2018. Almost thirty-two years after the disastrous accident at the Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (C.N.P.P.), whic...

2015: Exclusion Zone, Chernobyl & Pripyat [Ukraine]

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2018. Almost thirty-two years after the disastrous accident at the Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (C.N.P.P.), which became known throughout the world in the 80’s. Two cities and one hundred and eighty-four villages were evacuated, while deadly levels of radiation were spread across many parts of Europe, particularly Belarus and Russia.

Nowadays, several guides offer individual or group tours within the 30 km radius of the «Exclusion Zone». The driver i chose via internet, requested online prepayment and mentioned that part of the booking process up to the final confirmation, includes sending off my personal data to a Ukrainian state body, which checks whether the incoming visitors are persecuted persons or not. I could not confirm the validity of this information.

Within the Zone we visited several sites: The abandoned village of Zalissya, inhabited only by an elderly woman, the completely buried village of Kopachi, the city of Chernobyl and the Fire Station. We also approached the gates of the Nuclear Power Plant, where maintenance and restoration on the old concrete was performed, while the new sarcophagus was being constructed. I was especially impressed of the so-called «Red Forest» and the secret Soviet radar «Duga-1». Personally, the top spot of interest within the Zone for me was the town of Pripyat. There once lived about fifty thousand people, mainly military and top scientists from all over the Soviet Union, who were working at the C.N.P.P.. The city was evacuated the next day of the accident, with the promise that they would return in a short time, which of course never happened. For this reason they left behind almost all their possessions.

Even though i entered the «Zone» on August 2015, the memories of my visit still have a huge impact on my soul.

So, here you are …some pictures from the «Zone of Alienation» from the safety of your screen.




After i met the guide and the driver in Kiev city center, we headed north to the army-secured area. I entered the «Chernobyl Exclusion Zone», the «30 Kilometer Zone», or simply «The Zone» from Dytiatky checkpoint. It is located on a branch of the P02 road, between Ivankiv (32km) and Chernobyl (23km). Of course taking photos of the checkpoint is forbidden. My guide provided me a document that i had to sign. If i correctly recall, it was a statement that i was aware of the dangers involved in our visit and some kind of acceptance of those risks. He also gave me instructions of the do’s and dont’s in the Zone and, believe me, they were countless. I remember him saying «Stay off the moss», that echoed in my head, like a military command for a long time.




The road that leads to Chernobyl was in good condition, but i noticed that nature has dominated over everything else.






I remember thinking about the Zone as a vast, non populated area. On the side of the road we saw an old lady. She noticed our car and came out of the deep woods, asking us for a ride to the town. She was kind enough to offer us some apples, which she collected from her garden. This meeting was quite a surprise..









I was very curious to go see her village, called Zalissya. Before the disaster in 1986, that village had a population of 2.849 people. Now nature is reclaiming the village’s structures and this old lady was the last remaining resident. She was a «samosely» (in Ukrainian самосели), meaning «self-settlers». The majority of the «samosely» are elderly people who made their home in the area prior to 1986 and either refused to evacuate the area or secretly returned and resettled in the relatively unprotected region. In 2012, the local administration unofficially permitted the elderly to live in the area, but ordered all the other inhabitants to move out. The total population in 2009 was reported to be 271.


After Zalissya, we headed to the city of Chernobyl (or Chornobyl). I thought i was about to visit a ghost town, but this was not even close. Chernobyl was still populated of about 690 people in 2017, mostly workers of the power plant, administrative personnel and some «samosely», as mentioned above. Other sources report a number of 3.000 people as the Zone staff. Before the evacuation it had about 14.000 residents.





Those pipelines contain hot water. I asked why they were above the ground and not under it. The explanation was that the soil was still contaminated of radioactive dust, so excavation works were not allowed.







The memorial for the 14 firefighters, the civil and the military personnel, who responded to deal with the reactor accident. Often also called «Liquidators». I am not sure if they had the appropriate protective gear, or even really knew the dangers of their exposure to radiation. You can see the sculptures of firemen, a doctor and radiation technician and the expression of bravery, agony and selflessly in their faces.






An open air museum of the remote controlled vehicles that were operated to clean the most contaminated sites from radioactive debris and, of course, the roof of reactor 3. Among the exhibits are converted moon-rovers, radio-controlled bulldozers and a police mine robot. As they received high levels of radiation, many shut down and authorities were forced to abandon mechanical solutions and turn to human labor for the cleanup. The workers that were exposed to radiation are also referred as «Bio-robots». Here are only some that were contaminated to a point that was acceptable to approach them up to the fence. Other transport vehicles that couldn’t be recovered were buried to a different location.




On our way to a former USSR military object, that impressed me the most, the «Chernobyl-2 radar». Hidden some 6km from the main road, inside the irradiated forest, consisting of two perimeters, this site was kept secret as maps marked it as children’s summer camp. The inner perimeter included the infrastructure of Telecommunication Center and Over-the-Horizon Radar System (OTH Radar). Some other names used for the radar were «Duga-3», «Duga Radar», «Russian Duga», «Woodpecker radio». NATO military intelligence named it «Steel Yard», hence its distinctive appearance. This mysterious and gigantic radar system broadcasted an extremely powerful and anonymous signal between 1976 to 1989. The sharp, tapping signal at 10 Hz, that nicknamed the radar as «Russian Woodpecker», came without warning and caused disruption of broadcasts and communications worldwide. It was constructed to locate mass missile launches form the USA and demanded a great amount of electricity for its services. It is located near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) and it is said that it was far more expensive to built, than the CNPP itself. Many conspiracy theories evolved, whether this radar was a system to provide warning of missiles launched, sabotage western broadcasts or submarine communications, or an USSR experimental device for mind control and suppress human activities. Still to this day, the nature of its use remains a mystery.







Approaching the military site, we came across to a rusty steel door with the Soviet stars on it. My guide said that the time «Duga-3» was operational, it was impossible to be in front of those doors as the security was extremely high. Also about 1.500 military personnel, scientists and others worked here. At the time of my visit, there was just one guard that seemed to be in charge.


Behind the steel doors there were some abandoned vehicles and crumbling buildings. Through the forest we reached to the «Duga» receiver. I stood under the 30.000 tons steel mass. I had never been near to such impressive and colossal structure. The big one is 500m long and 150m high and the smaller one 250m long and 100m high.








My guide informed me about the metal that was removed from the radar’s pylons, after the facilities were abandoned, while I was struck about the amount of effort, energy, resources and money that were invested to design and construct the radar. The military purposes of the radar indicates clearly that also the CNPP was not either entirely civilian. Walking under the massive radar was my top experience inside the Zone. After my visit there, I saw some crazy videos of people base jumping of the top of the radar, almost as high as a 50-storey building. Climbing up the radar, reached very high on my bucket list since then and a future visit is already scheduled.







Inside the Zone were about 184 villages. One of them was Kopachi. Before the accident, it had a population of 1.114 residents. As it was the nearest village to the CNPP, it suffered the most of the first radioactive fallout. Here camped in tents the firefighters that had to deal with the reactor. As a precaution or for experimental purposes, almost the entire village was buried into the ground including houses, vehicles, torn trees, machinery, fences and even bodies of killed animals. But burying everything had the opposite result, as it drove the radio isotopes into the water table. The only reminders of the village were some signs with the international radiation symbol and a former kinder garden that was not bulldozed and left with its furniture as it was at the time of evacuation.













Reactor 5. Approaching the grounds of the CNPP. After the explosion at Reactor No. 4, the remaining three reactors of the power plant continued to operate. All works on the unfinished reactors 5 and 6 were halted three years later. Some more about the accident, click on the wiki link following: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster)




The new sarcophagus, Reactor 4 and the cooling pond. Here stood the statue of Prometheus. Initially it was located in the center of Pripyat, near the «Prometey» cinema. Next to it, a memorial for the «Liquidators» and the first firefighters.





«Bridge of Death». This train bridge over the canal is famous as some of the residents after the disaster approached there to see the flames over the Reactor 4 and received a fatal radiation dose. From here it was forbidden to shoot any photos.





Those blind catfish had the size of sharks. They were enormous, for sure over 1.5 meter and they gratefully enjoyed some bread that we threw. It is not sure if they had mutated as a result of the radiation, or were overfed by the power plant workers that spend their break there, or just because they live protected, having no natural enemies and being at the top of the food chain inside the cooling canal.







Here i was standing at the parking lot, some 100 meters from the massive structure of reactor 4. I was impressed of the thick concrete walls, but after 20 years of their construction it seemed that they couldn’t anymore effectively contain the radioactive material (the lava-like melted material, well-known as the «Elephant’s Foot») that lay inside. My guide said that it won’t hold for long, as some holes on its surface allow rain to leak inside, making the whole structure unsafe. Beyond this point, special entry permission was required. Next to it, the new sarcophagus «The Arch» (or «Shelter Object-2») was still being built in August 2015 in order to cover the old one. From there i could see workers still performing maintenance works on the roof of reactor 4. My guide mentioned that they are equipped with dosimeters and when they reach the radiation limit they stop working and exit the Zone. The monument here is a miniature of the «Shelter Object», the first sarcophagus over the 4th reactor and honors the Liquidators and construction workers. For 30 years the radiation in the area was about 400-500 micro-roentgens/ hour and today, after the reactor 4 is hidden under the shelter, radiation levels near the monument is 120-150 micro-roentgens/ hour. Still the questions that arose about the fate of the CNPP, remain unanswered.






The city of Pripyat sign (Припять), one of the Zone’s symbols, decontaminated of course. It also sets the limits of the «Red Forest». The name comes from the brown-ginger-red color of the pine trees, after they absorbed high doses of radiation. Trees had to be bulldozed and buried. Still the site remain one of the most radioactive - contaminated spots in the world. The zone of the «Red Forest» became a refugee for wildlife, because of the lack of competition with humans for food and sources. Our next stop would be Pripyat, the Soviet city-model.




Here we stood in the middle of the Pripyat central square, where some of the most well-known buildings were located: «Energetik» Palace of culture, «Polissya» hotel, residential buildings (White House), City Administration, shopping center and others. As vegetation conquered everything in Pripyat, you can see those buildings and main boulevards only from high above. To the right, Lenin street. It used to be the city’s most central road.




The so-called «White House» building, totally unsafe to visit as top floors may collapse at any time. On the top floor was a huge inscription: «Glory to Lenin, Glory to the Party». These exclusive apartments were housing the city’s elite, including the power plant’s administrator. On the ground floor there was a shopping store called «Raduga» (Радуга: which means «Rainbow»). The yellow telephone booths were by its entrance.




«Hotel Polissya», (готель Полiсся). One of the tallest buildings of the city. It was planned to also build a panoramic café with outdoor terrace on its roof. Instead of that, the roof was used after the accident for the helicopters that were operating and dropping bags inside the core of reactor 4, through the collapsed ceiling. Much of its interior, like the wooden floor, was removed and buried to special radiation graveyards within the Zone. It is still one of the most contaminated places in the city and entrance is forbidden.





Behind the trees is located the Palace of Culture «Energetik», (Дворец культуры Энергетик).




Former USSR had initially 20 typical Palaces of Culture, which were community centers. Until 1987 there were more than 137.000. This one was, by far, the most sophisticated and improved. People met here for recreational purposes, but i guess some political indoctrination also took place. «Energetik» opened in 1970. It included a store, radio station, pharmacy, restaurant, sport clubs, literature club, disco and a cinema (the first one before the construction of «Prometey» cinema). During my visit, i remember i liked the name «Energetik» that was given to this place. It means ‘energetic’, but also ‘power plant worker’. It had for me a double meaning. Energy was who gave birth to this city and energy – human evolution is the result when culture is growing.





It's face was decorated with white marble and windows were of stained-glass. The letters on the roof were two-colored illuminated.





The reception – lobby.






Disco parties were held here on weekends. View of the Lenin square.




The first cinema. Through the long corridor we reached the main gymnasium. The view to the abandoned amusement park with the ferry wheel was mind blowing.










The park was never in operation as it was to be opened on May 1, 1986. Some report that it was opened on the morning of April, 26 to distract people from what was going on few kilometers away, just before the evacuation was announced. The area around it was used for helicopter landing after the accident, so some «hot spots» are still around. Some of the main attractions were the bumper cars, swing boats and the carousel, the paratrooper ride and the iconic ferris wheel.










The «Avangard» stadium (Стадіон «Авангард»). No matches were held, as it was also arranged to open on May Day. It had 5 stadium tracks and a tribune for 5.000 visitors. The local football team «Budivelnik» was planned to use it as its home field. Some sources also report that It was the home ground of FC Stroitel Pripyat and only a few matches were played. The stadium also served as a place where the helicopters were landing, during the emergency operations. It was hard for me to imagine and understand the size of the stadium, as the 20 meter trees blocked the view and vegetation covered everything. On the last picture you can see the metal structure for the stadium’s headlights.






Swimming pool «Lazúrnyj» or «Azure» (Бассейн «Лазурный»). Near school no3 we entered a building where we came across to the swimming pool. It was a famous place for the power plant workers to visit after work. It was decontaminated after the accident and used by the liquidators up to 1998. Until then, reactor 3 was still providing the city of Pripyat with hot water. It is considered to be the cleanest place in the city.




Time stands still: 01.10’. About the time of the accident. 




The middle school of the 3rd city district on Sportivnaya street. The wooden floor and windows couldn’t resist nature’s force, but the whole building was not in bad shape.







Lenin picture on the floor. That is something you don’t see every day.


The famous room where hundreds of respirators were gathered. Part of the communist education program during the Cold War period, was to perform related drills, so the presence of gas masks in a school was justified. Some claim that were used by school kids, while they were waiting for the buses during the evacuation. I couldn’t confirm that information. Maybe they were gathered there by looters after the evacuation, so some material inside the gas mask filters to be removed.









The biology lesson classroom. Some disgusting stuff was inside those jars.







Looters have scraped metal from all over the city, but as it seemed they weren’t so interested in paper. Books were all over the school floors. Also some patriotic – propaganda posters were still on the walls. Not sure if those posters came before or after the disaster.









After the school no3 it was the time to return to the city of Chernobyl. There lunch was served for us to the restaurant. Salad, soup and some fruits were on the table, but i was afraid about the origin of all those, so i ate almost nothing except for some bread. Shortly, we had to leave and exit the Zone, as we had limited time left. Back to Dytiatky checkpoint. I noticed there was a wooden stick in the middle of the road and asked my guide about it. He said that if our clothes – gear will be found containing radioactive dust, we have to leave it behind. The radiation detector. We were scanned and found good to go. I had some spare clothes in my backpack, just in case.




Last stop was the city of Chernobyl sign. The way back to Kiev was about two hours drive. I spent that time looking the pictures I have made.




Closing Thoughts

The places in the Zone that i haven’t visited form a quite long list: the Hotel «PolIssya», the «Café Pripyat» by the river, the city dock with the abandoned boats, the Police Station, the «Prometey» cinema, the totally contaminated hospital, the administrative building, the laboratories, the «Jupiter» factory, the sanatorium «Solnechny» (translates as «Sunny»), the holiday camp for kids, the vehicle graveyard and the waste site (i think is called «Buriakivka»). I also didn’t have the time to visit the interior of the 16 storey buildings, where i was sure that some people stay there, after entering the Zone illegally.


Those «Stalkers» may have a more authentic experience, than the one i had. I don’t know why i still have mixed feelings about my visit and why i think i didn’t have an authentic experience. Maybe my expectations were overturned and i was disappointed, mostly because i had seen a lot of published material on sites and blogs before my visit. It is likely that this saturation is responsible for feeling this way. I was also negatively influenced by the fully guided visit. The guide drove us among the most important sites, with little time and freedom of movement for individual exploration, but to be honest, he was excellent and i have no complaint about how well informed he was, or the way he presented the most important places there. We had time pressing us  and our guide had also in mind to keep us away from rumbling walls and protect us from other dangers. I just say that i expected a bit more freedom to access and explore the sights on my own and whatever intrigued me the most. Anyway, this report is just the way i processed the whole experience: the sights and all the info i gathered during my stay there.


It is more than sure that i will visit the «Zone» again. I don’t know how, maybe i will prefer to have a more «Stalker»-like experience and walk around on foot. Of course i will try to see more and spend some time with locals and the workers of the Power Plant. My highest priority will be to visit the villages where people returned and resettled. This way, maybe, i will have a different approach from what I described above.


I highly recommend anyone to visit the «Zone» to discover that behind the controlled (by those who exploit the site’s fate) image of decline, it was once a Soviet city - jewel and to experience the aftermath of the biggest tragedy of the 20th century.


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