Right now,
there are over 400 nuclear power plants
operating in 20 countries.
Could they be ticking time bombs?
Possibly rendering their areas uninhabitable
as a result of a nuclear explosion?
What if all of these power plants
exploded at the same time?
Life would become a daily struggle for survival,
all while being stalked by an invisible predator.
Radiation.
The Earth would be one giant exclusion zone,
a highly radioactive realm
filled with danger and contamination,
that we are forbidden to enter.
You wake up to the sound of a large explosion.
And it sounds like it came from
the nuclear plant on the outskirts of town.
“Is that a mushroom cloud?”
“Why is the air glowing?”
“Does this mean
I don’t have to go to work today?”
Little do you know
that your life is about to change completely.
The good news is,
and we use that term loosely,
that you’re not alone.
Every single one of Earth’s nuclear plants
has exploded simultaneously.
And we know what you’re thinking.
Wouldn’t we be wiped out instantly?
Well, no.
Unfortunately,
this is a slow burn.
"This circle,
which I am sad to say we are in,
will experience a slower,
considerably more painful death."
"Good Lord!'
Nuclear reactors don’t explode
like atom bombs.
Their reactors use nuclear fission
to generate electricity,
but an atom bomb uses nuclear fission
to generate energy that causes an explosion.
Nuclear reactors are controlled and monitored,
while an atom bomb is
an uncontrolled fission chain reaction.
What all this means is,
unlike an atom bomb,
nuclear reactors aren’t designed to explode
But even though they won’t behave like a bomb,
you’re not out of the irradiated woods yet.
All forms of life close to the plants
would be annihilated.
And those that aren’t would need to
evacuate as soon as possible.
Like, yesterday.
The meltdowns would need to be contained
as much as possible.
If they aren't handled properly,
radiation poisoning and contamination
could spread through the soil and water.
You know,
the things you use to drink and grow food.
Thousands, if not millions of people,
would be at risk of radiation sickness.
And cancer rates would go through the roof.
If the explosion didn’t kill you,
chances are the radiation would.
Acute radiation syndrome
or radiation sickness
is caused by receiving a high dose of radiation.
Within minutes,
your body can absorb enough radiation
to kill you!
Could you go to the hospital?
Well, you could,
but the problem is everyone else
will probably have the same idea.
The hospitals wouldn’t be equipped
to deal with this scale of radiation sickness.
The world would also be host
to hundreds of new exclusion zones.
Imagine the Chernobyl Exclusion zone,
which covers an area of
30 km² (12 mi²)
but globally.
Some scientists believe that the zone
won’t be safe for humans for 20,000 years.
So, it’s going to be hard to wait this one out.
North America has the most
nuclear power plants,
with Europe in second place.
Needless to say,
you do not want to be on those continents.
Maybe it’s time to "get out of Dodge"
and escape to Australia
or New Zealand,
or even parts of South America
or Africa.
So it doesn‘t sound good, right?
Well, at WHAT IF,
we try to remain optimistic,
even in the face of a nuclear apocalypse.
"This is fine."
So could any good come from this?
Well, if you’re a nature fan,
you’ll get a kick out of this.
Vegetation would start to envelop the cities
affected by explosions.
And once these small plants
start to decay,
small amounts of soil will build up.
And eventually,
the environment will become be habitable
for larger plants and trees.
There are even some scientists
who believe that a disaster like this
would help the Earth,
causing those people who survive
and reproduce to bring about a new,
cleaner age for humans.
One where we flourish,
and work with the Earth
to achieve new development as a species.
Okay, that’s all well and good,
but we want a second opinion.
Thankfully,
the chances of all these nuclear power plants
exploding at the same time
are very, very small.
That being said,
while nuclear power causes
less pollution than fossil fuels,
it isn’t the safest form of energy
when it comes to the effects
of nuclear meltdowns.
Hopefully, it won't take a nuclear apocalypse
to show us that we can develop
a better method of generating energy.
We could be using clean,
renewable sources of energy that,
you know, won’t make the planet
uninhabitable for us.
So what if we ditched nuclear power,
and tried to find a new renewable energy source.
Could we use something we have lying around?
What if we turned all our plastic into fuel?
Well, that’s a story for another WHAT IF.