How come there is a flourishing ecosystem near Chernobyl now?

Question

Wasn't the area supposed to be lifeless for like a thousand years or something?

Answer 1

yea its pretty dabngerous to go there, but the people who lived there dont have any other place to go since they are poor.... its sad that the state doesnt help them out

Answer 2

It just goes to prove my theory that these scientists are talking garbage. To know what the real life span of radioactive material or better put, real radioactive decay rates, one has to have a sample going over the entire length of the trial. At the moment, it is assumed that the "half life " is so many thousand years based on the half life sample over a short span of time. This has to be incorrect because there is no telling what the material will do after a given length of time. That is to say will the decay figure multiply by  10 0r even 100.?

That makes all the dating by this process suspect and by extension anyone who says the earth is 4,5 billion years old is a moron.

Answer 3

One of the things that has the biggest impact on an ecosystem is people, Radiation means no people, so they plants and animals are left to their own devices. Radiation does affect them, but people do more so. Being left alone they can flourish, and if anything the area is more natural now than it was before.

Answer 4

Not lifeless, no.  There is still residual radiation all over the place, but a person can stand some exposure.  The animal life is coming back, but some of it is not viable because of the exposure.  Rain washes away radiation, so you usually don't have to wait until the isotopes completely decay before inhabiting an area again.  Still, that area will be messed up for some time to come.

Here are some photos fo the area taken by a woman who rode through on a motorcycle.  She gives lots of information on it.

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-lan...

Answer 5

I don't remember anyone saying it would be lifeless.  Just that it would be a bad idea for life to be there.