Visiting Chernobyl

**Poromies** · 06-02-2012, 11:19 AM

I have heard that some people trespass to the Chernobyl Zone as some parts of the fence that surrounds it are not exactly in good shape.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 06-02-2012 11:19 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Monuir** · 06-03-2012, 03:53 PM

by Bill T

Are there people gaurding certain Chernobyl areas? I know you said that taking items is obviously forbidden, but how do they regulate that? There are some crazy people out there who I'm sure would try to loot the place for scrap metals already if it werent somehow controlled.??

My Father worked at Nuclear/hydro Power Plants for a long time, so I have been in a few........ they are amazing places! It's incredible to see how these plants work. I noticed the Motto "Safety First" is seen everywhere in the Nuclear Plants, for good reasons!
Thanks for sharing these pics!

The place is surrounded by a fence and there is military checkpoints that you have to pass when going in and out. When going out you also need to go trough a radiation reader and if it beeps then you have been taking in radiation and are not allowed to leave, I guess they will take you to a hospital or something. There is also a lot of military patrolls so it would not be a good idea to go in there without permission.

There is some people that have moved back to their homes around chenrobyl and pripyat, you can sometimes see some old people walking around. In the zone there is also some factories or something that was full of workers.

In Kiev the police found very many TV's in antique shops that was highly exposed to radiation and signaled high radiation. People plundered homes of course and sold the stuff, not caring about themselfs getting exposed to high doses of radiation and then in turn exposing the people they sold the things to, the things being full of radiation.

**RedHorseman25** · 06-04-2012, 08:38 PM

Just out of curiosity, what is the general level of radiation in the exclusion zone?

Reason I ask is I know there is an active rail line that still runs through the zone, and I wonder if it is a health concern for the crews, or passengers. I assume not, since they do allow sightseers to enter the zone.

I also wonder if all the equipment, and other material left behind is safe enough to be scrapped, and recycled.

I recently saw pictures of the construction crews that are reenforcing the containment enclosures around the reactor that had the meltdown, but there was a discussion about what to do with the five other reactors that are still in the plant. There were a total of six reactors in the complex, five and six were still under construction at the time of the accident. No 1 is the one that had the accident. Two, and three were fueled up, but the fuel rods were withdrawn shortly after the original accident, but now there is concern over the safety of those suspended fuel rods. There is also increasing concerns about the safety of some of the buildings, and other structures as they age, but are not maintained, especially with the rising number of visitors, both legal, and otherwise.

Demolition of some structures is seriously being considered.

**Poromies** · 06-05-2012, 03:03 PM

I believe that at least one of the reactors was still operational up to 2001 I think.

**RedHorseman25** · 06-05-2012, 05:58 PM

by Poromies

I believe that at least one of the reactors was still operational up to 2001 I think.

I believe that both reactors two, and three were operational, but have not been operated since the accident, as all the reactors were intended to be controlled from a common control room. That main control room was in the main building, and is obviously way to radioactive to work in now. IIRC, reactor four was to be fueled soon, at the time of the accident, but had not yet been fueled. Reactors five, and six were still under construction, and further reactors were being planned.

Lack of a containment vessel proved to be a MAJOR flaw in the design of Soviet reactors.

**Poromies** · 06-05-2012, 06:21 PM

The three rest were operational for a time after the accident. Number two was shut down after the 1991 fire, in 1996 reactor one was shut down and in 2000 reactor three was shut down.

**Larry C** · 06-27-2012, 03:22 AM

It would be quite errie and unnerving to stand in the middle of the street with no city sounds except for a few birds and a breeze to listen to. The photos are awesome!!Thanks for showing this. Larry

**Matt L** · 07-09-2012, 08:27 PM

No kidding- and rather sad, especially seeing the cats and dogs.

The real danger is inadvertently picking up radioactive particles by walking on or touching a contaminated surface- the stuff just sits there on your clothes or skin and radiates and it allows the usually far less-dangerous alpha particles to do damage...

Thanks for posting Mounir- very interesting stuff.

**Poromies** · 07-09-2012, 08:53 PM

By the way, what company did you book the tour with? There are a lot of different companies that provide tours to the Zone, and choosing the right one is difficult. Even if there still is one year and two months before I turn 18, I have already started to look at different choices. I have been saving up money for that for a long time and visiting Pripyat has been my lifelong dream.