Quote Originally Posted by Kirsten View Post
The other day, I heard on tv that 1986 in Chernobyl, the Russians sent an entire army to stop the fire, and they all died. I saw a discussion on tv whether something like that would be possible in Germany, in case of a nuclear disaster. Our mentality is obviously different, more individual, and it would probably be hard to find someone who'd be willing to sacrifice his own life.
Yes - I heard that most were dead in about 3 months. Chernobly had no containment vessels, so the radiation that was released in the explosion and fire, was mega times what it is in Japan, where they are having leaks in the containment vessels, but at a much slower and lower rate. I also heard that the biggest danger is from the spent fuel rods that are stored in these reactor buildings, and they are not in any kind of containment. That however, doesn't diminish the seriousness of the whole mess. That area is now useless and will be for hundreds of years, slow/low leaks or not.