Chernobyl 25 years latter – part II

The first stop was at Lenin square in the centre of the town. After seeing abandoned residential buildings, we take a walk to the cultural centre, with a large dance hall and a gym that still has the goals for indoor football

From the gym we see the amusement park, which was opened ahead of schedulle on April 27th – on the day of the evacuation.

After visiting the amusement park, we also see the swimming pool that many Slovenian cities would be proud to have even today. We also saw the school centre for the elementary and secondary school.

Visiting the school showed us the extend of the catastrophe once again, for all the school books were still open on the desks, meaning the children left in a real hurry.

Our last stop was the cause for all this – it was with a sarcophagus covered reactor in block 4. The place of the worst nuclear catastrophe in the human history.

Containing the fire was just the most urgent measure after the explosion, which was relatively quiet. It was not heard in Pripjat nor Chernobyl. The explosion was also not directly felt – but the terrific effects of it were. After explosion they had to clear out the most radioactive remains, and prevent the leakage of nuclear fuel toward the pools with cooling water, for that would cause a much larger explosion, dangerous for the entire European continent.

In places, with the highest radiation levels, a human could last only a few moments, before it would become dangerous for the organism. The soldiers, who cleared out the remains on the roof of the neighbouring reactor 3 had limited working time of only 40 seconds. Working there would cause irreversible damage to the body. So hundreds of soldiers were waiting for their 40 seconds of work, to remove as much of the material as possible.

At other sites, work was also strictly limited, which meant a large number of people was needed to get the job done. There was about half a million of people – called liquidators – who prevented a much worse disaster. They are the ones the whole Europe should thank the nuclear threat was contained and did not spread across the continent.

After the disaster they also stopped with construction on blocks 5 and 6 and abandoned plans to make Pripjat the largest nuclear plant with 12 blocks all together.

Since fishing in the canals is prohibited, fish started living in them and we fed them before seeing the sarcophagus. We also had lunch in the mess hall about a kilometre away from the power plant, which finally stopped operating on December 15th 2000, more than 14 years after the explosion.

Before entering the mess hall, we were checked for the personal radiation level (which would usually be too high on shoes) and were decontaminated. All in all I can say, that was the tay I had lunch at the strangest of places.

After seeing the sarcophagus we were on our way back to Kiev, but naturally had to pass the same control point and radiation controls of the vehicle, people aboard and the equipment.

After a complete check we were able to leave the confined area and only one thought followed us on our way toward Kiev – how to reduce the usage of electricity and thus reduce the number of disasters such as the one at Chernobyl. Such power plants work quietly and spoil us with massive amounts of energy, until something goes wrong.

And now a few practical tips on how to organize the trip:

We can reach Ukraine by car and plane. If you go by car, you should consider Užgorod or Lvov and take a sleeping cart toward Kiev, for it has a very good public transport and a car can only hinder you in your exploration of the town. So leave the car at Užgorod or Lvov, but at a secure parking place.

This combination of car and train is probably the best compromise between comfort and price and during the 8 our train ride, we can get a night of sleep before waking up rested in the capital.

But before arriving at Kiev, you should book a hostel well ahead at www.youth-hostel.si to make sure, you have a place to sleep.

In case you plan to sleep in one of the Kiev hostels, than it’s not a problem to get an organized tour of Chernobyl, for it can be organized by any hostel. You should, however, book a seat on the bus in advance, for you should forward your passport information ahead, if you expect to get the pass for the closed off site.