Monday 25 January 2010

Alan in Chernobyl - Part 1 - Arrival

 
Background
 
Chernobyl, Ukraine - the site of the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. In 1986, Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and caught fire, unleashing a deadly radioactive cloud. The Soviets (who initially covered up the accident, Ukraine was part of the USSR) organized a desperate effort to stabilise the reactor and prevent more explosions. This cost many brave lives and caused hundreds of relief workers to get critical radiation sickness - but their sacrifice ultimately saved Europe and Russia from an even worse radioactive fallout. Today Chernobyl is still a guarded radioactive exclusion zone and the impact of the accident is still felt even now, with many communities nearby living with the radiation. Over 350,000 people were evacuated from the exclusion zone (an area of approximately 30 miles) over a period of ten days - emptying towns, villages and farms. The survivors of the event could never return, they lost their homes and many suffered from radiation poisoning.

Nature is reclaiming the exclusion zone, irradiated but surviving and even thriving. Wildlife populations have exploded and rare species have taken root in the zone, including wolves and even bears. Although the animals are irradiated and there are mutations, the radiation hasn't affected their ability to reproduce. Trees and undergrowth invade the abandoned settlements.

When the Soviets finally evacuated the nearby city of Pripyat two days after the accident, it was very sudden but too late. There had even been a festival since the accident occured, showing how blissfully unaware the populace was of the deadly radiation billowing into the air a few kilometres away. Pripyat was abandoned and 20 years later it still stands empty, as a grim reminder of the disaster. It is now a famous post-apocalyptic ghost city, known to the general public thanks to popular videogames and films (most notably the blockbuster game Call of Duty 4, the Stalker game series, Chernobyl Diaries film and others).
 
Radiation levels have dropped to relatively safe levels in some areas of the exclusion zone. Researchers and workers live in the town of Chernobyl (within the zone) for periods of months - staying longer without a break can cause the body to absorb too much radiation. Other parts of the zone still hold deadly levels of radiation. Metal, moss and trees absorb lots of radiation and contact with these can pass on serious radiation poisoning to humans.
 
Private tours are available to visit the exclusion zone to see the ill-fated Reactor 4 and explore the ghost town of Pripyat. Not the most obvious of holiday destinations, but when my friend Damien invited me to join him on a tour, the idea fascinated me and I decided to go and see it for myself.

Entering the Exclusion Zone

So, a few months later, in the cold and grey winter of December 2009, we headed off to Kiev, capital of Ukraine. The next day our driver collected us and we drove for a few hours north through the countryside, passing a number of poor villages, finally reaching the exclusion zone. I was armed with my trusty compact Lumix camera - but unfortunately it didn't perform well in the low light of the grim (but appropriate) weather of the day. But still, these photos should give you a good feel for what it's like at Chernobyl.

 
A lovely day for a trip to a radioactive post-apocalyptic zone, no? 

 


The entrance to the exclusion zone. 17 miles of irradiated land around the disaster site, covering both Ukraine and Belarus (Chernobyl is right on Belarus' southern border). Of course, the radiation actually spread further than the exclusion zone, as the people who live on the Belarus side can attest to - they are still suffering the consequences of living in an irradiated region with irradiated water and illnesses. 



There you go - a real life Babuskha! Ukraine does live up to the stereotypes (you should see the moustaches on the men too!).




All vehicles and occupants are checked by the guards. Although the security wasn't militaristic, there were reminders of the stakes involved, like this gun tower.

 


A sniffer dog checks us out (obviously smelling a squirrel instead...)

 


Welcome to the rad zone. Visits here must be prearranged and approved by the authorities (handled by the tour operators) and you have to show your passport to the guards.




We continued into the zone proper. Now it started to get eerie. There were no signs of life. Already you can see the lack of maintenance on the road and we passed no other cars.




Shells of buildings started to appear by the roadside.

 
 

All were deserted, with no windowpanes.

 

 
As we drove further in, I could just make out a village, overgrown and hidden. Look carefully in the image above and you can make out a house on the right.



 
 
Back to partial civilization. Chernobyl town sits in the exclusion zone and hosts workers, police, scientists and other personnel, about 4000 in total. Chernobyl is also the name of the surrounding area. Some of the town is now inhabited by these temporary residents, the rest of it lies abandoned. It was odd to see people and a few vehicles after the lonely drive here.
 

 
We were greeted by our guide at the Interinform Agency building (which handles visitors to the site) in Chernobyl town. Here my friend Damien reads through the waiver that we have to sign before we can go further.




The waiver. Basically if we get irradiated, tough luck...


 
 
Our guide (who I've forgotten the name of, sorry!) talked us briefly through the disaster. This map shows radiation levels in the exclusion zone. A large chunk of radiation continues into Belarus, as you can see in this CIA map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chernobyl_radiation_map_1996.svg


 

The wall shows photos from the clean-up operation and aftermath. 






 
A graveyard of vehicles which were irradiated after being used in the radioactive clean-up. A few years ago most of these were buried or sold. A couple of them were saved though - which you'll see at the end of this blog.




Hind helicopters were tasked with measuring radiation in the days after the explosion, and doing drops over the reactor to try and contain the breach. Some of the pilots died from radiation poisoning.


 
 
Working on the collapsed Reactor 4.

 

Many irradiated vehicles from the clean-up were buried in huge graveyard trenches like this.

 

A book had more photos from the disaster - this is the day after the accident, where Soviet officials visited Chernobyl to organise the management of the aftermath. They would have been exposed to radiation here.


 







We visited one of Chernobyl's few shops before we were driven out of town towards Pripyat, our guide joining me, Damien and our driver.

 
 
A monument commemorating the firefighters who died shortly after the blast from radiation poisoning. 

 

 
We reached Checkpoint 2 - which guards access into the more irradiated area round Reactor 4. A quick check from the guard and we were waved through.

To see more, please go to Part 2 - Reactor Number 4:

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