Chernobyl
April 26th 1986 changed the world forever, especially for the citizens of the Chernobyl region of Ukraine. When the 4th reactor on the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Station suffered a destructive accident, the name Chernobyl became known all over the world.
Today, the zone is a tourist destination, a museum of what nuclear contamination will do to our world, a museum of Sovjet times, visited by more than 10.000 tourists every year.
The pictures on this page are from July 2017. First, the town of Chernobyl, then the abandoned buildings of Prypiat, the famous fox Simon and other four legged creatures in the zone, the powerplant itself and the unfinished cooling towers for reactor 5 and 6, the DUGA-1 radar and last, the vehicles used by the heroes that cleaned up the zone after the accident.
“Those Who Saved The World”, a monument to the heroes, the first responders, the people that ran into the disaster without protection, without knowing what they would meet. An important location to visit before leaving the exclusion zone.
The Third Trumpet
Refering to the angel blowing the third trumpet in the Book Of Revelation. The blowing of the third trumpet marks the third disaster, a disaster some believe was the Chernobyl disaster.
The Last Lenin
After the Maidan revolution and the war in the east, Ukraine removed all Soviet and Russian symbols. Being the timecapsule it is, Chernobyl still has a Lenin statue, it might be the last one in Ukraine!
Guard dog
Radioactive Simon
The fox Simon is famous on the Chernobyl tours. He lives in, and around, Prypiat and has figured out, that tourists bring food.
Chernobyl Town is full of dogs
Wild dogs are all over in Chernobyl Town. Nobody owns them but they live in peace with the humans inhabiting the town. This one seemed to live around the Third Angel monument and followed us for a while.
Only one way out?
Cloud maker
Standing about 150 meters tall, the DUGA-1 radar receiver is an impressive structure.
More than 150 meters to the top!
Another vehicle left behind in the zone.
Vehicles Of Heros
Many of the vehicles used in the cleanup, after the accident, were too contaminated to clean so they were buried instead. Some, like the two here, were cleaned but couldn't be cleaned enough to take them out of the zone. Radiation level on these trucks measured ~0.4 micro sievert/hour, more than what is legal outside the zone but not enough that they need to be buried.
