Chernobyl photos....

[Neil]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/chernobyl--24-years-on-1954969.html?action=Popup&ino=1

[LouCipherr]

Cool photos. I've seen quite a few of Chernobyl photos before - matter of fact, Dj and I have talked about how awesome it would be to film a zombie movie there.

The only drawback? Glowing green for the rest of your life after the shoot. :lol:

[bassman]

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00360/Untitled-7_360627s.jpg

Horrible, just horrible....

[DjfunkmasterG]

Cool photos. I've seen quite a few of Chernobyl photos before - matter of fact, Dj and I have talked about how awesome it would be to film a zombie movie there.

The only drawback? Glowing green for the rest of your life after the shoot. :lol:

Actually you can now film in the city as long as you don't spend more than 5-6 hours on location you should be fine, only some minor teeth and hairloss. :p

[SymphonicX]

neil you inspired me to have a good old read about this disaster. I was 5 years old when it happened but I do remember it being talked about on the news for years.

Apparently, the reactor explosion was caused by a massively flawed design in the control rods, which aborbs neutrons to reduce the fission rate - this coupled with the fact that they were doing, on this day, a yearly test of the systems which required it to be shut down - this meant that some of the operators on sight turned off vital safety features which, when the control rods malfunctioned, would have been safe if turned on. As a result, with the safety systems off, apparently before they had attempted to shut down the system for this test, the reactor was in an insanely unstable condition.

When the reactor was shut down, a massive influx of cold water hit the boiling fuel whcih cause a chain reaction, shattering parts of the system and causing massive explosions - the design of the reactor was such that the fuel assemblies ruptured and thus it destroyed the entire reactor.

Cue 45,000 people instantly relocated, with another 90,000 in surrounding towns evacuated, and toxic radiation spilling into the atmosphere over the Ukraine, Belarussia, etc etc.

However reading this hasn't put me off nuclear power mainly due to the fact that it was terribly designed, poorly implemented and extremely dangerous in the first place - no other nuclear power plant has ever been designed in the same way.

[AcesandEights]

However reading this hasn't put me off nuclear power mainly due to the fact that it was terribly designed, poorly implemented and extremely dangerous in the first place - no other nuclear power plant has ever been designed in the same way.

Yeah, it's not like they let the lowest bidder build these things in most places ;)

[SymphonicX]

Yeah, it's not like they let the lowest bidder build these things in most places ;)


haha that is very true there Aces :)

Assuming of course all the rigorous safety contingencies are in place and has been checked by an independant regulator - none of this happened in Chornobyl (that's how they like it spelt) - then I don't have a problem with it - the regulations are extremely tight. This is what has changed since the disaster in the industry:



Leaving aside the verdict of history on its role in melting the Soviet 'Iron Curtain', some very tangible practical benefits have resulted from the Chernobyl accident. The main ones concern reactor safety, notably in eastern Europe. (The US Three Mile Island accident in 1979 had a significant effect on Western reactor design and operating procedures. While that reactor was destroyed, all radioactivity was contained – as designed – and there were no deaths or injuries.)

While no-one in the West was under any illusion about the safety of early Soviet reactor designs, some lessons learned have also been applicable to Western plants. Certainly the safety of all Soviet-designed reactors has improved vastly. This is due largely to the development of a culture of safety encouraged by increased collaboration between East and West, and substantial investment in improving the reactors.

Modifications have been made to overcome deficiencies in all the RBMK reactors still operating. In these, originally the nuclear chain reaction and power output could increase if cooling water were lost or turned to steam, in contrast to most Western designs. It was this effect which led to the uncontrolled power surge that led to the destruction of Chernobyl 4 (see Positive void coefficient section in the information page on RBMK Reactors). All of the RBMK reactors have now been modified by changes in the control rods, adding neutron absorbers and consequently increasing the fuel enrichment from 1.8 to 2.4% U-235, making them very much more stable at low power (see Post accident changes to the RBMK section in the information page on RBMK Reactors). Automatic shut-down mechanisms now operate faster, and other safety mechanisms have been improved. Automated inspection equipment has also been installed. A repetition of the 1986 Chernobyl accident is now virtually impossible, according to a German nuclear safety agency report5.

Since 1989, over 1000 nuclear engineers from the former Soviet Union have visited Western nuclear power plants and there have been many reciprocal visits. Over 50 twinning arrangements between East and West nuclear plants have been put in place. Most of this has been under the auspices of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), a body formed in 1989 which links 130 operators of nuclear power plants in more than 30 countries (see also information page on Cooperation in the Nuclear Power Industry).

Many other international programmes were initiated following Chernobyl. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety review projects for each particular type of Soviet reactor are noteworthy, bringing together operators and Western engineers to focus on safety improvements. These initiatives are backed by funding arrangements. The Nuclear Safety Assistance Coordination Centre database lists Western aid totalling almost US$1 billion for more than 700 safety-related projects in former Eastern Bloc countries. The Convention on Nuclear Safety adopted in Vienna in June 1994 is another outcome.

The Chernobyl Forum report said that some seven million people are now receiving or eligible for benefits as 'Chernobyl victims', which means that resources are not targeting the needy few percent of them. Remedying this presents daunting political problems however.

[Tricky]

Have you seen the footage of the helicopter that was above the reactor as part of the fire fighting effort where it gets caught up in power cables & comes down? its awful. The only good thing to come out of it was that the crew will have died quickly rather than from the intense radiation sickness they would have suffered :(
I've posted this before but here it is again, probably the best set of photos & descriptions available of the dead zone, from a lady who regularly goes there on her motorbike exploring http://www.kiddofspeed.com/

[SymphonicX]

Have you seen the footage of the helicopter that was above the reactor as part of the fire fighting effort where it gets caught up in power cables & comes down? its awful. The only good thing to come out of it was that the crew will have died quickly rather than from the intense radiation sickness they would have suffered :(
I've posted this before but here it is again, probably the best set of photos & descriptions available of the dead zone, from a lady who regularly goes there on her motorbike exploring http://www.kiddofspeed.com/

F**king hell, just how many images did Modern Warfare use from this place....

AMAZING site man

[bassman]

I was just thinking that it's surprising Hollywood hasn't yet put out a film based on this event. You know, the big summer Will Smith/Keanu Reeves type. Not that I want it, but you would think they could use this to further cash in on the disaster craze. I think up till this point there have only been tv movies.

[SymphonicX]

I was just thinking that it's surprising Hollywood hasn't yet put out a film based on this event. You know, the big summer Will Smith/Keanu Reeves type. Not that I want it, but you would think they could use this to further cash in on the disaster craze. I think up till this point there have only been tv movies.

what with all the foreign based hollywood movies recently, I think that'd fit in well.

We've seen an influx of movies starring American or British Actors sporting various regional accents, Defiance, inglourious basterds, valkyrie, blood diamond etc etc

[MinionZombie]

In all seriousness though, I think there could be a good film made about the Chernobyl incident.

You could have a dramatic re-telling of the whole thing from different perspectives, and you could also have an adaptation of the videogame STALKER (I think you could make a really good horror movie out of that) ... so there's two kinds of movies you could get out of Chernobyl.

It'd have to be respectful though, but I think a dramatic re-telling of it - perhaps brought to us by a big player with the clout to gather the budget needed to do the whole thing justice (like Spielberg ... think "Munich" or "Schindler's List" ... or similar) - to make a film that was both respectful and informative. Not to mention accurate ... it's one of those fascinating tragedies.

Those photos really highlight the suffering that has occurred since, but even still, it's a fascinating event and the area itself, too, is extremely fascinating.

As hellsing well-knows, and perhaps some others here too, I was also a big fan of the STALKER videogames (although I'm still to play the third game in the franchise) ... to tour these locations, or approximations/combinations/altered versions, in the virtual world of the videogame was chilling and fascinating.

Going inside Chernobyl NPP itself was just insane - and going into the reactor itself and seeing the 'lid' flipped over amidst the rubble. Creepy stuff indeed.

...

This also reminds me that they were constructing a second sarcophagus to go over the existing one (which is full of holes!) and there was a serious time limit ... I can't remember the details now, but there was a serious issue going on - that the current cover would collapse and release another cloud of radiation, so they are having/had to (not sure of the progress) get a new sarcophagus built over the top of the existing one.

[Mr.G]

I'd love to see a good documentary about the accident with a now/then piece.

[Tricky]

Heres what its like inside the reactor in recent years, filmed by the teams who have to go in and monitor/maintain the sarcophagus (I'd want a hell of a lot of money to do that job!)
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And that helicopter crash I mentioned before

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[MinionZombie]

I've got a couple of Chernobyl documentaries downloaded, come to think of it (I think a lot of that footage in the first video you posted is from one or both of those as it's familiar footage). The white spots on the video footage is creepy - because that's the effect of the radiation visualised, really.

The footage in one of those docs where they went inside the reactor and saw all around inside (including "the elephant's foot" - which you also see in STALKER, come to think of it) was just incredible. It's reality mixed with disaster and horror filmmaking, in a way.

[Legion2213]

Seriously, if something like this happened in the west, where the Hell would we find our "biorobots/liquidators"?