So, I’ve been to Pripyat before on a day trip, it seems everyone has.
What I really wanted to do was to see another side of Pripyat and Chernobyl: to gain a greater understanding of the area and see some stuff off the ‘tourist trail’.
In order to do this I realised I would have to spend some considerable time staying there, so set about contacting the workers in the zone to convince them to let me stay with them for at least four days instead of four hours. Finally they relented and agreed.
I set about phase 2: Getting drunk with them, then convincing them to take me places they shouldn’t.
So next morning after a Ukrainian government standard issue breakfast (sausages and mash no less) to shake the hangover, we drove past the tourists outside Reactor 4 and headed straight over to Reactor 5. Coming off the tarmac road and onto gravel tracks the Geiger’s started to click uncontrollably. A pack of wild dogs began chasing our vehicle, most dropping off after a few hundred yards, except for one large Alsatian which chased us for a quarter of a mile more. Convinced we’d shook him, we gingerly got out.
Reactors 5 & 6 were still under construction in 1986 when the accident occurred at Reactor 4.
The scale of the place is vast, hard to convey even with a wide angle lens. This is 4 photos stitched together.
I’m sure you can imagine how epic the acoustics were inside the cooling tower. The click of a camera shutter would come back to haunt you seemingly minutes after you pressed the button.
Looking up to an unfinished gantry:
I hear a squark, and realise that there are several birds of prey circling above me, riding the thermals created by the chimney. I wonder id they’re eyeing up me or waiting for a radioactive mouse to feast on.
One of them flaps, fighting the stack effect and a feather floats towards me, taking a couple of minutes to hit the ground.
The background radiation here is quite high: Less than being right outside reactor 4, but higher than background anywhere in Pripyat, and 64 times higher than where I’m currently sleeping in Chernobyl.
I notice some of the columns have dates on them. This one was cast on 26th August 1985. Eight months to the day before disaster struck next door.
Used 9mm shells…worrying…
The concrete workers ladder leading up to the final five storeys of scaffolding (which is falling down pole by pole in high winds)
Geek squad:
Much, much more to follow…I’m off to buy the guards more vodka...
What I really wanted to do was to see another side of Pripyat and Chernobyl: to gain a greater understanding of the area and see some stuff off the ‘tourist trail’.
In order to do this I realised I would have to spend some considerable time staying there, so set about contacting the workers in the zone to convince them to let me stay with them for at least four days instead of four hours. Finally they relented and agreed.
I set about phase 2: Getting drunk with them, then convincing them to take me places they shouldn’t.
So next morning after a Ukrainian government standard issue breakfast (sausages and mash no less) to shake the hangover, we drove past the tourists outside Reactor 4 and headed straight over to Reactor 5. Coming off the tarmac road and onto gravel tracks the Geiger’s started to click uncontrollably. A pack of wild dogs began chasing our vehicle, most dropping off after a few hundred yards, except for one large Alsatian which chased us for a quarter of a mile more. Convinced we’d shook him, we gingerly got out.
Reactors 5 & 6 were still under construction in 1986 when the accident occurred at Reactor 4.
The scale of the place is vast, hard to convey even with a wide angle lens. This is 4 photos stitched together.
I’m sure you can imagine how epic the acoustics were inside the cooling tower. The click of a camera shutter would come back to haunt you seemingly minutes after you pressed the button.
Looking up to an unfinished gantry:
I hear a squark, and realise that there are several birds of prey circling above me, riding the thermals created by the chimney. I wonder id they’re eyeing up me or waiting for a radioactive mouse to feast on.
One of them flaps, fighting the stack effect and a feather floats towards me, taking a couple of minutes to hit the ground.
The background radiation here is quite high: Less than being right outside reactor 4, but higher than background anywhere in Pripyat, and 64 times higher than where I’m currently sleeping in Chernobyl.
I notice some of the columns have dates on them. This one was cast on 26th August 1985. Eight months to the day before disaster struck next door.
Used 9mm shells…worrying…
The concrete workers ladder leading up to the final five storeys of scaffolding (which is falling down pole by pole in high winds)
Geek squad:
Much, much more to follow…I’m off to buy the guards more vodka...