April 24 - Chernobyl

This was a every long but interesting day.  L&T
had encouraged us to go as they had found it very informative.  It is about 2 hrs 15 minutes to drive there.  You stop about 30 Kilometers out from the nuclear plant for the first check point.  Passports are checked + your "Visa" - a form from the Tour company.  You are given a meter that is supposed to keep track of the radiation you are exposed to.  There is another checkpoint at the 10 kilometer mark - but we were not checked again.  Our first stop is at the sign for Chernobyl town.

The angel of death at the entrance to Chernobyl town.

I think these are the names of people who died because of the disaster.  On the backside of each sign is the same name with a red line through it.

The nuclear accident happened April 25 & 26.  It happened during a safety test at night.  They are not exactly sure how it happened.  Most likely human error - either at the station itself or in combination with the machinery inside the plant not up to the job.  It started out with a steam explosion followed later by an open air graphite fire.  First responders rushed in to help put out the fire - no one was told how dangerous the radiation was.  Most all of those first responders died from exposure.

Several days later a little more information was passed on.  The nearby town of Pripyat was evacuated in two hours.  They were able to take very little with them.

These are abandoned homes in Chernobyl town.

A memorial.

We had lunch here.  We were served chicken and potatoes which were OK.  Everything is brought in.  There is a kitchen garden growing nearby - but still contaminated.

A dormitory on the other side of the Cafe/hostel.  It is in use for those who still maintain the Nuclear Plant.

The Cafe and hostel

Abandoned apartments.

Our next stop was at a kindergarten.  Our guide demonstrates a Geiger counter.  Just off the path and next to the ground - it quickly reached high numbers.  We were told to keep on the path.  This was a hot spot - there are a lot of those around the area.

The Kindergarten.

Then back on the bus for a short ride to the nuclear plant.  This is the Number 4 Reactor which exploded.  Reactors #1-3 were still working.  # 5 & 6 were in the progress of being built.  After some repairs #4 was actually put back on-line again for a time.  It was actually several years before all of the reactors were put off-line.

A temporary cover was put over # 4 reactor right away - but was not sufficient for the job.  The current cover - called the Sarcophagus, is supposed to be good for 100 years.  So there is a time limit for getting what is inside cleaned up.

Another memorial.

There are still people working here.  They are making sure everything is safe and also doing cleanup.  More storage buildings have been build.  As they dismantle what is inside the pieces are stored in those buildings.  A lot of stuff has been buried underground as well.  It is not supposed to be taken off site because everything is radioactive.

At first they tried to kill off all of the animals in the contaminated area - but a lot have come back.  As the dog below proves.