Our visit to the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear accident site was truly amazing. Although this disaster happened 25 years ago, for the 130,000 people that were displaced from their homes, and the 500,000 people directly involved in the subsequent cleanup, the event is etched firmly in their memories. It is amazing how well the site has now been cleaned up, although there is still a 30km public exclusion zone some farming has begun to occur within this area, as radiation levels have dropped to normal levels. Within this zone there is a 10km exclusion zone where agriculture will never be allowed, but even here radiation levels are generally reasonably low. We were able to safely go within 150m from ground zero as can be seen in the picture below. Even though we spent the whole day within the exclusion zone we would have only received as much radiation as you would get on a 10 hr airline flight.
This monument, is erected in memory of the people that fought to save the world (A bit of poetic licence from from this catastrophe
This is a picture of the villiage the computer game "Striker" was based off
Within the 30km zone there are many small villages that lie deserted, overgrown with trees. As you travel along the road they are obscured by the regrowth of trees. Unless you know where they are you drive straight past them.
A bitumen road, once the main street in the village
Within 5km of the reactor was the city of Pripyat, a modern city of 50,000 built especially to service the nuclear plant. This city along with another 80,000 people were evacuated from the zones following the explosion. They say the convoy of buses was 30km long.
Pripyat was a very modern city by Soviet standards, built for workers to service the nuclear plants, the average age of the population was only 26. The ferris wheel below is a part of an amusement park in the city, it was due to be opened two days after the explosion and so was never used.
No comments:
Post a Comment