Chernobyl - Pripyat 2012

1. Chernobyl 2012

I guess it's not too surprising that I would one day end up here, since I've been living the last six years less than 100 miles from here, in Kiev. I guess I'm a bit surprised it took me that long.



2. Abandoned Home, Abandoned Village

Within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, but just barely. Maybe 18 miles from the plant?



3. The Ghost Behind Door #2

This photo was taken in an unknown town, the same town as above, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, but well south of Chernobyl. This town, while not all that big from what I could see, did have this rather important looking building smack in the middle of it. It appeared to be some type of Performing Arts Center, but a town this small would not normally have something like this. Maybe it was a combination school / community center / performing arts center? I can't tell you.



4. Towns that Died

Each sign lists a town that no longer exists because of the Chernobyl accident. Whether this is all towns, or only towns in Ukraine, I couldn't tell you.



5. Chernobyl Reactor #4

Chernobyl Reactor #4, seen to the left of the red and white tower, famously blew it's top in 1986. This photo, taken on April 27, 2012, occurred one day after a new milestone for this disaster. Because, one day earlier, the construction phase of the "New Safe Confinement" unit began. (The planning and creating new project infrastructure phase had been ongoing for five years now). The "New Safe Confinement" is being built a few hundred meters (yards, for the metrically challenged) from Chernobyl #4's current sarcophagus, and when it is completed in 2015, will be moved into place on specially laid tracks and will cover the existing sarcophagus. Once in place, the existing sarcophagus will be dismantled.

From Wikipedia…

The NSC design is an arch-shaped steel structure with an internal height of 92.5 metres (303.5 ft), and a 12-metre (39.4 ft) distance between the centers of the upper and lower arch chords. The internal span of the arch is to be 245 metres (803.8 ft), and the external span is to be 270 metres (885.8 ft). The dimensions of the arch were determined based upon the need to operate equipment inside the new shelter and decommission the existing shelter. The overall length of the structure is 150 metres (492.1 ft), consisting of 13 arches assembled 12.5 metres (41 ft) apart to form 12 bays. The ends of the structure will be sealed by vertical walls assembled around, but not supported by, the existing structures of the reactor building.

Hmmm, the link function is not functioning correctly, is it? Here's a copy and paste one.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Safe_Confinement



6. Pripyat - Established 1970

This sign marks the entrance to the town of Pripyat, established 1970. It probably ranks as one of the more recognizable spots in the Chernobyl area. Now, it's just a halfway point between the power plant and the center of Pripyat.

The town of Pripyat was designed as a Soviet "model city." Designed from the ground up, it had all the modern conveniences anybody could want. Schools, a hospital, a cultural center, a movie theater, restaurants, a stadium, playgrounds, and an Olympic sized indoor pool. Yet this model city, still under construction and still growing in the mid 1980's, would meet an abrupt end.

Thirty-six hours after the Chernobyl explosion, the city faced a mandatory evacuation. Residents were to gather their papers and essential belongings and board a bus for mandatory evacuation. By necessity, to get people out as quickly as possible, it was necessary to severely restrict the amount of personal belonging they could take with them. They were told they would likely return in three days. Telling people this would be permanent would encourage people to smuggle out things better left behind. This three day evacuation will in the near future be thirty years.

Furniture, clothing, family pets, heirlooms. Left behind, abandoned, and sacrificed on the alter of a nuclear promise gone awry.



7. View from the "Bridge of Death"

This is the view of the Chernobyl reactor as seen from the so-called “Bridge of Death”. To the immediate right of the reactor you might see 2 white cranes. These cranes are part of the “new safe containment” project. The goal of this project is to create a new containment unit, and to replace the existing sarcophagus.

On the left side of the photo you will see 2 sets of railroad tracks. Notice also how the tracks on the left have obviously not been maintained in a very long time. The tracks on the right look positively new in comparison. This is the train line that brings workers to the power plant and to the construction site of the "new safe containment" project each day.

Although the last of Chernobyl's four reactors was shut off December 2000, hundreds of people still work here. Why? Well, you wouldn't want nuclear material and items useful to develop a nuclear program to remain unguarded, would you? While I have no idea what occurs during a decommissioning process, the decommissioning process of the three undamaged reactors is expected to take until 2020. And the original sarcophagus on reactor #4 was "designed" to last only thirty years, although that was more of a "hope" than a "design." Managers couldn't exactly go to "Sarcophagus Я Us" to purchase a plan for one. And a normal planning process would have taken months, months that they did not have.

Now, after all of this, you just might be wondering how this bridge got the name “Bridge of Death.” In the early morning of April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl number 4 reactor blew a 1000 ton cover off the containment unit. Obviously, an explosion of that magnitude would be heard a good distance away. But no news was forthcoming from the Soviet authorities or the power plant managers. So, some people wandered out the following morning to try to figure out what happened. This bridge was the 1st place they could get a clear view of the reactors. Unfortunately, the night before, a good deal of radiation had fallen in this area. It is said that everyone who viewed the explosion from this vantage point died. Whether that is true, I cannot say. And whether death happened in one month, one year, 5 years or 15 years, I have not seen reports clarifying that in any way.

It is not surprising that people who viewed the reactors from this vantage point received a high dosage of radiation. From the point where I took this photo, off to the right and behind me, is an area called “the Red Forest.” It is said that the Red Forest received such a high dose of radiation that the trees glowed red. Or maybe it was only the needles on the pine trees that glowed red. This is one of the more frustrating legacies of Chernobyl. If you read 3 different reports on any aspect of Chernobyl, you may likely get 3 very different stories of what actually happened that day. The Red Forest, to this day, remains one of the most radioactive areas within the Chernobyl "exclusion zone" or "zone of alienation."



8. Phone Booths, Pripyat

Not much more to say about that, is there?



9. Bumper Cars, Pripyat



10. Remote Control Bulldozer, likely a replica.

This was seen in the town of Chernobyl, 12 km / 8 miles south of the power plant of the same name. Vehicles similar to this were used in the cleanup of the Chernobyl power plant in 1986. However, high levels of radiation affected the ability to use these machines effectively, since the signals and electronics were affected.



11. Church of St. Illya, Chernobyl

It is said that this church did not miss a regularly scheduled service, even at the height of the Chernobyl accident.



The are more photos to come, at a later date...