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    #16
    Very possible, though Hungary was rather more fortunate than surrounding countries. I don't know if that's a wind thing or a geography thing, but you can see the fallout pattern at this old BBC link:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/h...l/nn3page1.stm


    What any of that means for crops and their harvesting/sale though, I have no idea.
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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      #17
      Originally posted by DigiFluid View Post
      Very possible, though Hungary was rather more fortunate than surrounding countries. I don't know if that's a wind thing or a geography thing, but you can see the fallout pattern at this old BBC link:

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/h...l/nn3page1.stm


      What any of that means for crops and their harvesting/sale though, I have no idea.
      Radiation is carried by the wind indeed, it's the determining factor in radioactive fallout. Fukushima for instance didn't affect many people because the winds went mostly towards the ocean.

      That being said, I believe Platschu said that strawberries were cheap is because this fruit particularly has most of it's mass in form of water, and radiative particles that fall on the ground usually find it's way into the underground wells in turn being absorbed by the crops.

      Most people directly affected either died or afflicted by Thyroid cancer, which has risen drastically in the region post-Chernobyl. The saddest thing is that we will never know the full impact because you know, URSS and even nowadays Russia buried all evidences.
      Spoiler:
      I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

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        #18
        Originally posted by Chaka-Z0 View Post
        Radiation is carried by the wind indeed, it's the determining factor in radioactive fallout.
        Oh, sure of course. What I meant by geography was that I don't know if maybe there were mountains or hills or just eddies in the windstream that buffered the fallout largely around Hungary rather than directly on top of it.
        "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

        Comment


          #19
          Originally posted by DigiFluid View Post
          Oh, sure of course. What I meant by geography was that I don't know if maybe there were mountains or hills or just eddies in the windstream that buffered the fallout largely around Hungary rather than directly on top of it.
          Gotcha.

          I know today's facilities are supposedly 100% safe to prevent such accidents but it makes you wonder, are we really always in control? Some things are best left alone.
          Spoiler:
          I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

          Comment


            #20
            Hungary was still lucky then according to your map as we were naturally protected by the Carpathian mountains (which were the natural border of the big-Hungary before World War I). I have mentioned the strawberries as news were not shared with the population behind the Iron Curtain. Even childrens were not allowed to go out in Frankfurt, but the Hungarian authorities were not carrying about us. Or they didn't want to start a mass panic. You know they could have told us to take some jodid salt which could have decreased the harm of radiation. Nobody will ever admit it how this tragic event has affected millions of people in Europe and unfortunately it can include me as well... So that is the main reason that even if I have heard that this is a really good mini-series, I would rather skip it as it makes me angry.

            A little off. Stalin has once said this sentence which became a famous quote: "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." This mentality is still true about the Russian mentality regarding Chernobyl.
            https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/0...ath-statistic/
            "I was hoping for another day. Looks like we just got a whole lot more than that. Let's not waste it."

            "Never underestimate your audience. They're generally sensitive, intelligent people who respond positively to quality entertainment."

            "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."

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              #21
              Absolutely, to everything you said.

              It's rather a chilling reminder that nuclear power is dangerous, even in hands that you'd otherwise assume were qualified to handle it. Mistakes happen. Carelessness happens. And then entire continents face the consequences.

              Not-so-subtle reminder that nobody should be championing war between nuclear-armed nations, ever. Compared to nuclear weapons, the Chernobyl disaster that dumped radioactive fallout all across Europe barely measures as a blip. That should terrify everyone.
              "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

              Comment


                #22
                Yep. Also worth to mention that even though the pro-nuclear crowd keeps saying that it's safe, nothing like that can happen well...

                How do you prevent a catastrophe if you enter war with another nation? I hardly doubt those nuclear reactors are missile-proof.
                Spoiler:
                I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

                Comment


                  #23
                  I still support nulcear plants, but there always can be a human or a natural disaster factor in any plants. You can also not place water dams, wind mills and solar energy everywhere, because those can also hirt the local wildlife. Nothing will change until we have oil and carbon. When humanity will run out of them in 2100-2200, then they will place alternate energy resources everywhere. Once I have read an article if they would cover the Sahara with solar panels with a similar size as Hungary, then the energy need of the whole Europe could be covered. But as I have said no OPEC countries will autorize such things and they would rather attack those places as long as they can sell their oil.

                  We should be worried about those countries who have got atomic bombs in an ongoing ideological, territorial or ethnical war (like Pakistan, India, North Korea), which can lead to the extension of humanity if the wrong people push the wrong buttons in the wrong situations.
                  "I was hoping for another day. Looks like we just got a whole lot more than that. Let's not waste it."

                  "Never underestimate your audience. They're generally sensitive, intelligent people who respond positively to quality entertainment."

                  "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by Platschu View Post
                    I still support nulcear plants, but there always can be a human or a natural disaster factor in any plants. You can also not place water dams, wind mills and solar energy everywhere, because those can also hirt the local wildlife. Nothing will change until we have oil and carbon. When humanity will run out of them in 2100-2200, then they will place alternate energy resources everywhere. Once I have read an article if they would cover the Sahara with solar panels with a similar size as Hungary, then the energy need of the whole Europe could be covered. But as I have said no OPEC countries will autorize such things and they would rather attack those places as long as they can sell their oil.

                    We should be worried about those countries who have got atomic bombs in an ongoing ideological, territorial or ethnical war (like Pakistan, India, North Korea), which can lead to the extension of humanity if the wrong people push the wrong buttons in the wrong situations.
                    The way I see it, those projections fail on one aspect: we won't get that far (2100-2200) if we keep using fossil fuels, humanity will fade before we reach that point.

                    Some say it's a good transition tech, I don't agree: it leaves a major stain on the environment for tens of thousand of years and generates tons of radioactive trash that are not as of now always properly disposed of. Also contrary to every single other type of industry, when nuclear goes bad it can literally kill us all.
                    Spoiler:
                    I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Great. I have edited my post while my PC was crashing on me.

                      Nobody knows what the future holds. I am pretty sure that soon it or later they will fight for the resources under the Artic Ocean or under the ice of the Antarctis. If there are mountains, I am sure there must be some minerals too. But humanity should stop the overpopulation at first and overhunt of animals, but anyway this is off-topic here. We have to believe that humanity could work together for a bigger goal :
                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall
                      So if they want to replace the nuclear plants, then they should really transform the Sahara into oasis / savannah and plant as many solar panels as they can. I am sure the climate change could be reversed. Since nobody lives there, it wouldn't hurt anyone. Just the sand could be a problem and how the panels could be cleaned. But I am sure they can find a mechanical method or develop a robot for such harsh environments.
                      "I was hoping for another day. Looks like we just got a whole lot more than that. Let's not waste it."

                      "Never underestimate your audience. They're generally sensitive, intelligent people who respond positively to quality entertainment."

                      "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."

                      Comment


                        #26
                        I've seen three episodes so far, and it's riveting. First time in a long time that a TV show or movie has affected my dreams/nightmares.
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                          #27
                          Before I watched this I knew very little about it, I'd obviously heard about it, but I was only 8 weeks old when it happened so don't have any memories of it. I learned, from my mum, while watching it with her that the UK was partly affected by it as well, though to a much lesser degree and that some of the cattle over here had to be killed. Obviously that was tiny in compared to the countries surrounding it. I found it hard to watch at times and I cried a lot, but I did watch to the end. There was a documentary not long after about it, and they were building a frame to cover the old one that was errected to cover it after it happened, but because of the levels of radiation they were unable to build it properly and as a result it of course started to break apart. The new struture they built has machinery inside that's supposed to take apart everything inside, and remove it, and is supposed to last 100 years. But they said the material inside won't be safe for 22,000 years. Which is a scary thought. It was an interesting documentery though.
                          sigpic
                          He’s the moon when I’m lost in darkness, and warmth when I shiver in cold

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