A summer Series - pt 8

Chernobyl'
We took a break from our hut work to visit Chernobyl'. Let me tell you - this is not an easy task - though we had made our reservation over a month before - we were told at the last minute that we could no longer go - we then had to hustle - calling multiple tour companies to see if we could get in on one of their tours. Supposedly you need to have 2 weeks notice because the security at Chernobyl' is such that they have to approve everyone who is coming into the zone. Finally we found a tour that was already scheduled for a day we could do and who let us on - even though there were less than 48 hours to tour-time.

We got very little if any history about Chernobyl'. Alister had read the Wikipedia article on the accident and he was giving us blow by blow accounts while telling us we should read wikipedia. But we got to see the site and the guide had his little Geiger counter out to show us the radiation levels. The highest we saw was over 2000 and that was on a patch of moss. In general the ground held more radiation than the air and whether it was actual or imagined - I thought my feet were tingling the whole time we were there.

What we did learn about the new sarcophagus being built. It will actually be built a few hundred feet from the sight and then slid into place onto a teflon foundation. inside everything will be automated and so they can monitor, dispose and all that stuff automatically. Apparently even today there is need to send people in from time to time. Only in 12 minute shifts. Can you imagine accomplishing anything in 12 minutes? I was also aghast to see pictures of the state of the roof of the current sarcophagus - just 3 months before our tour - It looked worse than our hut! The metal plates were full of rust and holes. The tour guide said that they had just completed a repair project that would give them the time they needed to make the sarcophagus. Water and nuclear disaster waste is evidently pretty volatile - so the holes are more alarming for the water they let in rather than the gasses they let out.

We also went to the river - where radioactive catfish have been swimming untouched for 20 years now. Catfish grow to be humongously large. Its no wonder ancient people drew sea monsters that looked like catfish - these things are not something you would want to encounter on a swim or a boat ride.

After the nuclear plant we went to a nearby town - Pripyat - that was evacuated 3 days after the explosion and has since become a haven for photographers staging drama and disaster shots initially (a teddy bear abandoned on a Ferris wheel) and now of desolation and the victory of nature as rust and plants creep in and slowly demolish the buildings and anything left by the looters.

The tour ended with a huge 5 course "quality guaranteed" meal. It was tasty so I guess it lived up to the guarantee even if we didn't get to see some things on the tour.