[arcticbull]

The average US background radiation dose ranges from 1.5-3.5mSv/yr, or 0.25-0.6uSv/hr. This guy went into the exclusion zone and took various measurements [1] and outside of hotspots, the radiation level there seems to be just at or above the average US background radiation level.

Now I'm sure if you go digging in the Red Forest like the Russians did at the start of the war you're going to have a bad time, but the exclusion zone has settled down significantly. Most of the highly radioactive isotopes have by definition a very short half-life.

Are you confident there are fewer microbes?

[1] http://www.chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/radiation...

[hammock]

He took surface measurements. Is the same true below the surface? Bugs and microbes live deep in the soil

[lazide]

If the soil was sterilized the forest would be dead. The trees need soil microbes to survive.

[samrus]

Sensible hypothesis. Has it been confirmed?

[lazide]

That a forest requires living soil?

Extensively.