Hacker News Reader

Chernobyl exploded and caught on fire and burned, leading radioactive smoke to spread hundreds of miles. Isn’t this similar to the scenario you propose? We’ve already seen what happens (42 immediate casualties, 1000s of cancer cases). But Europe is still a livable continent, it didn’t turn into the scene of a Fallout video game or whatever.

In comparison, the 2011 Tsunami in Japan killed 15,000, yet people are still allowed to live near the ocean...

View on HN

The point is that Chernobyl could have turned Ukraine into an unlivable country. Badly although it was managed, it could have been even worse.

Could Chernobyl have turned Ukraine into an unlivable country though? I’m not sure of the science behind that claim. Presumably the larger the radioactivity was dispersed, the weaker it would be.

Obviously it was not a good thing, and could have been even worse, but I’d be curious to see a scientific explanation of whether a civilian reactor accident or meteor strike could make half a continent unlivable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com