Kiev / Ukraine & Chernobyl, visit...

[retroborg]

I was invited to visit Kiev in Ukraine for Christmas & New Year's.
However I noticed that the city resides just 90-100km away from the Blast point of Chernobyl (26 April 1986) and that the whole area was soaked with radiation, as well as the Dnieper river passing by the city and the kyivs'ke reservoir (Probably the city's water supply)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...n_map_1996.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

So, I'm skeptical / worried of whether I should even visit and consume, water, food there, let alone the dust on my clothes and breath the air there.

Is Odessa (~530km away from Chernobyl) as badly affected as Kiev and safe to visit?

From what I understand the whole country was badly affected by this and probably not safe to stay or live there at all even today!

What are your objective opinions?!

Thanks in advance.

[jim]

People are still working in Chernobyl, and they aren't all dropping dead. It's not some huge dead zone surrounding the whole place, it's a perfectly normal countryside with animals, plants and whatever else.

You spend the entire year soaking up radiation through a variety of means, going close to Chernobyl (unless you're planning to actually descend into the sarcophagus!) isn't going to meaningfully impact the amount of radiation you're getting over the course of your life.

I'd be more worried about x-rays.

[retroborg]

People are still working in Chernobyl, and they aren't all dropping dead. It's not some huge dead zone surrounding the whole place, it's a perfectly normal countryside with animals, plants and whatever else.

You spend the entire year soaking up radiation through a variety of means, going close to Chernobyl (unless you're planning to actually descend into the sarcophagus!) isn't going to meaningfully impact the amount of radiation you're getting over the course of your life.

I'd be more worried about x-rays.

Bear in mind though that plants aren't affected negatively by radiation, on they contrary they thrive and become much larger, while most animals of the country side, wolves, cats, dogs, bears, insects, birds, etc... have a small natural life span (months to 10-15 years max) so even if they're affected by radiation, they simply don't live long enough for cancer to develop, while humans who live 70-80years, are affected in the long-term!

And what about this?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1943614/
http://www2.oakland.edu/shatteringea...phy.cfm?Icon=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbCcutzXzYg


(unless you're planning to actually descend into the sarcophagus!)


Lol! That made me laugh, that's a good one!
That would be one hell of a cool ride!!
I wonder if I'll glow in the night after that?!

[aidanjt]

It's perfectly safe to visit Chernobyl itself, much less Kiev. The extent of the disaster has been massively exaggerated. As for water, stick with bottled, mainly due to shoddy infrastructure, possibly made up of toxic metals and parasites.

So unless you're planning on cutting lines of powdered uranium to snort, you don't have anything to worry about.

Put away STALKER.

[Lucio]

You'll be exposed to more radiation on the flight out from the airport scanners and cosmic rays in the cabin than you will from the site

[MaddAussie]

This is a good place to get an idea of the sort doses expected, as every with theses things its more media hype and general ignorance that scares people
http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[abaxas]

Just go and stop being a pussy.

[Ferral]

As of Dec 2011 Chernobyl is actually open to visitors into the radiation monitoring room and Pripyat.

http://www.worldtravelwatch.com/11/1...-tourists.html

There is a large exclusion zone round the plant that people are not allowed to enter, this exclusion zone is monitored by security personel.

Most places that you venture out to on holidays, it is recommended that you drink bottled water regardless. In all honesty you will have nothing to worry about, take the trip, could be a once in a lifetime chance.

I think you are reading to much into the whole radiation side of things, do you use a mobile phone at all? Everyone uses them but they do give off a little background radiation while in use up to your ear. Not forgetting the whole STALKER series of games which portrays amomalies, huge radiation areas etc

Go for it

[retroborg]

This is a good place to get an idea of the sort doses expected, as every with theses things its more media hype and general ignorance that scares people
http://xkcd.com/radiation/

Very interesting chart, how ever on the bottom it says:

"I'm sure I've added lots of mistakes; it’s for general education only. If you're basing radiation safety procedures on an internet PNG image and things go wrong, you have no one to blame but your self"

[MaddAussie]

Very interesting chart, how ever on the bottom it says:

"I'm sure I've added lots of mistakes; it’s for general education only. If you're basing radiation safety procedures on an internet PNG image and things go wrong, you have no one to blame but your self"

Aye as with everything these days it has a disclaimer! But if you read the accompanying article he sites all of his sources, hes just covering his own back, as ever with the internet take things with a very large dose of salt

[Sputnik]

You have nothing to worry about, People live there 24/7 and it does not have much if any effect on the majority of them so a couple of weeks won't do you any harm.

There are some people that live in the villages nearer to Chernobyl than Kiev is.

When I was in the Ukraine I even drank the tap water and I never died.

A few of the people who lived there would not eat mushrooms because they said if they were grown in contaminated soil it could be bad for you. The Ukrainians do seem fussy eaters though so it might just be nothing more than their personal preferences.

[jim]

(unless you're planning to actually descend into the sarcophagus!)


Lol! That made me laugh, that's a good one!
That would be one hell of a cool ride!!
I wonder if I'll glow in the night after that?!

Seriously though, there are a lot of scientists who were doing exactly that a few years ago (and could well still be doing it) for months at a time to properly assess the damage. There was a high prevalence of cancer among them iirc, but they certainly weren't dropping like flies.

It's so overstated it's untrue. Aside from the initial iodine cloud, the radiation isn't anything different to what you absorb on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, it's more concentrated in that area, but it doesn't mean it's any different. Radiation comes from so many sources - laboratories, x-ray scanners, space, radon in the ground, remnants of nuclear tests... it would be a bit like saying that going to Barbados for a week presents a severe risk of skin cancer, ignoring the 40 years of your life you spent walking around everywhere else with no suncream.

[peterb]

You are probably at greater risk of death from a vodka fuelled RTA than radiation induced cancer

[stevie lee]

I would be more worried about all the chernobyl fallout that was dumped on the UK that you've been eating/breathing/swimming in/eating/stood in for 25 years.

so basically. dont be worried about it. its probably safer to be stood in chernobyl than it is in cumbria.

[retroborg]

Apparently the sarcophagus holding the reactor core is on the verge to collapse so there could be radiation leaking from it even today & contaminating even more the surrounding environment and Kiev city it self!
While the corrupt politicians stole the money meant to be used to seal it permanently!

http://news.kievukraine.info/2010/02...d-sucking.html

[j1979]

I go to Kiev regularly and will be there in January next. The locals don't drink the water, but this has nothing to do with radiation, i drink it boiled in tea no problem, and everyone cooks and washes with it. Many people have visited Pripyat and there are people who never left and lived there ever since the disaster. People who refused to leave during the evacuation.

Ukraine is perfectly safe and if it weren't then UEFA would not have chosen Kiev for the Euro 2012 final. There is no more radiation in Kiev then any other city.

I have also be to Odessa, and most of Ukraine.

as you can see from the photos below, they have not melted.
http://brainlog.info/wp-content/uplo...my-2bkepka.jpg



The grass still grows and the fish look healthy in Pripyat



Ukraine is a cool country, my girl friend is Ukrainian, and i want to move there in a few years.

If you are going, give me a shout if you need transport, i run a website that sells ticket to travelers who can't speak Russian or Ukrainian. And if you plan on staying in Kiev, here is the map i made of Kiev metro (underground) it's the only one that i know of in English and Russian and i made it myself (well added the English bits.)



I have a lot of contacts in Ukraine, so if you need anything give me a shout