Red Zone
- Thread starter Hecateus
- Start date
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It should be re-done as a Discovery documentary. Those simple photos tell a powerful story.
Hecateus,
Wow... that is one crazy biker chick! Touring Chernobyl because the empty roads mean she can let the throttle out and not worry about hitting a car or dog! (She even calls cars 'cages'! Just like a real Hell's Angel!)
She says her father is a nuclear physicist so that's how I guess she got that dandy dosimeter she uses.
I remember the accident. They secured the mess decks, posted guards, and a bunch from NR and ORSE gave us all a very detailed briefing. They had photos, slides, charts, the works. Some of the stuff just had to be off a satellite. When they showed the helos making passes over the ruined containment building dumping concrete and we saw what we saw... well, we all knew the fellows in the helos and behind the cameras were dead. All of the first responders; firefighters, EMT, plant technicians, all of them were dead men walking.
They got the job done though.
Makes you wonder about the fall of the USSR 3 years later. Chernobyl had to have had some effect on all that happening.
When you come down to it, they really screwed themselves. Typical, piss poor, commie design work. I mean, why use something that burns; ie graphite, as a moderator? The West via the IAEC offered them PWR designs free of charge. All they needed to do was shutter their damn stupid plants. Then, just to make things worse, they decide to run experiments on one of the cobbled together heaps. They disabled safety equipment, flouted their own procedures, and did just about everything else they could to screw up. Guess it sounded like a good idea at the time.
They paid for all their mistakes though, willingly gave their lives to entomb it. Sadly, plenty of other people paid too.
It would have made a nifty Traveller amber zone or adventure seed if it just wasn't so damn tragic.
Sincerely,
Larsen
Wow... that is one crazy biker chick! Touring Chernobyl because the empty roads mean she can let the throttle out and not worry about hitting a car or dog! (She even calls cars 'cages'! Just like a real Hell's Angel!)
She says her father is a nuclear physicist so that's how I guess she got that dandy dosimeter she uses.
I remember the accident. They secured the mess decks, posted guards, and a bunch from NR and ORSE gave us all a very detailed briefing. They had photos, slides, charts, the works. Some of the stuff just had to be off a satellite. When they showed the helos making passes over the ruined containment building dumping concrete and we saw what we saw... well, we all knew the fellows in the helos and behind the cameras were dead. All of the first responders; firefighters, EMT, plant technicians, all of them were dead men walking.
They got the job done though.
Makes you wonder about the fall of the USSR 3 years later. Chernobyl had to have had some effect on all that happening.
When you come down to it, they really screwed themselves. Typical, piss poor, commie design work. I mean, why use something that burns; ie graphite, as a moderator? The West via the IAEC offered them PWR designs free of charge. All they needed to do was shutter their damn stupid plants. Then, just to make things worse, they decide to run experiments on one of the cobbled together heaps. They disabled safety equipment, flouted their own procedures, and did just about everything else they could to screw up. Guess it sounded like a good idea at the time.
They paid for all their mistakes though, willingly gave their lives to entomb it. Sadly, plenty of other people paid too.
It would have made a nifty Traveller amber zone or adventure seed if it just wasn't so damn tragic.
Sincerely,
Larsen
I was working in a nuclear power station here in the US when this occured. Very sad. Makes me glad that our standards are so much higher....of course our introduction to nuclear power included a couple graphite reactors...not good.
On a more positive note. Hopefully the world has learned that decent containment is not an option.
As I recall there is a documentary about chernobyl .
Savage
On a more positive note. Hopefully the world has learned that decent containment is not an option.
As I recall there is a documentary about chernobyl .
Savage
Like Sigg and Vegascat said, she can tell a story. It's simple, it's quiet, and it's disturbing, but I feel like I'm almost there.
What got to me most was how no-one could stand the deafening quiet.
Now I want to learn Russian and Cyrillic (is that last spelled correctly?) and go, but they'd never let me in. Can anyone tell me what happened?
What got to me most was how no-one could stand the deafening quiet.
Now I want to learn Russian and Cyrillic (is that last spelled correctly?) and go, but they'd never let me in. Can anyone tell me what happened?
Jame--
Yes, 'Cyrillic' after St. Cyrl who borrowed from the Greek and Latin alphabets to come up with a way to write Russian.
A quick google for "chernobyl accident" will net you an overload of information...
Basically what happened was caused by the way the power plant was constructed. I'm sure Mr. Whipsnade or someone with more experince in the matter will correct me if I stray too far afield.
The Chernobyl powerplant was constructed with graphite as the moderating element... basically the uranium fuel rods are sitting in large blocks of graphite (same material as pencil lead). The graphite is there to ensure that the neutrons emitted during the fission reaction propigate at the proper rate - i.e. to prevent the reaction from running away into a full on meltdown or worse. So long as the graphite is between the fuel rods things proceed in an orderly, controlled fashion.
US and European reactors use water to perform the same function. I imagine it's not as efficient as graphite for this purpose - but there is one key difference. Water does not burn. Graphite, being so closely realted to coal, burns quite well.
What happened at Chernobyl (if I recall correctly) was that they were running some safety 'tests' - one might say experements - and a mistake was made. Things in the reactor heated up to the point where the graphite ignited... so the material responsible for keeping the fission reaction under control was burning.
The smoke was intensely radioactive. The area around the powerplant quickly became deadly. The troops, EMT's and Firefighters that responded to the incident were not warned of the danger - perhaps the danger wasn't adequately understood at that point.
A huge steel and concrete structure was hastily thrown up over the reactor to seal it off and prevent more radioactivity from escaping. Nearly all of the people who worked to get the situation under control were killed.
bad design + failure to follow safety protocols + government coverup = HUGE disaster.
Yes, 'Cyrillic' after St. Cyrl who borrowed from the Greek and Latin alphabets to come up with a way to write Russian.
A quick google for "chernobyl accident" will net you an overload of information...
Basically what happened was caused by the way the power plant was constructed. I'm sure Mr. Whipsnade or someone with more experince in the matter will correct me if I stray too far afield.
The Chernobyl powerplant was constructed with graphite as the moderating element... basically the uranium fuel rods are sitting in large blocks of graphite (same material as pencil lead). The graphite is there to ensure that the neutrons emitted during the fission reaction propigate at the proper rate - i.e. to prevent the reaction from running away into a full on meltdown or worse. So long as the graphite is between the fuel rods things proceed in an orderly, controlled fashion.
US and European reactors use water to perform the same function. I imagine it's not as efficient as graphite for this purpose - but there is one key difference. Water does not burn. Graphite, being so closely realted to coal, burns quite well.
What happened at Chernobyl (if I recall correctly) was that they were running some safety 'tests' - one might say experements - and a mistake was made. Things in the reactor heated up to the point where the graphite ignited... so the material responsible for keeping the fission reaction under control was burning.
The smoke was intensely radioactive. The area around the powerplant quickly became deadly. The troops, EMT's and Firefighters that responded to the incident were not warned of the danger - perhaps the danger wasn't adequately understood at that point.
A huge steel and concrete structure was hastily thrown up over the reactor to seal it off and prevent more radioactivity from escaping. Nearly all of the people who worked to get the situation under control were killed.
bad design + failure to follow safety protocols + government coverup = HUGE disaster.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
There were four reactors at the power station, and the last one carried on working for nearly 15 years after the accident!
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
1986.
There's a good site here: http://www.chernobyl.co.uk/ including a link to a BBC report on the accident.
There's a good site here: http://www.chernobyl.co.uk/ including a link to a BBC report on the accident.
Actually our first reactor at Univ of Chicago was graphite. From memory there was a second graphite reactor but I don't recall where. Chicago operated for many years of research before being shutdown.
Chernobyl's crew was attempting to improve the output of the plant. Ooops.
Savage
Chernobyl's crew was attempting to improve the output of the plant. Ooops.
Savage
Straybow
SOC-14 1K
If the second graphite reactor wasn't Oak Ridge it was Hanford, but ORNL is my final answer, Regis.
At Chernobyl it wasn't the normal operating crew responsible for the accident. A group of "experts" had been brought in. Only they were expert at water moderated operations, and apparently there are certain things that are counterintuitive to operating one when trained in the other.
Idiots.
At Chernobyl it wasn't the normal operating crew responsible for the accident. A group of "experts" had been brought in. Only they were expert at water moderated operations, and apparently there are certain things that are counterintuitive to operating one when trained in the other.
Idiots.Spiderfish
SOC-12
I've never heard of Hells Angels having a specific monopoly on common biking parlance. And no Hells Angel would be seen dead on a bike like that, nowhere to rest their lardy beer gut. But thats just a British sports riders prejudice i'm sure...
And now the Hells Angel profile
Mad Dog
B2A442 50ish Terms Unknown
Motorcycle - 2
Torque Wrench - 4 (melee weapon and mechanical skill)
Shotgun - 1
Revolver - 1
Getting mighty pissed - 10
1 Harley Davidson Lard Boy (whatever i'm a superbike man)
1 Harley Davidson set of leathers
1 Bandana (preferably black)
1 Belly of many beards
1 Facical growth of little shaving
1 Packet of cigarettes
1 Six pack of cheap beer
And if there are Hells Angels out there reading this jest "No not the face! No! Urk"
Looks fun to me I reckon I might go there one day good chance to unleash the bike which is not really possible here. But I wouldent ride all the way on my own, maybe with some mates i'd rather not disapear thanks to riding off into bandit country alone and unarmed.
Got to get lead lined leathers though...
Perhaps you could set a good traveller adventure in a red zone similar to this. Perhaps the PCs have to act as bodyguards for tourists entering an irradiated area or one infected by a diesease. Obviously the tourist/s will do something stupid and the PCs have to rescue them from their predicament.
I had a similar idea after watching a film called "28 days Later" it was okay really. About a virus that infects people and puts them in a sort of hyper-rage state of eternal anger.
Perhaps a similar virus could infect a planet or city and the area is quarantined by the Imperial authorities.
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