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30 years ago today.
At Chernobyl And Fukushima, Radioactivity Has Seriously Harmed Wildlife
The largest nuclear disaster in history occurred 30 years ago at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in what was then the Soviet Union. The meltdown, explosions and nuclear fire that burned for 10 days injected enormous quantities of radioactivity into the atmosphere and contaminated vast areas of Europe and Eurasia. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Chernobyl released 400 times more radioactivity into the atmosphere than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Read the article in full.....
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Hard to believe it was that long ago. There was a segment on BBC News this afternoon saying that there are several hundred elderly people still living within the exclusion zone. Apart from the devastation to the wildlife, many children have been born with birth defects. With all the nuclear facilities around the world, there's always the chance it could happen again.
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@Bambino wrote:.......With all the nuclear facilities around the world, there's always the chance it could happen again.
That's the scary thing......
I have been trying to think where I'd have been 30 years ago ... = ... somewhere between the Stoke-on-Trent area & very rural Leicestershire ... my son would have been 1 year old ... & ... would have hugged him that bit tighter, I'm sure ... hard to believe it's all those years ago ... why is it always the elderly / infirm / children ... & ... yes wildlife who suffer these major disasters ... not forgetting the scientists etc who no doubt tried their best to clean up afterwards ... the moneyed people get away scot free as per usual ... = ... yes a hackneyed phrase & a wide sweeping statement I know ... I used to get told off right good & proper for doing this
Very sad 
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The issue that disturbed me more than anything was we would probably never know the true scale of this disaster because it occurred in the Soviet Union.
In medical circles there have been long debates about the probability of a cover up...
No-one was able to get near for obvious reasons initially.....and it was years later that some evidence became available. Restrictions are still in force. I doubt we will know the real effects of this for another 50 years or more...
