Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Radioactive Contamination

Back in 1986 when Chernobyl blew up I remember asking my dad and reading a lot about radioactive contamination. Then I moved to Europe, never really thinking about it until I met kids from the affected area from Belarus. Chernobyl is in Ukraine, near the border of Belarus, therefore some part of Belarus is badly affected due to its location. It's sad to see how kids who were born years after the accident still affected by it.

I used to joke that now that I've consumed some Belorussian delicacy (I miss their chocolate and pine nuts) I'm now radioactive.

After the beginning of Japanese nuclear accident, I thought about radioactive particles and contamination for a while. However, I've noticed it doesnt seem such a concern for Indonesians about the possibility of radioactive particles getting to Indonesia. The other day, one of my clients from Europe asked me if Indonesians are scared about radioactive contamination. I told him, I guess the fact that in Jakarta getting from your house to your work is already dangerous and polluted enough by European standard, people are more concerned about their day to day living than about radioactive particles that might cause cancer some times in the future.

3 comments:

colson said...

These days a number of documentaries were broadcasted on Chernobyl. About the new concrete cover which is being built for the plant and about the remarkable, amazing and fortunate recovery and even flourishing of healthy fauna and flora in the large area where no humans live any more.

As for yior assessment of the Indonesian attitude towards radioactivity, I think it shows Indonesians on average show a huge amount of common sense.

As for my personal opinion about Nuclear Power: No, thank you!

triesti said...

I am not sure if it's common sense or just plain ignorant :)

Harry Nizam said...

Yes you are right, Indonesians are more concerned about their day to day living than about the danger of radioactive particles.