# How Dangerous Is It To Visit Chernobyl Today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779 "2010-11-15T20:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/21 "2010-11-16T17:54:59Z")
The way I understand it is that these fungi use melanin and gamma radiation in sort of the same way that plants use chlorophyll and light. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/22 "2010-11-16T17:58:03Z")
But fungi are not plants. So are these now considered to be a new life form? They make their own food? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/23 "2010-11-16T18:04:32Z")
It feeds on radiation in the same sense that plants feed on visible light. The fungus (or a plant) still needs to get raw materials from its environment (presumably, carbon dioxide in the air, though I suppose it might be from the concrete) in order to grow, but the energy is coming from the gamma rays (or light). EDIT: > [@](#): > > But fungi are not plants. So are these now considered to be a new life form? They make their own food? Well, “life form” is a really vague term. But yes, while life forms were previously divided into photosynthetic, chemosynthetic, or heterotrophic, there’s now a new category of radiotrophic life. Although I suppose you could argue that technically that’s a subset of photosynthesis, since gamma rays are a form of light. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/24 "2010-11-16T18:20:03Z")
It should also be kept in mind that the radiation-eating fungi did not originate at Chernobyl. These fungi have been around a long time, and normally live underground surrounded by uranium-rich rock. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/25 "2010-11-16T18:31:04Z")
Ok, then instead of “life form” I’ll say that it appears that these organisms are members of a different kingdom. I mean, if they don’t rely on carbohydrates for their energy, they don’t seem to be fungi. If they make their own food, but don’t photosynthesise it, they don’t seem to be plants. Most intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/26 "2010-11-16T19:42:41Z")
That’s not the way the boundaries between the kingdoms are defined. There are photosynthetic organisms in at least three different kingdoms, possibly four, and fungi and animals both (usually) eat other things. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/27 "2010-11-16T20:29:28Z")
I’m using the term as defined by the way the organism obtains nutrition, similar to the way Wiki discusses it. Plants are _autotrophs_ because they create their own food. Fungi are _saprotrophic_ because they synthesize their food from the materials that they decompose. And it seems that these fungi that you’re talking about are fungi that are autotrophic. That seems to be a case for a different Kingdom. I understand that seldom is a new kingdom “declared” for one exception, but it certainly seems that these are very different types of life forms. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/28 "2010-11-18T13:06:03Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Here are some data from last year: [chernobylee.com](http://www.chernobylee.com/blog/2009/06/chernobyl-nuclear-power-plant.php) > So even right next to the Sarcophagus you wouldn’t get acute radiation poisoning. You would however get up to 150 000 the average background dose/time. according to the comments in that link, the measurements are incorrectly labeled. Those should be micro Sieverts not milli Sieverts. Still hot though. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/29 "2010-11-18T14:38:41Z")
> [@CC](#): > > I’m using the term as defined by the way the organism obtains nutrition, similar to the way Wiki discusses it. Plants are _autotrophs_ because they create their own food. Fungi are _saprotrophic_ because they synthesize their food from the materials that they decompose. And it seems that these fungi that you’re talking about are fungi that are autotrophic. That seems to be a case for a different Kingdom. I understand that seldom is a new kingdom “declared” for one exception, but it certainly seems that these are very different types of life forms. The wiki article: [Kingdom (biology) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_(biology)) correctly includes the information that Kingdoms are not based on their mode of nutrition (assuming you read as far as the “Three Kingdoms” subsection.) Back as far as Haeckel in the 1800s, autotrophic plants were separate from autotrophic algae (in the Protista.) Indeed, saprophytic plants like Dodder were/are separate from saprophytic Fungi as well. The radiotrophic fungi are fascinating, but should be placed in with their ancestral regular fungi in any taxonomic scheme. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779/30 "2010-11-18T14:41:16Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > It should also be kept in mind that the radiation-eating fungi did not originate at Chernobyl. These fungi have been around a long time, and normally live underground surrounded by uranium-rich rock. So how did they get to the power plant to start with? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-it-to-visit-chernobyl-today/560779.md?page=1)