# Gernobil, Fukushima **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162 "2016-07-17T23:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/21 "2016-07-19T18:01:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And the fact that there’s a greater response to Fukushima than to Chernobyl is mostly a result of the fact that Japan is a more mature, responsible country than the USSR was, and makes an effort to clean up its messes. Well, they tried but it about near bankrupted them. That’s what happens when you play with toys you can’t afford when they break. Fukushima hasn’t been kind to Japan’s economy either, and they’re rich. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/22 "2016-07-19T18:35:23Z")
> [@Objectman](#): > > To me “star” is used to decribe radioactivity. What else coul in their day’s language and concepts? There was no knowledge of the concept, so no need to describe it as something it isn’t, either. > [@](#): > > Wormwood translates to chernobyl in Russian. Not really. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/23 "2016-07-19T18:37:01Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > the key difference is in how both incidents spread radioactive material. Fukushima appears to be via water used to try to cool compromised (leaking) reactor vessels. In Chernobyl, the reactor vessel actually burst from the pressure, and the (irradiated) graphite blocks used as the moderator ignited. the resulting fire carried radioactive material through the air and out to other countries. Which led to a blackly hilarious comment from Mark Russell - “The Soviet response has been, ‘This has been blown out of proportion.’ Yes - it’s been blown into _Sweden!_” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/24 "2016-07-20T06:21:31Z")
> [@Objectman](#): > > … the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter." > > To me “star” is used to decribe radioactivity. What else coul in their day’s language and concepts? Wormwood translates to chernobyl in Russian. Actually, if you’re going to translate it literally, it should be something like “the name of the star is wormwood. A third of the waters _turned to wormwood_…” The link from ‘wormwood’ to ‘Chernobyl’ is the result of two inexact translations. It’s only a striking match if you want it to be. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/25 "2016-07-20T14:37:18Z")
According to Google Translation, wormwood in Russian is ‘Gor’kaya polyn’’. So, I’m going to go with 'no…Chernobyl doesn’t mean wormwood in Russian. The only hits I get for Chernobyl=wormwood are from nutty religious web pages talking about Revelations. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/26 "2016-07-20T17:50:48Z")
I was thinking some more about this today. In a quite literal and truthful sense, a nuclear reactor is _the opposite_ of a star. It’s doing the opposite of what a star does. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/27 "2016-07-20T18:11:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I was thinking some more about this today. In a quite literal and truthful sense, a nuclear reactor is _the opposite_ of a star. It’s doing the opposite of what a star does. Well, the Ukrainian for “nuclear reactor” is not “star” and the city of Chernobyl was there before anyone thought to stick a nuclear reactor there. And in the nitpickingest of nitpickingnous, fission can occur in a star. Rough neighborhood, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/28 "2016-07-20T19:02:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I was thinking some more about this today. In a quite literal and truthful sense, a nuclear reactor is _the opposite_ of a star. It’s doing the opposite of what a star does. Not if you have one of those fusion reactors! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/29 "2016-07-20T20:30:51Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Not if you have one of those fusion reactors! Well, quite, but we haven’t built one named ‘wormwood’ yet. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/30 "2016-07-21T00:56:56Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Gernobil is the incident that created mutant ninja gerbils. Was that the inspiration for this [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwlDChpCsVM)? ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162/31 "2016-07-22T11:53:03Z")
As this article shows, the Fukushima story will be a long one and I doubt a happy ending… > **[Radiation levels in seabed off Fukushima ‘100s of times’ higher than prior to...](https://www.rt.com/news/352628-fukushima-radiation-seabed-greenpeace/)** > > The amount of radioactive substances in seabed off Fukushima is hundreds of times higher than before the disaster, a report issued by Greenpeace reveals. The figures mean that there is absolutely “no return to normal after nuclear catastrophe” in the... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gernobil-fukushima/760162.md?page=1)