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

Much of the radioactive material was contained in dust and particles that slowly blanketed the area and has since been moved and buried until the constant fall of “stuff” that occurs everyday.

So just walking around is maybe not the worst choice you could make, though there are still pockets of increased radiation.

A worse choice would be to disturb environment, something like building a home or tilling the soil would turn up all that dust and be a super bad time for you.

Remember those Russian troops who camped out around the reactor and dug trenches into the Earth for a few days of shelter in the early days of the Ukrainian War? And then suddenly they were all shipped away and never heard from again?

They’re… not doing well.