Phoronix To Tour Chernobyl Nuclear Site

[DuSTman]

It's interesting to see this here, as I've also been considering a tour of the area (I can't quite explain why, but it's always fascinated me).

Anyway, the tour guides generally let you get up to about 200m fromt the reactor building. There's videos on youtube of someone being shown around the unfinished cooling tower of reactor 5 (which was under construction at the time of the accident, nearly finished, and was planned to be brought online later that year).

Concerning the radiation at the plant itself, it's interesting to note that the other reactors were brought back online a month or two after the initial cleanup was finished. Reactor 2 was subsequently decommissioned after it suffered a fire in the turbine hall, Reactor 3 was finally decommissioned due to international pressure in 2000. So the radiation at the plant is apparently not so great that people can't work there. (It's also worth noting that Reactor 1 suffered a partial core meltdown a few years prior to the explosion of 4).

When pripyat was evacuated, the people were asked to leave their windows open, so you can expect to see a lot of broken glass in the town, and the structures are being destabilised due to vegetation encroachment (in fact, they won't be able to do these tours much longer).

Due to rains, the radioactive dust has largely been washed off the roads and walkways, but is retained within the top 20cm of topsoil (it's estimated that seepage results in the contamination going deeper by about 1cm/year). The radioactive dust may also have accumulated in rooms without much wind circulation. The guide will likely insist you keep to the roads and only enter known-safe buildings.

[RobbieAB]

And no trying to bring a fieldmouse home. Chernobyl wild-life is Class A (the highest, or most dangerous) radioactive waste anywhere else.

And that really gives the zoologists some fun

[Cyberax]

Yeahoo!

I'm also going to Chernobyl on April 3-rd!

[SunnyDrake]

I live in Kyiv(Kiev whatever). I'm not so excited to see Chernobil, but i wish your tour will be commercial success and just exciting. Not so long ago i was in city where just 20-30% inhabitants left and infrastructure in poor state(broken roads, ruined buildings/fabrics,wild plants) this impacted me with frightening and deep experience.. very close to image displayed in movie "Stalker" based on brother Strugatski book.

[Artemis3]

Watch this documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSRC1_OZPIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByDY-nPNJc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd9DX_QXU_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFcFRxiTFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VVx9gRS3ug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQdCU2vqNUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omyOnaKxbas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWID6WjeEU

[DuSTman]

And here is an interesting description of the planned replacement sarcophagus.

[Cyberax]

We've returned from the trip. I'm tired and Michael Larabel is probably going to sleep now. So I can get to write the first post-tour post

[3rdalbum]

We've returned from the trip. I'm tired and Michael Larabel is probably going to sleep now. So I can get to write the first post-tour post

Just read Michael's article about it. Easily the most interesting thing I've read this week. Thanks!

[damianime]

Hi guys,
I just want to share some pics of mine with you, as I can tell I see some fans of Chernobyl Zone down here

check this out
http://okamihu.cz/gallery/ukraine/

and trailer for my movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SKJKvnIyRw

na zdarovie!
Michael

[Michael]

Hi guys,
I just want to share some pics of mine with you, as I can tell I see some fans of Chernobyl Zone down here

check this out
http://okamihu.cz/gallery/ukraine/

and trailer for my movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SKJKvnIyRw

na zdarovie!
Michael

How long ago did you go to the exclusion zone? What did you do for a guide?



Where abouts in Pripyat is this hallway/building?



This is in the one main "community" building (its Soviet name escapes my mind at the moment) with the auditorium and behind it was the political posters and such... How did you get up this high though in the auditorium backroom?