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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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I’ll just have to check their website or social media while driving now for updates….
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Could this possibly be connected? https://www.broadsheet.ie/2019/02/07/jam-today-rte-and-aa-roadwatch/
@Here’s How Podcast: Full story on the podcast here: https://blog.hereshow.ie/2019/02/heres-how-82-rte-and-the-aa/
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: You might have to pay for this service now|
Elaine o Sullivan AA road watch ! I’m gonna miss her voice
@Marko: and Ester Moore ODonoghue
@Marko: Arwen Foley was the one for me.
@Alan McArdle: Lorraine Keane anyone?
@Bill Spill: I certainly would. Met her at electric office many years ago. What a lady
@Adrian O’Donnell: Electric Office? Were you having a picnic together?
@Marko: sometimes sounded like she said the A 3 times. Maybe she’d been out the night before.
No more rind-a-bits being busy so.
@theseadoc: nothing will stop the dunkettle interchange being blocked
@Stuart:
@Stuart:
@Stuart: ah the memories of random places we only know through this broadcast! They might not even exist half of them.
Typical big buyer slashing overheads, and never mind who it affects.
@John Nolan: Ridiculous comment. Are they not entitled to make business decisions in their own interests? Why don’t you set up a traffic notification service and provide it to radio stations if it means so much to you?
What ever became of electric Eddie, eye in the sky… Probably dead and buried somewhere on the Con Colbert road, the only location with traffic back in the day
@Shay Murray: it’s driver is stuck at the Red Cow Roundabout
Who’s going to provide traffic reports for the radio stations now ? It’s a major loss for serious road users. It was fantastic to hear the traffic reports on the hour after the news and if something was happening on the road your driving on, you were notified of it. Another backwards step. In the UK, you don’t even have to wait for the news, the traffic reports interrupt whatever station your listening to.
@Sean Walsh: that is because the traffic situation in the UK is an absolute ball breaker. Not even comparable to here. Or was a ball breaker, pre covid..
Laren behan … a beautiful voice !
How will I find my in into the meeja now, love island won’t take me, AA roadwatch gone, crimewatch auditions go nowhere, and I won’t stoop to fair city levels just yet!
At least that’s a few annoying voices off the airwaves.
Useless anyway. Radio reports are brutal. Dublin 103.2 for traffic reports in real time.
@Jimmy Reid: hasn’t been the same since John left though.
Was never helpful to me. Everytime it was the same report “traffic heavy on the dunnekettle” its always heavy.
@Michael: The AA are losing money – most if not all insurance companies or garages provide breakdown cover
Have they an app? They could seek to integrate their real time info with Google maps.
@HarveyLemonade: Where there’s a will, there’s a Waze.
@HarveyLemonade: you can see traffic build ups on Google maps and Apple maps if you Amber lines on maps that’s traffic build up and red lines is traffic at a stop. Also Apple maps is eventually bringing in incident reporting to Ireland like Waze where you can report traffic, accidents speed checks etc
Patnav on Nova will have to do.
A fantastic podcast on the whole situation.
https://blog.hereshow.ie/2019/02/heres-how-82-rte-and-the-aa/?ref=Broadsheet
Bring back The eye in the Sky ! Helicopter service.
They were always rubbish anyway. I well remember the bad old days when I lived in Kildare, and you’d regularly hit a monster traffic jam on the N7 that AA Roadwatch would conveniently have forgotten to mention.
Lorraine Keane, AA Roadwatch
Why? Nooooooooo!
No more helpful mentions of their names by RTÉ presenters in order to help them up on the “celebrity” bandwagon ” ah well Swings and rindeabouts I suppose.
No more traffic “Nooze” then?
Karen Chew all day long.
Anyone remember the ozzie girl,BUMPER TO BUMPER..
@Peter Bell: that does rind a bell Peter.
@Peter Bell: that does ring a bell Peter.
Can’t read websites while driving
Delighted.
The AA and RTÉ themselves are no longer of any relevance.
What motorist would wish to have constant blabbering on a radio, same format from the same sounding stations who constantly have to announce their frequency or name to stay relevant.
Get an iPod or a subscription to Spotify or similar.
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