{"id":142,"date":"2024-05-31T11:39:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2024-06-02T16:38:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T16:38:50","slug":"visiting-chernobyl-part-ii-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Chernobyl Part II, Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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After a short drive we arrived within sight of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and the massive steel shell built over reactor four to trap the remaining radioactive material. The bus pulled up at a permitted viewing area about half a kilometer from the Plant and we piled out for photos. Many of our Geiger counters began beeping to tell us the programmed upper limit of detected radiation had been reached. Although the counters default to a relatively moderate alarm level, it still clearly displayed the jump in radiation level as we neared the reactor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Approaching Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
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Reactor Viewing Area: 1.1 \u00b5Sv\/hr (microsieverts\/hr)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We were getting close to ground zero. Somewhat surprisingly, we were able to drive up to the carpark right outside the reactor. More photos, but as this area was heavily restricted, we were only permitted to take pictures which included the Monument To Those Who Protected The World From Disaster. This memorial is dedicated to those who built the original concrete and steel ‘sarcophagus’ over reactor four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monument To Those Who Protected The World From Disaster, and the steel shell covering reactor four
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Our guide explained that prior to the installation of the ‘New Safe Confinement’ dome over the remains of reactor four (and its original concrete sarcophagus), radiation levels outside the dome were 3-4 times higher than current levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carpark outside reactor four dome: 1 \u00b5Sv\/hr<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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After leaving the reactor, we drove along a section of road through an area that received a big dump of radiation from the accident. Our guide told those sitting on the right hand side of the bus to put their Geiger counters up to the window, and once again the alarms started chiming. We were told that stopping along this section of road is forbidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ‘educational visit’ then moved on to the town of Prypiat, about 3 kilometres from the Power Plant. Prypiat was built by the Russians to accommodate the builders of the facility, and those who would run and maintain it. It was designed to be the model, modern, socialist settlement, with workers and their families living in State-owned high-rise apartments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town had parks, schools, shops, restaurants and a hotel, and just under 50,000 residents in April 1986. Thirty-six hours after the accident, Prypiat was evacuated. Apparently everyone was told to stand outside their building at 2pm, where buses would come and take them away. Belongings, apart from essentials presumably, had to be left behind. Whilst waiting for the buses, kids played in the dirt, and everyone got a pretty good dose of radiation as reactor four continued to destroy itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in my stay in Kiev, I was told by a Ukrainian lady that people entered the abandoned town after the evacuation and looted both belongings and building materials. Goods were sold, and the cheap, second-hand building materials used in construction across Ukraine. If the story is true, who knows how much radioactive material found its way into peoples’ homes via the black market. And who knows if the marketeers were aware of the danger?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cliche as it sounds, walking around Prypiat feels like you have stumbled onto a movie set. The forest is taking over, and an eerie feeling pervades the deserted township. You definitely get the feeling that something went very wrong here, which of course it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prypiat City Hall. After the accident, this building was used as the headquarters of the disaster management team, until radiation levels were deemed unsafe shortly afterwards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hotel Polissya, Prypiat
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Near a derelict supermarket, our guide pointed out a particular radiation hotspot, emanating from a access cover. Several members of the group descended on the spot with ghoulish enthusiasm, holding their Geiger counters close to the spot and exclaiming as the reading climbed. I have to admit I was pretty interested too, but then started to wonder why the most poisoned spot we had seen thus far should be something to be excited about. After all, you wouldn’t go to a place where the worst pollution of a catastrophic oil leak had occurred and stare with gleeful amazement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n