Did you used a dosimeter ? Not a geiger an actual dosimeter ?
Yes, we were given dosimeters, I had one for the whole day in the former evacuation zone (20 km radius around the plant) and another for when we stayed in the plant.
I actually took notes of the different radiation levels I could see on mine:
outside the zone: 0.15 μSv/h
on the road to the plant where the radioactive plume passed: 1.3 μSv/h
at the security check of the plant: 0.05 μSv/h
in front of the sea-side where they mix the treated contaminated water: 1.3 μSv/h
on the observatory spot about 60 m away from unit 1: 66 μSv/h
In total, I took 16.3 μSv during the tour (plant + evacuation zone), which is in the range of a dental X-ray.
They are also pretty transparent about it, there are dosimeters everywhere in the zone at train stations and other public places.
See the red counter at a station in my pic below:
How much did the nature came back in the aera ?
The region is generally very pretty and natural (rice fields and woods), there’s no specific Chernobyl-style nature come back in the evacuation zone. I think it’s because the radioactive contamination was way lower, so they could clean up. They have been pressure washing everything and removing 5-10 cm of topsoil for years. Now most of the zone is reopened for people who want to come back. Some of it is still forbidden, you can see the yellow barriers with a crossed silhouette and bags of soil being removed in my pictures below.
So living full time here would be around 11.3 mSv/year ? Still within the range of a radiation worker, and still less than the background radiation in Kerala,
Interesting
Less than that, 1.3 was a very specific place on the road to the plant where you probably cannot live. In the rest of the reopened zone it was more like 0.05–0.2.
I am pretty convinced it’s safe, radiation-wise, to live in the reopened parts of the evacuation zone.
It was this week.
Yes, we were given dosimeters, I had one for the whole day in the former evacuation zone (20 km radius around the plant) and another for when we stayed in the plant. I actually took notes of the different radiation levels I could see on mine:
In total, I took 16.3 μSv during the tour (plant + evacuation zone), which is in the range of a dental X-ray.
They are also pretty transparent about it, there are dosimeters everywhere in the zone at train stations and other public places. See the red counter at a station in my pic below:
The region is generally very pretty and natural (rice fields and woods), there’s no specific Chernobyl-style nature come back in the evacuation zone. I think it’s because the radioactive contamination was way lower, so they could clean up. They have been pressure washing everything and removing 5-10 cm of topsoil for years. Now most of the zone is reopened for people who want to come back. Some of it is still forbidden, you can see the yellow barriers with a crossed silhouette and bags of soil being removed in my pictures below.
So living full time here would be around 11.3 mSv/year ? Still within the range of a radiation worker, and still less than the background radiation in Kerala, Interesting
Less than that, 1.3 was a very specific place on the road to the plant where you probably cannot live. In the rest of the reopened zone it was more like 0.05–0.2. I am pretty convinced it’s safe, radiation-wise, to live in the reopened parts of the evacuation zone.