically. My cousins girlfriend works there and it has always been known that the nuclear plant is a great place to work - you earn good money. My dad is a fisherman and fishing has always been good "off the nuclear plant" because of the warm water that is emitted back into the lake. They take in the cold lake water to cool the reactors and then flush it back into the lake. It's not radioactive or anything - just warm - and it appears the fish like that. ;)

Thanks for that link, Kimmy. I knew there were nuclear plants in Illinois also, but I didn't know there was one in Downers Grove!!! :eek: :eek: Appears I still live within 25 miles of a nuclear plant. :eek:

However, not to start a big debate or anything, but since I grew up near two of them and they have just been a part of my life since day one - I really have no problem with nuclear plants. I know they are extremely dangerous, but as long as they are well maintained and regulated..... Obviously accidents can still happen as evidenced by the Chernobyl site, but out of all the nuclear plants in the world......I know, it's a weak argument, but what are the alternatives? No one likes coal and the environmentalists are against the building of any more dams for hydro-electric, and for some reason the big wind mill things just haven't taken off in the US.

For me, nuclear power brings up all sorts of conflicting emotions and ideas. On one hand I'm all for it, on the other hand I'm not - especially when I see sites like this one and realize that humans will not be able to populate this land for a minimum of 300 years - and that could be as much as 900 years! That is totally mind boggling.......

[ramanth]

I agree Debbie. I think the US has always been extra careful with nuclear power plants here, especially after the lesson learned with Chernobyl.

I ride the fence too. One one hand, I love my electricity... on the other, it's scary if an accident like that ever happened again.

They use those giant wind mills in Toronto. They are quite a sight.

[smokey the elder]

I live so close to Indian Point that if there weren't trees in the way I could see it. After 9/11 there was a huge debate about whether it should be closed, and put a gas fired plant there. BUT, the pipeline project has been blocked, so how are they going to get the gas there??

(A little off track, sorry.)

I saw a special not long ago where the Russian and Ukrainian governments have released information on the accident. It made a cautionary tale on the human element of any safety program. They were overdue for a preventive maintenance (PM). But some bigwigs were coming, and there was a conflict in orders whether to do the PM (at a quarter power) or run the plant on full. They decided to do the PM. There is a delay when they change the control rods, and what happens in the reactor. It's not just on or off like a light switch.

The power dropped below 1/4 and the reactor "stalled". They pulled the rods out a bit; the reactor seemed like it wasn't doing anything. They let them out some more; then the reactor ran away, causing the meltdown. Some of the people doing the PM were not very well trained.