Chernobyl town, Ukraine
The town of Chernobyl is inside the 30km exclusion zone but quite a long way from the nuclear plant (18km). It is deserted but for the fact that it is the dormitory town for the several hundred people who still work at the plant - 'decommissioning' it.
There is a shop which seems to sell one of everything, even toys like dolls.
The town is a two hour mini-bus ride from Kiev. I was part of a small group with a guide and driver. It was all organised in advance and we had a permit that had our names and passport numbers and so on. At each exclusion zone checkpoint (30km, 10km and 5km) the guards had to match the permit names with our passports.
The first checkpoint we came to, at 30km obviously had lots of DANGER and RADIATION signs. Armed military police. Weird and unusual but not as scary or as 'high security' as I'd expected. Yes, there were barriers and so on, but I was expecting something much more 'impassable'.
The transition from outside the zone to inside was quite marked. Inside was abandoned Soviet-era and outside was 'modern Ukraine'. Inside the zone, nothing was maintained obviously and all was just left to decay and was largely as it was when the accident happened 22 years ago.
There were signs at the side of the road for picnic spots, lots and lots of electricity pylons. Lots of rivers and forests. Crumbling bus shelters. Derelict farms and light-industrial units.
Coming into the town was a beautiful concrete sign for the town of Chernobyl glorifying the 'reason' for the town - nuclear power. Didn't manage to get a pic.
Pipes across the road. Cafe / bar in the town centre opposite a statue of Lenin. No people about.
Signs warning you that there are children playing.
There is a shop which seems to sell one of everything, even toys like dolls.
The town is a two hour mini-bus ride from Kiev. I was part of a small group with a guide and driver. It was all organised in advance and we had a permit that had our names and passport numbers and so on. At each exclusion zone checkpoint (30km, 10km and 5km) the guards had to match the permit names with our passports.
The first checkpoint we came to, at 30km obviously had lots of DANGER and RADIATION signs. Armed military police. Weird and unusual but not as scary or as 'high security' as I'd expected. Yes, there were barriers and so on, but I was expecting something much more 'impassable'.
The transition from outside the zone to inside was quite marked. Inside was abandoned Soviet-era and outside was 'modern Ukraine'. Inside the zone, nothing was maintained obviously and all was just left to decay and was largely as it was when the accident happened 22 years ago.
There were signs at the side of the road for picnic spots, lots and lots of electricity pylons. Lots of rivers and forests. Crumbling bus shelters. Derelict farms and light-industrial units.
Coming into the town was a beautiful concrete sign for the town of Chernobyl glorifying the 'reason' for the town - nuclear power. Didn't manage to get a pic.
Pipes across the road. Cafe / bar in the town centre opposite a statue of Lenin. No people about.
Signs warning you that there are children playing.
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