Yet nearly 4 decades after Chernobyl the surrounding forests STILL have a carpet of organic matter on the forest floor which will not decompose due to the absence of microbial life.
I suggest laying off the radiation Kool-Aid served by the propaganda specialists since the 1940s in DC.
Interesting. Thanks. Here’s an even more unsettling proposition. The forests are ripe for forest fires because of the undigested debris. So radioactive ash could be spread all over Europe...
Chernoobyl forests are hardly a sterile environment. I’ve not been there, but I can attest that the Bikini Atoll ecosystems {Bikini and Eneu Islands) show little that is unexpected except that the terrestrial and aquatic aquatic environments are different in their responses. Rad sources are dominated by the long-half-life isotopes. Biological damage is related to what ges ingested and incorporated in tissues.
For Chernobyl see:
Half life of nuc fuel is different than that of warheads. Airblasts produce little atmospheric debris. Relax. Plan. You can survive.