- #1
ppix
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Hey all,
So I'm in the uncomfortable situation of worrying about the repercussions of someone I live with having visited Chernobyl and having walked around inside the exclusion zone, and having been close enough to see the sarcophagus of reactor 4. The tour company didn't consider discarding of footwear as at all necessary.
My primary concern is Cs-137 carried back on shoes and pants. Though, try as I might I can't convince them to throw away the offending items. Aside form that, having been stored in their travel pack it is likely to be contaminated with particulate matter from the site.
In my imagination particles would be carried back on footwear into the house, where they would join the large amount of normal house hold dust, and inevitably become either inhaled or digested (after settling on food related surfaces). Then, this internal irradiation would lead to an increased chance of cancer.
Though my house mate and all the average Joe's we've mentioned this to seem to think I'm paranoid.
My feeling to that is maybe I am, but also that the average Joe doesn't know enough to comment.
The shoes have been washed since, along with the pants. Though without measurement it's difficult to tell whether such precautions are successful.
It's been two and a half decades, and cesium is reactive and often forms water soluble compounds, the tour groups have a set supposedly safe route to take, and try to avoid standing off the pavement.
What do you think? Am I paranoid?
(And no, they won't throw out the shoes :( )
So I'm in the uncomfortable situation of worrying about the repercussions of someone I live with having visited Chernobyl and having walked around inside the exclusion zone, and having been close enough to see the sarcophagus of reactor 4. The tour company didn't consider discarding of footwear as at all necessary.
My primary concern is Cs-137 carried back on shoes and pants. Though, try as I might I can't convince them to throw away the offending items. Aside form that, having been stored in their travel pack it is likely to be contaminated with particulate matter from the site.
In my imagination particles would be carried back on footwear into the house, where they would join the large amount of normal house hold dust, and inevitably become either inhaled or digested (after settling on food related surfaces). Then, this internal irradiation would lead to an increased chance of cancer.
Though my house mate and all the average Joe's we've mentioned this to seem to think I'm paranoid.
My feeling to that is maybe I am, but also that the average Joe doesn't know enough to comment.
The shoes have been washed since, along with the pants. Though without measurement it's difficult to tell whether such precautions are successful.
It's been two and a half decades, and cesium is reactive and often forms water soluble compounds, the tour groups have a set supposedly safe route to take, and try to avoid standing off the pavement.
What do you think? Am I paranoid?
(And no, they won't throw out the shoes :( )