Aftermath: Population Zero Page #5

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the fuel from heating up.

The fuel burns through casings

and sets fire to everything in the room.

Radiation equal to 500 atomic

bombs is about to explode.

This is a nuclear disaster

and there's no one to stop it.

A deadly mix of radioactive

particles spews from the plant.

Some of them, like strontium 90,

will be dangerous for 300 years.

Plutonium will be radioactive

for 240 thousand years.

Pine trees near the nuclear

power plant are first to die.

Radioactive particles cling

to their bark and resin.

Chlorophyll, which makes

the trees green, is damaged,

and as a result, they turn red.

The last time a forest died like this

was during the Chernobyl

disaster in 1986.

Radiation contaminated an

area of 50,000 square miles,

the size of Alabama.

In a world without humans,

this scene is repeated again and again.

Nuclear power poisons

the earth we left behind.

There are 6 nuclear

power plants in Illinois.

Radioactive smoke fills

the streets of Chicago,

the site of the world's first

self-sustaining nuclear reaction.

Fires break out at many

of the 30 nuclear plants

located in the eastern US.

Each one is almost 20

times more radioactive

than the Chernobyl disaster.

Many of Europe's 173

reactors also ignite.

Their spent fuel burns.

Carried by the wind,

the radiation is an invisible poison

that settles over

thousands of square miles.

If we were still on the planet,

it would cause cancer

in millions of people.

Giant plumes of radioactive smoke

and particles spread across

the northern hemisphere.

Winds push radiation away

from the reactors in Europe.

If conditions are right, it could

reach as far as North Africa.

Radiation from some

of Japan's 53 reactors

drifts across the Pacific Ocean.

The world's most remote

islands are in its path.

Rain washes much of the

radiation from the sky,

concentrating its deadly effects.

Some areas become more

deadly than others.

Large animals flee areas where plants

have died from radiation poisoning.

But small creatures aren't as lucky.

Many live on the forest floor

where leaves and soil are

coated in radioactive particles.

Radioactive beta particles

can only penetrate half

an inch into living tissue.

For large animals like deer,

their vital organs are

spared a direct assault.

But it's different for small animals.

Their organs aren't so insulated.

Radiation cripples them.

In the worst hit areas,

over half of the

rodents and insects die.

For animals in the cities and suburbs,

they have access to food

that's much less radioactive.

Grocery stores can provide enough food

for city mice to last for generations.

They also make a

perfect breeding ground.

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