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?
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What this boils down to is understanding the difference between ionizing radiation (i.e. alpha rays, beta rays, gamma rays, x-rays, neutrons, cosmic rays, etc), and radioactive materials that emit ionizing radiation. If you’re just standing somewhere in the exclusion zone in winter standing on a snow-covered parking lot, then your exposure to either of those things is going to be pretty minimal. There will likely be some radioactive materials mixed into the snow on the ground, but the snow will keep it under your feet and you’ll be receiving a very small dose of ionizing radiation. However, go there in spring, summer or fall on a decently windy day and you had better be wearing very good PPE with NBC rated filters. All of the dangerous particles of radioactive isotopes that will take those 22,000 years to decay down to safe levels are in the dirt being kicked up by that wind, and if you get those inside your body, the small amounts of ionizing radiation that they are giving off that is mostly blocked by your skin (talking about the alpha and beta rays, the gamma and others will go right through you) is suddenly stuck inside your body, tearing you apart from the inside.
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