Page Contents (Clickable Links)
1.
About Chernobyl
2.
Duga
3.
Kopachi
Kindergarten
4.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactors
5.
Pripyat
6.
Conclusion
7.
References/Further Reading
The city of Chernobyl (or Chornobyl) was the administrative centre of Chernobyl Raion (district), in the Kiev Oblast (province), Ukraine. Relatively close to the border with Belarus, today, it lies within the restricted Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (see below). A few miles away from Chernobyl in Pripyat, the Soviets developed a nuclear power site (Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant) that was intended to have six reactors when completed. It is here, at one of the reactors (Reactor 4), the famous Chernobyl disaster took place; a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986. At the time of the accident, Ukraine was part of the USSR (independence was declared in 1991).
This webpage documents a visit into the Exclusion Zone which took place in October, 2015. Where further details may be required by the more dedicated reader on the subject matter, I have included links throughout the text.
The Chernobyl disaster was the worst accident in the history of nuclear power in terms of cost and casualties. In brief, the site had four working nuclear reactors and it was in reactor number 4, on the evening shift of 25th April 1986, prior to a routine shutdown, engineers began a test which involved changing the reactor's operating parameters. The aim of the test was to determine how long turbines would spin and supply power to the main circulating pumps if there were to be a loss of the main auxiliary electrical power supply. The resulting changes which were made to the reactor's setup during the testing, combined with the disabling of automatic shutdown mechanisms resulted in two explosions, meltdown and a fire in the early hours of 26th April (see Here for a more technical explanation as to the causes of the accident). Large quantities of radioactive particles were released into the atmosphere; the amount of radiation released was over 200 times that at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fire in the reactor burned for nine days, during which time fire crews fought the blaze in extremely hazardous conditions. Helicopters were also drafted in, dropping sand and lead in an effort to quell the radiation. In all, two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning. The reactor had no containment building to trap the radiation and subsequent radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. In order to avert a greater catastrophe, over half a million people from the USSR's work force were involved in the battle to contain the contamination. The number of people who have and could eventually die as a result of the Chernobyl accident is impossible to calculate although figures relating to extra cancer deaths and other illnesses run into their thousands and estimates vary depending on the source (e.g. the UN-led Chernobyl Forum, Greenpeace). About 350,000 people living in the area had to be relocated as a result of the disaster as the majority of the Raion was too contaminated; an officially designated area, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (or Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation) was set up covering everywhere within 30km of the nuclear power stations and many of the settlements in the Chernobyl Raion were inside this zone. To read more about the exclusion zone, click Here.
For those visiting Ukraine who wish to learn all about the Chernobyl disaster (including it's political and social aspects and the impact of the accident), the Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum in Kiev is certainly well worth a visit. I have included a description of the museum and a photo thumbnail gallery from my visit on a separate webpage Here (or click on the photo below to view).
The Chernobyl Museum in Kiev [Internal Link]
The visit to Chernobyl involved a pre-arranged tour as it is not possible to simply wander into the Exclusion Zone. Entry is via checkpoints at the 30km and a 10km exclusion zone boundary and requires your passport which is checked against a pre-registered list of individuals. There are clear rules which must be adhered to, including wearing long sleeved tops, covered shoes, not photographing checkpoints and not removing anything from the zone. During the visit, radiation is monitored using a portable handheld detector. It was soon explained that 10 minutes outside reactor 4 is no worse than sitting on a plane at 30,000 feet for two hours. Exit from the 10km and 30km zones requires all individuals to pass through radiation scanners, to ensure their clothing etc. is not taking unsafe matter outside of the zones.
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Above (clockwise from top left): Stele, marking Chernobyl (Чорнобиль); Memorial in Chernobyl marking the names of each settlement which had to be abandoned in the aftermath of the disaster; The Angel of Mercy overlooks the memorial, marking the people who died from the accident; Typical road within the Exclusion Zone (Zone of Alienation).
In the wake of the disaster, an extensive cleanup project ensued. Civil and military personnel were drafted in from all over the Soviet Union to deal with the emergency. Known as Liquidators, they are widely credited with having limited both the immediate and longer term damage from the disaster. Between 600,000 and 800,000 fire-fighters, scientists, miners, and Soviet military conscripts worked firstly to put out the fire and cool the reactor and then to clear up the debris, bury radioactive equipment, buildings and so forth. They built the infamous sarcophagus structure around the plant to contain the radioactive material that had collapsed into the reactor. Construction of the sarcophagus was relatively quick, reason being, of all things, to allow continued operation of the other reactors. The sarcophagus has kept most of the radiation in, but exposure to the elements over the years has caused damage to it and some radiation has started to leak out. The heroic Liquidators were exposed to extremely unsafe doses of radiation during the cleanup and a number of them died from resulting radiation-related illnesses, became physically disabled, or committed suicide. Today, of those whom are still alive, many of them continue to suffer from health problems associated with their time spent in the disaster area. A large number of vehicles including trucks, tanks and helicopters were used during the cleanup operations and these now sit rusting away in a "vehicle graveyard". In addition, there are many more sides to the operation beyond the scope of this write-up, including 'seeding' by the Soviet air force to help remove radioactive particles from clouds heading towards cities.
The photo above is of a monument to the fire-fighters who died after the explosion. On the morning of April 26, 1986, within two minutes of hearing the alarm, the fire-fighters rushed to Reactor number 4. Unaware that they were entering a radioactive environment, the fire-fighters went straight to the scene without putting on their protective suits and respirators; many of them died later of Acute Radiation Sickness. The monument was erected by the firemen themselves and the plaque on it reads “To those who saved the world”.
The composite photo above shows an open air display with some of the robotic equipment used at the disaster site. In an effort to spare human workers from the radiation, the Soviet authorities experimented with a number of different and sometimes innovative remote-controlled machines. Removing contaminated debris from the explosion site with machines proved unsuccessful, as the machines' electronics stopped working due to the high levels of gamma radiation. This meant that the Soviet authorities had to resort to sending in thousands of Liquidators to do the most dangerous of the cleanup tasks - due to the high levels of exposure, each worker could only afford to spend a maximum of 40 seconds going on the roof, inside or near to the facility. Many died as a result of this or later contracted cancer. The two robots to the right of the photo are an STR-1 robot and a device called 'Mobot', both of which were designed to remove debris from the roof of the reactor.
Whilst Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is world famous, within the Exclusion Zone lies a less famous site, known as Chernobyl-2. For it is here, down a minor forest road, it is now possible to visit a former Soviet military site which until 2013, was closed to visitors. Meet Duga-3, a gigantic over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system which was built as an early missile detection system during the Cold War. Nicknamed the "Russian Woodpecker", Duga-3 operated from 1976 to 1989 and unlike it's prototypes, used a transmitter site (located here) and a separate receiver site, approximately 60km away (located west of Chernihiv). As well as this site near Chernobyl, another Duga-3 system operated in the far eastern part of the USSR at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. At 150 metres in height and 900 metres long, this is one seriously big lump of metal. More on OTH systems in general, Here (external link).
Although the exact function and location at the time of operations was not publicly disclosed, from July 1976, a new and strong radio signal appeared which could be heard on shortwave radio bands worldwide. Due to its sound (repetitive tapping), amateur radio operators nicknamed it the Woodpecker. Triangulation studies soon revealed the signals came from Ukraine. Unbeknown to most observers of this shortwave radio woodpecker phenomenon, NATO knew of the new radar installation and referred to it by the nickname "Steel Yard". For the less informed, all manner of theories sprang up about the signal's purpose, from the sensible (submarine communication) to the not so sensible (mind-control of citizens). The shortwave signals ended in December 1989. The exact reason(s) for the shutdown of the Duga-3 systems have not been made public, although the ending of the Cold War and new technologies are bound to have played a part. As for the future of Duga-3, several sources cite the possibility that there are plans to install wind turbines here. Sounds like a good plan to me; at least the local residents won't complain about them, as there, erm.. aren't any. To myself, Duga-3 was certainly worth seeing as not only did it offer another useful insight into what sort of secret things the Soviets were up to during the Cold War, but its sheer size, Brutalistic form, woodland location and current state of abandonment made for a truly surreal experience.
Above: My thumbnail gallery of Duga-3; click to enlarge images (32 photos).
Located approximately 4km south of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and inside the 10km Exclusion Zone was the village of Kopachi. After the disaster, the village was heavily contaminated by fallout and had to be abandoned. As an experiment, the authorities bulldozed the buildings in the village and buried the remains under earth, forming a series of mounds which today are topped by radiation warning signs. What was not realised at the time was that destroying the buildings in the village in this manner would result in radioactive isotopes seeping into the water table below and so the water and soil surrounding Kopachi remain heavily contaminated with radioactive materials. The results of this experiment meant it was the only settlement to be destroyed in this manner. Today, all that still stands from the abandoned village are a World War II memorial, a Kindergarten and one other brick building. The approach to the Kindergarten is along a path leading from the road through a number of trees that have grown up since its abandonment. It was possible on this visit to take a walk inside the preschool building and this is shown in the photos below (click to enlarge images).
Outside the Kindergarten, it was time to have a closer look at the dosimeter [photo below] which measures ionising radiation (gamma rays) in the units of microsieverts per hour (µSv/h). Here, 4km away from the Nuclear Power Plant, the dosimeter reads 11.30µSv/h. To get things into perspective, let's look at some figures; for the purpose of a quick calculation, Public Health England (PHE) has calculated that on average people in the UK are exposed to about 2.7 millisieverts (2700µSv) of natural background radiation per year*. Taking this figure and the dosimeter reading, in order to achieve a typical annual radiation exposure here outside the Kindergarten at Kopachi, I calculate it would have meant standing there for 239 hours (or 10 days and nights). In addition, radiation exposure on an aircraft is a significant source of exposure; PHE puts the dose of ionising radiation exposure on a transatlantic flight at 0.08 millisieverts (80µSv) and so, such a flight would equate to standing outside the Kindergarten for just over 7 hours. I was there for, say, 15 minutes and inside the 10km exclusion zone for no more than 5 hours. It might be worth noting here, to get a very basic idea of what sort of ionising radiation exposures occurred during the Chernobyl disaster itself, the plant workers and fire-fighters battling the fire were exposed to 800 to 16,000 millisieverts (0.8 to 1.6 million µSv). Of the approximately 134 workers who subsequently suffered from acute radiation sickness, 28 died within 3 months.
* PHE website link Here
4. The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactors
Above: Scrollable panoramic composite image of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as viewed from the road leading to reactors 1 - 4. On the left of the image is visible the southern side of reactor 4 with the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure [see text below] and to the right can be seen the unfinished reactor 5.
Before the accident, four reactors were functioning within the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Each of them were 'High Power Channel-type Reactors', a class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union. Reactor number 3 had already previously undergone a similar test to the one that caused the explosions at reactor number 4. After the explosion, reactors 1-3 continued to operate into the 1990's. In 1991, just after Ukrainian independence, reactor number 2 suffered a major fire, and was subsequently shut down. Reactor number 1 (which had previously suffered an undisclosed partial core meltdown in 1982) and reactor number 3 were eventually shut down in 1996 and 2000 respectively. Reactor numbers 5 and 6 were partially complete at the time of the accident (number 5 was 85% finished) and so construction work on them was abandoned. Decommissioning of a nuclear reactor would normally take several years, although due to the problems created by the explosions at reactor 4, full decommissioning at the plant will continue for many more years.
In terms of safe exposure levels, the reactor 4 station will remain radioactive for approximately one thousand years (the main source of gamma radiation being from caesium-137, which has a half-life of about 30 years). As mentioned above, after the accident, a sarcophagus was hastily built by the Liquidators for reactor 4 to keep most of the radiation in, although (at the time of writing) it is nearly 30 years old and some radiation has started to leak out. Consequently, a longer term solution to the problem had to be addressed. The result was that in 2003, it was announced that a new steel containment structure would be built; after several delays, construction began on the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure in 2010. Due for completion in 2017, the NSC's purpose is to prevent the reactor complex from leaking radioactive material into the environment and also to allow a future partial demolition of the old structure. A pan-European study looked at the designs of three finalists in a design competition and it was decided that an arch shaped construction would be built offsite and slid over the existing structure (minus the chimney). At an estimated cost of €1 billion, the project is financed by an international fund which is managed by the ERBD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). The 28,000 tonne arch has a span of 260m and is designed to last for 100 years. Time spent by each worker on the construction site is monitored and very limited. Further information on the NSC on Wikipedia here.
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| Above: Outside reactor 4 entrance on the north western side of the station. Here stands a monument dedicated to the heroes of the Chernobyl disaster. | ||
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| Above: A closer look at the unfinished Nuclear Power Plant, including reactor 5 (right). | ||
Above: Panoramic stitch showing reactor 4 and the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure which will be slid over it.
The immediate area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant contained a large number of pine trees that died following the absorption of high levels of radiation. The trees turned a ginger-brown colour and this resulted in an area of approximately 10km² being called "The Red Forest". After the disaster, the forest was bulldozed and buried. Today, it is one most contaminated sites in the world. However, with the departure of people from the area, over the years plants started to grow back and wild animals moved in, despite the radiation. The biodiversity of the red forest has increased significantly since the disaster. Two days prior to my visit in October 2015, The Daily Telegraph featured a report on wildlife in the Exclusion Zone [external link Here]. On the fascinating subject of how nature thrives in man's absence, in the same month National Geographic also had an online report [Here].
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Above: [Left] A closer look at the water channel reveals evidence that fish are, indeed, now alive in the water channel adjacent to Reactor 4. [Right] Another look at the dosimeter reveals a reading of 79.89µSv/h just off the side of the road on the outskirts of our next destination, the abandoned city of Pripyat.
Above: Panoramic stitch of the "Lazurny" swimming pool in Pripyat. It was still in use by liquidators a decade after the disaster but is now abandoned.
Look at any newspaper or magazine these days featuring the Chernobyl disaster and the chances are you may see photographs of Pripyat. Pripyat is an abandoned city (population zero) which was founded in 1970 and became the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union. It was built to serve the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, about 3km away, and at the time of the nuclear accident had a population of just under 50,000 people. Today, the locality has a special status of a city of Oblast significance within the Kiev Oblast and is administered directly from Kiev and supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies.
During the visit featured here, some time was spend looking around the city both outside and inside some of the buildings. It was quite evident on arrival in the centre, nearly 30 years on, how much of the city had been taken over by trees and closer inspection of the buildings revealed the effects of the seasons; nature is slowly dismantling the city. The whole experience had an ever-so-slightly apocalyptic feel to it and contrasted with other places I have been to such as Kosovo and Bosnia, in the sense that here it felt like a war had taken place but there had been no fighting.
Above: Corridors inside one of the city's five secondary schools (panoramic stitch).
Time spent in Pripyat included seeing some of the following sights (numbers refer to photos after the text): Stele marking the boundary of the city and its year of founding (1); "Lazurny" swimming pool (8-20); One of the city's five secondary schools (23-51) - note the gas masks on the floor, the science classroom and the books it is said that authorities purposefully destroyed the interior of the buildings in the city to discourage looters from entering the Exclusion Zone; So-called "White" house and "Rainbow" shop by the intersection of Kurchatova Street and Avenue Lenina (54); Pripyat Palace of Culture, a focal point for the city's people (61-73); Located behind the Palace of Culture, Pripyat Amusement Park (74-81) - this was due to be opened on 1st May 1986 in time for the May Day celebrations. However, 5 days before the planned date, the nuclear accident happened and in fact the park was only opened for a few hours - on 27th April, to keep residents entertained prior to announcing the city's evacuation. It is worth noting here that so as not to cause panic, the residents were notified that they only had to pack items for a few days and would return. Only after leaving the city would the reality that this was a permanent evacuation become apparent. Today, the Ferris wheel at the amusement park has become an iconic symbol of the Chernobyl disaster; Gymnasium of PC "Energetic" recreation centre (84-91) - note the tree growing out of the gymnasium floor.
Many of the outside photos below would look quite different if they had been taken a few months later after the autumnal fall, when the buildings become more visible through the trees. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and so without much more to add on Pripyat, click on the thumbnails below to view the images (96 photos).
Above: My thumbnail gallery of Pripyat; click to enlarge images (16x6 photos).
The visit to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (and the museum in Kiev) gave a real insight into one of the most significant man made environmental disasters to occur in the latter decades of the twentieth century. Visiting the site and following the regulations in place can bring about a safe and educational experience. A lot more could have been written on this page about the subject matter although I have included several links for those who wish to learn more. Along with The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011, which was also classed as a level 7 International Nuclear event (the highest category), there are a lot of lessons to be learnt regarding the safe use of nuclear power as an energy resource. Chernobyl was officially declared a tourist attraction in 2011 and though still relatively small in number, there are a growing number of tourists visiting the Exclusion Zone. At the time of writing this, it is without doubt that Chernobyl will enter the news headlines again as we approach the 30th anniversary in April 2016 and also when the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure is eventually moved into place. The area which was once home to around a third of a million people not only makes for an opportunity to reflect on the impact of mankind on the environment, but also provides a rare and compelling insight into how nature can begin to thrive again in man's absence.
Text: October 2015. For any comments/corrections etc. please contact the author via the contact page on the link at the top of this page. Please also see my disclaimer here.
7. Some References/Further Reading:
☢ Map of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant
Here
☢ BBC Special Reports - About The Chernobyl Disaster Here
☢ Some basic Q & A on Chernobyl Here...
☢ ... and the disaster explained Here
☢ An article on Duga-3 from Newsweek (5 free articles allowed) Here
☢ Unofficial website for the city of Pripyat Here
☢ A detailed assessment of the impact of the disaster on greenfacts.org Here
☢ Information about Chernobyl from the World Nuclear Association Here
☢ Inside Chernobyl, National Geographic, April 2006 Here
☢ And finally, this visit to Chernobyl was made possible with Solo East Travel; website Here
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