Is the Wuhan Virus China's Chernobyl?

jwoodie

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Aug 15, 2012
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Remember the good old USSR, the model for the People's Republic China? As befitted any totalitarian regime, the USSR lied about the nuclear plant accident at Chernobyl until its radioactive cloud began spreading over other countries. Its later admission of the disaster served to undermine its credibility at home and abroad, and ultimately resulted in regime change.

Has the same thing occurred in China? It lied about this contagion from the beginning, and continues to suppress information about its cause and magnitude. Will the rest of the world take care of its duplicity, and will the people of China demand accountability?

Let's hope so.
 
Worse than Chernobyl. The Russian meltdown only killed about 4,000 people, counting the subsequent diseases from radiation. And those were only Russians.

The worldwide body count from the Chinese Wuhan virus stands at about 137,000 today.
 
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Not likely.

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:)
 
Worse than Chernobyl. The Russian meltdown only killed about 4,000 people, counting the subsequent diseases from radiation. And those were only Russians.

The worldwide body count from the Chinese Wuhan virus stands at about 137,000 today.
Well, yes and no JGalt, though its imperative folks understand that Chernobyl's casualty figures were just as cooked as the reactor itself was, and importantly, much of the cooking was courtesy of the United States and the IAEA for obvious reasons, largely the USA's heavy investiture in nuclear power. The true body count at Chernobyl was almost certainly more than 500,000 dead and maimed. Now, Wuhan is gonna be vastly worse then Chernobyl simply because the pathogen escaped and is loosed upon the planet absent a sure check upon its movements. Its literally loose upon every continent sans Antarctica, and surely is gonna kill at least 250,000 people worldwide, if it hasn't already, it could end up north of a million dead, thus Wuhan is the greatest technological failure in all of human history, of course proceeding upon the assumption its escape was accidental and not an intentional release..... That said, Wuhan will eventually run its course, Chernobyl is gonna still be there, a massive threat to all of humanity for at least the next 2500 years!
 
Worse than Chernobyl. The Russian meltdown only killed about 4,000 people, counting the subsequent diseases from radiation. And those were only Russians.

The worldwide body count from the Chinese Wuhan virus stands at about 137,000 today.
Well, yes and no JGalt, though its imperative folks understand that Chernobyl's casualty figures were just as cooked as the reactor itself was, and importantly, much of the cooking was courtesy of the United States and the IAEA for obvious reasons, largely the USA's heavy investiture in nuclear power. The true body count at Chernobyl was almost certainly more than 500,000 dead and maimed. Now, Wuhan is gonna be vastly worse then Chernobyl simply because the pathogen escaped and is loosed upon the planet absent a sure check upon its movements. Its literally loose upon every continent sans Antarctica, and surely is gonna kill at least 250,000 people worldwide, if it hasn't already, it could end up north of a million dead, thus Wuhan is the greatest technological failure in all of human history, of course proceeding upon the assumption its escape was accidental and not an intentional release..... That said, Wuhan will eventually run its course, Chernobyl is gonna still be there, a massive threat to all of humanity for at least the next 2500 years!

The Chernobyl stats I listed were only from a quick lookup on Wikipedia. According to this page, it's only 180-320 years, not 2500...

"Radiation Will Plague Chernobyl for Hundreds of Years The radioactive half life of cesium 137 is usually 30 years. The radioactive half life of cesium 137 is usually 30 years. But scientists at the Savannah River National Laboratory say that the cesium at Chernobyl will persist in the environment between 5 and 10 times longer - between 180 and 320 years."

Radiation Will Pollute the Area Around Chernobyl For 5 to 10 Times Longer Than Models Predicted - Between 180 and 320 Years → Washingtons Blog

While this one says 30 years...

Chernobyl: Facts About the Nuclear Disaster

Several other pages were all over the place. I would only have to presume that the estimates of a very long half-life were based on the author's personal distaste and bias against nuclear energy.
 
If we are not merely comparing Covid-19 and Chernobyl numbers, but talking mainly about the confidence level of the Chinese people in their leaders, I'm afraid the result is likely to be the opposite of Chernobyl.

This is not certain of course. Most Chinese are well aware of the early missteps and bureaucratic cover-ups in Wuhan. But given Chinese reality (and human nature) those screw-ups will likely be forgotten over time. Chinese people's patriotic pride in their leaders' relative success in controlling the pandemic (within China) and in their own incredible collective mobilization, will probably be what they remember.

Already, most Chinese just look at the numbers of infected and dead, and when they compare themselves and their authoritarian system to our own chaotic and divided Western democracy, they are not impressed.

Of course if the U.S. can recover quickly, and somehow China falters badly, that may change. Folks here may not like it, but truly strong central government one-party "state capitalism" (or whatever you want to call the Chinese system) does have certain advantages in a crisis demanding sacrifice, social solidarity and discipline. We are lucky Covid-19 will probably just constitute a "stress test" for our rather stressed-out society -- and not likely a long-lasting catastrophe.
 
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Worse than Chernobyl. The Russian meltdown only killed about 4,000 people, counting the subsequent diseases from radiation. And those were only Russians.

The worldwide body count from the Chinese Wuhan virus stands at about 137,000 today.
Well, yes and no JGalt, though its imperative folks understand that Chernobyl's casualty figures were just as cooked as the reactor itself was, and importantly, much of the cooking was courtesy of the United States and the IAEA for obvious reasons, largely the USA's heavy investiture in nuclear power. The true body count at Chernobyl was almost certainly more than 500,000 dead and maimed. Now, Wuhan is gonna be vastly worse then Chernobyl simply because the pathogen escaped and is loosed upon the planet absent a sure check upon its movements. Its literally loose upon every continent sans Antarctica, and surely is gonna kill at least 250,000 people worldwide, if it hasn't already, it could end up north of a million dead, thus Wuhan is the greatest technological failure in all of human history, of course proceeding upon the assumption its escape was accidental and not an intentional release..... That said, Wuhan will eventually run its course, Chernobyl is gonna still be there, a massive threat to all of humanity for at least the next 2500 years!

The Chernobyl stats I listed were only from a quick lookup on Wikipedia. According to this page, it's only 180-320 years, not 2500...

"Radiation Will Plague Chernobyl for Hundreds of Years The radioactive half life of cesium 137 is usually 30 years. The radioactive half life of cesium 137 is usually 30 years. But scientists at the Savannah River National Laboratory say that the cesium at Chernobyl will persist in the environment between 5 and 10 times longer - between 180 and 320 years."

Radiation Will Pollute the Area Around Chernobyl For 5 to 10 Times Longer Than Models Predicted - Between 180 and 320 Years → Washingtons Blog

While this one says 30 years...

Chernobyl: Facts About the Nuclear Disaster

Several other pages were all over the place. I would only have to presume that the estimates of a very long half-life were based on the author's personal distaste and bias against nuclear energy.
The exclusion zone city of Pripyat, and the plant itself are verboten for 20,000 years, the greater area will be totally uninhabitable for at least 2,000 - 3,000 years! The encased reactor will be a threat to man for longer than man has likely had knowledge of the wheel, or farming.... This link is very detailed and they are the two most celebrated experts on the topic,

 

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