Chernobyl - Meltdown of an Empire (Myth20c - Ep154)

Situated on the northern reaches of Ukraine in what was once the heart of the western Soviet empire, the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone now consists of nearly 3,000 square kilometers of pristine forest that is eerily devoid of any sizable human population. At the heart of this atomic wasteland sits the now defunct and still highly radioactive husk of what was once the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The core meltdown that occurred in the middle of the night in April 1986 spewed radioactive dust and steam several kilometers into the air, sending a cloud over all of central and northern Europe, tripping alarms at power stations as far away as Sweden. Before the dust had even settled, over 500,000 workers had to be dispatched in an attempt to seal the burning reactor from further contaminating the surroundings. Not only did this place an enormous physical and financial burden on the Soviet Union, but also a psychological one, in many ways bringing about the end of the USSR and casting a grave shadow of doubt over the nuclear energy industry throughout the world.

-- Brought to you by --

Very special guest Titus Flavius
@mirthismight

with Adam Smith, Hans Lander and Nick Mason

New: Hard Copies of Exit Strategy now Available! http://www.lulu.com/shop/adam-smith/exit-strategy/paperback/product-24191334.html

- https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/chernobyl-meltdown-of-an-empire/
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-- References --

- Odds of Meltdown ‘One in 10,000 Years,’ Soviet Official Says, Associated Press (1986) - https://apnews.com/ce2dbd47080ff1cc91d5ba851bd03942
- Zero Hour: Disaster at Chernobyl, Discovery Channel (2004) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITEXGdht3y8
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, GSC Game World (2007)
- Nuclear Explosion Can Heal the Bleeding Wound in the Gulf of Mexico, Sudakov (2010) - https://www.pravdareport.com/world/113370-oil_leak/
- Dark, Odar and Friese (2017)
- Chernobyl, Mazin (2019)
- Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, Higginbotham (2019)
- The Chernobyl Disaster May Have Also Built a Paradise, Rogers (2019) - https://www.wired.com/story/the-chernobyl-disaster-might-have-also-built-a-paradise/
- India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_States_Civil_Nuclear_Agreement
- The Chernobyl Gallery - http://www.chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/timeline/