31st – More radiation included in the tour

As planned we were picked up at the house at 0600 and only a few minutes later we arrived at the train station. We were met by the rest of the group who already had arrived and we boarded the train to take us back into the zone.

This train is solely for people working in the zone (and tourists not being able to check into the hotel in the zone) so it had a stop in Slavutych, just next to the Chernobyl powerplant and a small village in between. And it goes once or twice every morning and evening and that’s it. So if you miss the train in the evening you are stuck until the next workday.

We returned to where we had lunch yesterday and had breakfast; chicken and mashed potatoes. Don’t come to the zone and expect variety in your dining experiences. At least it tasted good so in the end there wasn’t a problem.

Radiation scanners. We went through a handful of times (train, arriving and leaving Chernobyl and at a few checkpoints).They weren't tall, I had to bend to fit into the spot to stand.

Today’s tour would bring us through Pripyat and we were soon at the entry checkpoint for the town.

There is often a bit of confusion when it comes to the naming; there is the town/city of Chernobyl and outside of that they built at powerplant, the Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant. But due to the large number of workers (and their families) necessary to build it and keep it running they build a town at the powerplant called Pripyat. This has resulted in the fact that the Chernobyl powerplant is located at Pripyat, not Chernobyl.

Not a scene you see everyday.

It almost became a contest to get the highest reading. I believe around 22µSV was the highest reading on the tour

We started off seeing a hospital where they – among others – brought the firefighters called to the scene of the accident for treatment. Because this was the first location people got brought after getting hit by radiation this has made it one of the most contaminated buildings in Pripyat. All equipment and clothes are still found in the basement and are still highly radioactive. From here we continued on to a café with some beautifully stained glass, or rather what was left of it. Here we also found the presence of what is (or should be considered) the biggest threat to humankind (except from nuclear plants accidentally blowing up and such), global peace and the reason why aliens don’t contact us; an open can of surströming. Luckily it didn’t smell and I have no idea who got the idea to actually bring it along but seeing it there it was really, really weird.

Outside the hospital.

Entering the hospital.

The operation room. 

The stained glass at the cafe.

A view out onto the lake.

The view of Chernobyl lake.

To whoever left this here; don't you think this area has suffered enough already?

From there we continued to a cinema, a concert hall and a supermarket before driving to the post office and what I personally had been looking forward to; the amusement park. The limited visibility due to the mist really added to the character and the slightly haunted feeling. 

More stained glass, here seen at the cinema.

The cinema, or what was left of it.

Mural at the concert hall.

The really love their bling on the building walls.

Phone booths at the post office.

Bumper car.

The ferris wheel. 

A now not-so-usable football field.

From there we saw a school, indoor swimming pool and gym, and went to the roof of a 16-story building. In this case the limited visibility – and pouring rain – was not a plus. In clear(-er) weather we should have been able to see Duga towering over the trees in the distance but now you could just see the where the forest started and the town ended. While the weather did add to the mood of the place I would, in this case, have preferred clearer weather than we had. Random fact: I counted 300 steps to the roof.

The floor of one of the larger rooms at the school was covered in gas masks. They were all child-sized.

Notice the numerous stalactites hanging all over the place.

The swimming pool.

Ball court.

The weather wasn't being very cooperative.

From there we quickly continued on to the police station followed by the fire station before going for lunch at the plant’s dining hall.

Holding cell at the police station.

Cells.

After a quick lunch we were shown reactor 5 which again due to the visibility (or rather lack of it) was near impossible to see clearly. Having a light grey building in dense fog makes it hard to see no matter the size of said building. Then it was the sarcophagus which was equally hard to see despite it’s size and being within 100 meters of it. From there we reached the last stop on the tour; one of the now defunct cooling towers. Seeing one up close makes you realize how incredibly large they are, and that they create amazing echoes.

Reactor 5.

Memorial at the sarcophagus. You can barely see the sarcophagus itself in the background to the right of the memorial.

Really misty that day. According to the guide she had never experienced this much mist before. Gee.

Only 1 µSV this close to the sarcophagus that's covering the site of the accident.

Cooling towers are big.

Like.... REALLY big.

Painted by Guido van Helton (Australia) for the 30th anniversary of the accident, of a doctor based on a photo by photo journalist Igor Kostin who was the first on the scene to film/take photos and spent 20+ years on documenting the disaster and its consequences.

With the last stop done we returned to our bus, filled out a feedback form, were given souvenir shirts and then drove back to Kiev. We returned around 1800 and people quickly said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. We ended up 3 people who went out getting dinner together but after that we were on our own. One went to the airport, one grabbed an Uber to get to her hostel and I returned to my hotel where I checked in at 2100.

Kiev train station.