Chernobyl

Note:

I added two more sections. One detailing the visit to the power

Waking Up

We needed to be at the train station by 8:30. The plan was to take public transportation to the station. Very little is in English throughout the Ukraine. Everything is in either Russian or Ukrainian. One thing I didn't realize was that more than half the people in Ukraine spoke Russian.

Public Transportation in Ukraine

Public transportation in the Ukraine is very efficient and timely. Trains were running frequently and on schedule! The trains were very, very old, but little different than what we have in Chicago. If what I'm told is true, the underground subways doubled as bomb shelters. The escalator going down to the platform was like nothing I've ever seen before. The escalator must have gone up at least 200 feet. If you fell down this thing your life was over. It moved fast, too. Another thing I noticed was that the underground pedestrian passages doubled as shopping malls. At the stations we visited there were large metallic structures. The Ukrainian told me they were used to dispose of pipe bombs and the like.

 

Station

 

Train!

 

Inside train - everyone loves the Capitalist!

 

Underground Pedestrian Crossing

 

Lockers for storing bags were straight out of the Cold War

Getting to Chernobyl

Kiev really isn't that far from the town of Chernobyl, less than 60 miles. The drive though took over 2 hours. We made a single stop at a gas station. I picked up some snickers bars, a hot dog, and water. The rest of the guys got Vodka. I had hoped for a hot dog with nothing on it, but only succeeded in getting it without ketchup. I'm not sure what the white creamy stuff on the hot dog was, but I was able to ignore it. The hot dog tasted very different, more like pepperoni than anything else.

Sometime before entering the exclusion zone we were pulled over by law enforcement. I didn't realize what was going on because I couldn't see in back of the van. The rear windows were covered by strong curtains. At first I thought the stop was routine, than the Ukrainian told me it was something more. I'm not sure what happened, but it was suggested a bribe was paid and 20 minutes later we were on our way. The roads were filled with pot holes and very, very bumpy. At one point, one of the girls in the back hit her head pretty hard on the ceiling. The driver was more cautious afterwards. We stopped and cleared the 30km zone. Everyone's passports were examined and compared against the rooster. We were warned not to take photographs - seriously warned. I listened.

Following the accident, two zones were created. One is the 30km zone and the other is at the 10km zone. The zones are not simple circles and have a lot to do with how radioactivity spread after the accident. The hotel was within the 30km zone, but not within the 10km. Entering/exiting the 30km zone is a much more formal than entering/exiting the 10km zone. Leaving the 30km zone requires a radiation, passport, and vehicle check. This is not done at the 10km zone.

 

30km Checkpoint

(not my photo - photography is not allowed and they are serious about it)

Checking in to Chernobyl Hotel

We were given about an hour to check in at the hotel and relax before regrouping. Yuri, me, and the Ukrainian shared a room. It was pretty clear the room hadn't been updated since it was built. I had downloaded the movie Borat because I felt the Ukrainian had to see it. I wasn't sure how Yuri would take it. The first 30 minutes was nothing but continuous laughter.

 

The hotel isn't so bad from the outside

 

3 beds to a room

 

Bathroom

 Chernobyl Bus Stop

There wasn't much to see at the Chernobyl Bus Stop. This was the first of the many building I would see that looked abandoned. The bus stop though is still used, buses run for workers daily to and from the plant. There are also two convenience shops inside the bus station.

 

Interior of Bus Station

 

Inside Bus Station

 

Chairs outside Bus Station

 

Shop inside Bus Station

Men in military fatigues are workers. 

Note 80% of shelf space is consumed by Vodka

 

Pipes are mostly all above ground. 

Since the ground is radioactive, digging is avoided at all costs throughout the exclusion zone.

Pripyat Elementary School

Pripyat is an abandoned city near the town of Chernobyl. The town gets it's name from the river that runs through the town. The town was founded in 1970 to house the workers of the Chernobyl plant. It was probably the largest city impacted by the disaster with a population of around 50,000 people. The elementary school was used to educate the children of the employees who worked at the plant. The school would be one of the most disturbing places I would visit on the tour. The disaster happened in 1986, over 25 years ago. Much of what was being done that day remains in the school. Writing remains on the walls, tests are on a teachers desk, dolls and toys are all around the property...abandoned. Many objects like furniture were removed after the accident as part of the cleanup.

 

Exterior of school

 

Dolls and toys left from 1986

 

Playground

 

Fence outside playground of school

 

Tests, papers

 

Chernobyl Jail 

It took us a few minutes to figure out what the structure was, but after entering it was clear we were at the jail. Much of the structure was in disrepair. I'm not sure if the room was ever finished, but the ceiling rebar remains.

 

Incomplete building attached to police station or jail

 

Cell block

Pripyat Hospital

The hospital was very creepy. This was the place the first responders to the Chernobyl accident were taken. Some of the equipment the first responders wore or used is still at the site and very dirty. The guys were measuring either a hood or mask from one of the firemen who was a first responder and it still read extremely high. The poor guy never had a chance.

 

Pediatrics Floor

 

Waiting Room

 

Operating Room

 

Hallway

 

Wheelchair

 

Waiting Room

Pripyat Recreation Center

The recreational center was actually used for a good amount of time after the accident. I was told that the facility was abandoned in the 90s. Apparently it was kept open for the staff who continued to work at the facility. People who work at the facility present day work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. When 'on' they stay at hostiles within the 30km zone.

 

Basketball Court

 

Remnants of the cleanup

 

Swimming Pool

Chernobyl Fields 

 

Crane used as part of cleanup effort

 

Wouldn't go near the thing...too hot.

 

Yuri is absolutely insane. The Geiger counter read 34.08
Walking away just 10 feet reduces the count by more than 10

 

.12 is what reads outside the exclusion zone

Soil is naturally radioactive, so '0' is not the baseline

Factory

We toured a vacant factory that was also used after the disaster as a visitors center of sorts.  What the factory did was secret, so no one knows for sure what went on.

 

Yuri displaying Soviet pride. He claims it was a good country while it lasted.

 

(left) Modern Day Ukrainian Storage

(right) Ukrainian solution to the iPhone

Sports Stadium

There wasn’t much to see at the stadium. A forest stands where the open field once did. Immediately after the accident the area outside the Sports Stadium became a landing zone for the helicopters attempting to control the accident. These guys were heros. If they were smart enough to fly a helicopter, than they had to know what they were doing would likely kill them. These guys were heroes.  One pilot was killed when his helicopter collided with a power line. Others would die of radiation poisoning months and years later. 

Immediately after the accident the ground was paved to accommodate the helicopters. I imagine the last thing they wanted to do was kick up radioactive dust every time a helicopter came near. I thought the pavement was a parking lot but the guys confirmed that it was added after the disaster. The paved area was far too large to be a parking lot for a town the size of Pripyat , not to mention that most people would walk to the stadium.  Lines that run 10-12 feet, similar to rivets, can be seen and felt in the pavement. These marks were left by either the helicopters, or the equipment attached to them, to absorb the radioactivity. Over 25 years later the pavement still reads multiples higher (over 10 times) than the area surrounding it. 

Chernobyl Power Plant

Before crossing over to the power plant we crossed what is known as the bridge of death. The bridge earned its name because it's the place where people went to witness the explosion. The explosion created unique rainbow colored flames. Unfortunately, it also exposed the people viewing from the bridge to a lethal does of radiation. 

Before arriving we were told numerous times to only point our cameras in the direction of the plant. Because waste is stored on the ground and because multiple tiers of security exist, photography outside of the plant is forbidden. We were advised to keep our cameras pointed to the ground at all other times. They guys were serious and insisted snipers were in the distance.

 

Chernobyl Power Plant, Present Day

 

Me in front of monument and reactor

The Roof

Yuri and would disappear for time to time as we moved from location to location. He had mentioned earlier that he had constructed some devices that he was planting  around the town to catch vandals. He build a device that contained a motion detector, radio receiver,  GLONAS (Russian equivalent of GPS), and a cell radio. The radio receiver received a signal from a remote control – it simply worked as an on/off switch so a false alarm wouldn’t trigger when Yuri went near. The devices would send SMS messages to law enforcement to arrest the trespassers. One of the times the Ukrainian joined him – they had climbed to the roof of one of the abandoned apartment buildings. I was curious and expressed interest in joining. Yuri got excited and welcomed me along. His exuberance made me a bit worried. Was this some sort of trap? My imagination began to create some very strange scenarios - maybe they were planting explosives and the stupid American was going to be their fall guy.  A bomb going off in this town would be no different than a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it. So I went with on the last adventure. Yuri was content putting his contraption on the 5^th floor this time, but the Ukrainian went with me to see the skyline. It was worth the hike. You could see everything from the rooftop. From one end of the building you could see the Amusement Park, notably the Ferris wheel. From another view you could see the entire power plant. From here I was able to take a few pictures of the entire plant.   

 

View from the top

 

The Chernobyl Plant -  new shelter visible on the far right

 

Ferris wheel from the roof

Dinner

Around 7pm we head to dinner. The driver sat at our table. He doesn't speak English well, but was curious how I felt about Syria. He's convinced the US is preparing for war against the country. He's not Syrian, so I'm not sure what his concern was all about. 

 

Ukrainian Dinner

Night 

A curfew is in effect throughout the exclusion zone. We were told we could not leave the hotel after 9pm. One of the guides ignored the rules and we left with him for the shop. They got Vodka, the Ukrainian and I got ice cream. Attached to the shop was a bar. I wanted to take a picture of the interior but figured it would be a bad idea since a couple of people were drinking and were glaring at me. 

 

I can't complain because I wasn't expecting much, but the hotel was pretty miserable. Screens appear to be very uncommon. Not just throughout Ukraine, but most of Europe. The temperature did cool things down, but there were flies and mosquitoes that came into the room from outside. It wasn't the worst night of sleep I've had on the trip, but it was fairly uncomfortable. We just had one night here so it was bearable. Yuri mentioned there were 2 hotels throughout Chernobyl and one hostel. The other hotel was on par with this one.

For a few hours the group sat around a table and chatted. Since they were talking in Russian there was little I could interaction I could have. I did sit with them though for a good hour and joined the conversation here and there.

 

Chernobyl Bar

Note that is not Santa Clause, rather Ded Moroz

 

Bath with this? Whaaaat?

Tomorrow

We'd need to be up tomorrow by 8:30. I turned in a little earlier than the rest.