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NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER a nuclear reactor caught fire and spewed a lethal cloud of radiation, some species of mammals are thriving in the zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a new study says.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, found that elk, deer, wild boar and wolves are abundant in the 2,160-square-kilometer (835-square-mile) Polesie reserve in Belarus, which was established after the 1986 disaster. More than 20,000 people once lived in what is now the reserve.
“We’re not saying radiation is good for animals, but we are saying that human interference can be more harmful to certain animal populations than radiation,” said Jim Smith, an environmental scientist at Britain’s University of Portsmouth who led the study.
To track the mammals, researchers used aerial surveys and examined animal tracks in the snow.
Smith and his team found there was no difference in the number of large mammals living in the Polesie reserve and in other Belarusian nature reserves. The prevalence of wolves is seven times higher than in nearby non-contaminated nature reserves, which Smith attributed to the lack of hunting in contaminated areas.
Biologist Timothy Mousseau at the University of South Carolina said Smith’s research presents an overly optimistic view of the situation around Chernobyl.
“There is no evidence to suggest this area is teeming with wildlife,” said Mousseau, whose research has focused on how radiation has affected reptile, insect and small mammal populations. These animals have struggled to make a comeback in the wake of Chernobyl and have suffered from a range of nuclear-related diseases, according to Mousseau’s research.
The mammals in Smith’s research are constantly dispersing and have high fertility rates, factors that could also explain a robust population of certain mammal species in the Polesie nature reserve.
The 1986 explosion and fire sent a cloud of radiation drifting over much of Europe and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. Along with the Belarusian Polesie preserve, a 2,600-square-kilometer (1,000-square-mile) “exclusion zone” was established in Ukraine around the plant.
That zone is almost entirely abandoned except for about 200 mostly elderly people who returned to their homes. Some workers building a protective shelter around the reactor and cleaning up the waste live in the zone, but only for two weeks at a time.
With AP
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Only temporarily the Dutch KCT and the Australian SAS are on the ground are securing the area
There is no way the rebels would allow Western special forces into the area
How would they know, special forces aren’t going to announce their arrival in advance, they’re already 1.5 to 2.0 kilometres off the perimeter of the debris field watching and waiting.
It will be pretty obvious who they are when they get to the site and start looking at the debris.
Good man Neil you should have read the post your responding to
Special forces don’t engage, they watch and wait, unseen and unheard, even if you’re standing right on top of them, but you’ll never get that close because at 1500 metres you never hear the shot… and your comrades can’t return fire because they have no idea where it came from.
If you know they’re there, I’m pretty sure anyone who matters knows they’re there. So somebody’s announced it!
Poor Boggy isn’t the sharpest tool on the box. He’s assuring us that the special forces are securing the area but nobody knows about it except himself. Of course one wonders boggy why the whole thing has then been called off. But I forgot boggy doesn’t engage with conspiracy loons like myself so I guess well never know lol Go back to sleep boggy there are more inane threads for you like 20 things I hate about Monday or something lol
Is this some video game your playing because it aint reality
Ah Jaysus, will the whole Ukraine Army invade the site and clear it. It’s not like Russia will invade seen as it’s Ukraine territory
Oh dear now you’ve done it Celtic, it’s like that scene in Jurassic park where we see the ripples in the glass of water, the conspiracy loons are coming cause they heard you.
It’s a pity the Kiev gov dramatically increased its assault upon the rebel positions at exactly the same time MH17 came down and hasn’t let up since. Perhaps the Kiev gov could lay off the shelling to allow an investigation? This is the same gov which won’t release the ATC transcripts or tell us why the flight was diverted over a war zone or why one of their fighter jets was tailing the flight.
John. The flight was not diverted. I challenge you to provide proof that it was.
And you still haven’t answered by question in the previous thread.
So I will ask it again here for a third time.
How did a missile fired from behind hit the Front of the fuselage of MH17? An R60 heat seeking missile has only a 3lbs warhead. Enough to take out one engine and not much more. And as a SU25 cannot carry the larger radar guided R77 which even if it was fired by say a MiG 29, how would it have missed the largest radar return coming from that direction the Tail section? Now we know that the crash investigators at the site have confirmed the the Front of the planes fuselage was where the explosion occured. So will you answer the question please.
Excuse me Mick Jordan but can you point out where I claimed MH17 was hit by an air to air missile? I am simply asking why was the fighter jet present tailing the the flight?
So John how did MH17 get shot down?
And How does an SU25 Fly 6km above its maximum unlaiden flight ceiling?
Now you say Russia has produced Satellite photos of an SU25 behind MH17. Now a satellite photo is 2 dimensional. It can tell you how far a plane was behind MH17. But it cannot tell you the altitude unless the plane was sitting on the ground.
So lets say just for arguments sake an SU25 was behind MH25 flying at its maximum unlaiden ceiling 7000 mtrs, 4km below MH17. Now the guy sitting at the Fire Radar in the SA11 would see two blips on his Radar screen at 2 different altitudes and 2 different strengths the larger plane giving the stonger signal. Now the operators in the SA11 launcher would deduce that the smaller return was a Military jet and because they are expecting to see large transport planes like the ones they had previously shot down assume that the larger one was an An 26. So he says to himself what is the bigger prize. The slower less manuverable transporter full of troops or equipment or the agile Fighter.
And John where is the Proof that the plane was diverted that I asked you to produce?
How many times does it have to be said, an Su-25 is NOT a fighter plane.
Sry Jason. I had to use term “Fighter” just to get my point across as the other side seem to be incapable of distinguishing an Air Superiority Fighter and a Close Support Ground Attack Aircraft.
Wasn’t directed at yourself Mick, it was directed at John and indirectly Horgay who want to use sensationalist language rather than facts.
If Putin had a humane bone in his body he would see to it that MH17 crash site was properly cordoned off and thoroughly searched for remaining 98 innocent victims of that atrocity in Eastern Ukraine.
A few week’s cessation of hostilities there would show some degree of humanity and allow air accident investigators carry out their work.
Ukraine has been at this a while now. It’s as if they have something to hide re the awful plane crash.
Ukraine prevented the OSCE monitors from deploying to the crash site for two days definitely and probably three by shelling the area heavily.
Ukraine refuses to say why Ukrainian secret police confiscated air traffic data immediately after the crash.
Ukraine refuses to even admit why one of its military fighters approached the civilian plane immediately prior to the crash.
Ukraine refuses to answer questions as to why it moved it’s buk anti aircraft system out of the area immediately after the crash despite saying they had no such systems in the area.
All these lies. These are fundamental questions that our Western media will not answer never mind debate. It is much worse than what Wells predicted, much worse.
Horgay. Ukraine did not prevent anyone from deploying to the site that is an outright lie. The Terrorists did as shown by video evidence and statements by the OSCE monitors themselves.
There have been 2 confessions by Terrorist leaders that they Shot down MH17. There are also taped phone conversations between Terrorists and their GRU handlers about their shooting down of MH17. There is also the confession of one the Terrorists that they did have 3 SA 11 launchers and got them from Russia. We also have video of the debris immediately after the attack falling from the sky where Locals can be heard in the background saying “Its a good job we got those Missiles”.
“Ukraine refuses to say why Ukrainian secret police confiscated air traffic data immediately after the crash.”
Standard practice to examine ATC tapes as part of the investigation.
“Ukraine refuses to even admit why one of its military fighters approached the civilian plane immediately prior to the crash.”
The aircraft was NOT a fighter jet, nor could it even hope to follow MH17 as it simply could not fly at the same altitude as MH17.
“Ukraine refuses to answer questions as to why it moved it’s buk anti aircraft system out of the area immediately after the crash despite saying they had no such systems in the area.”
Does a sovereign nation need to explain the movements of its military? The pro-Russians were very quick to say that the Russians didn’t have to explain the movements of their military when the Russians held large drills on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Animals the lot of them,bullies with weapons,put down ur guns and bombs and fight ya windy nutter pigs,should be all melted in tar
And your point is?
have your say