The most dangerous job in human history ever - or is it? This animated chart shows in real-time the radiation dose Chernobyl liquidators received while they had to clean up radioactive debris on the reactor roof.
On 26 April 1986 a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl exploded. Hundreds of thousands of liquidators were called upon to deal with the consequences. Approximately 5,000 of them got the assignment to get on the roof of the reactor to clean up the radioactive debris. Due to the unprecedented levels of radiation their task was limited to 90 seconds.
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About the data:
The units of measure for radiation are complicated so we made the easy to understand but not very precise “X-ray” as our unit. Here we talk about the average radiation equivalent to receiving one hand or foot X-ray which is about 1 microSievert.
Average person's yearly dose - in great part due to cosmic radiation and medical procedures. If you are interested in a more precise estimation, check out an online radiation calculator like this [[ Ссылка ]]
3.6 Roentgen. Not great, not tragic - quote from the HBO show referring to the false measurement due to dosimeter went off-scale.
Smoking 1.5 packs a day for a year - not a well known fact that cigarette smoking comes with high radiation exposure due to radon accumulated in the plant from fertilizers.
Fukushima exclusion zone - the highest radiation measured in the exclusion zone of the incident for several days.
Radiation workers' max. annual dose - US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulatory limit.
Increased risk of cancer - lowest one year dose clearly linked to increased cancer risk.
5 year limit for radiation workers - US regulatory limit.
Chernobyl liquidators' average - The average dose Chernobyl liquidators were exposed to. Most of them never went to the reactor roof.
30 years as commercial aircrew - cosmic radiation is on longer flights and greater at higher altitudes.
Astronauts on ISS (6 months), Astronauts on the Skylab 4 mission - astronauts are exposed to the radiation from the sun and cosmic rays outside of the atmosphere.
Fukushima 50's maximum dose - 50 employees remained on-site after the disaster, bar shows the highest radiation members of the group were exposed to.
Average person's lifetime dose
US limit for emergency workers - regulatory limit for radiation workers on life-saving operation.
NASA annual limit on low-Earth orbit - NASA limit for astronauts, mean value, actual limits are varying based on age and gender.
Radiation sickness - causes nausea and vomiting, headaches, and a short period of skin reddening.
Fatal radiation poisoning
Chernobyl first responders - the official death toll is 54 people, most of them are firefighters and plant workers worked on the night of the accident.
Below the Hiroshima explosion - the detonation happened on 600m, the radiation exposure on the ground would have been fatal even without the heat and pressure wave.
Chernobyl open core per hour - Radiation, the uncovered, exploded reactor emitted after the accident.
Disclaimer: We are not radiation experts. This data visualization is made for entertainment purposes only.
If you're interested in other data visualizations about radiation dosages check out these:
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We used the following sources to compile the dataset:
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Dust particles: thanks for For Film Creation: [ Ссылка ]
