Chernobyl and Priypat trip report 2017

[firth1974 2,659]

So, the day started nice and early at 7am, just as the sun is starting to rise over Kiev and Maidan Square. Met the guide, paid the rest of the cash and waited for the rest of the group to turn up. Total for the trip, lunch and the hire of the Dosimeter came to $100 for 1 person, which i thought was not too bad a deal. Trips into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are restricted each day, and unless you are part of an organised tour like this one, you have ZERO CHANCE of getting into the Zone!!

Absolutely crystal clear bluebird day today, so you know its going to get hot at some point, but the temp this morning was nothing short of 5oC, just chilled correctly. To get into the Zone, you have to clear the 30KM control point, where inspection and passport checks are the order of the day. In this zone are around 450+ abandoned settlements and also the town of Chernobyl. To get anywhere close to the Reactor you have to clear the 10KM control point. Once inside this zone, you are next to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and also the town of Pripyat, the town that has become the infamous symbol of the 1986 incident. You can get to within 270 meters of Reactor #4 (thats the one that exploded). It is now encased in a all new protective coat weighing a grand total of 35,000 tonnes!!!! (The heavyist movable structure in the world).

Then onto the abandoned town of Pripyat. This place is just simply amazing. So quiet walking around here, and HIGHLY radioactive in certain spots, of which our guide took us to visit. General background radiation in most cities around the world is 0.14-0.15, when you start recording readings of 3 to 4, then you need to start worrying a little bit. Most spots in this town were from 0.9 to 10/11, nivce anf high, but our guide took us to a spot that recorded 48.55!!!!!!!!! Now that's highly radioactive and not healthy to hang around for too long!!

To see all the places you have seen on TV or on the 'net before is surreal. Its an amazing sight to behold.

The view from my bedroom balcony overlooking Maidan.................

[firth1974 2,659]

[firth1974 2,659]

[firth1974 2,659]

[firth1974 2,659]

[TheFiend 1,181]

Great photos as always....

[Butch 3,456]

Jesus Christ Firth you need to be writing a blog !.

 

Really awesome pics and Priypat is on my list ever since I played MW3 on the Playstation.

 

Excellent pics, I always settle in with a large mug of tea and pack of biscuits before reading and looking at your pictorials, usually saving them for the weekend as a bit of a "treat".

 

Thanks for posting mate, they are truly appreciated and really interesting. Absolutely worthy of a damn few SM's if we ever meet.

[firth1974 2,659]

Jesus Christ Firth you need to be writing a blog !.

 

Really awesome pics and Priypat is on my list ever since I played MW3 on the Playstation.

 

Excellent pics, I always settle in with a large mug of tea and pack of biscuits before reading and looking at your pictorials, usually saving them for the weekend as a bit of a "treat".

 

Thanks for posting mate, they are truly appreciated and really interesting. Absolutely worthy of a damn few SM's if we ever meet.

Cheers Butch. A lot more to come soon.

 

Just had 2.5 weeks spread out across the Ukraine as well as Georgia in the Caucasus region. Now that's truly a beautiful part of the world.

[TheFiend 1,181]

What were your feelings as you were venturing into the exclusion zone, knowing that you were going to be exposed to high levels of radiation? Did it scare you?

[firth1974 2,659]

What were your feelings as you were venturing into the exclusion zone, knowing that you were going to be exposed to high levels of radiation? Did it scare you?

I didn't really know too much about the town of Priypat before I left for Ukraine. Luckily, on the bus on the way in, they showed a load of different videos on before and after of the town. To see all those families enjoying life, and not knowing what was happening was a little disturbing to hear. After all, it was Russian propaganda at its best, and not releasing any news whatsoever of the explosion.

Did you know, that the whole population of Priypat, that's 50,000 citizens, were evacuated from the town in less than 3 hours!!!! Quite an impressive feat. These people left everything behind, and could only take whatever they cold carry.

 

As for my own safety, I wasn't overly bothered by that. A little research told me that you would have to be here for a seriously long time for the radiation to affect you now, or you would have to roll around the in the dirt like a dog to be effected by the radiation.

 

My girlfriend flatly refused to come with me on this day trip. She was scared of the long lasting effects of radiation poisoning. Needless to say, she and her family and friends were scared for me, but she stayed behind in Kiev and went shopping!!

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

I see Mr Fox is not deterred either. The way things are going this could be us all, soon.

[firth1974 2,659]

Hi,

 

I see Mr Fox is not deterred either. The way things are going this could be us all, soon.

A lot of wildlife has now returned to the area. Lots of foxes and Deer too.

[TheFiend 1,181]

As for my own safety, I wasn't overly bothered by that. A little research told me that you would have to be here for a seriously long time for the radiation to affect you now, or you would have to roll around the in the dirt like a dog to be effected by the radiation.

 

 

A classic case of look, but don't touch.... Did you get checked to see if you picked up any contam during the tour.

 

Nice to see statues commemorating the fire and rescue workers that lost their lives.

[mrgreenjeans 29]

Must have been kind of an eerie feeling walking through what is essentially a ghost town.

[atlas2 4,329]

I watched a documentary recently.......I'll try and find it..........

 

It calibrated radiation counts into the amount there is in one banana.......and went from place to place describing the risks. Pretty high on the list were long haul flights..........2nd from the very top was the hospital basement at Priypat. That was where the brave men who cleaned up at the reactor were treated and the basement was where they discarded all their protective clothing. The top soil around the reactor has been taken away and the readings were now close to normal.

 

Before you get concerned about any of this......The top spot by far for the amount of radiation in one place was the............?

 

You can see for yourself.......

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2017 by atlas2

[TheFiend 1,181]

I watched a documentary recently.......I'll try and find it..........

 

It calibrated radiation counts into the amount there is in one banana.......and went from place to place describing the risks. Pretty high on the list were long haul flights..........2nd from the very top was the hospital basement at Priypat. That was where the brave men who cleaned up at the reactor were treated and the basement was where they discarded all their protective clothing. The top soil around the reactor has been taken away and the readings were now close to normal.

 

Before you get concerned about any of this......The top spot by far for the amount of radiation in one place was the............?

 

You can see for yourself.......

 

 

 

 

I actually found that video quite amusing at the end.....

 

I'm a smoker and I also work in a certain industry which requires me to wear a dosimeter, undertake routine biological sampling and every so often I am given a whole body monitor. Surely they would be able to measure the dosage I receive by being a smoker, but my dosage measurements are no different to non-smokers that I work with.

 

A whole body monitor is performed in a room shielded by steel from a warship built prior to WW2 and the advent of nuclear weapons for the purpose of reducing background radiation. It is used to detect if any radioactive material has entered your body.