Chernobyl - Dangerous, Exciting Holiday!?

[Teddy_Csx]

"Edit - When i said "Exciting Holiday" - i was referring to the destination, & when i talk about the area, i am referring to a DAY trip only! - not an extended period of stay. Cheers"

 

Good Evening All.

First up, My name is Matt & I'm from Australia. Nice forums here, alot of data!

 

Basically, ive been intrigued about the entire Chernobyl event, ever since i first layed eyes on it all those years ago. After doing some extensive research, and finding out alot of genuine data about traveling to the region for tours into Chernobyl, ive come to wounder about a few health related questions.

 

As i am in the wrong industry for getting any knowledge, (I'm currently in the Automotive Industry), and i did not do any major sciences at school, I'm pritty new to the entire radiation topic.

 

Now, The things that I'm hooked up on.. (I'll make a list)

1) When visiting Chernobyl, ive been told that the radiation dust (as its called?) is more likely to stick to plant matter, apposed to solid surfaces such as road-base. This is why you stick to the road, which gives you less chance of getting radioactive material on you. Is this True? Anyone wish to explain this a little further for me?

 

2) Touching any objects in the zone is going to transfer some small amount of radioactive data onto my body... is there a way of knowing how much is too much / what i should REALLY avoid / best way to go about it?

 

Eg. to help you out, one of the towns you visit on the genuine tour, is the town called Prypyat. Its on the outer skirts of the region. http://www.web-axis.net/~pulse/chernobyl/prypyat-panoramic.jpg

 

Map - Its Middle Top Town

 

Anyway, The point of that, was to show you how close it is to the Reactor.

 

3) What are the short term and long term effects of visiting the region, assuming I'm very careful to what i would touch / where i would go.. etc

 

4) Any other tips / information ?

 

Some Further links for anyone who is intrested...

Tour Page

 

Really good news story.. Read Deception below

The Above link is an AWESOME news story on a bunch of guys that go through the area.. with a camera crew. Ive created a Login and password for anyone interested in looking - (look for movie link of left hand side of screen)

Username : test_logon

Password : 12345678

 

Anway, Thanks to anyone who could help me put my mind to rest on how dangerious this trip is actually going to be!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[d22k]

I remember watching a program on TV about a woman who used to drive through and around chernobyl on a regular basis.

 

She was a motorcyclist (and a scientist) and loves using the open and empty roads to zoom around on.

 

I remember her saying, stick to the middle of the roads and you will be fine...

 

she demonstrated this by standing in the middle of the road with a geiger counter, then walking to the side of the road where said geiger counter went a little nuts.

 

She also warned against going into ANY of the buildings as they may contain "pockets" of very high level radiation.

 

Aside from that she was perfectly safe driving around.

 

 

As for a holiday there, i wouldnt suggest whipping out a deckchair for a spot of sunbathing or going game hunting in the woods, but a drive through an eerily deserted city would be fascinating i imagine.

[insane_alien]

If your driving around there i would recommend keeping the air conditioning(an in car heater is ok just not the built in one that blows air in) off and windows closed. also spend as little time as possible outdoors as there is still a lot of radiation in the area. you might want to cover up as much of your body as is comfortable as this will stop particles sticking to your skin, have a fresh change of clothes for every day and dispose of them after(not by fire) especially i you have been in an abandoned building which could still have airborne particles. also a portable geiger counter would be a good thing to carry around with you so you know when to get out of some where. use it at your home to get a sense of how fast it should be ticking with background radiation(there is radiation EVERYWHERE only most places just not a lot) when your near chernobyl the count rate WILL be higher regardless but you should still be able to hear individual clicks. if it appears to go crazy and you can't hear individual clicks my advise would be to get out of there asap.

[Teddy_Csx]

Thanks for that. Just to make it clear, as i think i may have given the wrong impression with the title - As edited in the first post "When i said "Exciting Holiday" - i was referring to the destination, & when i talk about the area, i am referring to a DAY trip only! - not an extended period of stay"

 

When you say, a lot of radiation in the area, How much is too much? as in, will it cause great halm to me if i was to be exposed to these levels for a few hours for a day trip to the zone ? - How much more would it be, compared to say an X-Ray (easy reference point, everyone knows what they are)

 

Oh and just so you know, that Kiddofspeed girl, who rides through the zone - she a fake, but she did a good job at brining the place some publicity. Ill post up the facts tomorrow.. I'm headin off to bed now!

 

Thanks Guys, much appreciated.

[insane_alien]

In theory any radiation exposure above natural background levels is too much over an extended period of time. but the body does have some tolerance. A day trip shouldn't be too bad at all. but the advice still holds. the amount o radiation you'll absorb depends on where you go and how long you spend there so it could be as low as 5 X-rays but it could go as high as 100 which would give you some effects of radiation poisoning probably but its doubtful for a day trip unless you go cloes to the plant. the biggest danger is inhalation o a radioactive particle which could cause a lot of damge since you don't have your skin to protect you. if that happened you'd probably get cancer in your lungs. if your careful it won't happen but it only takes one particle too cause cancer.

[bascule]

As long as you have a dosimeter you'll be fine. Walking around there without a dosimeter is like being a blind man stumbling around a metal foundry.

[jdurg]

As long as you have a dosimeter you'll be fine. Walking around there without a dosimeter is like being a blind man stumbling around a metal foundry.

 

Yes. A dosimeter is MUCH better than a little geiger counter. A dosimeter will take into account the type of radiation that you are exposed to and not just the fact that you have been exposed to it. A geiger counter is ONLY good for telling you that radiation is there. It will not tell you anything about the energy level of said radiation as a Geiger counter simply measure the occurance of a radioactive decay. A good analogy is the difference between having forty bullets in my hand and throwing them at you, then taking one bullet and firing it at you through a rifle. A Geiger counter would read those thrown bullets and click like crazy because there are forty of them that are hitting you. The truth of the matter is, those forty bullets aren't going to cause you any damage. When I take that one bullet, put it in my rifle and shoot it at you, the Geiger counter would only make one click. That one click, however, would kill you.

 

A dosimeter is incredibly useful because it takes into account the energy behind each decay event. If you are in an area that makes the Geiger Counter go crazy but each event is of incredibly low energy, the Dosimeter will not be affected all that much. If you're in an area where the Geiger Counter isn't doing too much, but the level of energy for each event is very high, then the Dosimeter will start going nuts.

[x ray]

my advice wounld be going on ebay and searching ''geiger counter'' and with under $100 you can buy a set of geiger counters at a reasonabal price. Beware the people that say its been ''circuit checked '' or passed test source test. somepeople just want your money for junk that dosent actualy pass but comes close enogh for them to say it works fine.

[insane_alien]

this was 2 years ago, he has either done it or thought better of it, either way he isn't around here anymore.