Hello, i had the opportunity to visit Ukraine and the infamous Chernobyl powerplant and the ghosttown of Pripyat. Keep in mind that this are large pictures, so downloading could take some time. I want to apologize for my English (in case of silly mistakes) and the size of the pictures, but nevertheless, enjoy the trip!
For more information about the the nuclear disaster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
01) The (in)famous nuclear powerplant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
02) The left side of the building, reactor number four, is the place where the explosion occured on the 26th of April 1986. Reactor no. 4 was completely destroyed and has since been enclosed in a concrete sarcophagus to prevent further escape of radiation. There are plans to construct of new, very large sarcophagus.
03) On the left we can see reactors numbers 3 and 4, and on the right side of the picture we can see the older reactors 1 and 2.
04) Two more reactors were under construction at the time of the accident, and were never finished. Reactor no. 5 was almost complete and was scheduled to start operating in the fall of 1986.
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06) Reactor number four and a monument in front of it. The levels of radation in this area weren't a high as some other parts in the region.
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08) The most notorious chimney in the history of mankind.
09) The skyline of Pripyat. This town had a population of almost 50,000 and was a Soviet Utopia. The city was young and growing. According to
Wikipedia, 'Initially the plant was intended to be built only 25 km from Kiev, but the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, among other bodies, expressed concern about the station being too close to the city, and so the station, together with Prypiat[1] , were built in their current location — about 100 km from Kiev.'
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11) Soviet symbolism.
12) This was once the entrance of the cultural center.
13) Our guide (on the right side) told us a lot of interesting stories.
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15) Old Greek paintings.
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17) This is the only trafficlight in town, and it's always green!
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21) The complete themepark was never used, except for the bumper cars. It was scheduled to open on the day of the disaster.
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23) These bumper cars were used only once at the day of the evacuation. Parents could drop their kids here so they were able to pick up some stuff from their homes, convinced that the evacuation whould be temporary.
24) The Geiger counter is measuring high levels of radiation in the moss, more than 1,3 rontgen. A dose of 500 rontgen is deadly in five hours.
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29) This is a part of the so-called Red Forest, refering to the colour of the trees which was a result of the radioactive contamination. The levels of radiation were so high that most of the trees simply burned down. What was left of the forest has been destroyed and buried, and the area stills remains one of the most radioactive in the world. Notice the tree in the middle, which shows clearly signes of radation: the tree is burned.
30) A view toward the north, we can see the nuclear power plant.
31) The Dnieper River, which also flows through Kiev and other import cities in Ukraine like Dniperpetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya.
32) A rusty old shipyard, these are contaminated.
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34) Some vehicles used by the 'liquidators', the people who had the stop the disaster. These vehicles are still radioactive and can not be used anymore. It's interesting to notice that there was once a great graveyard of machines like cars, tanks and helicopters but those were stripped and sold as 'old metal'. Only the very contaminated parts were destroyed.
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37) This is the '
Russian Woodpecker', which is almost 150 meters tall and (i believe) almost one kilometer long. According to some, this antenna would be twice as expansive as the nuclear powerplant at the time of construction.
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50) That's me!
Чорнобиль | Chernobyl & Pripyat
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