The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: Ukraine’s Nuclear Eden

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[hummusmold]

20:35
"Radiation may kill us slowly, but it doesn't shoot or bomb us. It's better to live with radiation than with war."
That quote hurts a bit now.

[Sarah-bwtm]

Wild plant life is also evolving in the CEZ unlike anywhere else. There’s a type of radiotrophic fungus growing at the power plant called Cladosporoim Sphaerospermum that not only consumes radiation for energy to grow, but it also has the ability to block and neutralize radiation. NASA is currently studying it at the ISS to see if has applications for longer term space travel.

[MisterOcclusion]

Have you ever thought of doing a bit on the red zones in France? Areas that are uninhabitable as a result of WWI

[andycleve]

“Instagram ruin porn”

My new favorite quote

[bongusdongus]

“A Rhode Island sized area of toxic land”, also known as Rhode Island

[StoneInMySandal]

Nobody ever talks about the fact the other three reactors at Chernobyl kept running until 2000.

[JohnSmith-eosp]

20:44 "It is better to live with radiation than with war" - how fitting for that land

[THHLYJBUS]

Simon, you should have mentioned the catfish. Since they obviously don't give a fuck about radiation, there are catfish between 6-8' long in the reactor ponds now

[DanielLopez-upos]

My uncle in Eastern Eeurope was Playing outside around that timeframe, and then it rained and my uncle became sick for a few weeks with no idea why. Later on it was realized it was probably the radioactive particle that the rain brought down with it, and gave him minor radiation sickness.

[ignitionfrn]

1:40 - Chapter 1 – The name of the star
4:40 - Chapter 2 – Apocalypse now
7:45 – Mid roll ads
9:35 – Chapter 3 – The land of alienation
13:00 - Chapter 4 – Life in the ruins
16:35 - Chapter 5 – People of the zone
20:45 - Chapter 6 – The 2nd inferno

[Newt.--.Jaeden]

If anyone wants to see some good but relaxed videos on the Exclusion Zone, I recommend the channel "Bald and Bankrupt". It's just a british dude going around the former soviet union and having a good time, but getting real first-hand stories from the old people that lived through the soviet era.

[scorpio]

This is definitely the video that taught me more about Chernobyl than I had previously known. How scary a forest fire could still spread death this long after. I live in Texas and it wasn’t that long ago that the smoke of a fire in California was choking us. Very informative. Thank you Simon and team!

[theblackbaron]

I've played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I know how to deal with those hotspots, just toss a steel bolt into the anomaly. It should dissipate temporarily.

[elliottprice]

I'm surprised just how much of the exclusion zone has been reclaimed by nature. As fascinating as it is eerie

[TheGrinningViking]

I logged into shortform to check out what it said about Simon's channels and it redirected me to "bald YouTube bollock" and "professional quality writing and editing" - Useful!

[gentleken]

It's interesting, there's a channel of some guy called Shiey who goes to some weird abandoned places around the world and he and two friends walked across the exclusion zone (obviously not allowed) and stayed a couple of nights in Pripyat in one of the abandoned housing blocks. Thing is, there were a fair few others, who had 'broken in' and were doing the same. He went to and climbed the Duga Radar area which was very cool. Their dosimeters showed some areas to be 'okay'. Still a bit dangerous for my liking, but excellent viewing.

[terenceconnors]

US Pacific Command's Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief team was monitoring the Fukushima disaster as it developed. We spent two weeks straight analyzing satellite and aerial photography and reviewing industry reports. It was clearly hell, and Japan's government was clearly lying about how serious the accident was. By day 2, it was obvious those reactors were utterly screwed. As of 2021, anyone claiming Chernobyl is a worse nuclear disaster is making a false comparison. We've got 25 more years of data on Chernobyl, plus plenty of Western researchers willing to embarrass Russia.

[Katarn]

I'd like to add, that city of Chernobyl (far enough from Power Plant, but inside zone) Houses personal that supports Zone. They have running and hot water, there is one store and even an ATM. Can't say for rest of Zone, but buildings around power Plant has proper power, running water and other 'luxuries'. I just wanted to add this small info, since you said, that Samosely doesn't have access to store.

[theblackbaron]

The fallout from the Chernobyl dissaster, in the south of Austria, we're still not adviced yo gather certain mushrooms. According to a recent study of said mushrooms they are still containing still too much of certain caesium isotopes.

[niznikb]

Every time I heard "radionucleotide", it was difficult to stop myself from screaming: "You mean: radioNUCLIDE!!!". I know that it sounds extra sophisticated when you add an extra syllable to a word that already sounds "superscientific".
But it bugs me.
Yeah, I'm a nerd. But I still love your videos...