On April 26, 1986 reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility
exploded. After this stunning catastrophy countries all around phased out
nuclear energy entirely, due to fear of the same fate as Chernobyl. When
Bill and the professor visited the site of the disaster it was clearly
evident that the nuclear radiation present was not that much of a threat.
Yet in fact it was still a threat in the fact that it WAS present. When
they would pass nearby trees on their tiny bus the backround level on the
dachometer read higher than in the clear patches of lands. That is because
the trees surrounding Chernobyl would catch the radio nuclei and hold them
for thier own, that posed a threat when trees were exposed to higher levels
of the original radiation. The trees closer to the blast were so
intoxicated with the radiation they had to be buried in concrete blocks to
prevent further contamination. Chernobyl was not just one explosion it was
in fact two. The first was caused by a high pressure of steam which caused
the structure to blow apart. The second was the reactor core blowing.
Nearby neighbor ...