[Milsurplus] Re: GB> OT: Chernobyl Bike Ride, nuclear plants

[Hue Miller]

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/serpents-wall/   ( is the website for photo story on 

visiting the WW2 fortifications around Kiev, Russia. )

Now about the Chernobyl dead zone motorycycle trip:
It has the look of authenticity to me. I can't see that there's any tweak for her in 
getting us worked up over it, if it is made-up. Especially if you visit her other story
on the fortifications around Kiev, which is in no way a hoax.  

The former Soviet Union is a kind of historical treasure chest in some ways.  Tons
of war detritus being unearthed. I understand there is an unseemly cottage industry
in mining German burials for medals etc., to be sold in flea markets or exported to the
west. Also other war material is being just found where abandoned. In the last couple
months a couple "dug" or recovered WW2 radio items showed up on Ebay and 
fetched some pretty good prices, surprising prices actually.  Apparently the provenance
storyline added to the valuation of some item that because of condition would not have
gone so high. One item was the front cover of a German backpack radio, one of the Feldfunk
series ( ca 100 MHz, superregen ) with instructions printed on the inside still legible; the 
other was a WR-1/P  ( Wehrmacht Radiobroadcast receiver -1 ) which if i recall, the listing
claimed recently recovered from some German fortification in the Ukraine. If that story is
true, i thought, the radio altho somewhat beat looking, is still in remarkable condition for
having been exposed to temperature and humidity variations for 60 some years.  

As for nuclear power, as was pointed out, we have much better safety measures here, and
have not had a really deadly incident. 
The wastes, why we'll just encase them in a deep rock cave in the dry southwest. Our 
projections indicate the geology will be stable for the required thousands of years, and our
projections couldn't be wrong. And we can rest assured that the other nuclear power 
countries are taking equally effective measures, right?
-Hue Miller