It’s the most famous industrial site in the world, even more famous than the Kirkhill Industrial Estate in Dyce. But unlike the Kirkhill Industrial Estate, it’s actually a very nice place to visit. I speak of course of the infamous Chernobyl. It was a warm, sunny Sunday in June when I took a tour of the Exclusion Zone. Here are some photos.
No evidence of mutant walking plants here. Just normal lush foliage you'd expect from an area with a dearth of human activity. We did note their seemed to be a lack of birdlife though.
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The first stop upon entering the 35km Exclusion Zone was an abandoned house. In the 20 years since the accident, nature has reclaimed the area destroying much of the human development save for the structure itself... for now.
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The ancient town of Chernobyl still lives and breathes in the 35km Exclusion Zone. Chernobyl workers today live here during the week while returning to their families in Slavutych at the weekend.
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30 firemen were killed by radition fighting the fire that raged in reactor 4. They hadn't been trained in safe procedures and were not equipped with adequate protection. This memorial stands in the town of Chernobyl to those men. (Or at least that's part of it. I had to photograph it from the opposite side of the coach as it drove by.
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In the 10km Exclusion Zone we finally came across the site of the power plant. The first landmark was the unfinished cooling tower that was to be used by units 5 and 6 had they been finished.
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On the other side of the road is the waste repository, built after the accident for storage of the wastes from the clean-up.
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Unit 5 was under construction when the accident happened. Although it still looks like an active construction site, no further work has been done on this project since the accident. Neither is it likely to ever restart.
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Medium and long lived heavy nuclides were deposited in the soil nearby. These include strontium, cesium and trans-uranics. The effect can be seen from this radiometer. In Kiev, this would only be reading .020.
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Chernobyl phase 1, units 1 and 2 housed in a common building. These reactors remained operational up until only a few years ago. Their condition is relatively good (as RBMK's go). The big chimney is used for air cooling in the reactor building (not the cores themselves).
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Chernobl phase 2, units 3 and 4. This structure faired not so well, being ground zero for the accident. The scaffolding around the ventilation tower is there to keep it strong as the destruction of unit 4 has compromised integrity in the building.
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And now the cause of all the trouble: the infamous Chernobyl unit 4. The original suprastructure is actually inside the structure we see, which is the sarcophagus built to entomb the reactor. A new, more durable sarcophagus is to be built soon. From our vantage point, the radiometer was topping .8 roentgens per second, 40 times background radiation in Kiev.
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Our vantage point of unit 4 was at this memorial to the victims.
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Three of these dedication stones lie at the foot of the memorial. One written in Russian, one in Ukrainian and the other, shown, in English.
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