The explosion of the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant blanketed a vast swath of the western Soviet Union
with radioactive fallout. Thirty years later, 1,600 square miles of
northern Ukraine and southern Belarus remains a wasteland except for the
hardiest wildlife,
a small holdout of elderly citizens, and industrial workers, some who
roam the countryside scavenging radioactive metal. They dismantle the
abandoned equipment, railroads and buildings that still stand,
sandblasting away any irradiated material and consuming lots of vodka.
“There’s this belief that vodka cleans everything,” says Pierpaolo Mittica, who spent two months following the scavengers for his photo series The Radioactive Gold of Chernobyl.
Chernobyl blew on April 26, 1986 in a disaster that forced 200,000
people from their homes. Entire towns stand vacant in an exclusionary
zone that extends up to 60 miles from the plant. Prospectors started
pillaging the region for valuables, and by some estimates, they’ve
retrieved at least one million tons of metal. The Ukrainian government
eventually granted licenses to recycling companies, which decontaminate
the scrap and sell it throughout Europe.
Some reports claim grinding radioactive metal can lead to cancer, while others
say the risk of radiation is are low. “The extent of contamination of
individual metal pieces will depend on their history,” says Neil Hyatt,
an expert in radioactive waste management at the University of
Sheffield. “For example, machinery that has been used to move nuclear
fuel or core materials is likely to remain highly contaminated, whereas
railroad tracks used to move contaminated materials would be expected to
have much less residual contamination if any.”
Data: 18.05.2017
Fonte: www.wired.com
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