Quezi

Chernobyl bumper cars (photo by stahlmandesign - CC-BY)

On 26 April 1986 there was an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine which released a plume of radioactive particles that caused fallout in many countries. Even in 2009 there are parts of England, Scotland and Wales where sheep cannot be raised for human consumption due to the high levels of caesium-137 in the ground from the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident.

Around Chernobyl and the nearby city of Pripyat the radiation remains very high. These cities were evacuated in 1986 and to this day the 120,000 residents are not allowed to return. All economic, civil and residential activities are prohibited within a radius of 30km (19 miles) around the former nuclear reactor. For the few people who are excluded from this prohibition, such as nuclear industry workers, there are strictly-monitored limits on how much time each person can spend within the exclusion zone, which is also known as the “zone of alienation”.

A few renegades have nevertheless returned to this area to live:

• scavengers who raid the buildings which were abandoned complete with all their contents,
• a few old people who have returned to their homes, resigned to the risks,
• a handful who refuse to believe the risks, and
• vagrants and the homeless

Apart from those people, the area has been reverting to nature as vegetation springs up and animals move in, finding that an environment devoid of humans allows them to thrive, although some of the animal populations have health and reproduction problems.

The abandoned cities were virtually unknown outside of Ukraine until Ukrainian photographer Elena Filatova published a photo-essay on the internet, where she combined her photos with a fictional narrative based on a motorcycle trip. This brought lots of attention to the exclusion zone.

Nowadays anyone can visit the Chernobyl exclusion zone as a tourist—but there is a time limit to keep the radiation exposure low. The tours leave from Kiev and cost around US$500 for one person or $200 each for four people.

Departing at 9am, you drive into the “Zone of Estrangement” and meet the staff of the Chernobyl Information Agency before proceeding through the border checkpoint. You will briefly view the crippled and entombed reactor from a distance of a hundred meters, before visiting Pripyat.

At Pripyat you will sightsee the “Dead Town”. Here, it’s as if life froze in 1986. Childrens toys are still on the balconies, there are slippers in the bedrooms, books are open on the desks at school, and the abandoned funfair lies rusting and radioactive, never to be used again. Outside the city is the “red forest”, where the trees turned red and died after the accident.

You will return to Chernobyl where you will have lunch (brought in from outside the area!), and visit the laboratories where scientists study the after-effects of the accident.

At the village of Opachychi you can meet some of the “resettlers”, elderly people who were evacuated but have defied the authorities and returned to reclaim their villages.

You then have your radiation exposure checked as you leave the exclusion area on your way back to Kiev, arriving back around 6pm.

Tours are available most days, and a two-day program is also possible. You can book the Chernobyl tour through Solo East Travel.