# A summer walk in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Quite disturbing......and a little sinister. The high levels of radiation at ground level is troubling. do you know anything about the incidences of illness or deformity on local populations, and what about wildlife?


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Interesting, very nice photos


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

openlyJane said:


> Quite disturbing......and a little sinister. The high levels of radiation at ground level is troubling. Do you know anything about the incidents of illness, or birth deformity, in local populations; and what about wildlife?


Well, there is a higher incidence of cancers and malformations in all the region around Chernobyl (in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia), but you can't always link these to the accident with certainty.
As for the wildlife, there aren't any mutant animal, but due to the absence of human presence in the zone, it's quite flourishing with numerous deers, wild boars, foxes and even bears.


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55- Portraits of the first responders (workers of the power plant and firefighters) who intervened right after the accident. They all died within weeks. These men are heroes, they prevented an even more serious disaster which would have affected the whole world :










To be continued...


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## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Where they not properly protected? Masks/protective clothing etc?


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## yansa (Jun 16, 2011)

Impressing and disturbing pics!



GM said:


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GM said:


> 55- Portraits of the first responders (workers of the power plant and firefighters) who intervened right after the accident. They all died within weeks. These men are heroes, they prevented an even more serious disaster which would have affected the whole world :


^^ They never shall be forgotten!


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

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59- This used to be a supermarket :









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72- Now that's radioactive !


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## Romashka01 (Mar 4, 2011)

openlyJane said:


> Were they not properly protected? Masks/protective clothing etc?


Only normal fire-fighting uniforms and gas masks, because they were not told how dangerously radioactive the smoke and the debris were, and may not even have known that the accident was anything more than a regular electrical fire.

https://people.com/archive/an-eyewi...ecounts-the-horror-of-chernobyl-vol-28-no-14/


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## shik2005 (Dec 25, 2014)

The Soviet authorities tried to silence the accident. People in the surrounding areas were not warned and strolled under radioactive fallout. My relatives came under radioactive rain in Minsk.


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## Why-Why (Jul 20, 2016)

Fascinating tour, and great shots! They look like stills from a sequel to _Stalker_ that Tarkovsky never got around to making.


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## apinamies (Sep 1, 2010)

Very interesting.


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## Koloman (Jan 3, 2017)

Wow...
Imagining the stories behind these pictures....really leaves me speechless.
My deepest respect for the firefighters and all of those who prevented a bigger disaster.


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

Why-Why said:


> Fascinating tour, and great shots! They look like stills from a sequel to _Stalker_ that Tarkovsky never got around to making.


Yes... weirdly the zone in _Stalker_ looks like the Chernobyl zone, though the movie was made in 1979, seven years before the accident.
Incidentally there is a video game called _S.T.AL.K.E.R._ which takes place in the Chernobyl zone.


73- This used to be a football field. Now it's a forest :









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77- The other side :









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83- Getting inside a tower block :









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87- The elevator machine room :









88- View from the roof (the power plant sarcophagus can be seen in the distance) :









89- A fellow urban explorer on the roof :









90- The sarcophagus :









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To be continued...


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## Koloman (Jan 3, 2017)

Incredible...


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## Eduarqui (Jul 31, 2006)

Very impressive photographic register, with important comments too, thank you for sharing with us.


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

The "Duga" radar near Chernobyl was one of the two of its kind operated by the Soviet Union during the 1970's and 1980's. Back then, it was obviously a secret military place (these radars were used for the missile defense of USSR). This place is huge, and as abandoned as all the other structures in the Chernobyl zone.

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99- Going inside the command centre :









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## RainerMUC (Aug 18, 2018)

Great photos, very impressing!


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

Awesome thread mate - truly a rarely seen spot and great photos! :happy:


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## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

What a terrible episode......unbelievable, and truly awful!


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

Thanks for the comments !

106- Inside the training room of the young officers who were in charge of the Duga radar :









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109- A model of the town built near the Duga radar to accomodate the soldiers who worked on the site :









110- Inside an apartment block :









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114- A playground :









115- A wooden plane for the kids :










To be continued...


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## elliot (Dec 19, 2003)

Astonishing, terrifying and courageous (you).

I'm sure there are many documentaries already but wonder if they captured what you captured. Horrifying and brilliant thread.


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## Why-Why (Jul 20, 2016)

Awesome thread! I guess the Strugatsky brothers in _Roadside Picnic _were in that Zone even before Tarkovsky. Funny how art anticipates life!


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

Thanks for the comments !




elliot said:


> Astonishing, terrifying and courageous (you).
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> I'm sure there are many documentaries already but wonder if they captured what you captured. Horrifying and brilliant thread.


I don't feel that courageous !
It's not that I want to put down my achievements, but, as long as you have a guide, I guess it's pretty safe, radiations-wise. The biggest concern was the crumbling buildings, the risk of a bad fall or to go through a floor is pretty high in some spots.
Also, as I said, visiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become quite trendy since some years, so actually, you can find many photo threads or videos about the Zone on the web. Some are (almost) as good as mine ! 


Inside a school :

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To be continued...


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

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To be continued...


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## Skopje/Скопје (Jan 8, 2013)

Amazing and sad in the same time! :applause:


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

138- A theatre :









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142- A gym :









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145- A cemetery of old electronic devices :










To be continued...


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

A summer camp :

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To be continued...


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## Koloman (Jan 3, 2017)

Amazing.


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

156- Near the reactors numbers 5 and 6, which were never completed :









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161- Radioactive fishes :









162- Radioactive fox :









163- Some monuments in front of the power plant :









164- In front of the reactor number 4 sarcophagus. Levels of radioactivity are not so high (1.34 microsievert/hour as you can read, natural levels of radioactivity in Ukraine are between 0.15 and 0.30 microsievert/hour) :












To be continued...


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

156- Visiting an abandoned cooling tower :









157- The radiations levels on the ground just in front of the cooling tower are very high :









158- They are quite high in the air too :









159- I must say this was the eeriest and creepiest moment of my visit in the zone.
The accelerating sound of the Geiger counters, reverberating against the walls of the cooling tower gave a sense of doom, of a an upcoming disaster (see the end of my video on the first post of this thread) :









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163- When leaving the Zone, you have to pass several radiations checks like this one :











That's all !


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

For some strange reason, my first posts on this thread have disappeared (including the opening one), so here are them again :

Last summer, on my way back from my traditional summer trip in Siberia, I decided to stop in Ukraine. There I visited Kiev and also took a two days tour in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Despite my love for abandoned and other eerie places, I must say that for years I was rather reluctant to visit the Exclusion Zone, not because of any fear of radiations, but because I was afraid that the place had become some sort of tourist trap for people looking for a cheap thrill, and because I prefer the less known spots.
Anyway, since I was in Ukraine, I couldn't pass the opportunity.

On the negative side :
The place is indeed becoming some sort of tourist trap. There is even a souvenir shop at the entry of the zone ! And like in any tourist trap, they are not specially honest (they sell postcards and, for an extra, they propose to post it for you from Chernobyl... I still haven't received mine).
Also, in the most iconic spots (like the Pripyat sign, the ferris wheel or the power plant itself), there were quite a few groups at the same time. Obviously it's not as crowded as Venice or Times Square, but still.

On the positive side :
I didn't expect to see so many things in just two days, and to have such freedom in some spots, like roaming freely despite all the risks (and I am not talking about the radiations here, but about the crumbling buildings). Of course, to be able to see so many things, we never stayed for a very long time in each spot. I wished I could have stayed a little longer sometimes.
Also, despite all the "tourist trap" thing, the place still retain all of its eeriness, especially when the Geiger counter suddenly goes mad (the levels of radioactivity vary greatly from one spot to another).

If you ever want to visit the zone, I can only recommend you to take at least a two days tour. I think most tourists go for a one day tour, they are indeed a lot cheaper, but in just a few hours I guess you only have the time to see the most iconic spots which happen to be the most "crowded" too. In two days, we saw these iconic places, but also a lot of other places, more lonely and less seen in all the documentaries or threads about Pripyat all over the internet.
If I ever come back to Chernobyl, I think I will go for an even longer tour (at least three days, or why not a week ?).

Here is a video I edited from I what I shot during the tour :







The pics :

1- A vehicle that was used by the liquidators to clear contaminated waste :









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5- This used to be a theatre :









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11- In front of the Chernobyl sign :









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13- Trumpet of Apocalypse ?


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

14- The names of all the towns evacuated forever in 1986 :









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16- Pripyat :









17- Chernobyl :









18- Some kind of monument to the other nuclear disasters :









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20- It's probably the only statue of Lenin left in Ukraine !









21- Contaminated shipwrecks :









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23- A monument to the liquidators :









24- Contaminated robots that were used to clear the nuclear wastes :









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28- Local monument to the soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War (WW2) :









29- Here, 1.52 microsievert/hour. The natural radioactivity in Ukraine is between 0.15 and 0.30 microsievert/hour, but 1.52 is still not really dangerous.









30- The radioactivity varies greatly from one spot to another. The highest levels are measured on certain grounds (especially on the moss) :









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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

And here are two short videos that I hadn't posted yet.
The first one was shot in the "Emerald" summer camp. This area was entirely destroyed by a wildfire in last April. 
The second one is inside the cooling tower of reactor 5 and 6, which were never completed.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates; well done


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