The most obvious difference is quantity. An RMBK reactor core like Chernobyl’s #4 reactor contains 194 tons of enriched Uranium fuel. In contrast, Little Boy carried 141 pounds of highly enriched uranium. And, since Little Boy was an airburst, most of the fallout ended up in the ocean while Chernobyl instead sat there and burned. And you can take a tour to Chernobyl, just wear a dosimeter because some areas have radiation levels high enough to be dangerous. It’s dangerous like a poorly-cleared minefield, not a ravening death zone.
Why is chernobyl still empty and treated loke a nuclear wasteland then?
How can you have Nagasaki and Hiroshima being completely fine a few weeks later but Chernobyl having to be abandoned for years?
The most obvious difference is quantity. An RMBK reactor core like Chernobyl’s #4 reactor contains 194 tons of enriched Uranium fuel. In contrast, Little Boy carried 141 pounds of highly enriched uranium. And, since Little Boy was an airburst, most of the fallout ended up in the ocean while Chernobyl instead sat there and burned. And you can take a tour to Chernobyl, just wear a dosimeter because some areas have radiation levels high enough to be dangerous. It’s dangerous like a poorly-cleared minefield, not a ravening death zone.
Lots of longer-lived isotopes that remained in place. And caution.