Chernobyl looking to develop tourism post-war

[NNadir]

I'm sure this article might inspire some commentary.

Chernobyl looking to develop tourism post-war

Subtitle:

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the Slavutych City authorities have signed a memorandum of cooperation with the goal of developing local tourism as part of the post-war revival of the region.

Excerpts from the full article:

According to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) state enterprise, "this will contribute to the development of the tourist attractiveness of the Slavutych community and the region as a whole, the preservation of historical memory, and the formation of a positive image both at the national and international levels".

Slavutych was the city built 45 kilometres east of Chernobyl to house its workers evacuated from Pripyat which was three kilometres from the plant, after the 1986 accident.

The framework of the memorandum includes support for the city museum of Slavutych, the tourist information centre and expanding exhibitions related to the history of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and "the construction of the cities of Pripyat and Slavutych, as well as the elimination of the consequences of the accident, which will contribute to a deeper understanding of the events of 1986".

There are also proposals for "thematic excursions" and "joint tourist, cultural, educational and educational events - conferences, festivals, excursions, study tours for students, thematic events dedicated to the topics of Chernobyl, ecology and sustainable development with the involvement of specialists of the ChNPP State Enterprise and institutions and organisations of the city, scientists and tourists"...

... In 2019 a decree by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky titled "On the development of areas affected by radioactive contamination due to the Chernobyl disaster" aimed to begin turning the exclusion zone into one of the growth points of the new Ukraine.

It aimed to remove a ban on filming in the area and to "popularise" tourism in Chernobyl at international events. "We must give this territory of Ukraine a new lease of life. Until now, Chernobyl has been a negative component of the Ukrainian brand. It's time to change that. We must showcase this place to the world: to scientists, ecologists, historians, tourists," he said at the time.

As well as the historical and educational potential of the area, the exclusion zone has become what the United Nations' environment programme describes as "a haven for wildlife, with lynx, bison, deer and other animals roaming through thick forests" in "the third-largest nature reserve in mainland Europe and an iconic – if accidental – experiment in rewilding"...

If I had the time or money, and if it was safe from Russian fossil fuel based weapons of mass destruction, I would absolutely love to go.

Chernobyl changed my life inasmuch as the event, as tragic as it was, caused me to begin to investigate nuclear power outside of popular media descriptions by going into the primary scientific literature to understand it. I have spent almost 40 years in the effort, investing a huge amount of time and even some money, and I have a feeling it affected my family in a good way, in particular with respect to my youngest son, well on his way to becoming a nuclear professional.

[JoseBalow]

1. Tarkovsky's "Stalker" comes to mind

The thought of visiting Chernobyl's exclusion zone always reminds me of Stalker. I imagine that's what the place looks and feels like today. I'd still love to check it out also, though.

Based on the novel "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Zone that arose on Earth for unknown reasons attracts attention with inexplicable phenomena that occur there. A rumor has spread that in the center of the Zone there is something that gives a person everything he wants. But staying in the Zone is deadly, and therefore it is strictly guarded. There, each for their own reasons, the Writer and the Professor go, the Stalker leads them to the mysterious center, feeling and understanding the Zone...

(2:41:55)

[Caribbeans]

2. "I'd still love to check it out also, though."

Google Earth -

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Chernobyl's+exclusion+zone/@51.276289,30.2233335,1110m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Many views available on street view like

[NNadir]

5. Oh surely the fossil fuel industry can do better than a picture of an abandoned Ferris Wheel. Can't we have...

...one of those slick videos produced greenwashing fossil fuels, rebranding them as "hydrogen?"

I'm disappointed.

I'd like to ask the fossil fuel industry spokespeople here which has killed more people, radiation from Chernobyl or all the coal being burned to make hydrogen in Germany, and electricity in Germany that the fossil fuel people represent as a "green" hydrogen nirvana.

The fossil fuel industry has long survived by whipping up antinuke fear and ignorance.

How about a picture of the lanthanide mines near Baotou that goes into making all those wind turbines that the fossil fuel industry likes to pretend the Chinese use to make hydrogen, in order to cover up that less than 1% of the dirty hydrogen in China is made by electrolysis?

This isn't a slick video, but a picture from a news source:



The caption:

Health hazard ... pipes coming from a rare-earth smelting plant spew into a tailings dam on the outskirts of Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region

From the article, in the Guardian: Rare-earth mining in China comes at a heavy cost for local villages


Pollution is poisoning the farms and villages of the region that processes the precious minerals

From the air it looks like a huge lake, fed by many tributaries, but on the ground it turns out to be a murky expanse of water, in which no fish or algae can survive. The shore is coated with a black crust, so thick you can walk on it. Into this huge, 10 sq km tailings pond nearby factories discharge water loaded with chemicals used to process the 17 most sought after minerals in the world, collectively known as rare earths.

The town of Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, is the largest Chinese source of these strategic elements, essential to advanced technology, from smartphones to GPS receivers, but also to wind farms and, above all, electric cars. The minerals are mined at Bayan Obo, 120km farther north, then brought to Baotou for processing.

The concentration of rare earths in the ore is very low, so they must be separated and purified, using hydro-metallurgical techniques and acid baths. China accounts for 97% of global output of these precious substances, with two-thirds produced in Baotou.

Here's another nice picture connected with the big, big, big lie about "green" hydrogen (as marketed) and "green" so called "renewable energy: "



The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust

An excerpt:

...You may not have heard of Baotou, but the mines and factories here help to keep our modern lives ticking. It is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of “rare earth” minerals. These elements can be found in everything from magnets in wind turbines and electric car motors, to the electronic guts of smartphones and flatscreen TVs. In 2009 China produced 95% of the world's supply of these elements, and it's estimated that the Bayan Obo mines just north of Baotou contain 70% of the world's reserves. But, as we would discover, at what cost?...

I graciously decided to add the bold.

One of the interesting things about the fossil fuel industry is how very much it is like the cigarette industry in producing manufacturing doubt and suspicion and efforts at rebranding. It's an old game, driven by selective attention. The fossil fuel industry, besides rebranding itself as "hydrogen," also needs to sell the lie that nuclear energy, and only nuclear energy, needs to be perfect and without risk. The truth is that nuclear energy need not be without risk to be better than everything else, including hydrogen made by steam reformation of coal - the dominant source of hydrogen there - in China.

As for the Ferris Wheel...how about a fossil fuel marketing agent produces a death toll for Children of Chernobyl.

I have a picture of a child of Chernobyl, but not one killed by radiation:



Think the fossil fuel marketing team can claim she's swatting away a neutron?

Maria Sharapova

I mean they're really, really, really good at producing misleading slick videos. Too much of a challenge?

[NNadir]

3. The reason that the planet is burning all over its surface, vast ecosystems are dying, is that people invest more...

...energy in science fiction than in science.

The Chernobyl Exclusion zone is teeming with life; with some of the species there being endangered outside the zone, but not in it.

These include Przewalski’s horses and the European Bison known as the Wisent which was once extinct in the wild with the entire population being in captivity.

[JoseBalow]

4. The Chernobyl episode of "River Monsters" shows the giant fish flourishing there undisturbed

The episode is from 2013, but I imagine entering the zone to be something like this clip. I'd probably do it, especially for a chance at catching a monster fish like he did!

(7:45)

[NNadir]

6. If one were to open a science book, one could learn that the "giant fish" were an endogenous species in Ukraine...

...long before the discovery of the neutron.

Wels catfish

The wels is one of the largest freshwater fish in Europe and Western Asia, only exceeded by the anadromous Atlantic and beluga sturgeon. Most adult wels catfish are about 1.3–1.6 m (4 ft 3 in – 5 ft 3 in) long; fish longer than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) are a rarity. At 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) they can weigh 15–20 kg (33–44 lb) and at 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) they can weigh 65 kg (143 lb).

The species is about 7 million years old.

Like I said, there are too many people who read science fiction and confuse it with science. They're a pretty gullible bunch, they,

[JoseBalow]

9. Yes, it must be quite confusing for them

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I toured Chernobyl and Pripyat back in April 2018.

[NNadir]

8. Cool.