Why is Chernobyl deemed to not be habitable for 22,000 years despite reports and articles everywhere saying that the radiation exposure of being within the exclusion zone is less you’d get than flying in a plane or living in elevated areas like Colorado or Cornwall?

Question

Why is Chernobyl deemed to not be habitable for 22,000 years despite reports and articles everywhere saying that the radiation exposure of being within the exclusion zone is less you’d get than flying in a plane or living in elevated areas like Colorado or Cornwall?

In: 12368

Answer 1

It’s like the asbestos tiles that had been in my house for 60 years. They’re all nice and insulating and harmless when they’re sitting on the floor/wall/ceiling and not being disturbed. Once you start breaking them into pieces and all those little particles/fibers start getting into the air, you better have a proper filtration system and facemask in place or you’re gonna be dealing with a highly elevated cancer risk.

It’s easy to do a proper asbestos removal in one house. It’s a lot harder to clean up a city area with hundreds of square miles of buildings and outdoor spaces.