The 1,000-square mile exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant has remained virtually free from human intrusion for
the last 30 years—ever since the landscape was blanketed in lethal
levels of radiation following a catastrophic meltdown. The years since
have seen a gradual rewilding of the area, with nature reclaiming the
ghost town surrounding the defunct plant, and animals large and small
moving into the surrounding forests. Headlines trumpet that the wildlife
is “thriving,” “flourishing,” and ruling the landscape.
The real story is vastly more complicated. Animals are present, but
they haven’t escaped the effects of radiation, according to the results
of 15 years’ worth of studies conducted by Timothy Mousseau, a professor
of biology at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and his
colleagues. Theirs is one of the only research groups gathering
on-the-ground data to better understand the Chernobyl disaster’s effects
on the plants, animals and microbes living there. In 2011, they also
branched out to Fukushima, repeating some of their Ukraine studies in
the Japanese disaster zone, for comparison.
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Data: 23.05.2016
Fonte: www.good.is
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