From Kiev to the Chernobyl exclusion zone (ChEZ), most of which is located in the Kiev region, by car can be reached in one and a half to two hours. There are several villages and villages on this site, and closer to the zone there is only a forest. At the Dityatki checkpoint, visitors are met by police officers, three red cats and a red dog. There is a kind of border here - a fence with barbed wire goes deep into the field from the checkpoint. Police officers check passport data with lists sent in advance, before the trip. Legally, only local workers, relatives of self-settlers or tourists strictly with accompanying persons can enter the zone. In 2009, according to Forbes magazine, this place was included in the list of 12 most exotic tourist destinations along with Antarctica and North Korea. The level of radiation in some places exceeds the permissible by 30 times, but this does not stop those who want to look at the largest monument to a man-made disaster. Over the past ten years, 40,000 tourists have visited the ChEZ. The stream has grown significantly since the 2007 release of the popular computer game"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl", the action of which takes place in the territories adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Since then, more and more people began to enter here illegally: every year about 400 stalkers are detained, who are punished with a fine of 400 hryvnia (about 1.2 thousand rubles) for an administrative violation.
The territories of the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the RSFSR exposed to radiation contamination as a result of the Chernobyl accident were divided into four categories: the exclusion zone, the resettlement zone, the zone of residence with the right to resettlement and the zone of residence with a preferential socio-economic status. The exclusion zone includes areas from which mandatory evacuation of the population was carried out in 1986 and 1987. The total area of the Russian exclusion zone - 310 sq. km, other categories of radiation hazard territories also include 11.5 thousand sq. km.
In Russia, the exclusion zone is located in the Bryansk region, where there were four villages with a total population of 186 people.
In neighboring Belarus, this zone is much wider and includes territories where 22,000 people used to live in 92 settlements. In 1988, the Polessky State Radiation-Ecological Reserve was created on these contaminated lands, where there is an experimental apiary and a garden, where horses are bred. Also in this area live populations of bison, lynx, Przewalski's horse.
In Ukraine, the exclusion zone (radius - 30 km) is located in the districts of the Kiev and Zhytomyr regions. The total area of the territory, where before the accident there were 94 settlements with 116 thousand inhabitants, is almost 2.6 thousand square meters. km, a little more than Moscow. The length of the outer perimeter with wire barriers, checkpoints and dosimetric checkpoints is about 440 km (approximately the distance between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod). Within the ChEZ, areas with a special access regime have been identified - a ten-kilometer zone and the Chernobyl site itself.
Chernobyl.
12 km to Chernobyl
Today Chernobyl is a city forever frozen in the days of the Soviet Union. Small, with clean empty green streets, with inconspicuous gray two-story buildings, Chernobyl is half asleep. Before the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the population here was approximately 13 thousand people, now it is about 4 thousand (in the entire ChEZ - 5 thousand). Occasionally you can meet a passerby, several times a day an old Soviet bus for workers passes through the streets. Residential buildings there are few here - a couple of dozen, mostly concentrated in the center. But the infrastructure of the city, despite the almost complete alienation of the settlement, is developing, albeit very slowly. The tourist flow here gives rise to its supply and demand - the city begins to take on a second life.
In the building of the inactive bus station and near the fire station there are rural-type shops, where they sell mainly essential products (including a wide range of alcohol). They can even pay with credit cards and buy souvenirs: T-shirts with the inscription "Chernobyl", "apocalyptic" magnets with the image of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and a nuclear fungus, and pink pens with a radiation icon. A couple of hotels have been opened in the city: one is in a converted old hostel (small three-four-bed rooms), the second is in the house where the party workers lived (a seven-bed room in a renovated three-room apartment). There is a large Soviet canteen, and the Desyatka cafe has recently opened, where you can eat cheaply and sit in a bar with Wi-Fi. There is still a curfew here, but it seems to be perceived by the locals as an obsolete formality.
Two grocery stores have been opened at different ends of the building of the former bus station. When choosing which one to go to after the working shift, the locals are guided by the length of the queue in each of them.
Chernobyl is inhabited mainly by foresters, ecologists, scientists, personnel serving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, who protect the 30-kilometer zone from the penetration of illegal immigrants. It is in Chernobyl that the main enterprises engaged in maintaining the territory in an environmentally safe state are located. They control the content of radionuclides in the water of the Pripyat River, its tributaries and air. They work in Chernobyl on a rotational basis - "4 for 3": on Monday, the staff is taken by bus to the city, and on Thursday they are taken back to the "mainland". For some specialists, there is a different schedule - "15 to 15": two weeks in the zone, the rest for half a month at home. People come to work here from different regions of Ukraine, but most here are from the Kiev region. 22-year-old Dasha from the Vinnitsa region works in a Chernobyl cafe because during the crisis she could not get a job anywhere. Chef Dima, on the contrary, purposefully went to work here because of the high salary by Ukrainian standards. The bonus to the basic salary is given here due to harmful conditions labor. In the evenings, in the cafe "Desyatka" locals traditionally gather for dinner, watch TV and discuss the latest news - about events in eastern Ukraine, Euromaidan and the Crimean referendum.
The founding date of Chernobyl is considered to be 1193, when this place was first mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle. With the formation of the Commonwealth in 1569, the city became part of it. Later, in the 18th century, it became one of the largest centers of Hasidism in Ukraine. In 1793, Chernobyl was annexed to the Russian Empire as a place in the Radomyshl district of the Kiev province, and later became a major river transshipment point. In 1921, Chernobyl became part of the Ukrainian SSR, and two years later - the center of the district of the same name (it received city status in 1941). Since 1990, these places have attracted pilgrims - religious Jews, equipping the graves of tzaddiks (righteous people) buried in this land. Since 2001, services have been held in the city in the only operating Orthodox parish in the exclusion zone - St. Elias Church.
Reactor
The idea to use the "peaceful atom" in the service of the national economy of the USSR was first expressed by Academician Kurchatov, the creator of the Soviet atomic bomb. In the 70s of the last century, active construction of nuclear power plants began in the Soviet Union, and ten years later nuclear power plants accounted for 15% of all electricity generated in the country. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the pride of the Soviet Union: by 1986 it was the most powerful in the country and one of the most powerful nuclear power plants in the world. The USSR equated its successes in nuclear energy with successes in space exploration. No one doubted that the future of energy belongs to nuclear power plants.
The construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began in March 1970. The station became the third in the USSR with graphite-water reactors of the RBMK-1000 type after the Leningrad (started up in 1973) and Kursk (1976) nuclear power plants. Chernobyl belonged to a single-circuit type of nuclear power plant: the steam supplied to the turbines was formed directly in the reactor by boiling the coolant (water) passing through it. In total, four power units were put into operation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1978-1984. The construction of the third stage (the fifth and sixth power units) was stopped in 1987. At the time of the accident, the station generated 150.2 billion kWh of electricity, and over the subsequent period until the complete decommissioning on December 15, 2000, another 158.6 billion kWh. By 2000, 9.5 thousand people worked at the station.
Currently, there are 11 reactors of the so-called Chernobyl type (RBMK-1000) in operation in the world, all at Russian nuclear power plants: Kursk, Leningrad and Smolensk. Another nuclear power plant with such reactors, Ignalina in Lithuania, is currently not in use. One reactor of this type has not been completed at the Kursk NPP and, most likely, will never be put into operation. After the accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, two more serious incidents occurred at stations equipped with RBMK-1000. In 1991, there was a fire in the engine room of the second unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in 1992 - a rupture of the fuel channel at the Leningrad nuclear power plant. There were no dead.
How the accident developed
April 25, 1986, 1:06 a.m. (hereinafter, local time). At the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for scheduled repairs, the shutdown of the fourth power unit began, during which an experiment was planned. It was supposed to show whether the mechanical inertia of rotation of the turbine generator rotor could be used to generate electricity for a short time during a sudden shutdown of the reactor.
April 26, 0:05. The reactor power level of 700 MW planned for the experiment was reached, but the power continued to decrease, falling to 30 MW in half an hour. At this level, an immediate shutdown of the reactor was required, but the operator removed the reaction-inhibiting rods from the reactor in an attempt to restore power.
1:23. The experiment began at an unacceptably low power of 200 MW. A few seconds later, the power of the reactor increased dramatically by 100 times. The operator pressed the emergency button, which was supposed to shut down the reactor.
1:24. The first thermal explosion occurred, knocking out the upper part of the reactor - a plate weighing 1 thousand tons. A few seconds later, the second explosion completely destroyed the reactor, releasing 190 tons of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, including isotopes of uranium, plutonium, iodine and cesium. Two employees of the station were killed, more than 30 fires arose.
1:28. The special fire department for the protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (SFC-2), which received a signal about a fire, began extinguishing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Auxiliary fire guards also headed to the station. The fight against the fire lasted five hours, 15 fire brigades from Pripyat, Kiev and the surrounding area were involved. Rescuers did not have proper protection.
11:00. Chernobyl director Viktor Bryukhanov reported to the second secretary of the Kiev regional committee about the explosion and fire, lying that the radiation situation in the city of Pripyat and at the nuclear power plant was not dangerous.
20:20. A government commission headed by Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Boris Shcherbina arrived at the crash site.
22:00. The Ministry of Health of the USSR decided on the need for an emergency evacuation of Pripyat.
April 27, 13:00. The Pripyat radio broadcasting network announced the gathering and temporary evacuation of the city's residents. 50 thousand people were taken out of the city with almost no belongings: they were sure that they would return soon. Helicopters began to fill the destroyed reactor with absorbing materials, including boron carbide.
April 28th. The announcer of the Vremya program read out the first official TASS message: “There was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. One of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the incident. The victims received the necessary assistance. A government commission has been set up to investigate the incident.” The Foreign Ministry held a press conference, telling foreign journalists about the disaster.
1st of May. In Kiev, where the level of radiation exceeded the permissible limits, mass celebrations were held on the occasion of May Day.
May 2. The evacuation of the population began, first from the 10-kilometer zone, and two days later - from the 30-kilometer zone.
May 8 Large-scale decontamination work began, to which people and equipment were transferred from different parts of the USSR.
May 14. Mikhail Gorbachev spoke on central television with an official statement about the accident.
Immediately after the explosion of the reactor, 31 people died - station employees and firefighters. Most of the station's workers died within three months, having received radiation in doses of more than 4 thousand mSv (lethal dose). The number of those who subsequently died from radiation-induced cancers is still unknown and remains the subject of fierce debate. 530 thousand people received doses from 10 to 1 thousand mSv. These were people who had been in the affected area for a long time: soldiers, rescuers, technicians and employees of the nuclear power plant. According to the most conservative statistics of the Chernobyl Forum, 9 thousand people have died and about 200 thousand people suffer from diseases caused by the Chernobyl accident. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health from 2005, from 1987 to 2004, the number of only Ukrainians who died due to the consequences of the accident reached 530 thousand people. In 1991, a law was passed on the social protection of citizens affected by the disaster. To date, about 7 million people in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have the status of Chernobyl victims.
The pond around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is an artificial reservoir that was created to cool the plant's reactors. It has a huge amount of fish. Employees from neighboring facilities and tourists, finding themselves here, do not miss the opportunity to feed two-meter catfish.
Elimination of the consequences of the accident
The first measure to eliminate the consequences of the accident for the population was iodine prophylaxis, which, however, was promptly carried out only in Pripyat - on the day of the accident. On April 27, the evacuation of the population began from it, and only in May - from the 10- and 30-kilometer exclusion zones around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In total, in the spring and summer of 1986, out of 400 thousand people living in exclusion zones and territories of "strict radiation control", 116 thousand were evacuated, in subsequent years another 270 thousand people were resettled.
In May 1986, special measures were launched to decontaminate settlements and equipment in the exclusion zone, which included the sanitization of buildings and streets, the removal of topsoil, and the disposal of contaminated equipment.
At the same time, a specially organized construction department No. 605 of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building began to build a sarcophagus around the emergency reactor (the Shelter object). By November 1986, the construction of the sarcophagus was completed. Over 100 thousand cubic meters of concrete and 6.8 thousand tons of metal structures were used for its construction. Up to 95% of the fuel that was in the reactor at the time of the accident remains inside the Shelter.
The volume of radioactive materials is 185–200 tons with a total activity of 16 million curies. At the same time, since 1986, no more than 60% of the area of the Shelter object has been examined, the rest of the premises are inaccessible due to dangerous radiation fields and due to barriers resulting from the explosion and collapse of internal floors.
350 thousand people took part in the initial work to eliminate the consequences of the accident in 1986-1987, the total number of liquidators is estimated at 600 thousand people.
In total, in 1986-1991, the USSR spent $18 billion to eliminate the accident, 35% of this amount was allocated for social assistance to the victims, and 17% was spent on resettlement. The station itself was finally decommissioned only in 2000.
The need to convert the built sarcophagus into a safer structure was thought back in 1989. Then the employees of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy put forward the concept of construction new design over the existing "Shelter" for complete isolation of the contents of the destroyed power unit from the external environment. In 1991, additional options for complete backfilling, complete disassembly and pouring of the sarcophagus with concrete were proposed. But following the results of an international competition for projects to transform the Shelter into an environmentally safe system, Ukraine in 1996 finally abandoned the creation of a storage facility at the site of the fourth power unit, despite criticism from Russian specialists.
In 1998, with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a group of international donors, the implementation of the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP) began, including the construction of a new safe confinement (NSC, or Shelter-2 ”) and storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel.
In 2004, a tender was announced for the construction of the NSC, which was won on August 10, 2007 by the American engineering consortium Bechtel-Battelle Memorial, and the specially created JV Novarka became the contractor for the project (subcontractors are Italian, American and Turkish companies). The project is a complex that includes a protective dome-arch and equipment for extracting radioactive materials from the destroyed power unit. The arch (height - 108 m, length - 162 m, width - 257 m) to ensure the safety of workers is not built over the damaged reactor itself, but on a specially equipped site away from it. After work on it is completed, the NSC weighing 29 thousand tons will be pulled over the rails on the old sarcophagus and sealed. Unlike its predecessor, the new sarcophagus is designed for 100 years of use.
The confinement was supposed to be put into operation by October 15, 2015 (the end date of the contract), but the completion date for its construction has already been repeatedly shifted, including due to funding problems. Initially, the cost of the entire SIP project was estimated at €550 million, but by 2011 it had grown to €1.6 billion, of which about €935 million would be spent on the sarcophagus alone. By this time, €864 million had already been received from the EBRD and donor countries, and at the international summit, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the accident, Kiev managed to raise most of the missing funds - another €550 million, which, according to the assurances of the Ukrainian side, will allow the construction of a new sarcophagus to be completed according to plan.
Information on the progress of construction as of April 26, 2016:
In March 2015, EBRD Director of Nuclear Safety Vince Nowak said that about €615 million more is needed to complete the construction work. Commissions, and the remaining €100 will be added by other donor countries.
In September 2015, the French companies Bouygues and Vinci completed the preliminary assembly of the arched sarcophagus for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The arch is larger than the Stade de France in Paris. The height of the new sarcophagus is equivalent to the height of a 30-story building. The structure will arrive in Chernobyl in a disassembled state, it will be reassembled directly on the territory of the nuclear power plant.
The unloading of damaged nuclear fuel from the first and second power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is scheduled until the end of May 2016, after which the status of nuclear installations will be removed from the units. At the station, dismantling work is underway in the engine rooms, on auxiliary equipment. More than 70% of equipment and systems have been decommissioned. The fourth power unit is planned to be covered with a new protective structure in November 2016. All work should be completed by the end of 2017.
The delay in construction could become critical: the Shelter's service life limit ends in 2016. The threat of destruction of the old sarcophagus is real. So, on February 12, 2013, due to the accumulated snow, ten panels of the wall and the light roof of the turbine hall of the fourth power unit partially collapsed. Work on the construction of a new sarcophagus was frozen for a week until the French builders were convinced of the safety of their continuation.
The final dismantling of the fourth power unit is scheduled for 2065. By this time, the complete dismantling of the reactor installations, the site cleanup and the disposal of fuel-containing materials located in the fourth power unit should be completed. How exactly this will happen is still unclear. On the website of the state specialized enterprise "Chernobyl NPP", with reference to the international coordination group of experts, it is explained that it is not advisable to develop a fuel extraction strategy for the time being, since more advanced and safer technologies for managing high-level radioactive waste may appear. Therefore, it was tentatively decided to postpone the extraction until the time when the repository for the final disposal of the waste is created, "that is, for several decades."
Pripyat.
3 km from Chernobyl
At the entrance to Pripyat, the dosimeter starts beeping more and more often. At the fork is the entrance stele "Pripyat 1970" (one of the main places for tourists to take photos), and next to it is an inconspicuous yellow sign "rudy lis" ("red forest"). On this site - "eternal autumn": the trees look dried up, and the leaves are a pale orange color. During the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the main release of radioactive dust occurred in the direction of Pripyat. In a matter of days, the forest turned red, after which part of it was cut down and buried.
Before entering the city, you need to go through another checkpoint - "Lelev", where the guides give the guards permission documents to visit these places. The main recommendations for tourists: stay together, do not enter emergency rooms, it is advisable to wear gloves, do not touch anything, carry a dosimeter and do not eat anything. Despite the fact that for three decades the degree radioactive contamination decreased, radioactive dust can be anywhere: underfoot, on walls, on trees.
Pripyat at one time was a model Soviet city with a well-thought-out self-sufficient infrastructure. 15 kindergartens, 5 schools, 25 shops, cafes and restaurants, a hospital, a river port, a hotel, a Palace of Culture, a cinema, a swimming pool were built here. Four industrial enterprises operated in the city, including the Jupiter plant, which produced tape drives for tape recorders (household and special purposes). It was prestigious to work and live here, and salaries at that time were quite high.
The city of Pripyat was founded on February 4, 1970 on the river of the same name, a tributary of the Dnieper, 18 km north of Chernobyl as a place of residence for workers of a nuclear power plant under construction at a distance of 3 km (since 1979 - a city of regional subordination). The construction of the city and the station was declared an all-Union shock Komsomol construction project, so the bulk of the townspeople were Komsomol members from all over the USSR. By 1986, the population of Pripyat was almost 50,000. people, the average age of residents is 26 years. The master plan for the development of the city provided for the possibility of accommodating up to 80 thousand people.
Today, nature captures the territory of an abandoned city - it seems that these houses have "grown" in the forest. Birch trees grow on the roofs and first floors of many buildings, branches stick out through the windows in apartments, birds make nests on balconies and in telephone booths. The most impressive sign of the victory of nature is a football stadium with rotten wooden stands, high rusty spotlights, and in the center, instead of a field, a forest has grown. The guides say that the builders of the confinement, who live in Slavutych and travel to work by train, have a game - to count moose from the window. Before that, their colleagues said that wild boars could occasionally run through the main square of Pripyat in winter.
The nature in these parts is rich: bears, otters, badgers, muskrats, lynxes, deer, Przewalski's horses and wolves live here. Stories about two-headed animals roaming the exclusion zone are myths. German and American scientists who conducted research here came to the conclusion that despite the high radiation background, mutations in animals are observed in approximately the same percentage (in some cases slightly higher) as under normal conditions.
In Pripyat, perhaps, there is not a single house where marauders have not visited. The city remained untouched only for the first few weeks after the Chernobyl accident. After that, furniture and household items were taken away from here, in some houses iron railings were even sawn down near the stairs for scrap metal. During the period of urgent evacuation, the townspeople simply did not have the opportunity to take valuables with them. In the bedroom of one of the apartments we enter, among a pile of scattered things and rubbish, you can find notes on chemistry of a junior student with neat diagrams drawn with a felt-tip pen; in the kitchen, dusty, yellowed cookery magazines and an overturned stove; in the hallway - old women's shoes; and in a large empty room - a dusty, torn sofa. Leaving home and never returning - many of those who left the city after the accident did not realize that they would never live here again.
But there are residents of Pripyat who, years later, return here to see their native lands again. One of the guides says that once a former resident came to Pripyat and went to the school where he studied in 1986. He wandered around the classrooms for a long time and left two hours later with his diary, in which there was a mark "5" in the schedule of subjects dated April 25, on Friday - one day before the Chernobyl accident.
One of the five schools in the city is in a dilapidated state, and it is still possible to go to the rest. Hundreds of Soviet textbooks, notebooks for teachers to check, old maps, models of world attractions (including the Kremlin), flasks with preserved fish for biology lessons remained in the classrooms here. Children's toys are everywhere - dolls, mutilated by time, are perhaps one of the most popular symbols of tragedy. In the 1980s, there was a boom in the birth rate: young residents, given their level of well-being, could afford to expand their families.
At the time of the accident, about 20–30% of the city's population were children. V kindergarten frozen scenes in the playroom: dolls opposite each other, iron cars standing in a row, constructions made of cubes, shabby soft toys and a plastic Olympic bear.
The hospital of Pripyat, along with a school and a kindergarten, is perhaps one of the main attractions for tourists. Glass flasks, faded medical journals, sanitary "ducks" are scattered in dusty, dilapidated corridors. In the hospital wards there are rusty springy beds, in the operating room there is a table with overhanging lanterns. In a large waiting room with a hospital schedule on the wall, the inscription "Today in treatment: ...", below are empty cells in the list of surnames. The first victims - station workers, firefighters - were brought here after the Chernobyl accident. On the first floor, there is still a balaclava of one of the liquidators, which (at a radiation rate of 20-30 microR/h) emits about 10,000 microR/h.
Excursions to the exclusion zone have been officially allowed since 2010 by the Ukrainian authorities. But in 2011, a dispute broke out between the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Prosecutor General's Office: the latter tried to ban trips to the exclusion zone, but the rescuers seemed to be able to agree. The logic of the prosecutors and the guards is clear: Pripyat is collapsing, the buildings, although strong, turn into dust, the famous Ferris wheel is completely rusted, and all this can fall on the visitors’ heads at any moment. No one is going to restore the city, and in the event of the death of a tourist, the authorities and guides will have to answer.
The only hospital for adults in the city is MSCh-126. It had departments of surgery, dentistry, and a maternity hospital. Now this place is one of the most charged in the city: immediately after the Chernobyl accident, victims were brought here, whose clothes were covered in radioactive dust.
DK "Energetik" is already in disrepair: the roof is in holes. True, the murals on the walls have been preserved in the foyer of the building. At the end of April 1986, the city was preparing for the May 1 celebrations. Here you can see portraits of party officials and find old Edison sound equipment.
In Pripyat, there are a lot of Soviet symbols in general: a sickle and a hammer on lampposts, iron cubes with the image of Komsomol members, old soda machines, a line from the USSR anthem “Lenin’s party is the power of the people” that almost came down from the wall of a nine-story building. He is leading us to the triumph of communism.”
Many tourists, who are greeted over the main square by “Let the atom be a worker, not a soldier,” are interested in these places as a kind of “monument” to socialist realism or Soviet industrialization. Others are attracted to Pripyat as a place of a local "apocalypse", where after a man-made disaster a person will never be able to live.
Now there are only a few operating facilities in the city - a special laundry, a station for iron removal and water fluoridation, and a garage for special equipment. They are served on a rotational basis. Self-settlers do not live in Pripyat.
A few years ago, graffiti appeared on houses and premises in Pripyat, which, apparently, are made by stalker artists. Some refer to this as vandalism, others believe that with graffiti, the city becomes an art object and attracts more interest.
The city had 25 stores with a total area of 10 thousand square meters, 27 canteens, cafes, restaurants for 5.5 thousand guests.
After the accident, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant still continued to operate, so it was decided to build a new satellite city of the station to serve it. On October 2, 1986, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR signed a decree on the construction of the city of Slavutych. The first move-in order was issued on March 28, 1988. Slavutych is the youngest city in Ukraine with a population of 25,000. a person administratively subordinated to the Kiev region, although it is completely located on the territory of the Chernihiv region. The average salary in the city (2013) is 5653 hryvnias (22.6 thousand rubles), pension - 3587 hryvnias (14.3 thousand rubles), both indicators are one and a half to two times higher than those in Ukraine as a whole. Since 1999, the special economic zone "Slavutich" has been operating in the city (the preferential tax regime here is calculated until January 1, 2020). This system was introduced to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the shutdown in 2000 of the city-forming enterprise - the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. As of 2012, the special economic zone attracted $42.7 million in investments, including $11.8 million from foreign ones.
MTS Kopachi
In a ten-kilometer zone, it is almost impossible to find abandoned village houses. Shortly after the accident, the decision was made to demolish and bury the buildings on the contaminated land. Dozens of signs with a radiation hazard symbol can be seen in the fields in this area. In the place of each of them, someone's house is "buried". There are three disposal sites for radioactive waste (RW) and nine temporary containment sites for RW with a total volume of 4.8 million cubic meters in the exclusion zone.
The machine and tractor station is located near the dug-in village of Kopachi (coincidentally, the word "diggers" is translated as "diggers"). The territory of the base is littered with old agricultural equipment - Niva combines - and equipment that was used in the aftermath of the accident. There is also an engineering obstacle blocking vehicle, with the help of which the “red forest” was demolished.
The "probe" of the IMR-2 barrier vehicle, which was used to destroy the "red forest", now "fonit" up to 12 thousand microR / h (with the norm of only 20). The burial of dead trees and the topsoil was carried out by dozens of special vehicles: first, the trees were felled, then they were raked by bulldozers into trenches about 1 meter deep and covered with "clean" earth. In total, more than 4 thousand cubic meters of radioactive materials were buried in this way.
Camp "Emerald"
In a ten-kilometer zone in a pine forest is the camp "Emerald" - in those days the main entertainment center for children in the entire district. Small green houses with cartoon drawings stand on a hill near the river, in the center of the camp - a stage where the pioneers once performed. All this resembles a large abandoned country cottage area From the movie Burnt by the Sun. Tourists and stalkers have every chance to encounter wild animals here.
"Chernobyl-2"
On the road from Pripyat to Chernobyl, a high "fence" is visible far on the horizon - the Chernobyl-2 radar. Until last year, it was forbidden to approach this building even 3 km away. Radar node (RLU) "Chernobyl-2" for a long time was considered a secret, and then - an object of special protection. The height of the radar is 150 m, the width is 750 m. Next to it is a two-story building 1 km long - the facility control center. In Chernobyl-2 there was a radio receiving center of RLU No. 1 and a military camp (RLU No. 2 was located in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur region). Their construction was completed by the mid-1970s as part of big project"Duga", which was created during the Cold War era as a missile attack warning system to detect launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles from US soil.
In the mid-1970s, radar stations were built near Nikolaev, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Chernobyl, which together constitute a system for over-the-horizon detection of ballistic missiles (the Duga project).
The first series of electromagnetic broadcasts from the "Duga" was performed on July 4, 1976, after which the ZGRLS began to work on radiation, emitting characteristic signals. These signals, recorded in the West and reminiscent of the sound of a woodpecker's knock, worked in the entire short wave range (5-35 MHz) and interfered with aviation and maritime services.
The cost of building Chernobyl-2 was estimated at 150 million rubles. The total investment, including the eastern node of the ZGRLS 5N32 "Duga" and the experimental ZGRLS 5N77 "Duga-2" near Nikolaev, exceeded 600 million rubles.
The modernization of the Chernobyl-2 system was planned to be completed by November 1986. After the accident at the nuclear power plant, these territories were deprived of a source of energy and fell into the zone of radioactive contamination. The project was curtailed, the main part of the inhabitants of the military camp was immediately evacuated. Chernobyl-2 remains to this day the only surviving object of the Duga ZGRLS: the antennas in Nikolaev and the Far East have been dismantled.
Cupovatoe.
32 km from Chernobyl
Now, within the boundaries of the exclusion zone in 11 settlements, there are about 300 squatters - people who arbitrarily settled in abandoned houses. In some village one person may live, in another - three or four families. Perhaps the most famous self-settlement of the Chernobyl zone is Ganna's grandmother. True, she is offended by the word “self-settlement”, because she lived here all her life, and then simply returned to her house. The radiation background in this village is now within the normal range, but the ground is still contaminated.
Baba Ganna, 83, lives in the abandoned village of Kupovatoye with her 75-year-old sister, who has been disabled since childhood. They returned almost immediately after the evacuation: Baba Hanna could not get used to urban conditions. There are four more residential courtyards in the vicinity, in one of which their cousin Sophia lives. Baba Ganna has a small household: a kitchen garden, a small garden and 14 chickens. Her problems are familiar to a simple villager: two years ago, in winter, her chickens were covered with snow, and wolves killed her only dog. There are no shops here, but once a week a truck with groceries arrives. She steadfastly endures all difficulties, coping with affairs almost independently. The district police periodically visit the residents, helping them with the housework. Baba Ganna is always happy to have guests, but persistent tourists who want to take a picture with her are jokingly chased away, calling them "maniacs".
Cousins Sophia and Hanna are neighbors.
People began to return to their homes just a few weeks after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: someone did not understand what radiation was, someone believed that they were simply intimidated, someone did not want to leave their property or simply decided to die at home. In 1986, there were 1,200 self-settlers, now there are four times less. 85% of the people living here are over 60 years old. Children are not born in the exclusion zone, although there is an exception to this rule. On August 25, 1999, the daughter of Maria, the first and only child of the zone, was born to self-settlers Mikhail Vedernikov and Lidia Sovenko. Now she does not live in the ChEZ.
Employees of "Kommersant" at the dosimetric control at the checkpoint "Dityatki" in the ChEZ.
Each of Kommersant's correspondents received 300 micro-roentgens in the exclusion zone in two days. This is equivalent to the dose received during the flight from Moscow to Kiev.
Text: Artem Galustyan, Anastasia Gorshkova
Photo: Vladimir Shuvaev, Dmitry Kuchev
Video: Dmitry Shelkovnikov
Design, programming and layout: Alexey Dubinin, Anton Zhukov, Alexey Shabrov
Reference materials: Vadim Zaitsev, Kommersant Information Service
Managing editor: Artem Galustyan
Also, Petr Mironenko, Tatyana Mishanina, Yulia Bychkova, Kim Voronin participated in the preparation of the project.
After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Bryansk, Tula, Orel and Kaluga regions were exposed to radionuclide contamination in Russia. These territories are adjacent to the northern border of Ukraine and are located at a distance of 100-550 km from the source of the release of radioactive substances. To inform the public and the population living in the contaminated territories, the EMERCOM of Russia has prepared an Atlas of current and forecast aspects of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus. The specified Atlas contains a set of maps that display the spatial features of radionuclide contamination of the territory of Russia both in the past - in 1986, and state of the art. The scientists also prepared forecast levels of pollution in Russia in 10-year increments up to 2056.
Map of contamination of Europe by radioactive fallout after 1986
Contamination of the territory of Russia with radionuclides in the 70s and 80s
In 1986, the evacuation of the population was carried out in some contaminated territories of the Russian Federation. A total of 186 people were evacuated (in Ukraine, 113,000 people were evacuated from the zone of radioactive contamination, in Belarus - 24,725 people).
Large-scale works on decontamination (cleaning) of settlements and adjacent territories (roads) were carried out on the contaminated territories. During the period from 1986-1987, 472 settlements of the Bryansk region (western regions) were decontaminated in Russia. The decontamination was carried out by the army, which carried out washing of buildings, cleaning the territory of residential areas, cleaning the top layer of contaminated soil, disinfecting drinking water sources, and cleaning roads. Army units carried out systematic work on dust suppression - they moistened roads in settlements. By 1989, the radiation situation in the contaminated territories had significantly improved and stabilized.
Pollution of the territory of Russia today
When preparing maps of modern contamination of the territory of Russia with radionuclides, scientists conducted comprehensive studies that included an assessment of the distribution of cesium-137, strontium-90 and transuranium elements along the soil profile. It was found that radioactive substances are still contained in the top 0-20 cm soil layer. Thus, radionuclides are located in the root layer and are involved in biological chains of migration.
The maximum levels of contamination of the territory of Russia with strontium-90 and plutonium-239,240 of Chernobyl origin are located in the western part of the Bryansk region - where the levels of contamination for 90Sr are about 0.5 Curie / sq. km, and 239, 240Pu - 0.01 - 0.1 Curie / sq. km.
Map of contamination of the territory of the Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol and Tula regions with strontium-90.
Map of contamination of the territory of the Bryansk region with plutonium 239, 240
Maps of contamination of Russia with 137 Cs of Chernobyl origin
Maps of pollution of the Bryansk region with 137 Cs
The Bryansk region is the most unfavorable in terms of radiation. The western regions of the region will be contaminated with cesium radioisotopes for a long time to come. According to forecast estimates, in 2016, in the area of the settlements of Novozybkov, Zlynka, the levels of surface contamination of caesium-137 will reach 40 Curie per square kilometer.
Map of contamination of the territory of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1986)
Map of contamination of the territory of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1996)
Pollution map of the territory of the Bryansk region (as of 2006)
Map of predicted pollution of the territory of the Bryansk region (as of 2016)
Map of predicted pollution of the territory of the Bryansk region (as of 2026)
Map of predicted pollution of the territory of the Bryansk region in 2056.
Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Oryol region
1986.
Map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Oryol region in 1996 year.
Map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Oryol region in 2006 year.
2016 year.
Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Oryol region in 2026 year.
Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Oryol region in 2056 year.
Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Tula region
1986 year
Map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Tula region in 1996 year
Map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Tula region in 2006 year
Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Tula region in 2016 year
2026 year
Forecast map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory of the Tula region in 2056 year
Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Kaluga region
Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1986
Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1996
Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 2006
2016 year
Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 2026 year
Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 2056 year
The material was prepared on the basis of the Atlas of modern and predictive aspects of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus, edited by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu.A.Izrael and Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus I.M. Bogdevich. year 2009.
After the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, a 30-kilometer exclusion zone was created around the plant. Although a positive trend is emerging (in 2010, the Narodichi district of the Zhytomyr region was excluded from the list of closed territories), the consequences of the disaster still affect people's lives.
INVISIBLE TERRIBLE ENEMY
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on April 26, 1986, was an unprecedented event in the history of nuclear energy. However, the scale of the catastrophe was not obvious in the first hours after the incident: there was no data on the release of radiation, and all forces were sent to extinguish the fire.
The decision to build a nuclear power plant four kilometers from the village of Kopachi in the Chernobyl region of the Ukrainian SSR was approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 29, 1966. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant (originally the Central Ukrainian nuclear power plant) was supposed to provide electricity to the entire Central Energy Region, which included 27 regions Ukrainian SSR and the Rostov region of the RSFSR.
The choice of a site for the construction of the future nuclear power plant was, in particular, due to the fact that the areas receiving electricity had to be located within a radius of 350-450 km from the plant. In addition, specialists from the Teploelektroproekt Institute of the USSR Ministry of Energy and the Kiev Design Bureau Energosetproekt concluded that the conditions at the selected site made it possible to establish uninterrupted water supply to the nuclear power plant and build transport infrastructure. In addition, the lands near the village of Kopachi were recognized as unproductive in terms of economic use, which minimized the economic losses of the region.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in several stages. The construction of the first stage was completed in 1977, the launch of the first and second power units took place in 1978. The second stage was ready by 1983. The construction of the third stage was started in 1981, but was never completed.
Already after construction work began, on February 4, 1970, the city of Pripyat was founded three kilometers from the nuclear power plant, intended for workers and employees of the future station.
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which became one of the most severe man-made disasters in the history of mankind, occurred on April 26, 1986 at 01:23. At that moment, during the testing of the eighth turbogenerator, the fourth power unit exploded. Its structure was completely destroyed. As the examination later revealed, the explosion occurred as a result of an uncontrolled increase in the power of the reactor.
Fire crews were the first to arrive on the scene. Having neither information about the destruction, nor data on radiation measurements, firefighters set about extinguishing the fire at the fourth reactor. Already an hour and a half later, the first victims began to appear with symptoms of severe radiation exposure.
At first, the residents of the surrounding area were not informed about the incident and were not given any recommendations in connection with the possible release of radiation. The first message about the accident appeared in the Soviet media only on April 27, 36 hours after the accident. Within a radius of 10 km around the explosion site, a temporary evacuation of residents was announced, this also applied to the city of Pripyat. Later, the evacuation zone was expanded to a 30-kilometer radius. Then it was about the fact that people would be able to return to their homes in a few days, it was not allowed to take personal belongings with them.
In the first days after the accident, the northern regions of the Kiev and Zhitomir regions, the Gomel region of Belarus and the Bryansk region suffered the most. Later, the wind carried the radiation cloud to more distant territories, as a result of which polluting elements in the form of gases, aerosols and fuel particles settled in, and in other states.
Work on liquidation of the consequences of the accident proceeded at a record pace. Already by November 1986, a concrete shelter, also called a sarcophagus, was erected over the destroyed fourth power unit.
Despite the severe radiation pollution in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, already on October 1, 1986, the first power unit of the station was re-launched, and on November 5 of the same year, the second power unit. December 4, 1987 earned the third power unit of the nuclear power plant. Only on December 15, 2000, the nuclear power plant stopped generating electricity.
ECHOES OF A TRAGEDY
Nearly 30 years after the Chernobyl accident, experts still cannot give comprehensive answers to many questions on which the future of nuclear energy and the well-being of mankind depend.
So far, experts have not come to a unified conclusion about what exactly led to the development of the emergency at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to one of the versions, the station personnel, who were directly involved in the tests of the eighth turbogenerator and violated the work regulations, are guilty of what happened. According to another version, the station employees, by their actions, only exacerbated the problem, which was based on design features reactors that did not comply with nuclear safety rules, and an undeveloped system for monitoring the operation of nuclear power plants.
To this day, there are inaccurate data on how many people died or were injured in the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This is because the link between radiation exposure and health problems is not always obvious, and the consequences of infection can manifest themselves in long term and affect the genetic level.
As a direct result of the explosion of the fourth reactor of the station, three people died. Approximately 600 people from among the employees of the nuclear power plant and firefighters were exposed to radiation, 28 people died shortly after the accident due to the development of acute radiation sickness. It is assumed that only on the territory of modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, more than 8 million people were exposed to radiation.
Since 1986, a zone of alienated radiation-dangerous territory has been established within a radius of 30 km around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is under constant guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, to cross its borders you need to obtain a special permit. In addition, visitors must be accompanied by a guide; movement through the contaminated area is possible only along a pre-approved route. The removal of any items outside the exclusion zone is prohibited by law; at the exit from the protected area, the clothes and personal belongings of visitors are checked using a dosimeter. However, the restrictions do not stop the so-called stalkers - illegal tourists who prefer to explore the exclusion zone on their own.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant still poses a danger. This is connected, among other things, with the beginning of the destruction of the old sarcophagus at the site of the fourth power unit, which can lead to a radiation leak. In February 2013, the collapse of the roof and ceilings of the sarcophagus was registered. A new protective structure is currently being erected over the first sarcophagus. It is planned to be completed in 2015-2016.
The issues of curbing the spread of radiation are currently being handled by the State Special Enterprise "Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant", which was founded on April 25, 2001. Its main tasks are the disposal of radioactive waste, monitoring the radiation background in the nuclear power plant area and building a new, more reliable sarcophagus over the fourth power unit. The organization is also taking measures to ensure that radiation particles do not get into water bodies, including the Kiev reservoir.
Several nature reserves are located in the exclusion zone, among them is the Polessky State Radiation and Ecological Reserve, located within the most affected areas of the Gomel region of Belarus. It was created in 1988, primarily to study the impact of radiation contamination on the environment, as well as on the development of flora and fauna. However, this reserve is valuable not only as a platform for research: the wildlife world here is practically isolated from the external environment, which gives animals, including rare species, a chance to survive, and biologists to study them in natural conditions.
ATTRACTION
Chernobyl:
■ St. Elijah's Church (first mentioned in the 16th century).
■ Castle of the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (mid-XV century)
Pripyat:
■ Main square.
■ Ferris wheel in the city park.
Natural:
■ Polessky State Radiation and Ecological Reserve.
■ national park"Pripyatsky".
■ Red Forest (near Chernobyl).
■ Tree-cross (Chernobyl).
■ The name of the city of Chernobyl comes from Chernobyl - a type of wormwood. In the Revelations of John the Theologian, the last book of the New Testament, which is also called the Apocalypse, there are the following lines: “The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the sources of water. The name of this star is "wormwood"; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter” (Rev. 8; 10-11). After the tragedy in Chernobyl, various interpretations of these words about the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment began to spread. But religious scholars have clarified: in the Bible, “wormwood” means a comet, which in ancient times was considered a harbinger of trouble.
■ Despite the evacuation and the commencement of work to eliminate the consequences of the accident, Soviet authorities they were still trying to minimize panic among the population, so the traditional May Day demonstrations were not cancelled. As a result, people who were unaware of the true extent of the disaster received an additional dose of radiation.
■ The first mention of Chernobyl in Russian chronicles dates back to 1193.
■ The so-called Red Forest, located in close proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, got its nickname because after the explosion of the fourth power unit, it took on a huge dose of radiation exposure - about 8,000-10,000 rads. As a result, all the trees died and turned brown. The forest was later destroyed and is now being restored naturally.
■ In 2013, Chernobyl was included in the list of the most polluted cities according to the American non-profit research organization - the Blacksmith Institute.
■ The self-settlers who returned permanently to the exclusion zone are mostly elderly people who preferred their own houses to those provided by the state.
Most of them are engaged in housekeeping and gathering.
■ Currently, the Pripyat River is the main source of radionuclide leakage outside the exclusion zone.
■ Pripyat was the ninth atomograd, as it was customary to call the villages of power engineers at nuclear power plants in the USSR.
Some time ago I returned from a four-day trip to the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It just so happened that I didn’t want to pay a lot of money for the opportunity to get lost on a bus with a boring guide and tourists who are taken along the usual route, but to reach Pripyat on my own.
The exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a territory prohibited for free access, subjected to intense contamination with long-lived radionuclides as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The Chernobyl zone includes the north of the Ivankovsky district of the Kiev region, where the power plant itself is located, the cities of Chernobyl and Pripyat, the north of the Polessky district of the Kiev region (including the village of Polesskoye and the village of Vilcha), as well as part of the Zhytomyr region up to the border with Belarus.
The border settlement, relatively convenient for illegal entry into the ChEZ, is the village of Gubin, not far from Dityatok. The perimeter is a control-track strip about 15 meters wide with one row of barbed wire. Thus, it is not difficult for an outsider to enter the Zone. (in fact, the wire is not to keep people out, but to prevent anything from escaping from there!).
Deepening into the forest, I walked quite cheerfully over a thick carpet of needles and moss. It will become clear later that best strategy- go along the clearings, but for now I had to break through. At the same time, the compass was a little muddy and the trajectory was not the most direct. From time to time we met freak trees. The average background was 30–40 mcr/h. The closer we got to the center of the zone, the more such crippled trees appeared. Not sure if there is any direct connection here.
As in any forest, a wild number of mosquitoes and midges were waiting for us in the zone. In addition, we met a large number of wild animals and their footprints (paw prints or heaps of litter, for example). The absence of people allowed the animals to breed well, so one of the main dangers that await an illegal tourist is a meeting with wild animals.
Most of the forests are artificial, planted in even rows, separated by clearings. The clearings are fresh in places, in places they are littered with debris and branches. The places are amazingly beautiful.
The first settlement is Yampol. 25 years since the Chernobyl accident have done their job - now this place is inhabited by other owners. Houses, sidewalks, lampposts, entire streets - everything is in the power of plants. Methodically and slowly, nature has turned the achievements of civilization to smithereens. According to some information, a self-settlement settled in the village long ago - an old man with dogs. However, walking along the outskirts of the village, we did not meet any signs of life, with the exception of several old campsites of "stalkers", and we did not really want to get acquainted with a feral person. You can still live in many houses...
Inside many houses there is a real stove, in some places even the lining and a little interior have been preserved. In the forest nearby we stopped for the first night, pitching a tent in the thicket of the forest. Dosimeter readings - with small deviations from the norm. Therefore, you can afford to take a break and take pictures in the village - and go. Only the heavy traffic of cars on the road did not allow to relax.
The first major obstacle is the bridge over the river Uzh. Only 100 meters of straight road with excellent visibility, extremely heavy traffic and zero opportunity to jump into the bushes. After a short respite, the bridge was crossed.
By the way, there are actually two bridges, they are just parallel. One is older, with the remains of searchlights on the sides, the second is newer. And the water in the Uzh river is amazingly clean. The bottom is soft pleasant sand. The radiation background is only 51 mcr / h, and you just want to swim. Wonderful beauty place.
Crossing the bridge, the group approached the village of Cherevach. Next to it is a fire tower, which at first I wanted to climb to conduct reconnaissance on the ground, but suddenly it turned out to be inhabited and everyone had to hide behind an abandoned village house entwined with vines. Grapes fonil only 37 mcr / h, so I sharpened a sprig of ripe fruits. Chernobyl grapes - yum-yum!
After passing Cherevach, we went to the village of Zapolye, where we stopped for lunch. The stew, warmed up on the burner, was pleasantly brightened up by local bulk apples with a relatively low background.
Immediately after the village is a local cemetery. Many crosses look very fresh, although they have not been restored since the Chernobyl accident.
On the way from the cemetery, on the side of the road, a torn off head of a doll hangs on a tree branch. Who and why did this is not clear, but it looks very creepy.
Far away in the field is a herd of Przewalski's horses. In the early 1990s, as an experiment, several horses were released into the Ukrainian exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where they began to actively breed. Now there are about a hundred of them, three herds. They are absolutely free, they can safely be called truly wild horses. No genetic abnormalities or other mutations were recorded. They say that earlier they were not at all afraid of people, but this was prevented by poachers who fell in love with shooting gullible horses.
Looking ahead, I’ll say that I saw everything in the Zone: two herds of horses, a fox, wolf and bear tracks and droppings, squirrels, snakes (two pieces), a herd of wild boars and a hare. In addition, in the forest, felts of an elk, felts of a deer, as well as a couple of bloodsuckers, burst from us, but they were sucked into the anomaly.
Toward evening we went to the concrete road, which led to the main goal of our trip. Here it is, looming on the horizon. Here, not far from the road, we camped for the second night, pitched a tent, had supper and went to bed.
In the morning it immediately became clear that we had not made a mistake with the choice of the place. A yellow shield with peeling paint warned that something mega-interesting was ahead.
And so it happened. The main goal of our trip is the Duga over-the-horizon radar.
25 years ago, it was a top secret object - the pearl of space intelligence and the dream of the military, which made it possible to monitor the movement of all types of above-ground targets not only over Europe, but also provided the opportunity to “see” the missile launches of a potential enemy on the North American continent. With the help of the most powerful and ultra-modern (at that time) radars, the military could, in the truest sense of the word, look beyond the horizon. Obviously, thanks to such abilities, this complex got its name - over-the-horizon radar stations (ZGRLS) or "Duga-1" (Chernobyl-2 long-distance radio center). The unique abilities of the radar were hidden in the innovative ideas of the designers, which were embodied in gigantic masts and receiving antennas. It is difficult to talk about the exact geometric dimensions of the ZGRLS. Data from publicly available sources is contradictory and probably inaccurate.
The cost of capital investments was seven billion Soviet rubles. For comparison, this is twice as expensive as the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is obvious that the construction of the ZGRLS near the nuclear power plant was explained by the high energy consumption of the facility. According to available information, ZGRLS consumed about 10 megawatts.
A technical building stretches along the line of antennas, where the receiving equipment was once located. About 300 meters long.
We climb out the window and get even closer to the antennas!
They are huge and just amazing. Absolutely wild in terms of energy, the place stands under the scorching heat in complete silence. Once For the characteristic sound on the air, published during operation (knocking), the station was called Russian Woodpecker.
It sounds like this:
The radar operated in the frequency range of 5–28 MHz. The antennas are built on the principle of a phased antenna array. Since one antenna could not cover such a wide frequency band, the entire range was divided into two subbands and two antenna arrays were also installed. Thus, the height of the masts of a low-frequency antenna is from 135 to 150 meters, and the length is from 300 to 500 meters. The high-frequency antenna is somewhat more modest. About 250 meters long and up to 100 meters high. With such amazing dimensions, the object is visible from almost anywhere in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
ZGRLS in the city of Chernobyl-2 was intended only for signal reception. The transmitting center was located near the city of Lyubech, Chernihiv region, which is 60 km from Chernobyl-2. The transmitting antennas were also built on the principle of a phased antenna array and were smaller and lower, its height was 85 meters. At the moment, this radar has been destroyed. The picture shows a diagonal view of the receiving antenna.
Having seen enough of the radar, we crawl out beyond the perimeter of Chernobyl-2 and go through clearings to Pripyat. A few hours later we reach the top of the hill, from which a wonderful and exciting view opens up.
Here, a planted pine forest periodically intersects with such wastelands. Background - 250–300 microns/h.
Crossing the field, we go deep into the forest. The legs are already buried in moss, sagging by 10 centimeters under the weight of the body. The moss here is also radioactive and signals well about "spots" with an increased background. In general, the background in the forest is 2–2.5 times higher than in wastelands.
Both in the forest and in the fields there are remains of canals for melioration. A narrow strip of water 4 meters wide is in fact a difficult obstacle to overcome. There is no desire to wade through the muddy phony water. For about an hour we searched for a suitable crossing and finally found a successfully fallen tree.
After the usual forest, we enter Ryzhiy, or rather, to the place where he once was. Red Forest - about 10 km² of trees adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which took on the largest share of the release of radioactive dust during the reactor explosion in 1986. A high dose of absorbed radiation led to the death of trees (mainly pines) and their coloration in a brown-red color. In addition, the glow of dead trees was observed at night (this was caused by the interaction of tree enzymes with radioactive particles), also caused by radioactive decay. During the decontamination of the territory, the forest was demolished by bulldozers and buried.
Now, in place of the Red Forest, there is a wasteland with sand, planted with young spruces and a very strange, fenced area with a booth and a radio mast. At first, the thought arose that these were the buried remains of the red forest, but they are located 400 meters to the west. Here the background really jumps, rising up to 2200 mcr/h right at the fence. This is 110 times higher than the norm.
Perhaps there is something else here. It is embarrassing that the signs, the fence and the booth are completely fresh.
We pass rather this bad place and again we go deeper into the forest. We are already close to Pripyat - we are met by such a worker with a poster.
Along the way, houses and dilapidated hangars begin to appear.
In some places, mounds with burials and warning signs stuck into them protrude as tubercles.
Passing the Bridge of Death. One of the legends of the Zone is that the level of radiation on this bridge on April 26, 1986 reached 500-600 roentgens per hour, i.e. one hour spent on this bridge could cost a life. But then people did not know anything, many, including children, went to the bridge to see what was happening at the station. Police posts were posted on both sides of the bridge. The radioactive cloud passed over the southern part of the bridge. None of the policemen who were on duty that day survived.
Overpass to the station "Yanov". Before the Chernobyl accident, the station belonged to the South-Western Railway. Passenger and cargo work was carried out at the station, access roads of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, ORS warehouses, oil depots and other enterprises of the city of Pripyat adjoined. Currently, one of the tracks passing through the station has been reconstructed and is used to provide construction works on the construction of the Shelter-2 facility - a new sarcophagus for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
We enter Pripyat. Currently, the city has a lot of radioactive dust that fell out of the destroyed power unit and consists of relatively long-lived radioactive elements. This dust is collected in ditches, depressions. Dust firmly ingrained into the ground, trees, houses. The city is overgrown with Chernobyl, which grew in the vicinity before the accident.
Announcement of the evacuation from Pripyat.
We go up to the roof of the nine-story building closest to the station to look around. From here you have a splendid view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Chernobyl sunset and the profile of the Jupiter plant against its background.
From the roof, we notice a tall sixteen-story building in the city center and decide to relocate to it. There is some kind of movement along the central streets, a bus rides, so you have to make your way through yards and lanes. Everything is very overgrown. In fact, little is left of the city and Pripyat is houses in the forest.
Here is our sixteen-story building. Here we will spend the night.
The front entrance is surrounded by greenery, but it is still not difficult to find. Everywhere there is a lot of garbage, as marauders and clerks did a good job after the accident - the apartments were looted, the metal was cut down.
We rise to the roof of the building for the night. It is safe here, the Soviet coat of arms, a gorgeous view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the background is only 40 mkr / h. Having risen, we hear an animal roar and chomping sounds at the foot of the building. Leaning over the edge of the roof, we see a herd wild boars eating some roots and scouring the lawns. They can't get up here, thank God, so we prepare our last supper in the Zone and go to bed.
As a person who has been in the Zone illegally, I categorically do not recommend repeating this. It is indeed a grueling journey with a serious risk of picking up radiation or being eaten by wild animals, and the wild boars I saw are another confirmation of this.
Several days of illegal life in the Exclusion Zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A hundred kilometers on its own through this unique place. With photos and videos.
For obvious reasons, I will not indicate the entry points to the Zone and the names of some settlements.
I do not support illegal extreme tourism in the Chernobyl Zone and do not take people there.
The long-awaited spring has come. All winter I was looking forward to it, because only in warm weather you can go on a multi-day trip with overnight stays in nature.
I have been planning a solo trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and the city of Pripyat since last year. And now the train ticket is bought, and it's time for me to pack my backpack.
I chose a rather exotic travel option: as a citizen of Russia, I cross the Russian-Ukrainian border by train, then I illegally enter the Zone alone, cross it in two days, visiting dead, evacuated villages along the way, enter the city of Pripyat and live there a few days, looking around the City and its environs. For the thrill of sensations, I do not take a mobile phone and a topographic map with me (it is in my head).
As usual, early in the morning I arrive by train to Kiev and go to the bus station. I take the bus Kiev-****** and reach one settlement. I leave in a small village a few kilometers from the border of the Chernobyl Zone. The railway passing through it leads directly to Pripyat. I have to walk this road for two days. After a few kilometers I come to village B. This is the beginning of the Zone. Forbidden, protected area. Zone of unconditional evacuation. Now you have to be very careful, because meeting with any person there is already a danger of being caught.
Suddenly, a man in a camouflage suit comes towards me, carrying a bicycle in his hands, from behind a turn closed by trees. Hiding is already useless (he saw me), so I calmly continue to move forward. I greet him when I meet him. The conversation goes like this:
- Where are you heading?
— I am a tourist, I am coming from Ovruch (“clean” territory), I want to see the village B*******.
So this is the Zone!
“I know, that’s why I want to look from afar.
- And why from afar? Go to the village, take a walk.
- And the police?
— Yes, she is only at the checkpoint a couple of kilometers from here. Sometimes the patrol goes, but if the documents are in order, then everything will be fine.
- And on railway station if they notice me and ask what am I doing here?
- Say that you write project work at the institute.
— Do the trains run here often?
- Yes, every night, there is a lumber camp.
I did not ask this person what he works in the Exclusion Zone. I say goodbye to him and move on. Now you have to go unnoticed through the existing station B., where people work. I turn off the railway and walk along the asphalt not far from the station. Near it I notice two people. Hiding behind one of the buildings, I wait 15 minutes, looking out - no one.
I quickly pass the area that is visible from the station, and move on, hiding in the thickets of nature. V. is the first settled village on my way. It is very overgrown, most of the houses burned down, only ruins with brick chimneys left of them, looking lonely at the sky, as if waiting for their former owners. This is a typical landscape of the Zone, which is difficult to get used to. Somewhere in this village, life is still glimmering - several local old people live there - the indigenous inhabitants of V., who did not want to move from this infected place to a clean territory - to the village of the same name, specially built for migrants in the Kharkov region. For six years after the accident, they lived on radioactive soil, until Polesie was declared a dangerous zone, and local residents were offered to move. And in the resettled V., as well as in other few inhabited settlements of the Zone, there are fewer and fewer local residents every year ...
Gamma background in Vilcha is about 40 μR/h.
I leave the village and make a small halt. It's past noon and there's a long distance to go. Now two days to go through the deserted territory to the heart of the Chernobyl Zone - to the city of Pripyat. I take a backpack and head along the railroad. It is difficult to walk along it: a person's step is noticeably greater than the distance between the sleepers. If you step on each, the steps become short, and this is very exhausting. And with a heavy backpack, taking a step through the sleeper is also difficult.
This railway line is hardly used. This is evidenced by rusty rails and mighty shrubs growing between the sleepers and on the embankment. In some places, even low trees are found between the sleepers. fallen down forest tree leaned over the rails, blocking the path for a possible train:
Nature is reclaiming its territories once occupied by man...
After a few kilometers I come to the station P. From afar, it is not immediately possible to notice a platform consisting of concrete blocks - everything there is also overgrown with shrubs. Since 1986, no one has left it by train.
Watches are not needed in the Zone - the journey is adjusted by looking at the position of the sun. Daylight hours in April are not too long, as in summer, and there is still a long distance to go.
It's getting late, so I pick up my pace. The clean water bought in Kiev is running out. I replenish the water supply from a small reservoir formed in the forest after the snow melted. The water is so clear that I drink it without even filtering it. It is only in the spring that there are many such reservoirs on the way. In the summer they dry up and for 55 kilometers there are only a few dirty swamps and two rivers with water of questionable quality.
The sun goes down to the horizon, it is necessary to choose a place to spend the night. Station K is on the way. This is the only building next to the station with an overgrown platform. A tree growing in the asphalt rests against the roof of the station building. The place for lodging for the night is not very good: this open building, of course, will not save you from wild animals, but there is a roof over your head in case of rain. I leave my rather boring backpack at the station and go to explore the surroundings, while the sun has not yet completely sunk below the horizon. Not far from the railway line, a sandy road with fresh tracks from the wheels of the car crosses. This is alarming, but not as much as the numerous traces of animals on the road and next to the place of lodging for the night.
It gets even darker.
I return to the station, unpack my sleeping bag, put on warm clothes. After a light supper by the light of a lantern (it got very dark). There is a deserted radioactive forest around me for tens of kilometers. This place is officially called "Polessky Radiation-Ecological Reserve".
The level of gamma background is 30-40 microR/h.
After a couple of hours, the birds stop singing, and complete silence sets in, occasionally broken by trees swaying in the wind ...
I fall asleep in a sleeping bag light sleep.
At dawn, I reluctantly get out of my sleeping bag and pack my backpack.
The rising sun, with its warm rays, illuminates the railway and station K, which recently lay in complete night darkness. Morning freshness invigorates better than strong coffee. I continue my journey. There are 30 kilometers to Pripyat, which must be covered before sunset. This figure, which easily fits in the minds of a city dweller, seems too high at the moment: there are no cars here - no one will give you a lift, no shops - nowhere to buy water, no electricity and mobile communications. This is a desert. Green, beautiful, with singing birds, with forest puddles, but a desert.
After a couple of kilometers, the Ilya River flows under the railway bridge.
The second bridge over the river is for cars. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, it was necessary to cross the river to eliminate the consequences. The military brought this folding metal bridge, which they never took away.
In the river I replenish the supply of water and move on. Forest mites cling to clothes, they have to be thrown off every 10-15 minutes.
The radiation background gradually rises to 60-80 microR/h.
Until this time, I walked in the 30 km Exclusion Zone. After the open gate with barbed wire, which once closed the railway, the 10-kilometer Zone begins (it is also called the "ten").
In general, there are three Chernobyl Zones: 30 km, 10 km and Pripyat with the Chernobyl industrial site. There is an anecdote on this topic: “In the 30-kilometer zone, it is customary to address each other with the prefix “fon”, in the 10-kilometer zone - “Your Grace”, and near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - “Your Excellency”.
The single-lane railway line branches into three tracks - the next station is ahead - Tolstoy Les. To the left is a large brick building of the station with a rusty sign "THAT FOREST South-Western Order of Lenin Railway".
Making my way through the thickets, I approach the station door. The entrance was blocked by a tree growing on the steps. With difficulty I squeeze through its branches and go inside the station. To the right is the ticket office window, where tickets were sold until 1986, next to it is a rusty metal boiler for heating the room. It still bears inscriptions made in Soviet times before the Chernobyl accident.
This station building, compared to others, is very well preserved: almost all the glass in the windows is intact, there are doors, a light bulb hangs on the ceiling, only there has been no electricity for many years.
In other rooms, Soviet posters and mountains of accounting documents of this station lie on the floor. In the right wing of the building there used to be a shop for passengers waiting for their train. There must have been all sorts of goodies on sale at that time. Now there are dusty empty storefronts and broken scales:
Near the station there is a small station village. It is located in a very picturesque forest of ancient oaks. There are really beautiful places there. This is a nature reserve, as indicated by the sign:
Other buildings of this village are in a dilapidated state. Nearby is an incomprehensible underground structure:
Inside are even more incomprehensible containers with the inscription "Infected"
I measure the radiation background nearby, but it turns out to be no higher than in the vicinity.
The time is approaching noon. We must go further. Behind the station, the radiation background increases noticeably. On the radiometer, the readings already easily reach 100 at first, after 200 and 300 μR/h. This is not surprising: the western radioactive trace passed here after the accident at the nuclear power plant.
After 7 kilometers, the large village of Tolstoy Les adjoins the railway line.
This town has a great history. The first mention in historical documents dates back to 1447. Before the revolution of 1917, more than 1000 people lived in the village. In the 1970s - about 800. Before the Chernobyl disaster, a secondary school and a unique Holy Resurrection Church, consecrated in 1860, worked in the village. It was built of wood without a single nail. In 1996, there were severe fires in these places. Not only this church, but also the local cemetery burned down in them.
The gamma background in Tolstoy Les exceeds 1000 μR/h in many places. Residents were resettled in 1986 in the Makarovsky district of the Kiev region.
Not far from Tolstoy Les is the village of Novaya Krasnitsa. There is also the Krasnitsa station, which is identical in structure to the Kliviny station.
The good news is that there is a bench with a table. I sit down for a while to rest and get back on the road. It's still 20 kilometers to Pripyat, and it's already more than noon.
Gamma background - more than 300-400 microR / h.
After a couple of kilometers, the radiation noticeably decreases - I went through a period of severe infection. Railway improved: rotten and overgrown wooden sleepers are replaced with concrete, covered with fresh gravel. Trees were cut down on the slope so as not to interfere with the passage of the train.
Near the station called Buryakovka. In general, “buryakovka” is the Ukrainian name for vodka produced according to a special recipe. This is the name of the village, which was formed in the middle of the 19th century. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, all residents were resettled in the Makarovsky district of the Kiev region.
The water is running out again. In the station well, it is undrinkable. So I will replenish water supplies again from open sources.
Near the village of Buryakovka, there is a radioactive burial ground for contaminated equipment and the only civilized storage facility for radioactive waste in the Zone, Vector, built jointly with the German company NUKEM. Not only "Chernobyl" waste accumulated there: in 2003, under conditions of high secrecy, 16 cubic meters of radioactive origin from the former Makarov military training ground were imported to Buryakovka for burial.
To the pipe of the 4th block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - 12 kilometers. The radiation background on the railway line is about 100 microR/h.
Three kilometers from Buryakovka station - Shepelichi station.
This is the last station before Pripyat. I'm going to the finish line. After a few kilometers I will enter the City - the main level of the Chernobyl Zone.
Elk!
In front of me, a moving silhouette appears in the distance. Really people?! I immediately look around, in case of retreat, to hide in the depths of the forest. But there is a wetland nearby, although this should not stop. Through binoculars I watch the silhouette in my path. It turns out to be an elk on the railroad line. Through binoculars it is possible to photograph this beast:
There are many moose in the Zone, I have met them on past trips. Moose do not attack people, they are afraid of them and run away. I keep moving forward.
It is noticeably darkening, and a few more kilometers to go to Pripyat. There are two rusty wagons on the ground near the forest:
Through binoculars, the pillars of the Yanov station are already visible.
Car!
To the right of the road, about 200 meters away, I hear the sound of a passing car! I quickly rush from the embankment into the thickets and observe: the minibus drove towards Pripyat and disappeared behind the trees. These are local workers who go to Buryakovka. In order not to risk it, I cautiously walk further along the path next to the railway.
Pripyat is nearby, but in order to get out into the City, you still need to find a place where you can climb through the barbed wire that surrounds Pripyat. But it got very dark, so I decided to spend the night somewhere on the outskirts, so that early in the morning in the light of the sun I could calmly enter the closed City.
The nearest buildings of the Pripyat enterprise are fenced with barbed wire. I walk along the fence and after a while I find a place where I can go through it: there the barbed wire hangs down to the ground, and I calmly step over it, heading deeper into the enterprise. Nearby are abandoned garages and institutions with a gamma background level of 700-900 microR/h, and this is an unhealthy environment. I'm going to look for another place. 200-300 mcr/h is already better in terms of gamma, especially since there is no time left to look for a suitable place to sleep. I enter a long one-story building, choose a room, and by the light of a lantern I unpack my backpack. Now you can have dinner and relax after a many-kilometer transition.
A strong wind rises at night. In complete darkness, old doors and window frames creak, preventing sleep. The wind blowing into the room rustles the numerous accounting forms scattered on the floor. But fatigue takes its toll, and I gradually fall asleep.
Waking up early in the morning, I pack my backpack and carefully head to the center of Pripyat. The weather is getting worse: the sun has hidden behind the clouds, a cool wind is blowing, but this does not spoil the mood - I reached the City!
Approaching the well-known 16-storey building with the coat of arms of the USSR on the roof (Lazarev St., building 1), I hear the sound of a car. I run to this house and hide. The car passes somewhere nearby and leaves (I did not look out and did not see what kind of car it was). I enter this building and climb onto the roof, from where the whole city and the reactor are clearly visible.
Looking at the deserted closed City, there is a special feeling that cannot be expressed in words. Pripyat does not seem like a "leper" place at all. On the contrary, there is a feeling of comfort and tranquility. Now there is no city fuss, no people rushing to work, “rockets” do not depart from the pier, people do not rest in the parks. Peace and quiet. The city went out young, at the age of 16, when on April 27, 1986, 48 thousand of its inhabitants were evacuated. On that day, people were told that the city was being evacuated temporarily, for three days. None of them knew it was forever.
If you look at the City from a height for the first time, you won’t immediately say that it is dead: the residential quarters look pretty well preserved. But if you look closely, you notice that the power of plant life in Pripyat is so great that thickets of trees approached houses and porches. Trees grow even on balconies, from open hatches, on the roofs of buildings, from asphalt covered with moss and shrubs. The football field of the city stadium has turned into a grove.
But it is only from a height that the buildings seem to be in good condition. In fact, Pripyat is being destroyed. Part of the building of school No. 1 collapsed first. The underground infrastructure was flooded, many buildings were in disrepair. Some of them are dangerous to enter. That is why I am against illegal trips, when inexperienced and ignorant people go there and endanger their health and life. Even more upsetting is the fact that visitors to the City leave behind garbage: in the entrance of this house alone, I saw recently left empty bottles, packs of cigarettes, etc. I don’t leave anything in the Exclusion Zone: I take all my garbage with me and throw it in the trash when I return to Kiev.
The wind is picking up and it's getting very chilly. I descend from the roof into an empty apartment on the 16th floor. I’m already deciding to go to the city, as through the window I see a bus that has arrived along Lenin Avenue from the Pripyat checkpoint. He stopped on Kurchatov Street near the Raduga store (where there is a yellow telephone booth).
Several people got out of it and went to this building. After 15 minutes they came out, carrying with them something like a stand, and brought it to the bus. Then we turned around and drove back to the checkpoint. During this time, another bus passed, also through Lenina Avenue, but headed in the other direction - to Lesia Ukrainka Street.
A few minutes later, a truck drove along the same route.
A police patrol that soon passed by finally led me to the idea that Pripyat was like a passage yard.
But here the City becomes empty for a while. I carefully leave the entrance and walk through the yards to the park.
The opening of the amusement park was planned for May 1, 1986. But in order to prevent panic and distract residents from the situation at the 4th power unit, the Ferris wheel was launched on April 26. One day it was in operation. Just 1 day. The attraction, frozen 23 years ago, will never again wait for its visitors.
There is a radioactive stain in this park. My radiometer shows values that are noticeably higher than the gamma background: 300-400-600 μR / h. There are places with higher levels.
It's starting to rain. I'm heading downtown. Here are the Shopping Center, the Energetik Palace of Culture, the Polesie Hotel, the music school, and the Prometheus Cinema, which have long been familiar to me.
The rain is getting stronger and I hide from it in the music school. The building is in poor condition: a mosaic of colored stones in front of the main entrance collapses to the delight of irresponsible tourists; inside the school, the rotten floor was overgrown with moss, broken furniture everywhere; the ceiling leaks and floods the piano with the keys torn off. I wonder who needed to tear them off? In another room, a wooden box with a sign of radioactivity.
The rain stops, and I head through the thickets of Pripyat along Kurchatov Street to the river pier.
Shall we wait for the bus?
To get to the Pripyat River, you need to find a place in the fence with barbed wire. The pier is located behind the Pripyat cafe.
There was a radioactive stain on the pier. But the contamination with radionuclides there is very uneven. I spent a long time on the pier monitoring the radiation situation in order to find the most “dirty” place, exploring the area centimeter by centimeter.
The background level differs tenfold at a distance of only half a meter. For example, on the penultimate flight of stairs when descending to the pier on the steps, about 4000 microR / h, and on the ground behind the stairs 50 centimeters away, no more than 800 microR / h. A few meters from the stairs - on the asphalt of the pier - from 100 to 400 microR / h.
Catch for dinner, fish, big and small, two-tailed and two-headed =))
A few hundred meters from the asphalt jetty, there is a partially submerged floating jetty.
On the way to it, there is another local radioactive spot.
Behind the floating pier is a rescue station.
A few hundred meters from the exit from Pripyat is the village of Novye Shepelichi. This village is much older than Pripyat, and used to be the regional center of the Kiev region.
Even before the trip, when planning to visit Novye Shepelichi, I found out on the Internet that ASKRO operates in the village ( automatic system control of the radiation situation) - such a booth with equipment that automatically makes measurements of the background radiation and transmits data to Chernobyl. The same system exists in Pripyat near the stadium. The peculiarity of ASKRO is that this system works without the participation of people.
There is also evidence that after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a farm was organized in Novye Shepelichy, where they studied the effect of radiation on bulls and cows. For some reason, this farm was closed.
Glory from the road - the PMK enterprise, on its territory a grocery store and several 4-storey houses. To the right of the road is a bus stop that has been empty for 23 years. In the center of the village there is a shop "Goods for children".
Rural one-story wooden houses are overgrown and dilapidated. I walk to the end of the village and go down to the river. There are rotten boats on the shore, “eaten up” by vegetation in the shade of trees approaching the river.
After a short rest by the river, I return to the village. The silence of the abandoned area is broken by the sound of a car pulling out of the alley behind me. I turn around and realize that it’s useless to hide - they have already seen me on a straight road (by the way, no one sells an invisibility hat?). I calmly continue to walk forward, moving to the left side of the road, already resigned to the fact that my journey is ending. A red Zhiguli car drives past me. The only person in the car - the driver - looked at me and drove on without stopping. Marvelous! I am in the 10-kilometer Zone, alone, with a backpack, without escorts, and not only they don’t stop me, they don’t even ask what I’m doing here! The car disappeared around the corner. The only local residents in the 10-kilometer Zone live there - grandfather Savva and his wife Elena. Here is their house:
Pripyat is surrounded by barbed wire.
To be continued.
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