A small nuclear accident . . .

If you’re going to have a nuclear accident, I say let it be a good one, a real catastrophe, with a partial core meltdown, and obviously in another part of the world, far, far away. Which is exactly what happened in Chernobyl in 1986. The accident cleared a 2000 square mile swath of land, now called an exclusion zone, which in Russian terms  (Soviet Union then) amounts to about an acre or two over here. We’re talking about a country with nine time zones spanning two thirds of the way across the planet.

So what happened you ask? Well, for one, people had to leave, except for a few stubborn ones that stayed or came right back and like the guy staying in his sailboat during hurricane Florence, are still there, defying all predictions. What’s more, the wildlife has come back to the area with a vengeance. Brown bear, moose, lynx, wolf, deer, species that hadn’t been see in more than a hundred years came back and retook their ancient lands. That as well as a multitude of smaller critters, such as moles, badgers, wild boar, squirrels, rats and tiny mice, beavers, shrews, voles, etc., all food for the bigger critters, and all either missing or in reduced numbers before the accident. And I’m not even talking about plants or insects, some flourishing the others prosperous.

Bottom line: after thirty years of being left alone, I mean really alone, from humans anyway, the environment has shown an amazing ability to recover. It’s not back to where humans can go in there safely, at least not yet, but animals seem to do okay. Turns out the greatest thing that ever happened to the flora and fauna there is a nuclear accident, if you believe the results of all the studies that are being published. I think that’s because it got rid of people. People, one can easily conclude, are worse for an area than a nuclear disaster.

¡Viva unexpected results, Viva!

mt