Comment by DrBazza | Hacker News Reader

Comment by DrBazza | Hacker News Reader

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> This article also again equates safety with lack of deaths. That’s like saying a neighborhood is safe, because in the robberies there only a few people die.

The 1952 Great Smog of London [0] caused 4000 deaths due to coal burning over FIVE DAYS. Not quite like for like, but the Chernobyl Exclusion zone is about 1000 sq. miles, which is approximate the same size as (modern) London.

The UN predicts that possibly 4000 people may die from Chernobyl over a 50 YEAR period. [1]

> Chernobyl and Fukushima had dramatic effects on millions of people. Contamination from Chernobyl to this day is a problem in Germany for instance.

I'd like to see references for this.

Fossil fuel mining causes far more deaths than nuclear. Fossil fuel burning causes even more deaths from respitory diseases.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London 1. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190725-will-we-ever-kno...

"As a result of the Chernobyl reactor accident, certain species of mushrooms and wild game are still highly contaminated with caesium-137 in some areas of Germany." https://www.bfs.de/EN/topics/ion/environment/foodstuffs/mush..., from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

Ultimately it says this:

> If wild game or wild growing mushrooms are consumed in usual amounts, the additional radiation exposure is comparatively low but it can be avoided. Those who wish to reduce their personal exposure should not eat wild game self-hunted or mushrooms self-picked in the most affected areas of Germany.

and

> In Germany it is not permitted to market food with a radiocaesium content of more than 600 becquerel per kilogram.

and

> In the last years values of up to several thousand becquerel per kilogram were measured in wild game and certain edible mushrooms.

So isn't this is just cautionary, rather than a significant health risk?

It's mostly cautionary but a problem for forest management because it means that the radioactivity of game has to be checked and it often can't be sold. I've eaten the mushrooms in question (self-picked) and would do it again. They're delicious. But my region also wasn't particularly hard-hit by the Chernobyl fallout.

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