Nuclear Winter in Chernobyl
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Full story from the trip here - on the blog at Stuck In Customs
I spent the day in Chernobyl. One of my Kiev game dev friends hooked me up with a private tour, so I decided to go for the day to check it out. Every woman in my life told me this was a bad idea. Every man said it sounded awesome.
It was awesome, although I really usually fair better when I listen to the women.
Anyway, the day could not have been colder, but it fit with the milieu of the trip to Chernobyl. In case you don't know or can't remember, this is the infamous nuclear power plant that melted down in 1986; it was the worst nuclear plant disaster in the world.
I have taken a bunch of photos, but only had time to process a few of them. I'll post more in coming weeks and months, but I have pieced these together that show a good sampling of the day.
After I made it through the 30KM security radiation zone, where Will was detained by the military for not having proper documentation (a longer story which ended with him sitting in a military bunker for four hours watching Colombo dubbed in Ukranian), I was handed over to a member of the military who took me on a personal tour of the area. We passed through the 10KM security radiation zone, and then we were well within the exclusion zone.
I paid one of the military guys and borrowed his geiger counter so I could keep track of the RADs as we moved around. More on that later.
First, we stopped in Pripyat, a fascinating place right out of the Day After. Pripyat was built as the ultimate Soviet communist panacea, a place for Chernobyl plant workers and their families to live, go to school, play, and live their lives in master-planned bliss.
Pripyat was immediately deserted after the accident - kids left schools with their books still on the desks, families rushed out without getting everything, just complete and instant desertion. While I was there, it was completely quiet, and it was extra surreal with the early 80's styling of the Soviet buildings, windows ajar, stuff still sitting in all the windows.
First, from Pripyat, here was the shining star of the city, the fine hotel in its Russian splendor, now an empty, cold, and radiated husk.
Second is one of the large apartment buildings with a slowly rotting exterior. I could still hear shutters opening and closing in the wind.
Next, I went to the creepiest part of Pripyat, the playground and amusement park. This was recently completed just before the disaster. Bumper cars, swings, a ferris wheel, and other bits of abandoned toys now lay quiet and creaking in the snow. The second picture is another part of the playground, where the kids emerged from school for playtime.
We checked the Geiger counter because this area was supposed to still have a significant amount of caesium-137, which takes a good 300 years to dissipate to safe levels. It was around 0.054, so we decided to keep moving. Now we started heading for the main power plant complex. We stopped in something he called the RAD forest that had an old Chernobyl sign that was kitschy and interesting. 0.290 on the screen. He looked at me, "We should leave quickly."
Finally, I ended the the tour at the Chernobyl power plant itself. It was nerve-wracking, so I took a few shots then moved along.
On the way out, I went through three different radiation checks. Below is one of the military guys that was holding a geiger counter gun that he ran along the car and a few other things. I went inside to a special decontamination center and entered a device that looked like stripped down telephone booth / nautilus machine. I placed my hands and feet on special sensors. It said I was clean in some cyrillic word that may or may not have said I was clean. I looked at the military guy that escorted me in there and he gave me one of those Russian frowns and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Eh, good enough".
Comments and faves
cibermakis, susan_r4, Stefano Prigione, TobTob, and 214 other people added this photo to their favorites.
brien applegate (65 months ago | reply)
nice job.
lifefreezer (65 months ago | reply)
Wow...what an experienc you have had. I would have passed on this opportunity, and I don't know how I would feel if someone I cared about went to that place. I feel the eeriness of the place with your commentary, and the image.
the-father (65 months ago | reply)
impressed and scared.
i voted for you.
seen in my contacts.
You are my winner!
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susan_r4 (65 months ago | reply)
Great one Trey - it does look so stark! Loved your writing about your day - interesting and eloquent as always!
GreyGooseMartini (65 months ago | reply)
Are you filming a documentary or something? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?????? Dramatic pics, fascinating story, but man...I hope jet lag is the only thing you come away with from the trip!!!
Thank you for sharing your fantastic adventures with us!!!!
Salva del Saz (65 months ago | reply)
Excellent report about the Chernobyl plant! I'm looking forward the next photos!
Stefano Prigione (65 months ago | reply)
Sign a vote from me in the Bloggies! :)
Chernobyl, wow, sound awesome. Did you stalk some souvenir? I've read that there's people that still live there, did you see some sign of life?
I'm really curious about how you obtain to go there (what kind of work you do, some special friends..) but maybe is a private question and i will not ask.
The pictures are wonderful, i like the tone!
TobTob (65 months ago | reply)
Impressive, gives me goose bump.
Thank you very much for sharing this with us.
Lately I saw again a documentary about it, it is really scary how everything looks in Pripyat.
I think this should make us think about something very important in life which should differentiate us from all other animals:
normally we should be able, thanks to our brains, to think about consequences of our actions in life.
I'm really not sure about our capabilities sometimes...
.
ilConte (65 months ago | reply)
Incredible and very thoughtful shot. It is still alive, under that unsafe cover
jeff-e (65 months ago | reply)
Wow is all i can say!!!
silviaON (65 months ago | reply)
wow - what a story ......
...Ashish... (65 months ago | reply)
dude you are brave! the pictures from this trip are just amazing! the blog is gripping!
Patrick Henson (65 months ago | reply)
The only place in the whole world more polluted than my hometown........Great shot!
Silver Creek Garden (65 months ago | reply)
Interesting images with a facinating story!
MatthewPHX (65 months ago | reply)
Very cool, and a great story too.
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mliebenberg (65 months ago | reply)
Great shot of this historical place!
A guy with A camera (65 months ago | reply)
Holy Crap!! I'd would love to do something like that! A Fascinating story, and amazing photos!! Love it! Thanks! ;)
dolcedo (65 months ago | reply)
it´s so strange, i remember the day, when it happened and when - here in austria - children are not allowed to play outside...
thanks for keeping the memory it in the mind of the people...
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EugeniusD80 (65 months ago | reply)
Great composition! And also thank you for sharing so detailed story!!
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fairytrixy (65 months ago | reply)
What a trip! Impressive and spooky and boy do I feel like a sheltered silly California chick!
Nice work thank you for sharing.-Amy
Marc Brassard (65 months ago | reply)
very sweet picture!
indahs (65 months ago | reply)
really a cool shot!!
~I SNIFFED out this wonderful image!
You deserve this nose worthy award!
Please ADD your
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Please tag your photos ImpressedBeauty
behrmi (65 months ago | reply)
thank you for sharing this story and images.
adityasinghvi (65 months ago | reply)
lovely.... pro shot!
krokusse1960 (65 months ago | reply)
Great and risky.
Stuck in Customs (65 months ago | reply)
Thanks all - yes I have a lot more pics... but I normally just upload 1-2 per day... Soon! :) These take a while to process, and I am very busy with work, actually... but soon.
Destinys Agent (65 months ago | reply)
Thank you for sharing both the pictures and words. At once scary and compelling.
Kuby! (65 months ago | reply)
I don't know if it is just me, but the building even looks dead. It has to be very bad when inanimate objects look dead. As for the women, you only live once and enjoy it!
dustdevildiver (meeting myself coming and going) (65 months ago | reply)
Yes, thanks for sharing, what a terrible disaster.
Photos by Elyssa (65 months ago | reply)
Amazing photos! You are braver than I am.
Jörg Dickmann (65 months ago | reply)
What a great and fantastic experience! Thanks for sharing your stunning adventures.
McFrikki (65 months ago | reply)
Insane... going to Chernobyl... :)
Scoutress (65 months ago | reply)
FUCK!
Great shot! Better be huh?
Lumiere2005 (65 months ago | reply)
Thanks so much for sharing the stories along with the photos. Being one who remembers the disaster quite clearly, I can't imagine being within the radiation zone, even though it is so many years later. It ws such a devastating accident...
Alison Chains (65 months ago | reply)
Thanks for sharing your photos and story about this trip.
lentexx (65 months ago | reply)
great photo's and your story, looking forward to see other pictures
Ivan Makarov (65 months ago | reply)
Stunning image, and even more incredible story. This is certainly one trip you'll never forget. I grew up in Moscow, so Chernobyl was a bit personal to us, since we had few of our friends vacation there during the disaster. Thank you for sharing. This really touched me.
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missy-n-jsn (65 months ago | reply)
very cool.
darCLIene (65 months ago | reply)
so brave.
hanapbuhay (65 months ago | reply)
This entry is on the front page of Digg. Congrats.
solar8 (65 months ago | reply)
Well done mate..ur photos are great and also u are a brave man !!
pavelm (65 months ago | reply)
Great experience!
drgabler (65 months ago | reply)
wow
geimryk (65 months ago | reply)
Absolutely beautiful shot!
I so want to visit Pripyat and the area someday, hope I'll be able to snag some good photos like you did. :)
Pipall (64 months ago | reply)
nice story and photo(s), which i could go there too... as every man said: AWESOME!
innocencenow (62 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Help! Save the world from a nuclear holocaust, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Feodel (60 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Український Флікер, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
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DrHobo (57 months ago | reply)
I take it this saves you money on condoms in the future?
But was it cheaper then a vasectomy?