Chernobyl nuclear plant - first views
Coming to Chernobyl was not actually part of my plans for this trip. The trip was about sleepers, and couchsurfing, and ... stuff.
I'm here simply because I saw on a travel website, by accident, that there were Chernobyl tours. My membership of this tour was $180. Naively I didn't even know that Chernobyl was in Ukraine. Sorry. The plant is 5km from the Russian border.
To get to this point we had to pass the 10 and 5km exclusion zone military checkpoints. We were all getting excited. Yes, this was all sorts of disasters rolled into one, and the world, all of it, was affected, but I was excited to be here. I never expected to be here. To get here. But here I am.
Our guide was an amazing bloke. He was local, friendly, personable and knowledgeable. These are the first views we had of the nuclear plants. It was industrially beautiful and we were all moved.
The plant in the first picture is THE reactor (number four) that exploded in 1986. The iconic red / white banded tower faded hence isn't coloured anymore...
To quote Wikipedia: "The"Chernobyl disaster", reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, or simply "Chernobyl", was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history and the only instance so far of level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, resulting in a severe nuclear meltdown. On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:40 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area.".
I'm here simply because I saw on a travel website, by accident, that there were Chernobyl tours. My membership of this tour was $180. Naively I didn't even know that Chernobyl was in Ukraine. Sorry. The plant is 5km from the Russian border.
To get to this point we had to pass the 10 and 5km exclusion zone military checkpoints. We were all getting excited. Yes, this was all sorts of disasters rolled into one, and the world, all of it, was affected, but I was excited to be here. I never expected to be here. To get here. But here I am.
Our guide was an amazing bloke. He was local, friendly, personable and knowledgeable. These are the first views we had of the nuclear plants. It was industrially beautiful and we were all moved.
The plant in the first picture is THE reactor (number four) that exploded in 1986. The iconic red / white banded tower faded hence isn't coloured anymore...
To quote Wikipedia: "The"Chernobyl disaster", reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, or simply "Chernobyl", was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history and the only instance so far of level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, resulting in a severe nuclear meltdown. On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:40 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area.".
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I'm enjoying the tour of Russia and the Ukraine. I find the concept of couchsurfing both exciting and a little scary.
Out of curiosity, are there any youth hostels available for a trip like this? I answered my own question: Yes there are. I traveled via hostels in my relative youth (20's) and really enjoyed the experience and camaraderie.
Keep it comin'!