Photography
Related: About this forumChernobyl - Pripyat 2012
1. Chernobyl 2012I guess it's not too surprising that I would one day end up here, since I've been living the last six years less than 100 miles from here, in Kiev. I guess I'm a bit surprised it took me that long.
2. Abandoned Home, Abandoned Village
Within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, but just barely. Maybe 18 miles from the plant?
3. The Ghost Behind Door #2
This photo was taken in an unknown town, the same town as above, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, but well south of Chernobyl. This town, while not all that big from what I could see, did have this rather important looking building smack in the middle of it. It appeared to be some type of Performing Arts Center, but a town this small would not normally have something like this. Maybe it was a combination school / community center / performing arts center? I can't tell you.
4. Towns that Died
Each sign lists a town that no longer exists because of the Chernobyl accident. Whether this is all towns, or only towns in Ukraine, I couldn't tell you.
5. Chernobyl Reactor #4
Chernobyl Reactor #4, seen to the left of the red and white tower, famously blew it's top in 1986. This photo, taken on April 27, 2012, occurred one day after a new milestone for this disaster. Because, one day earlier, the construction phase of the "New Safe Confinement" unit began. (The planning and creating new project infrastructure phase had been ongoing for five years now). The "New Safe Confinement" is being built a few hundred meters (yards, for the metrically challenged) from Chernobyl #4's current sarcophagus, and when it is completed in 2015, will be moved into place on specially laid tracks and will cover the existing sarcophagus. Once in place, the existing sarcophagus will be dismantled.
From Wikipedia
The NSC design is an arch-shaped steel structure with an internal height of 92.5 metres (303.5 ft), and a 12-metre (39.4 ft) distance between the centers of the upper and lower arch chords. The internal span of the arch is to be 245 metres (803.8 ft), and the external span is to be 270 metres (885.8 ft). The dimensions of the arch were determined based upon the need to operate equipment inside the new shelter and decommission the existing shelter. The overall length of the structure is 150 metres (492.1 ft), consisting of 13 arches assembled 12.5 metres (41 ft) apart to form 12 bays. The ends of the structure will be sealed by vertical walls assembled around, but not supported by, the existing structures of the reactor building.
Hmmm, the link function is not functioning correctly, is it? Here's a copy and paste one.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Safe_Confinement
6. Pripyat - Established 1970
This sign marks the entrance to the town of Pripyat, established 1970. It probably ranks as one of the more recognizable spots in the Chernobyl area. Now, it's just a halfway point between the power plant and the center of Pripyat.
The town of Pripyat was designed as a Soviet "model city." Designed from the ground up, it had all the modern conveniences anybody could want. Schools, a hospital, a cultural center, a movie theater, restaurants, a stadium, playgrounds, and an Olympic sized indoor pool. Yet this model city, still under construction and still growing in the mid 1980's, would meet an abrupt end.
Thirty-six hours after the Chernobyl explosion, the city faced a mandatory evacuation. Residents were to gather their papers and essential belongings and board a bus for mandatory evacuation. By necessity, to get people out as quickly as possible, it was necessary to severely restrict the amount of personal belonging they could take with them. They were told they would likely return in three days. Telling people this would be permanent would encourage people to smuggle out things better left behind. This three day evacuation will in the near future be thirty years.
Furniture, clothing, family pets, heirlooms. Left behind, abandoned, and sacrificed on the alter of a nuclear promise gone awry.
7. View from the "Bridge of Death"
This is the view of the Chernobyl reactor as seen from the so-called Bridge of Death. To the immediate right of the reactor you might see 2 white cranes. These cranes are part of the new safe containment project. The goal of this project is to create a new containment unit, and to replace the existing sarcophagus.
On the left side of the photo you will see 2 sets of railroad tracks. Notice also how the tracks on the left have obviously not been maintained in a very long time. The tracks on the right look positively new in comparison. This is the train line that brings workers to the power plant and to the construction site of the "new safe containment" project each day.
Although the last of Chernobyl's four reactors was shut off December 2000, hundreds of people still work here. Why? Well, you wouldn't want nuclear material and items useful to develop a nuclear program to remain unguarded, would you? While I have no idea what occurs during a decommissioning process, the decommissioning process of the three undamaged reactors is expected to take until 2020. And the original sarcophagus on reactor #4 was "designed" to last only thirty years, although that was more of a "hope" than a "design." Managers couldn't exactly go to "Sarcophagus Я Us" to purchase a plan for one. And a normal planning process would have taken months, months that they did not have.
Now, after all of this, you just might be wondering how this bridge got the name Bridge of Death. In the early morning of April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl number 4 reactor blew a 1000 ton cover off the containment unit. Obviously, an explosion of that magnitude would be heard a good distance away. But no news was forthcoming from the Soviet authorities or the power plant managers. So, some people wandered out the following morning to try to figure out what happened. This bridge was the 1st place they could get a clear view of the reactors. Unfortunately, the night before, a good deal of radiation had fallen in this area. It is said that everyone who viewed the explosion from this vantage point died. Whether that is true, I cannot say. And whether death happened in one month, one year, 5 years or 15 years, I have not seen reports clarifying that in any way.
It is not surprising that people who viewed the reactors from this vantage point received a high dosage of radiation. From the point where I took this photo, off to the right and behind me, is an area called the Red Forest. It is said that the Red Forest received such a high dose of radiation that the trees glowed red. Or maybe it was only the needles on the pine trees that glowed red. This is one of the more frustrating legacies of Chernobyl. If you read 3 different reports on any aspect of Chernobyl, you may likely get 3 very different stories of what actually happened that day. The Red Forest, to this day, remains one of the most radioactive areas within the Chernobyl "exclusion zone" or "zone of alienation."
8. Phone Booths, Pripyat
Not much more to say about that, is there?
9. Bumper Cars, Pripyat
10. Remote Control Bulldozer, likely a replica.
This was seen in the town of Chernobyl, 12 km / 8 miles south of the power plant of the same name. Vehicles similar to this were used in the cleanup of the Chernobyl power plant in 1986. However, high levels of radiation affected the ability to use these machines effectively, since the signals and electronics were affected.
11. Church of St. Illya, Chernobyl
It is said that this church did not miss a regularly scheduled service, even at the height of the Chernobyl accident.
The are more photos to come, at a later date...
Solly Mack
(90,803 posts)Thank you for the photos!
The church is beautiful. Love the train tracks.
Sad...the abandoned bumper cars.
Celebration
(15,812 posts)Awesome photos!! You really need more people seeing this. Can you put them on a blog somewhere? Great content as well. Wow, very powerful.
MattSh
(3,714 posts)My personal website, roadslesstraveledphotography.com
and my Flickr, flickr.com/photos/mattsh/
Mira
(22,382 posts)when I am fresh I will study this very carefully and with great interest.
Celebration
(15,812 posts)I crossposted to the energy/environment group.
MattSh
(3,714 posts)enough
(13,273 posts)What have you been doing in Kiev?
MattSh
(3,714 posts)She was born and raised in the USSR. Some of the things you've heard were true, others not so. Not surprising, really.
Started off doing some tech work, but I'm doing less of that so I can focus on photography for a while. Learning a lot, but not earning a lot, but luckily I can afford to chase the dream for a while.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)amazing photos & great text, so informative & moving.
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)I haven't seen pictures of the area taken within the last few years. I'll keep my eyes open for more, I'm really interested in seeing how Pripyat has changed over the last 4 or 5 years.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)kick!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)OUR nation. Our government is waiting for a disaster before they react.
Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)for sharing your trip to Chernobyl, and for telling the story of the nuclear accident so well. You bring a powerful message that needs to be told over and over--until life becomes more important than this industry.
tblue37
(65,556 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)You are such a good writer, and the pics are fantastic, but all the time the back of my mind was wondering how dangerous it is to be there.
MattSh
(3,714 posts)It's way too complex to go into depth here. Keep in mind that I am no expert on these types of things.
Some general measurements, in microroentgens (µR). They are not constant day to day. Except for the first three, all measurements are mostly normally occurring background radiation.
Chernobyl (NPP) 68 µR per hour.
Pripyat 66 µR per hour.
Chernobyl (town) 19 µR per hour.
Checkpoint Dityatki 8 µR per hour.
Kiev 10 µR per hour.
Moscow 11 µR
Vienna 10 µR
Detroit USA 8 µR
Source: Pripyat.com
Round trip NY - LA 80 µR
So, compared to Kiev, you get about a week's radiation in one day at Chernobyl NPP and Pripyat. But even there, it varies greatly from one point to another. The big difference is not the level of radiation, it's the source of radiation. Most of the elevated readings in the Chernobyl area come from fallout, which works it's way into the food chain. Normal background radiation, in general, does not. (One common exception is radon, which can be inhaled). So, exiting the 10km zone and the 30 km zone, you pass through radiation detectors. Fail a radiation check, and you go through decontamination procedures. No one on our tour failed any of the checks, nor did our vehicle. Also, since I stayed overnight in the zone, before eating you went through radiation checks. All food and drinks are bought in from outside the zone.
I've heard that 3000 people work in the zone on an ordinary day, so they've got procedures in place. And you get escorted throughout the tour by a zone employee, who's job it is to make sure you know the rules and that you follow them. Follow the rules and you will generally come out fine.
ProfessionalLeftist
(4,982 posts)They are stunning, sad, and frightening.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)and the gods were with you... (light)
great photos.
make the place look almost safe.
ThomThom
(1,486 posts)ChazInAz
(2,580 posts)200 years ago, my family owned a large section of that land. We exported furs, amber, mastodon ivory from Siberia and huge quantities of honey and beeswax. Local kulaki were paid to keep hives to produce the latter...we'd found a way to be industrial farmers in the early 1800's!
Amazing the amount of growth in the past centuries, and the abrupt collapse is saddening.
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)And a well-deserved KICK! Thank you for posting these incredible photos lest we ever forget.