No subject
Wed Jan 26 21:46:16 EST 2011
of vast concrete buildings. One of them is the stricken Reactor 4, some 200
feet tall, with a giant chimney still rising out of it. For almost 25 years
it's stood encased in a "sarcophagus" of cement, but the seal is far from
perfect, and it leaks dangerously. We park 200 yards away to look at it but
stay only a few minutes. A new steel sarcophagus is slowly being built; whe=
n
finished, it will be the world's largest movable structure.
There are canals threading through the giant buildings, which provided wate=
r
for the old coolant system, and in one of them the catfish have grown to
prodigious sizes. We stop on a metal bridge and gaze down into the brown
water. Suddenly the monsters rise to the surface, some of them a good ten
feet long, black, whiskered, curling around as they hunt for the bread
people feed them.
They're not big because of radiation, Sergey insists. It's just that they
haven't been fished for a quarter of a century.
The whole area is like this: fecund, scary. Later Sergey takes us to an arm=
y
barracks where some soldier friends of his keep a few wild pets. From the
dark doorway of one of the sheds issues a terrific subterranean grunt, and =
a
moment later, as if in a hurry, out trots another wild boar. It comes
straight at the fence, presses against it with the weird, wet sucker of its
long, long nose, then raises its bristly head and eyeballs me as if I'm
something from another planet.
In a pen next door there's another forest sprite=97the barsuk, a very close
relative of our badger. When it comes out of its kennel, it runs up a
woodpile, turns at the top, and proceeds to stare right into me with deeply
strange eyes. Something in me seems to recognize something in it, and I fee=
l
a pang of longing. Is it for the deep forest, the *pushcha*? For the trees,
the smell of autumn leaves, of mushrooms and mold? For the freedom to live
our own way, far from society?
Crouching and staring, the barsuk doesn't move a muscle. It could be a
stuffed animal, with eyes of glass. Or perhaps a new species, staring at th=
e
world with new eyes.
--001517448168bbc9e2049e17b2ab
Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; f=
ont-size: 12px; "><div id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px;=
">I love stories of Chernobyl, they fill me with hope. =A0This is beautifu=
l.</div>
<div id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; ">Adam.</div><div=
id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; ">PS. Hopefully the f=
ormatting came out okay, I still don't entirely trust GMail's rich =
text formating so if it looks wonky go to the source URL.</div>
<div id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; ">Source:=A0<a hr=
ef=3D"http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ga-201103-chernobyl-wildlif=
e-refuge-sidwcmdev_154483.html">http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-g=
a-201103-chernobyl-wildlife-refuge-sidwcmdev_154483.html</a></div>
<div id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; ">Outside Magazin=
e</div><div id=3D"articlelinkback" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; ">March 20=
11</div><h1 id=3D"articletitle" style=3D"font-size: 24px; margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px;=
padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal n=
ormal bold 21px/normal arial; ">
Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden</h1><div id=3D"articlesubt=
itle" style=3D"font: italic normal normal 13px/normal arial; margin-bottom:=
12px; ">Twenty-five years after the Soviet-era meltdown drove 60,000 peopl=
e from their homes in the Ukraine, a rebirth is taking place inside the exc=
lusion zone. With Geiger counter in hand, the author explores Europe's =
strangest wildlife refuge, an enchanted postapocalyptic forest from which e=
ntirely new species may soon emerge.</div>
<div id=3D"articlebyline" style=3D"margin-bottom: 12px; font: normal normal=
normal 12px/normal arial; ">By=A0<strong>Henry Shukman</strong></div><div =
id=3D"articlepanoramicimage" style=3D"border-top-width: 1px; border-top-sty=
le: solid; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); padding-top: 12px; margin-=
bottom: 12px; text-align: center; ">
<table cellpadding=3D"0" cellspacing=3D"0" class=3D"articleimagetable" alig=
n=3D"center" style=3D"width: 1px; "><tbody><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecel=
l" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); vertical-align: top; padding-bottom: 4px; ">
<img src=3D"http://media.away.com/images/outside/201103/chernobyl-reactor.j=
pg" alt=3D"Chernobyl Reactor" class=3D"articleimageimg" style=3D"border-top=
-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; borde=
r-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-t=
op-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-le=
ft-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-right-color: rg=
b(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-left-colo=
r: rgb(231, 231, 231); "></td>
</tr><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecaption" style=3D"font-family: arial, san=
s-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); vertical-align: top; f=
ont: italic normal normal 11px/normal arial; text-align: center; padding-bo=
ttom: 4px; ">
The cooling tower for the never finished reactor 5 =A0(Photo by Rory Carneg=
ie)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id=3D"articlepagebody" class=3D"cle=
arfix" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; padding-top: 12=
px; ">
<div class=3D"articlecontentmargin"><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-se=
rif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal n=
ormal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; "><stro=
ng>THE WILD BOAR IS STANDING 30 OR 40</strong>=A0yards away, at the bottom =
of a grassy bank, staring right at me. Even from this distance I can see it=
s outrageously long snout, its giant pointed ears, and the spiny bristles a=
long its back. It looks part porcupine, a number of shades of ocher and gra=
y. And it's far bigger than I expected, maybe chest-high to a man. The =
boar is like some minor forest god straight from the wilderness, gazing wil=
d-eyed at the strange spectacle of a human being. For a moment it seems to =
consider charging me, then thinks better of it. When it trots away, it move=
s powerfully, smoothly, on spindly, graceful legs twice as long as a pig=
9;s, and vanishes into the trees.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">I climb back into our VW van, tingling al=
l over. The sighting bodes well. I've come to what is being dubbed Euro=
pe's largest wildlife refuge in early July, when I knew spotting animal=
s wouldn't be so easy. (Winter, with its scarcity of food and lack of f=
oliage, makes them more visible.) And within a couple of hours I've tic=
ked a wild boar off the list. Maybe luck is on our side.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">But luck isn't our only obstacle to w=
ildlife spotting here. This is northern Ukraine's Chernobyl Exclusion Z=
one, a huge area, some 60 miles across in places, that's been off-limit=
s to human habitation since 1986. Even now, 19 years after the collapse of =
the USSR, nothing happens in this former Soviet republic without sheets of =
paper typed and stamped in quintuplicate. It took months of e-mails and pho=
ne calls to get permission to spend a few days here. Yes, we're only a =
couple of foreign vagabonds=97photographer Rory Carnegie is an old travel b=
uddy of mine from England=97but we have cameras and a telephoto lens, and m=
y notepad has lines in it: obviously we're spies. The Soviet Union may =
have died, but the Soviet mind-set has not.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">At the Chernobyl Center, a kind of make s=
hift reception building in the heart of the old town, I had to hand over a =
solid nine inches of local bills=97hryvnia, pronounced approximately like t=
he sound of a cardsharp riffling a deck=97sign a stack of agreements, compl=
iances, and receipts, and then get checked on an=A0<em>Austin Powers</em>=
=96style Geiger counter made out of chrome. Finally, under the protection o=
f a guide, a driver, and an interpreter, we were free to set off into the z=
one=97as long as we did exactly what our guide said.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">A handful of dilapidated roads cross the =
zone, half-overgrown with weeds and grasses, and the whole area is littered=
with pockets of intense radiation, but nature doesn't seem to mind. Al=
l nature seems to care about is that the people, along with their domestic =
animals, are for the most part gone. The zone is reverting to one big, unta=
med forest, and it all sounds like a fantastic success story for nature: re=
move the humans and the wilderness bounces right back. Lured by tales of ma=
mmals unknown in Europe since the Dark Ages, we're setting out on an at=
omic safari.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D=
"font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; "></=
span></p>
<div id=3D"articlepanoramicimage" style=3D"border-top-width: 1px; border-to=
p-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); padding-top: 12px; ma=
rgin-bottom: 12px; text-align: center; "><table cellpadding=3D"0" cellspaci=
ng=3D"0" class=3D"articleimagetable" align=3D"center" style=3D"width: 1px; =
">
<tbody><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecell" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans=
-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: top; padding-=
bottom: 4px; "><img src=3D"http://media.away.com/images/outside/201103/cher=
nobyl-exclusion-zone-map.jpg" alt=3D"Chernobyl Exclusion Zone" class=3D"art=
icleimageimg" style=3D"border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; =
border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial=
; border-color: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; bo=
rder-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(231, =
231, 231); border-right-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-color: rgb=
(231, 231, 231); border-left-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); "></td>
</tr><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecaption" style=3D"font-family: arial, san=
s-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); vertical-align: top; f=
ont: italic normal normal 11px/normal arial; text-align: center; padding-bo=
ttom: 4px; ">
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id=3D"articlep=
agebody" class=3D"clearfix" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 14px/18px a=
rial; padding-top: 12px; "><div class=3D"articlecontentmargin"><p style=3D"=
font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-=
align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; m=
argin-bottom: 15px; ">
IT WAS SOON AFTER 1 A.M. on the night of April 26, 1986, that one of the wo=
rld's nightmare scenarios unfolded. Reactor 4 in the huge Chernobyl pow=
er station blew up. The causes are still the subject of debate, but it was =
some combination of a design flaw involving the control rods that regulate =
reactor power levels, a poorly trained engineering crew, a test that requir=
ed a power-down of the reactor, and a dogged old-style Soviet boss who refu=
sed to believe anything major could be wrong. At any rate, it was spectacul=
ar. Eight-hundred-pound cubes of lead were tossed around like popcorn. The =
1,000-ton sealing cap was blown clear off the reactor. A stream of raspberr=
y-colored light shone up into the night sky=97ionized air, so beautiful tha=
t inhabitants of the nearby city of Pripyat came out to stare. When it was =
all over, estimates former deputy chief engineer Grigori Medvedev, the radi=
oactive release was ten times that of Hiroshima.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Chernobyl had been a mostly peaceful sett=
lement for 1,000 years and a predominantly Jewish town for the past three c=
enturies, famous for its dynasty of Hasidic sages. Since the Russian Revolu=
tion, the Jews have thinned a lot, but even today there are two shrines to =
the Hasidim where once a year devotees come to light candles and pray. It&#=
39;s incredible what survives a disaster. As Emily Dickinson said, "Ho=
w much can come and much can go, and yet abide the world."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In 1970, nine miles from the town, the So=
viet Union started building what they hoped would become Europe's large=
st nuclear power station. (Only four of the planned eight reactors had been=
completed when disaster struck.) To go with it, they erected a brand-new c=
oncrete city, Pripyat, whose 50,000 inhabitants greatly outnumbered the 12,=
000 living in Chernobyl. The nuclear industry fell under the military compl=
ex, and the traditional Soviet culture of secrecy was all over it. Radiatio=
n is bad enough, but compound it with Soviet pride and paranoia and you hav=
e a potent mix of Kafka and Ray Bradbury.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The first the rest of the world knew of t=
he Chernobyl disaster was when workers at a Swedish power station more than=
1,000 miles away reported for work two days later, checked themselves with=
a Geiger counter, and found they were highly radioactive. By the following=
day, April 29, radioactive clouds had been carried by prevailing winds rig=
ht across Western Europe and into Scandinavia, and<em>The New York Times</e=
m>=A0ran a front-page story about the catastrophe. The Soviet newspaper=A0<=
em>Pravda</em>devoted a full eight lines to the "accident" that d=
ay=97on its third page. It wasn't till May 15, three weeks later, that =
General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev finally announced what had happened.</p=
>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Thirty people died on the night of the ex=
plosion or soon after. Two days later, a convoy of 1,100 buses shipped out =
all the inhabitants of Pripyat, turning it into a ghost city over night. Th=
e vast might of the Soviet Union went into overdrive with a massive cleanup=
operation involving 600,000 workers. A layer of topsoil was removed for mi=
les around the site. (The government has not said where it went, but many b=
elieve it was dumped in the nearby Dnieper River, where silt would have bur=
ied it.) Hundreds of thousands of trees were planted, to bind the ground an=
d reduce the spread of radioactive dust.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">But the cleanup turned out to be even mor=
e lethal than the explosion itself. Soldiers were offered two years off the=
ir service in exchange for just two minutes shoveling nuclear waste. Thousa=
nds of people won medals for bravery and were declared Heroes of the Soviet=
Union but at the same time picked up cancer and thyroid problems that woul=
d dog them for the rest of their lives. Thousands of evacuated locals and c=
leanup workers are said to have died in the ensuing years from radiation do=
ses, and it's reckoned that some 2.7 million people alive today in Ukra=
ine, Belarus, and Russia have been directly affected by it.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In the following weeks, bureaucrats in Mo=
scow designated an 1,100-square-mile Exclusion Zone=97roughly the size of Y=
osem ite=97reasoning that the farther from Chernobyl people were, the bette=
r. This is mostly true: almost all of the crew working at the reactor when =
it blew died within a few weeks, as did several of the firemen who arrived =
on the scene minutes later, but the backup laborers who got there later mos=
tly survived, albeit with dire health problems.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In all, two towns and an estimated 91 vil=
lages were emptied. But radiation doesn't travel consistently or evenly=
. If radioactive dust is picked up by a cloud, it will fall where the rain =
falls. There are still parts of Wales where the sheep farmers can't sel=
l their meat, and last summer thousands of wild boars hunted in Germany wer=
e declared dangerously radioactive.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Today, around 5,000 people work in the Ex=
clusion Zone, which over the years has grown to an area of 1,660 square mil=
es. For one thing, you can't just switch off a nuclear power plant. Eve=
n decommissioned, it requires maintenance, as does the new nuclear-waste st=
orage facility on site. The workers come in for two-week shifts and receive=
three times normal pay. Any sign of disease at the annual medical, however=
, and they lose their jobs.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">There are also some 300 people living in =
the zone: villagers who've been coming home to their old farming lands =
since not long after the disaster and teams of radio ecologists from around=
the world who've come to study the effects of radioactive fallout on p=
lants and animals. They've effectively turned the zone into a giant rad=
iation lab, a place where the animals are mostly undisturbed, living amid a=
preindustrial number of humans and a postapocalyptic amount of radioactive=
strontium and cesium. On the outside the fauna seems to be thriving: there=
have been huge resurgences in the numbers of large mammals, including gray=
wolves, brown bears, elk, roe deer, and wild boar present in quantities no=
t recorded for more than a century. The question scientists are trying to a=
nswer is what's happening on the inside: in their bones, and in their v=
ery DNA.</p>
<div id=3D"articlepagebody" class=3D"clearfix" style=3D"font: normal normal=
normal 14px/18px arial; padding-top: 12px; "><div class=3D"articlecontentm=
argin"><div id=3D"articlesidebar" style=3D"float: left; "><table cellpaddin=
g=3D"0" cellspacing=3D"0" class=3D"articlesecondimgtable" style=3D"width: 1=
px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: =
0px; ">
<tbody><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecell" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans=
-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: top; padding-=
bottom: 4px; "><img src=3D"http://media.away.com/images/outside/201103/prip=
ay-amusement-park.jpg" alt=3D"Pripyat Amusement Park" class=3D"articleimage=
img" style=3D"border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bo=
ttom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; border-=
color: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bott=
om-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231)=
; border-right-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-color: rgb(231, 231=
, 231); border-left-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); "></td>
</tr><tr><td class=3D"articlesecondimgcaption" style=3D"font-family: arial,=
sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); vertical-align: to=
p; font: italic normal normal 11px/normal arial; padding-bottom: 10px; ">Pr=
ipyat Amusement Park, which was set to open when the accident occurred =A0(=
Photo by Rory Carnegie)</td>
</tr></tbody></table></div><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font=
-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal nor=
mal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">ONCE YOU ENTER=
THE ZONE, the quiet is a shock. It would be eerie were it not so lovely. T=
he abandoned backstreets of Chernobyl are so overgrown, you can hardly see =
it's a town. They've turned into dark-green tunnels buzzing with be=
es, filled with an orchestral score of birdsong, the lanes so narrow that t=
he van pushes aside weeds on both sides as it creeps down them, passing hou=
se after house enshrined in forest. Red admirals, peacock butterflies, and =
some velvety brown lepidoptera are fluttering all over the vegetation. It l=
ooks like something out of an old Russian fairy tale.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Ukraine officially opened Chernobyl up to=
tourism in January 2011, but small groups have been able to visit the zone=
for the past few years. There are small tour operators based in Kiev that =
take visitors on day trips. You don't need Geiger counters or special s=
uits; you just have to stay with the tour, pass through several checkpoints=
, and get tested for radiation on your way out. The tours will shuttle you =
around some of the main sites=97the deserted city of Pripyat, a small park =
filled with old Soviet army vehicles used in the cleanup, various concrete =
memorials to the fire crews who lost their lives after the blast. Visitors =
are strictly confined to areas the author ities have scanned and declared s=
afe.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Staying longer than a day is more complic=
ated. The Chernobyl Center has a guesthouse where nonofficial visitors like=
us can stay and be fed delicious if overpriced Ukrainian stews and escalop=
es. At sundown each evening there's a curfew. Walk to the nearby shop w=
here the local workers buy their beer and bread and you could get yourself =
arrested.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Chaperoning Rory and me at the center and=
on our daily excursions is our guide, Sergey. He lives in a town near Kiev=
, but for the past ten years he's been spending two weeks out of every =
four in the zone, showing visiting scientists and the odd tourist around. S=
ergey is a tough, taciturn guy who looks like an old sergeant major, with a=
silver mustache and a head of cropped white hair. Our plan is to explore t=
he forest, the old town of Chernobyl, the nearby rivers, the empty city of =
Pripyat, and some villages where a few peasants are still living. One of th=
e papers we had to sign when we entered was an agreement that if we stepped=
anywhere Sergey hadn't told us to, we wouldn't hold the authoritie=
s responsible for any health issues.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">So far, the only visible sign of radiatio=
n has been a digital readout on the mostly deserted post-office building in=
Chernobyl. Instead of telling the time and temperature, it shows the micro=
-roentgen levels in different sectors of the zone, which fluctuate accordin=
g to changes in background radiation and the weather.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The most contaminated of the villages wer=
e bulldozed and buried soon after the explosion, with only a few mounds and=
ridges left to show they were ever there. The meadows are mostly gone, rep=
laced by forest. Russia is a land of forests, but the true forest, the pri =
meval untouched forest that human eyes may never even have seen, is called=
=A0<em>pushcha</em>=97which roughly translates as "dense forest."=
This is what has been reestablishing itself at Chernobyl, regenerating at =
an unprecedented rate.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">At the edge of Chernobyl, we stop by the =
half-mile-wide Pripyat River. It's unbelievably peaceful. A black dog, =
which knows Sergey, slumps down in the grass beside us. A handful of long, =
stoved-in rowboats moored at the shore take me back to the punts of my Oxfo=
rd childhood. They're stamped with the initials of the local KGB and mu=
st have been moldering here since Soviet times. Frogs plop into the water, =
boatmen skedaddle across the surface, dragonflies hover=97it's like a w=
eight has been lifted from the world. A sparrowhawk turns in lazy circles; =
a pair of ducks race by, low down, necks stretched, and make it to a willow=
on the far bank with a clatter of relief.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">We pass two brick sheds with padlocks on =
their doors: the shrines of zaddiks, Jewish wise men.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Why locked?" I ask Sergey.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Not missing a beat, he says, "Many p=
eople don't like Jews." (Something else that survived the apocalyp=
se.)</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">We meander along the sleepy brown river. =
The main sounds are the different shades of hissing of wind in the trees: h=
igh nearby, deeper and steadier farther away. Occasionally the wind picks u=
p, flicks a ripple along the surface. This must be what life was like 1,000=
years ago, when the entire human population of the globe was roughly 250 m=
illion. There's space for everyone, time for everything.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">On our way down off the bridge, we spot a=
slender roe deer 200 yards up the road. It stands still a moment, head coc=
ked, then like a sylph it slips into the trees, so swiftly I don't even=
see it go. A little farther on, we spot an elk between two bushes. He look=
s at us, head lifted, then strolls out of sight.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The van drops us off at a dark footpath t=
hat winds up through the woods, past a chain of collapsed wooden houses. In=
side, their floors are littered with clothes, bottles, stuffing from mattre=
sses. Pieces of gutted insulation lie strewn like corpses under the trees. =
It's not so much a town with trees in it as a forest with an old town f=
alling to pieces within it.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Sergey tells us about the herds of boar h=
e has seen, 50 strong, rampaging through the forest. And about a starving w=
olf pack that surrounded a scientist friend of his in a wood one winter day=
. He had to shoot every last one to get away.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">It's not just the forest that's c=
ome back but all its creatures. It's the land of Baba Yaga, the old wit=
ch of Russian folktales. Is this the world before humanity? Or after? Is th=
ere a difference?</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D=
"font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; "></=
span></p>
<div id=3D"articlepagebody" class=3D"clearfix" style=3D"font: normal normal=
normal 14px/18px arial; padding-top: 12px; "><div class=3D"articlecontentm=
argin"><div id=3D"articlesidebar" style=3D"float: left; "><table cellpaddin=
g=3D"0" cellspacing=3D"0" class=3D"articlesecondimgtable" style=3D"width: 1=
px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: =
0px; ">
<tbody><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecell" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans=
-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: top; padding-=
bottom: 4px; "><img src=3D"http://media.away.com/images/outside/201103/cher=
nobyl-farm-couple.jpg" alt=3D"Chernobyl Farm Couple" class=3D"articleimagei=
mg" style=3D"border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bot=
tom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; border-c=
olor: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-botto=
m-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231);=
border-right-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-color: rgb(231, 231,=
231); border-left-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); "></td>
</tr><tr><td class=3D"articlesecondimgcaption" style=3D"font-family: arial,=
sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); vertical-align: to=
p; font: italic normal normal 11px/normal arial; padding-bottom: 10px; ">A =
farm couple at home, five miles from the reactor =A0(Photo by Rory Carnegie=
)</td>
</tr></tbody></table></div><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font=
-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal nor=
mal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">TRAVELING IN U=
KRAINE can be quite a party. The Ukrainians prefer not to engage in talk on=
its own. It's better with a bucket of vodka and a carton of cigarettes=
.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">It's three in the afternoon of our se=
cond day when seven of us settle at a makeshift table beneath a spreading m=
ulberry tree in the luscious garden of Ivan Nikolayevich's home. Offici=
ally, no one is supposed to live here, but within a few months of the disas=
ter, several hundred farmers, families like this one, returned to their anc=
estral homes and have been quietly living here ever since, tolerated by the=
government and apparently free of any unusual health problems.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">We're in the tiny village of Upachich=
, deep in the zone. There's Ivan himself, dressed in a sleeveless shirt=
with only one button and a pair of trousers that have seen so much yardwor=
k, he could be a man from any of the past few centuries. When we met him ha=
lf an hour ago, he had just finished gather ing up his small field of hay w=
ith a pitchfork, building the kind of hayrick Monet and Van Gogh loved to p=
aint. There's Ivan Ivanovich, his son, who was helping him, with design=
er stubble and a wristwatch that place him somewhere in the past few decade=
s. The two of them are still dripping and red-faced from their labors. And =
there's young Ivan's mother, Dasha, wearing a timeless Russian babu=
shka headscarf and a subtle, sublime smile.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">It feels like we haven't walked into =
a home so much as a story by Gogol. Corncobs are drying on a line. Indoors,=
there's a big stove with a built-in shelf on top for sleeping on in wi=
nter, buckets of potatoes standing on the floor, scraps for the hens, a bas=
in with its own cistern you fill up from the well.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Ivan the son is busy wiping down the tabl=
e, spreading out sheets of newspaper for all the foodstuffs: eggs from chic=
kens pecking under our feet, tomatoes from the garden, bread, a bowl of tin=
y forest raspberries, a whole dried river fish, crystallized and orange fro=
m its time smoking in a homemade stove. It's all local and it all looks=
great, but most tempting of all are the mulberries hanging above my head. =
They resemble elongated blackberries, and there's something about the w=
ay they're growing among the elegant oval leaves of the tree that makes=
them irresistible. I'm dying to reach up and grab one, but they fright=
en me. We're only ten miles from the power station.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Whatever you do, friends advised before w=
e came, don't eat anything that grows there.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The older Ivan comes out of the house car=
rying a glass jar full of clear fluid in his trembling hand.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Vodka," someone declares appre=
ciatively.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">That'll be safe, I think to myself: s=
hop-bought.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"No, no. Samogon," Sergey expla=
ins, eyeing the jar with a gleeful twinkle. "Better than vodka."<=
/p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Samogon?</p><p style=3D"font-family: aria=
l, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font=
: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15p=
x; ">
"Homemade."</p><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-s=
ize: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal norma=
l 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">My heart sinks. =
The local moonshine. But before I can ask if it's really safe to drink,=
we're clinking glasses, wetting our fingers, and I cautiously take a s=
ip.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"You're not exactly drinking as =
you should," Sergey notes, suggesting that I chug.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Clean=97it must be clean!" dec=
lares one of the Ivans.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Sergey is already slamming down his empty=
glass. What can I do but oblige?</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Conversation begins to flow. Sergey start=
s expatiating on the advantages of village life. "When you want make b=
usiness, make networking, you live in the city. But here, there is natural =
food, for example this samogon, it is so good for you."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">I'm far from sure, but the dad gets u=
p and shows me round the garden. He wants me to see where the tomatoes grow=
, and the grapes and vegetables, and where he finds the root he uses in his=
special medicinal vodka. Swaying, puffing, he pulls up a little plant, the=
n lumbers off to the pond to rinse it: a lump of ginseng.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">A couple of samogon shots later, my fears=
have abated and I'm tucking in like the rest. The fish is so smoky my =
eyes water, and soon my hands are stained bloodred from all the mulberries =
I've eaten. A bird starts singing. Flakes of sunshine shift over us. Th=
e hay is in, there's a pig fattening for Easter, and the oats are almos=
t ready for the scythe. If this isn't rustic life at its timeless, bibu=
lous best, what is?</p>
<div id=3D"articlepanoramicimage" style=3D"border-top-width: 1px; border-to=
p-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); padding-top: 12px; ma=
rgin-bottom: 12px; text-align: center; "><table cellpadding=3D"0" cellspaci=
ng=3D"0" class=3D"articleimagetable" align=3D"center" style=3D"width: 1px; =
">
<tbody><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecell" style=3D"font-family: arial, sans=
-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: top; padding-=
bottom: 4px; "><img src=3D"http://media.away.com/images/outside/201103/cher=
nobyl-biotechnician.jpg" alt=3D"Chernobyl Biotechnician" class=3D"articleim=
ageimg" style=3D"border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border=
-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; bord=
er-color: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-b=
ottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 2=
31); border-right-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-color: rgb(231, =
231, 231); border-left-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); "></td>
</tr><tr><td class=3D"articleimagecaption" style=3D"font-family: arial, san=
s-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); vertical-align: top; f=
ont: italic normal normal 11px/normal arial; text-align: center; padding-bo=
ttom: 4px; ">
A biotechnician and his lab partner =A0(Photo by Rory Carnegie)</td></tr></=
tbody></table></div><div id=3D"articlepagebody" class=3D"clearfix" style=3D=
"font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; padding-top: 12px; "><div clas=
s=3D"articlecontentmargin">
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">MOST EVERYONE IN Chernobyl displays a pre=
dictable bravado about living with radiation. In the relative cool of the e=
vening, the workers on their two-week shifts gather outside the guesthouse =
to sit on tree stumps and chew the fat, drink beer, smoke cigarettes. With =
a line of dark chestnut trees nearby and the pale night sky overhead, amid =
the silence and stillness of the deep forest, it's a lovely scene, even=
with the insistent black mosquitoes that bob around our faces.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Radiation is good for you," on=
e of them tells me. "Every year I get younger," says another. And=
another: "I work here so when I come home glowing my wife will think =
I'm a god."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">A particularly hearty-looking man who wor=
ks as a janitor asks me, "How old do you think I am?"</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Sixty," he answers himself. A =
preposterous answer: he looks not a day past 30.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The best decontamination? "A bottle =
of vodka."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">But radiation is scary. It's particul=
arly scary because it's mostly undetectable to the senses. If you feel =
sleepy and have a chemical taste in your mouth, it might be because of radi=
ation. If you're able to see it, in the form of purple ionized air=97a=
s they did that night in April=97or, worse, feel it in the form of instant-=
tanning heat, it's probably too late for you.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Still, it's a fact of life. We all li=
ve under constant radioactive bombardment: there's solar radiation, ter=
restrial radiation, there's even radiation in our food, since all livin=
g things contain radioactive potassium-40 and our food consists mostly of o=
nce-living things. There are different units of measurement=97like dps, or =
disintegration per second, and curies, grays, sieverts, rads, rems, roentge=
ns, and so on. The average terrestrial dose is three microrems per hour=97b=
ut in some parts of the world this goes as high as 100 micro rems, with no =
perceptible ill effects. (In fact, there's some evidence that cancer ra=
tes are lower in these areas; perhaps mild stress to the immune system make=
s it work better.)</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">A dangerous dose is hard to pin down. Wor=
ldwide, for most people, those daily microrems add up to about 360 millirem=
s per year. Scientists agree that humans can safely handle 1,000 a year. As=
tronauts on the International Space Station receive 18,000 millirems of cos=
mic radiation over six months=97but it's once in a lifetime, so it'=
s seen as an acceptable, voluntary risk. But edge that up to 30,000 millire=
ms and you're looking at what caused increased cancer rates among the b=
last survivors of Hiroshima and Naga saki. And yet animals can handle even =
more than this: large mammals and birds are generally safe with 36,000 per =
year, small ones with even higher doses, and reptiles with higher still. Th=
e more complex the animal, the more sensitive it is.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Nuclear power involves various radioactiv=
e substances that differ from the hydrogen isotopes in a modern thermonucle=
ar weapon. There are the fissile materials (which make the reaction happen)=
like plutonium and uranium, and the fission products (which result from it=
) like radioactive iodine, cesium-137, and strontium-90. It's these las=
t two, along with some plutonium, that mostly contaminate Chernobyl today. =
Some emit alpha or beta particles, some gamma rays. Alpha particles have a =
short range: in air, one to two inches; in skin, one to two thousandths of =
an inch. So if they're coming from outside you, they can't penetrat=
e your skin. But if inside=97if you've eaten something contaminated, fo=
r example=97they're nasty. Their short range means they're more lik=
ely to deposit their energy within a small area=97small enough to attack bo=
th strands of a DNA molecule, possibly causing cancer. Beta particles, mean=
while, can travel about 20 feet through air and a quarter of an inch throug=
h skin; they can't reach internal organs from outside the body. Gamma r=
ays are essentially X rays. They can be more or less penetrating, depending=
on strength.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The half-lives of radioactive materials v=
ary, too. Cesium's and strontium's are around 30 years, plutonium&#=
39;s is 88 years, but with uranium-238=97the base product used to create pl=
utonium=97it's more than four billion years. A long half-life means the=
substance remains radioactive much longer but gives off its radiation more=
slowly. The half-life of radio active iodine is only one week, which means=
it gives off a lot of radiation quickly=97another reason the Soviet author=
ities were so irresponsible in not announcing the Chernobyl disaster sooner=
: a lot of lethal, iodine-contaminated food got eaten those first few days =
after the explosion.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">All through our trip, Sergey has been tel=
ling us how healthy he is, in spite of ten years in the zone. Only at the e=
nd will he reveal that he can't run anymore because of pains in his leg=
s. Too much "strontsy," he says. But he's fine, he adds, beca=
use the strontsy is only in his muscles, not the bones. Not yet anyway.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">One of the workers tells me he doesn'=
t drink, not even beer. "I do sports, so I cannot drink," he says=
, lighting up another cigarette.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"But what about the radiation?"=
I ask him.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">He shrugs. "Life itself is dangerous=
, my friend."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">THE WORLD BEYOND the apocalypse may not b=
e so great for humans, but for the other denizens of the planet it looks li=
ke a bonanza. Today there are around 5,000 adult wild boars in the Chernoby=
l Zone. In 1995 there were many more, but they suffered an epidemic and hav=
e now stabilized. There are 25 to 30 wolf packs, a total of maybe 180 adult=
s. Many more lynx live here than before, along with foxes, barsuks (a Ukrai=
nian badger), hundreds of red deer, and thousands of roe deer and elk. Out =
of the disaster comes a paradise of wildlife. The Garden of Eden is regener=
ating.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; "></p><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-=
serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal=
normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">
But it's not so straightforward.</p><p style=3D"font-family: arial, san=
s-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: norm=
al normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">
For 17 years, biologist Igor Chizhevsky has been studying how animals metab=
olize cesium and strontium. He works with the Chernobyl Radio-Ecological Ce=
nter and is a friendly, serious, broad-faced man. He has made Chernobyl his=
career. When he comes to talk with us in the guesthouse, he sits stolidly =
in an armchair, barely moving at all for an hour, while telling us in a dol=
eful Slavic voice about how things are really going down here for the anima=
ls.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">When humans abandoned the zone, he says, =
it wasn't just they and their domestic animals=97including 135,000 catt=
le=97that left. The "synanthropic" species that live around human=
s=97pigeons, swallows, rats, and the like=97also left the territory in larg=
e numbers, leaving it free for a wild ecosystem to reestablish itself.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Structure of entire fauna system ch=
ange," Igor says.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">House mice, which thrived on grains no lo=
nger grown here, have been replaced by forest and field mice. Likewise with=
the bird species. But it's the larger mammals we're interested in.=
</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">On the surface, Igor says, the wildlife s=
eems to be thriving, but under the fur and hide, the DNA of most species ha=
s become unstable. They've eaten a lot of food contaminated with cesium=
and strontium. Even though the animals look fine, there are differences at=
the chromosomal level in every generation, as yet mostly invisible. But so=
me have started to show: there are bird populations with freakishly high le=
vels of albinism, with 20 percent higher levels of asymmetry in their feath=
ers, and higher cancer rates. There are strains of mice with resistance to =
radioactivity=97meaning they've developed heritable systems to repair d=
amaged cells. Covered in radioactive particles after the disaster, one larg=
e pine forest turned from green to red: seedlings from this Red Forest plac=
ed in their own plantation have grown up with various genetic abnormalities=
. They have unusually long needles, and some grow not as trees but as bushe=
s. The same has happened with some birch trees, which have grown in the sha=
pe of large, bushy feathers, without a recognizable trunk at all.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Genomes, er, unpredictable," s=
ays Igor. "Genome not exactly same from generation to generation. They=
change."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">This is not good for a species. Genomes a=
re supposed to stay the same. That's what holds a species together. No =
one knows what these changes could result in.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">"Soon or late," Igor says, &quo=
t;new species will evolve."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In other words, new animals could actuall=
y be in the making here. The area has become a laboratory of microevolution=
=97"very rapid evolution," says Igor=97but no one knows what will=
emerge or when.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">One Stanford scientist I spoke to later h=
ad a terse summary: if there are genetic changes, and if these pass down to=
the next generation, and if they survive natural selection, then it's =
reasonable to talk of evolution. There are two theories about why this may =
happen. In classic Darwinism, random genetic changes that help an organism =
survive in its environment are naturally selected through generations, beca=
use the individuals with those characteristics do better. But "mutagen=
esis," an alternate theory, posits that organisms deliberately adapt t=
o their surroundings. The process is not accidental. For example, in Cherno=
byl, if mice are developing radiation resistance by passing down cell-repai=
r systems, is that because some individuals just happened to develop this a=
ttribute and to fare better, or is it because the species deliberately deve=
loped this capacity in response to the environment?</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Sergey takes us to a real-life laboratory=
nearby: just an old house, but inside it's been gutted, and the walls =
are lined with shelves of cages, each one full of scurrying white mice. A r=
ank stench hits us as soon as we walk in.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The white-coated lab technician=97yet ano=
ther Ivan=97notices my grimace and smiles. "Yes," he says. "=
And we just cleaned the place this morning."</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">He explains that they're studying the=
effect on the mice of the radioactive spectrum here in the Chernobyl Zone.=
They took probes from the Red Forest and re-created the conditions here at=
the lab, then started giving the mice food laced with cesium and strontium=
.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Why here? I ask.</p><p style=3D"font-fami=
ly: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: le=
ft; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bot=
tom: 15px; ">
"This is already a contaminated area. So we don't risk spreading r=
adiation elsewhere." In other words, the zone has become a kind of ref=
uge for radiation research.</p><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; =
font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal=
normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">
He and his team are studying the mice to understand their resistance to rad=
ioactivity. They've found sensitivity to ionization, which results in c=
ertain tumors, and some of this passes down through the genes. But they'=
;re also finding heritable radiation resistance=97which could perhaps be be=
neficial to humans someday.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In spite of being a clearheaded scientist=
, Ivan gives us a surprise when asked if he's OK being photographed. He=
starts laughing nervously. "I'm afraid of American shamans and wh=
at they may do to me," he confesses. Apparently, some old-time beliefs=
are still being inherited around here too, even in a science lab. The Ukra=
inians are complex people: part Soviet, part soulful Slav, part subsistence=
farmer. Even this lab has its own vegetable patch out front.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">ON OUR LAST MORNING I wake up early, and =
as I lie in my bed at the dorm I hear, quite distinctly, a wolf howling. It=
holds its note a long time before reaching for a higher one, then a still =
higher one. It sounds like a healthy howl. But no biologist has yet been ab=
le to study these wolves in sufficient numbers to have a clear idea of thei=
r genetic health. They know what their bellies are full of, but the meat ha=
s its own genetic instability. These wolves may have a vast untracked fores=
t to roam, but what is happening deep in their DNA no one knows. Will there=
be new species in a few generations? There may already be, out in the fore=
st, and we wouldn't even know.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; "></p><p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-=
serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal=
normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">
Later that morning, on our way to the ghost city of Pripyat, we see a fox d=
arting across the road=97nothing more than a black silhouette, curiously lo=
w to the ground. Or perhaps it was a small wolf, says Sergey. Then a big bi=
rd, which turns out to be an eagle, is suddenly ahead of us, grappling with=
a sapling it has attempted to land on, bending it down low, then letting t=
he young tree spring back up again as it rides away on giant brown wings.</=
p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Sergey tells us that Pripyat used to be t=
he most beautiful, spacious city he ever saw. More roses grew there than an=
ywhere else he ever knew. There were never any shortages, and you could get=
fine clothes, Czech-made shoes. It was a model of what Communism was suppo=
sed to have been.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">It's weirdly distressing to be here. =
As a human, it's like staring down the barrel of our likely fate. We ma=
y wipe ourselves out with a nuclear holocaust, or with carbon and methane, =
or some other way we can't yet conceive of. Or nature may do it for us.=
When it happens, trees may or may not mind. Cyano bacteria poisoned their =
own atmosphere two and a half billion years ago by releasing vast quantitie=
s of a gas that was poisonous to them=97oxygen=97and in the process created=
an atmosphere suited to higher forms of land life. Who knows what creature=
s may adapt to a high-carbon, high-methane atmosphere if we keep going the =
way we are? They may include us, or not.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">From Pripyat we drive on to the old power=
station itself. It's a large area of vast concrete buildings. One of t=
hem is the stricken Reactor 4, some 200 feet tall, with a giant chimney sti=
ll rising out of it. For almost 25 years it's stood encased in a "=
sarcophagus" of cement, but the seal is far from perfect, and it leaks=
dangerously. We park 200 yards away to look at it but stay only a few minu=
tes. A new steel sarcophagus is slowly being built; when finished, it will =
be the world's largest movable structure.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">There are canals threading through the gi=
ant buildings, which provided water for the old coolant system, and in one =
of them the catfish have grown to prodigious sizes. We stop on a metal brid=
ge and gaze down into the brown water. Suddenly the monsters rise to the su=
rface, some of them a good ten feet long, black, whiskered, curling around =
as they hunt for the bread people feed them.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">They're not big because of radiation,=
Sergey insists. It's just that they haven't been fished for a quar=
ter of a century.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">The whole area is like this: fecund, scar=
y. Later Sergey takes us to an army barracks where some soldier friends of =
his keep a few wild pets. From the dark doorway of one of the sheds issues =
a terrific subterranean grunt, and a moment later, as if in a hurry, out tr=
ots another wild boar. It comes straight at the fence, presses against it w=
ith the weird, wet sucker of its long, long nose, then raises its bristly h=
ead and eyeballs me as if I'm something from another planet.</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">In a pen next door there's another fo=
rest sprite=97the barsuk, a very close relative of our badger. When it come=
s out of its kennel, it runs up a woodpile, turns at the top, and proceeds =
to stare right into me with deeply strange eyes. Something in me seems to r=
ecognize something in it, and I feel a pang of longing. Is it for the deep =
forest, the=A0<em>pushcha</em>? For the trees, the smell of autumn leaves, =
of mushrooms and mold? For the freedom to live our own way, far from societ=
y?</p>
<p style=3D"font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, =
0, 0); text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 14px/18px arial; margin=
-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; ">Crouching and staring, the barsuk doesn&#=
39;t move a muscle. It could be a stuffed animal, with eyes of glass. Or pe=
rhaps a new species, staring at the world with new eyes.</p>
<p></p><p></p></div></div><p></p></div></div><p></p></div></div><p></p></di=
v></div><p></p></div></div></span>
--001517448168bbc9e2049e17b2ab--
More information about the wordup
mailing list