Atomic Plant
Usually, on
this leg of the journey, a beeping Dosimeter inspires me to shift into high gear
and streak through the area with great haste. The patch of trees in front of me
is called red - or 'magic" wood. In 1986, this wood glowed red with radiation.
They cut them down and buried them under 1 meter of earth. The Dosimeter
readings on the asphalt paving is 500 -3000 microroengens, depending upon where
you stand. That is 50 to 300 times the radiation of a normal environment. If I
step 10 meters forward, Dosimeter will run off the scale. If I walk a few
hundred meters towards the reactor, the radiation is 3 roengens per hour - which
is 300,000 times normal. If I was to keep walking all the way to the reactor, I
would glow in the dark tonight. Maybe this is why they call it magic wood. It is
a dark magic with the power to turn biker leather into shining armor.
This is the territory of the Atomic Power Plant. The Dosimeter
reading here is also 500-3000 microroengen per hour.
The plant was closed down for good in 2000.
They must build a new sarcophagus soon, because the original one was hastily
constructed and is disintegrating.
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