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Stunning Video Footage Of Chernobyl Devastation Captured By Drone
With the Fukushima disaster having disappeared from all media coverage in recent months (and with the plan to encapsulate the radioactive plant in an ice sarcophagus recently scrapped, Japan has still to reveal what its plans are for dealing with the disaster area), the world occasionally needs a reminder of the waste land that follow when nuclear power goes horribly wrong.
For that we go back to the original nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, and US photographer Phillip Grossman who, while having taken numerous pictures of the radioactive sarcophagus and its surroundings in the past, has produced his most amazing work yet courtesy of a camera-equipped drone. It allowed him to use a high powered camera and get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding landscape.
The stunning result is shown in the video below.
Some further details: the American, who has always had a fascination with nuclear power plants (and perhaps even disasters as he grew up 11 miles away from Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which was the scene of the worst nuclear disaster on US soil) talks to RT about his artistic vision.
"I think you are destined to repeat history if you don’t learn from it. So part of what I am doing with the documentation is really show people what happened. Lives were destroyed, families were torn apart."
Close up #Chernobyl Sarcophagus @Photoshop @LexarMemory @CanonUSAimaging @EnviroNewsTV @CBSSunday @photoaddicts pic.twitter.com/DKkPnbvS35
— Philip Grossman (@PGPImages) December 1, 2014
Grossman had experience as a pilot, which gave him a head start in terms of the pictures he was looking to take. He knew he had to take into account the overgrowth of trees and shrubs, which have grown unhindered for almost 30 years. He also mentioned that he heard bears and other wildlife are returning to the region due to the lack of human activity.
“I tried to remove bias and that’s what I love about photography and film making is that a picture is worth a thousand words. I would rather the person watching would make up their own mind.”
Another shot @60Minutes didn't show Flying @DJIGlobal as close as I could #chernobyl reactor complex @UAVHive @Airvid pic.twitter.com/WnyjI5N9Ks
— Philip Grossman (@PGPImages) November 25, 2014
The photographer was also given access to the control room at reactor number four, where the disaster on April 26, 1986 started. Time was of the essence given that the room was still highly radioactive following the accident. However, it was here that Grossman experienced one of his most poignant memories of the whole trip.
Another shot @60Minutes and @dannycooke didn't get in chernobyl Control Rm Reactor No. 4 @theguardianbiz @Gizmodo pic.twitter.com/4yJvS3FcaX
— Philip Grossman (@PGPImages) November 29, 2014
“We did manage to gain access to the control room and reactor No. 4. I was ecstatic that we were finally able to go. We were given very little time in there. I stood in there and was taking pictures and within about 30 seconds it dawned on me where I truly was.”
One place @60Minutes and @dannycooke did not go in Chernobyl, Ctrl Rm Reactor No. 4 @DSLRinformer @FilmTimelapse pic.twitter.com/dDblI6uHtY
— Philip Grossman (@PGPImages) November 29, 2014
Grossman also tried to portray the size of the city of Pripyat, which housed the employees and the families of those who worked at Chernobyl. The population was around 50 thousand and it was a large modern city. The photographer said the the average age of the population was around 25-26, so there were a lot of children and elementary schools and a lot of mementos.
“Walking through those buildings and seeing the children’s toys on the floor. Seeing the children’s beds where they napped was the most striking (thing). I had to be reminded that there had not been a war here and it was a little bit more comforting to know that people weren't murdered and killed there. This was a place of happiness for children and it’s no longer that way."
The American photographer has spent 34 days in Chernobyl and Pripyat during his trips there and has amassed around 30 hours of material. He is current looking to see if any US television companies are interested in broadcasting a documentary about the disaster zone, which he wants to produce.
“We managed to find a village on the outskirts which was relatively untouched and we walked into some of the buildings and some of the homes just to see what was there. I know people left one of the buildings because the calendar says May 3."
Flying @DJIGlobal over radioactive ship graveyard #chernobyl @ImagiDrone @UAVHive @thatdroneshow @atlantahobby pic.twitter.com/VH2JJhb3mb
— Philip Grossman (@PGPImages) November 26, 2014
“I took pictures of some family photos lying on the floor. I don’t know how realistic it would be to find those people, but I would love to and that’s kind of why I want to get the word out about the project.”
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Sorry, that the scare tactic is being used again to enable the petroleum business's desires. There is so much good in nuclear energy usage and there are lessons to be learned like the one in Alaska when the tanker broke up. I am interested in the use of Thorium to be the power source in nuclear reactors and the reduction of waste and generation of zero bomb material. Guess who is leading the pack in those technologies. Japan, Russia, France and South Korea, with Iran seeing the light. The US with it's giant petroleum reserves isn't interested and neither Germany who want to be the solar, wind-driven technical leader, which means they will have to invade Poland and other countries to have the land necessary to use those as the main energy source. Rusiia has oil but they have foresight, the oil runs out and they are a nation relying on natural resources for much of their income. They have uranium and throrium, and intend to use them to supply the worlds future energy needs. Fission is on the far horizon and use of the Bison particles even further out. So lets stay in the 2000 century and learn to use the most technology superior energy source, safely and respectfully. My brother worked for Shell in transportation division, but he eventually got cancer for being exposed too often to the gases that are emitted by refineries. He had a secure and financially adaquate job for a non-degreed person, but he paid the ultimate price when he retired and suffered and died, with various cancers. Radiation is not a cancer causer, but a cancer destroyer, so it can't be looked at in that light of cancerous, the radiation affects the body just as the oil vapors, and reduced exposure is easily made a law/rule for those who are part of that industry. It can be measured easily and records kept with various wearable items, making it now inheirntly safe to work and play in the vicinity of those reactors. Oil polluting our precious water supplies is not the answer. Without, also considering, the carbon situation and global warming aspects.
yeah i think putting a nuke plant, windfarm, or solar farm on the back of a commercial airliner is a great way to fly... (sarc/)
Thousands of tankers blown up in WWI and WWII. Where's the destroyed ecology? Where's the oil washing up on the beaches? Horrible at first but nature cleans it up quickly, no 500,000 year half life here.
As for carbon,,, why is everyone wanting to kill plants and trees? Humans like all life are carbon based. And explain how humans with their whopping 50 year old technology claim to be able to describe the weather thousands of years ago, predict the next millenniums weather but cannot forecast todays weather 3 days out.
Chernoble, Fukushima, 3 mile are all warnings. Green Energy? Yea, sure. It's all BS.
Man is not mature enough to play with nuclear fire. And for the tree huggers that wish to eliminate civilization for the earths benefit, You first.
US has their own version of Chernobyl in Hanford which is a nuclear wasteland roughly the size of Rhode Island in Eastern WA. Difference is the US just buried the problem underground, continues to be woefully inadequate in disclosing the extent of the leaks underground, and does a pretty good job of getting the mainstream media to never cover it even when it pops up on hearings on the Hill.
Most Americans don't even know it exists when asked.
http://enenews.com/79334
This is nothing new.
In the Ariege France villages , mines and other human artifacts are covrred over with 100 year old beech Forrest as the men never came home from the trenches.
Gamma World for real.
'
'
'
Thorium bitchez! Thorium!
And what ever happened to nitinol?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKmYqUSDch8
•J•
V-V
Always astounds me on here on any nuclear-related article that ther are inevitably a few posters who say radiation isn't really harmful to humans.
Not a great proxy but put some insects into a microwave and turn it on. See what happens to them under concentrated doses of microwave radiation. If you put in bees/flies/wasps, they will die almost immediately. Cockroaches/termites last a few seconds longer but not much longer.
Astounds me how many people microwave insects.
Summer job at a pool snack bar and some really slow times during rainy/cloudy days.
Ya know what astounds me?
When someone doesn't understand the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
And anyway, guess what would happen if you sat in a microwave oven?
You would get sweaty, that's about it. Because you, unlike a rutabaga or hunk of beef, have an active circulation system.
As long as you are hydrated, you will never "cook". You would need protective covering over your eyes as there is very little blood flow in that area.
Bullshit.
A hamster has an active circulation system but will cook.
The water molecules are boiled inside you in a microwave oven.
No, no, no.
You are an idiot.
This exact situation has ben replicated many, many times.
it has - and ends in cooked hamster every time. The water molecules directly emit the heat once stimulated by the microwaves and the cells, no matter how fast they move - have water INSIDE them. Boil, burst, cooked. done. Dead.
You're an idiot.
Aweome. Hope Moscow is next! Karma...
or D.C.
Maybe NY?
'Lawmakers worry about Indian Point dangers'
David McCumber
December 3
… "Do you think," Gillibrand asked, "that two and a half years is an appropriate timeline" for completing an urgent seismic safety review "for a plant with recently documented aging infrastructure and its proximity to 17 million people and its high level of seismic risk?" …
… Gillibrand asked to see a written evacuation plan, pointing out that after Fukushima, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recommended a 50-mile evacuation zone around U.S. nuclear plants.
"As you know we have & 17 million people in that 50-mile radius," Gillibrand said.
"Now you're familiar with the geography of New York. In the event of an evacuation of New York City, the only options are north and west, which means you'd have a large number of people evacuating toward Indian Point."
"If you think of Fukushima as an example of all the things that could go wrong that you couldn't predict & I was beginning to see it happening in Superstorm Sandy," Gillibrand said…"
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Lawmakers-worry-about-Indian-Poin...
Great education. Trees and other plants will inherit the earth!!
I'm glad this article isnt about the recent 60 Minutes show.
Is Chernobyl still dangerous or was 60 Minutes pushing propaganda?
"There has been quite a bit of discussion about the misinformation propagated by this particular 60 Minutes segment."
http://atomicinsights.com/chernobyl-still-dangerous-60-minutes-pushing-propaganda/
That looks amazingly positive. Life has returned to the area in a very short time. Tree's growing, saw a few birds flying. Very positive overall and plays down the hype of ZH's and others on the "devestation" of these areas. Sure, the building are rtun down, but WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? There hasn't been anyone there to maintain anything for years.
Overall a fantastically positve video!
There was movie made from Hollyweird studio’s about this site. Cannot recall the name of flick. Pretty damn chilling to see the images from the drone. Stop the video at 2.01. What is that? Is it Barry? Ready to jump into his toxic bathtub?
/LOL
Stupid fear mongering article.
Some research on studies on the abundance and adaptation of wildlife in the exclusion zone will set some of you straight.
Most of the wildlife comebacks are a return to the pre Stalin days. The great five year central plans where the marshes were drained for farmland with canals dug and maintained untill the Chernobyl accident moved the people away. The natural filling in of the drainage canals and the return of the marshes has everything to do with the return of wildlife there. Radiation or the lack of it has minimal impact on the area. This is the real story.
Rat who can have 20 generations in 10 years have plenty of time to mutate and adapt, on the other side us human not so much.
It will take another thousand years before seeing Xmen unless genetic scientist can do it before...
Take a look at this, if you have the balls:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Chernobyl+Disaster+Human+Mutations&F...
It isn't about killing off mature lifeforms. It's about mutating and killing the new lifeforms. We are melting the world's bioDNA.
Maybe, they can turn it into Section 8 housing development and call it a renovated affordable housing development project. Our Liberal parisites would be all over this engagement. Free EBT for new homeowner enrollees.
/hahahaha
communism wins again
Why can't they plug up Fukushima like they did Chernobyl?
Never let a crisis goto waste.
Because everyone trying will commit suicide in the process. No one's stepping up.
I'd tone down the music some. Maybe commission Pussy Riot to do a score.
“Walking through those buildings and seeing the children’s toys on the floor. Seeing the children’s beds where they napped was the most striking (thing). I had to be reminded that there had not been a war here and it was a little bit more comforting to know that people weren't murdered and killed there. This was a place of happiness for children and it’s no longer that way."...
Yes indeed. What a difference 27 years makes when private foreign security companies are allowed to "manage" a large number of commercial nuclear reactors and simply walk off the reservation without an investigation following an "accident"!... But that will never happen in OUR Country and with our nuclear power facilities where the security in the United States after 9/11 is "secondto none"!!!!
Watch the birdie!
Lots of nuclear plant construction by Russia and others going on worldwide
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/canadas-candu-energy-inc-to-get-green-light-for-chinese-nuclear-plant-soon-says-guo-chengzhan/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/uk-government-paves-way-for-chinese-nuclear-plant/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/russia-has-signed-nuclear-agreements-with-ukraine-turkey-existing-finland-south-africa-india-algeria-argentina-vietnam-bulgaria-existing-belarus-existing-iran-and-u-s/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/finland-approves-russias-rosatom-to-build-reactor-at-hanhikvi/
Look like it could be a good intro for a doomsday movie:
"The Land of the dying sun and rising zombies: the superhuman revenge"
(In Japanese).
Tenno Heika Banzai !
Green energy killed some folks.
My understanding is that all the animals in the area look 'normal', except for the people of course.
Send a drone to Fukushima too.
Ever notice how the video footage embedded into ZH is always "stunning"?
I think I'll buy the Tylers a new Thesaurus for Kwanzaa.
There, fixed it. Plenty of other equal or worse nuclear disasters in the US mostly out West though. The whole of Yucca flats for one(over 100 open air tests, something like 600 underground above one of the largest aquifers in the West, nuclear rocket testing etc), Hanford, WA leaking Pu waaste tanks, Navy nuclear reactor graveyard, SL-1 in Idaho, and lest we forget the MSM blacklist of the growing shitshow at the WIPP in New Mexico.
This kinda reminds me of South West DC in a few years...
Interesting.......
but I didn't really see anything too devastating (stunning). No scorched land, no lava pits, mutated wolves or moon craters, etc. Just a bunch of wildlife and deserted buildings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1145pQpl1Lk
I think I'll move on to more pressing matters.
Looks fine to me, let's move the Hill over there.
Someone is trying to advertise without looking suspicious. Follow links.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-general-electric-knew-its-nuclear-reactor-design-was-unsafe-so-why-isnt-ge-getting-any-heat-for-fukushima/5361300
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/23/usa-nuclear-ge-idUSL2N0KX2H820140123
Lastly.
http://www.ge-energy.com/nuclear
Old tactics used over again.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, sat on the board of a company which three years ago sold two light water nuclear reactors to North Korea
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/may/09/nuclear.northkorea
We finally really did it... you maniacs! You blew it all up! God damn you! Damn you all to Hell!
What the hell was wrong with you people!?
Japan's latest tourist attraction? Locals offer sightseeing trips to Fukushima...
Eerie Drone Footage of Fukushima which is now a wasteland...
I thought it was one of those Chinese Ghost Cities, but Chernobyl will still be standing in 10 years
I thought it was one of those Chinese Ghost Cities, but Chernobyl will still be standing in 10 years