# 30th Birthday Party - Chernobyl



## UrbanX

Ok, before we start I’ll let you know that there are no shots inside the buildings in Pripyat in this report. Going into the buildings is now forbidden, and this is enforced. If I went in buildings in this trip or not, will remain off of the public realm. Please don’t ask on this public thread, I will not answer. 


2009: _“There’s no way you’re going to Chernobyl. Why would anyone go there?”_ – Mrs UrbanX 
2009: _” You’ve been now, theres no need for you to go back”_ - Mrs UrbanX
2010: _“OK you can go to Chernobyl, but just this once”_ – Mrs UrbanX 
2010: _”Why do you need to go again?”_ - Mrs UrbanX
2011: _“OK you can go again, but this is the last time”_ – Mrs UrbanX 
Spring 2012: _“I give up, you’re going again aren’t you?”_ – Mrs UrbanX 
Summer 2012: _“If you’re going again, take me I need to see why you’re obsessed with the place”_ Mrs UrbanX 

_“I’m not obsessed with it!”
“Open your passport at a random page then…”_ 







So, the sharp eyed among you will have noticed that the age in my Avatar may now start with a 3. 
Turning 30 is a big deal, and I decided I should have a party to celebrate. 

Where do I throw it?... Silly question, there’s only one place on earth I’d want to spend my 30th. 





Mrs UrbanX & UrbanX (note the birthday badge!) 

I contacted my Ukrainian government agent and told him my idea. 

_“We knew your birthday was coming up, we’ve been waiting for your call. We won’t take any bookings for that day, you’ll have the city to yourself”_






Well, you cant turn that down can you. 
The group I explore Chernobyl with has slowly got smaller over the years. This year we decided to book all 16 places, but only 8 of us go. Sure we paid extra, but we saw over twice as much. But this time it would just be me and my wife. 






It was a totally different experience, yet again. Normally you go round in a mini bus. But having my guide rock up on his own in his own small car was wicked. With our consent we also picked up someone who was training to be a guide. It was her first day of training and she’d never even been into the zone before. 






Arriving at the office to pick up the contract, a guide that I met a couple of month ago came out. Kissing me on both cheeks _“Hi Lee, back so soon? Good to see you”_. Then I heard a shout from inside _“Lee’s here?”_ Another worker bowled out _“Happy Birthday Lee! We must have a drink and catch up later”_ My wife just stood there open mouthed. 

“The contract” always has the exact number of boxes to sign as places booked for the day  





Palace of culture:





Anyone who thinks I make up or exaggerate that they run security checks on you prior to being allowed to visit 190 tonnes of nuclear material is ignorant. Although I was shocked when out of the blue one of the workers asked how my cat (by name) got on at the vets last week. You may remember from my previous reports that when my guide was distracted I ran to the roofs? Yeah, they’d been looking at that online too, and gave me a royal bollocking over it. 

City Admin:





It was due to be a scorcher of a day, in the high 30’s, so we decided to do all of the exploring first while it was still cool. We pulled up the little car into the middle of the main city square, and all got out. _“So where would you like to go this time?”_ asked my guide. 
_“I’d love to go back to the stadium” 
“Go on then, you know the way!”_

And with that he let us just walk off into Pripyat towards the stadium. Walking the tree lined avenues with my wife I was pointing out landmark buildings. 






I’d never appreciated the initial attempt of decontaminating Pripyat. They knew the soil was bad, and that it had absorbed a lot of the radiation. So they decided to just remove it all. Liquidators were employed to dig up every verge, garden, and flowerbed, by hand, to a depth of 6” They worked tirelessly, often topless (Pripyat is hot by May) digging, and piling the poisonous soil into wheel barrows and then into trucks, for it to be taken into the red forest. After they had done this throughout the city the remaining ground was tested. It was still highly radioactive. So those that survived were told to repeat the task and dig another 6 inches down. If you walk down any street in Pripyat it’s worth looking at the verges, and noting how much lower than the road they are. 






Street in summer!















At the stadium I decided to test this theory. Instinct, and everything I’ve learnt has told me to avoid the organic matter in Pripyat, stick to the concrete. But at the stadium, the concrete is heavily contaminated, it was used for landing the helicopters that were trying to extinguish the fire. Flying directly over the open reactor, they became charged, and landing here they have charged the concrete. I took a reading off my Geiger counter: *4.60 mSv*. Pretty high. (Normal is 0.10, most of Pripyat is around 1.00). I walked onto the grass in the middle of the stadium, and to my surprise it dropped to *0.50mSV*! 

The video has lost a lot a lot being compressed onto YouTube, but you get the idea 

[ame]http://youtu.be/RX85kh6r1ZQ[/ame]

We spent the next five hours just exploring at our own pace. The feel was totally different, the last trips, although smaller groups, have still been with eight guys. So just walking a whole abandoned city, holding hands with my wife was just magical. Just walking around in general was fantastic, (groups almost always drive around). I can now say I’ve walked every single street in Pripyat, something which I’ve not even done in my home town. We done all the tourist bits, the fairground, kindergartens, swimming pool etc. As well as some new places. 

Tourist:










I never get bored of Pripyat because it changes so much throughout the year. These two photos of school #5 were taken just two months apart this year, look how much it’s grown! I’m holding out for a few more month until my next visit as I want to see it under snow! 

April 2012:





July 2012:





April 2012:





July 2012:





We went to some new places too, and I finally saw School #1, which was has suffered a spontaneous collapse a few years ago. I can guarantee that was one building I didn’t go in! 





By two o clock, we’d been exploring for 5 hours, and were starving. My guide asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday lunch. _“Reactor 4 canteen?”_ I asked, half joking. Ten minutes later I’m holding onto an ancient soviet tray, queuing in a line of uniformed workers, all with guns waiting for my birthday borsh. 






Full body radiation scan at the Reactor 4 workers canteen:





After lunch I went to visit Julia at the visitor centre, who gave Mrs UrbanX the same presentation she had given me a couple of months ago. I went outside to see how works were progressing on the new sarcophagus. They’re going to build a massive arch a couple of hundred meters from the reactor, where radiation is lower, and then slide the whole thing over the existing shell. It’ll be an amazing feat. When I visited a couple of months ago they were piling the foundations for the rails – Piling is way safer than digging the highly contaminated soil close to the reactor. But I’m pleased to announce that the first sections of arch were arriving from Italy, and were being assembled. In the next couple of years the iconic reactor 4 will be unrecognisable. 

New Sarcophagus arch piece
















We done a few bits that I wanted to revisit, the church in Chernobyl, the workers shop, and back to the Reactor 4 robots because I didn’t take any readings off them last time. They’ve been decontaminated to a degree. Standing a few meters away the reading is similar to the UK, 0.16mSv. This rises 150 times to around 15.0mSv if you get within a meter. And I’m told this will shoot up to 1,000 is you started dismantling it!  






We relaxed and went to feed the giant catfish in the cooling channel. We’d bought an uncut loaf that weighed as much as a bowling ball, and were taking bets on if one of the catfishes could swallow it whole. He could. 

[ame]http://youtu.be/mMJ34mf91Ok[/ame]

_“So what are you doing after this?”_ asked my guide. I explained that we were going on a full on Ukrainian tour, taking in nine cities, three overnight trains, and five flights! _“So you have swimming trunks in the car?”_ he asked. 
_“err, yes, why?”_
_“Excellent. I’m wearing pants. So we will go swimming”_ 

Not what you want to hear whilst stood at the edge of the most radioactive water in the world! 

Four hours later and the three of us were 100Km away sat on a beach on the outskirts of Kiev eating ice cream. 

My guide was totally relaxed, and reminiscing about his childhood. _“This is where I came as a child, to this beach” “This is the same icecream from the same kiosk too” _ He explained that he bought me here because it was how Pripyat would have been in its heyday. The river and lake was a big part of what Pripyatians done for leisure. We sat and watched the kids playing, and singing nursery rhymes in Russian, and it reminded me of an old photo I’d seen of people playing on the banks of the water in Pripyat. 

Pripyat Yacht Club:





Yachting in Pripyat: 





Pripyat “Rocket” boat, offering a high speed ferry service to Kiev: 




(Retro photos courtesy of Pripyat.com)

I asked him if we could get a lift off him to the station to go to our next city. _“Of course not.”_ He replied. _“My wife has been cooking your birthday meal all day, now you will come back and dine with my family.”_ 

Awesome end to an awesome birthday.

My apologies again that there are no internal shots. I hope you understand why none have been posted. 


Accompanying video - Dereliction Addiction 30: 
[ame]http://youtu.be/5m9VP8_M1EY[/ame]


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## UEP-Wales

Fantastic stuff Mr and Mrs X! Glad you had a great birthday mate! 

To be told that they wont take any bookings and you will have the city to yourself must have been EPIC and something I bet you will never forget! 

Those Cat Fish are well funny too


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## UrbanX

Urbex-SW said:


> Fantastic stuff Mr and Mrs X! Glad you had a great birthday mate!
> 
> To be told that they wont take any bookings and you will have the city to yourself must have been EPIC and something I bet you will never forget!
> 
> Those Cat Fish are well funny too



Cheers dude! It's just awesome. 13,800 derelict homes, and 100's of public buildings - just amazing. 

Ha ha. That Ukrainian bread weighed about the same as a breeze block too!


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## freespirits

wow dude a pretty awesome birthday id say ,,cracking pics ,,you gotta go some on your 40th to top that


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## Bones out

Beautifully done,

I must say there is nothing wrong with reactor 4 canteen! 

(except for the strange cheese crapes) :jiggy:


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## oldscrote

Sheer magic,belated happy birthday mate


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## UE-OMJ

Good to finally see all this in one big report.

**Happy Birthday**

What's planned for your 40th?


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## TeeJF

Does you wee still glow Li? 

A thought occurred to me... why do you have to pay a mint to get permission? What's to stop you just getting a flight and snurgling in? Surely they haven't got an entire district tens of miles across fenced off? 

Good report there!


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## krela

TeeJF said:


> Does you wee still glow Li?
> 
> A thought occurred to me... why do you have to pay a mint to get permission? What's to stop you just getting a flight and snurgling in? Surely they haven't got an entire district tens of miles across fenced off?
> 
> Good report there!



It's a militarised zone...


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## TeeJF

Ahhhhhhhhh. OK.


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## UrbanX

Yep, unfortunately this isn't one of those sites where you could do a runner to. The reactor isn't derelict or abandonned, it's still in commission, it just doesn't produce power. The fences aren't great, they rely in people power for guarding. 

It'd be the equivalent of jumping the fence at Faslane and make a break for the nuclear subs! Except there's more nuclear material here and the guards (all armed to the teeth) are prob a little more trigger happy!

Edit: As a guide, Sizewell uses around 30 tonnes of fuel a year, in that building behind Mrs X and me is 190 Tonnes of fuel...


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## night crawler

Awsome report as ever, what a brilliant way to have a birthday and even taking your wife withyou, some how I doubt mine would do that. Enjoyed ever moment of the report.


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## Priority 7

Super jealous mate remember you telling me about this bday trip godo to see some photo's and seems liek you had a superb day


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## gushysfella

Now that's a birthday! So when you going to start on the book X? GF


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## King Al

Superb write up as always! Looks like a great way to spend your birthday


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## the|td4

Great report and all the best mate!


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## shane.c

Great pics and videos, thanks for posting.


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## Musty

Awesome stuff! There is still room on that passport page for more stamps!


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## PaulPowers

You sir have an addiction, I for one am very glad you do because every report from the zone is fantastic


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## UrbanX

PaulPowers said:


> You sir have an addiction, I for one am very glad you do because every report from the zone is fantastic



Means a lot coming from you dude. I really am addicted, but I still havent seen it under snow, so I think I'll have to go back...


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## Boatbird

Wow. Just wow.


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## perjury saint

*Ace report! Fair play to the missus, if you cant beat em, join em!
If i ever get out there im takin my fishin gear, that catfish is MINE!!*


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## urbexfairy

Amazing as always


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## Fury161

I've got to go to see this place, it just seems the number one place to visit.


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## UrbanX

Fury161 said:


> I've got to go to see this place, it just seems the number one place to visit.



And number two, and three...and four...

Well it is for me I love the place. It's the only place ive been with a real Armageddon feel to it. Some people would hate it and wonder where the intricate architecture was!
Shame I can't post internals in this report, it's just meant as more of an update really; 

So this weeks updates: There will be a dedicated zone radio station starting this month! 
Also they have given the thumbs up (in principle) to repopulate parts of the zone which are now considered safe enough for human habitation. 
I'm looking into the full legislation, but if it means full zone access, I will be putting an offer in for a property soon


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## Stussy

Truly amazing report, totally understand about the pics not being put up, however, it still feels like you took us along for your birthday trip! Happy Belated Birthday too!


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## steve2109

Never get tired of seeing reports on this place and yours are just the tops mate, thanks for sharing


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## Ellis

I need to go here really wanted to ever since I found out about it when I was younger, would like to try and make it before they move the reactor. 

Who do you book through?


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## UrbanX

Lol, they’re not moving the reactor, they are covering it up!
The new building is a fascinating bit of kit in itself:
The size of the arch is breathtaking, its 270m across. Its being assembled 180m away from the reactor, and will be slid over the whole reactor without touching it. This is to reduce exposure to the people putting it together.
It’s no longer a long lost pipe dream either, the rails are in, the first arch is up. When the arch is complete it will be pulled (not pushed) into place. They were going to push it with hydraulic jacks, but they would need to be repositioned every time they get to their full extension. Whereas steel cables are long enough for it to be pulled in one go. It will be all be done in just one day.

9,000 tonnes of equipment will be hung inside the massive arches. This includes two beams which will have cranes on. These will be fully remote controlled and have different attachments – From Jack hammers, to cutting discs to vacuum cleaners! Where possible the waste (especially the low level stuff) will be extracted and disposed of a couple of miles away. I was lucky enough to see the concrete disposal racks in July, very impressive.
One crane attachment will have a pod (a bit like the London eye) but in thick lead.Yes it will be used to occasionally take people in. I’m not sure what the implications of a tourist going in would be, but it’d be well into the five figures.

Sorry, went adrift there. Back to your question.
*
If you Google it there are hundreds of tour companies. Essentially they are middlemen for the 11 Licenced government officials, so it doesn’t matter who you book with. The two most popular are Lupine Travel and SoloEast.

I can’t give you my word on either of them though as I always book directly through my government escort.


Beware of the tour companies making false promises tho - Both of the above state clearly, and in bold on their home pages that you cannot go inside buildings.*

Lupine:






Soloeast:





Although I have just noticed that Lupine is promising Duga 3 (Big radar aerial thingy) access, which I know is off limits at the moment, so do be weary of ones that promise things like this, they may not necessarily come to fruition when you’re there!

I was recently speaking with my escort about some of the problematic tour companies he said _“They don’t care, they tell people what they want, they’re not here when I have to disappoint the tourists”_

He told me of an incident recently where a large group were promised they could roam free around Pripyat. You cant. They started to wander off against the guides will, and military action was bought in, and all of the wanderers were arrested!

The 4 hour day trips are now well cheap, and even after all this time I’d still pay it just to wander round the city - I only done around 7 hours on my Bday, but I’ve now spent over 100 hours happily exploring the buildings in Pripyat


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## Ellis

I'd love to see them covering it sounds such a great task - really fascinating. 

Really wish I got my arse in gear and got their before they closed all the buildings. I'll have a better look at a booking a tour and watch out for false promises which I was weary of when I looked before I knew it would be my luck to get their and the company wouldn't exist lol 

I know I will get addicted and want to go every year and do more looking round etc like you do, I love all the reports you have done. I'll prob book a few of the 4hr trips find out if I can go different places  I have friends in Romania so I can always skip over their afterwards.


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## Dark Descent

me and one of my friends are planning to visit chernobyl next year, can you recommend a good tour company?


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## krela

Urbanx has already answered this... 



UrbanX said:


> If you Google it there are hundreds of tour companies. Essentially they are middlemen for the 11 Licenced government officials, so it doesn’t matter who you book with. The two most popular are Lupine Travel and SoloEast.
> 
> I can’t give you my word on either of them though as I always book directly through my government escort.


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## Mars Lander

Wow what a 30th dude, that is some reportage and imagery hats off and well done that man...and woman


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## KaraWilliams

Oh man I'd give my left leg to go here... So it is true that you no longer need to wear radiation protection inside chernobyl? x


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## UrbanX

KaraWilliams said:


> Oh man I'd give my left leg to go here... So it is true that you no longer need to wear radiation protection inside chernobyl? x



You must wear full clothing, long trousers and long shirt. Alpha and beta radiation can't penetrate skin or cotton. Gamma radiation will, you need concrete and lead to block it. Which is kinda impractical to wear, so you literally have to just limit your time exposed to it. 

If you're interested some of my previous reports see me sleeping in Chernobyl, as well as showering there, brushing teeth with the water etc!


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## Bones out

And best not kneel in the moss taking pictures of the dogems, plays havoc with the readings....

Thanks for all that updated history fella, somewhere about a year ago, I saw a short film on the new Sarcophagus thru its construction made by the French company constructing it. Was really good. I will troll away and see if I can find a link for it.

Looky
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2011/apr/19/novarka-chernobyl-reactor-arch-video


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## Carlh

Stunning. AGAIN. Happy Birthday btw, what a way to spend your bday. Love it !

It never fails to be enthralled by your images and the story that always accomanies them. You're a legend in your own right mate.

Can you at least explain what was inside the buildings and why you are not allowed to display images? Thanks !


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## UrbanX

Carlh said:


> Stunning. AGAIN. Happy Birthday btw, what a way to spend your bday. Love it !
> 
> It never fails to be enthralled by your images and the story that always accomanies them. You're a legend in your own right mate.
> 
> Can you at least explain what was inside the buildings and why you are not allowed to display images? Thanks !



Of course Sir! Also there is a 'tag cloud' on the right hand side of the DP homepage, if you click on 'Pripyat' I have around 20-30 reports up. I went in a lot of buildings in April, the day before the ban came in, so am allowed to show them!  

I may or may not have gone inside a few old favourites, my Wife had never been to Pripyat, so the sight of a whole carpet of gasmasks was a 'must see'. As was the Kindergarten with toys still in cupboards, and photos of the toddlers still on each crib. 

We may have gone into a few new places too like the main supermarket, where you can still walk down the aisles! Oh and the swimming pool, may have been immense with just us two in there!  

Lol, I tried to get a 'secret' password protected bit on my website but they want another £8 a month for it, so I'll try and set up a private photobucket account or something! 

Oh on the subject of the arch, and it's scale... The New Chernobyl Confinement is 270m across, and the Wembley arch is 315m across, so they're of a similar size! 

Cheers for the lovely comments.


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## Carlh

Just amazing. Am so so jealous but at the same time, so so grateful that you're doing the visit to chernobyl and not me! lol

I think you could probably get a job there doing the tours yourself you've been that many times!


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## UrbanX

Carlh said:


> Just amazing. Am so so jealous but at the same time, so so grateful that you're doing the visit to chernobyl and not me! lol
> 
> I think you could probably get a job there doing the tours yourself you've been that many times!



To be a guide, you must complete 5 days touring the zone, then 5 days giving tours whilst supervised. I have well surpassed the first requirement, but haven't been let loose on any groups yet!


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## MiNiMaD

Love all the reports you've done on Chernobyl and Pripyat, been really interested in it since my mum mentioned it during the Fukushima disaster last year. Always look forward to your next post.


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## Romford Reject

Oh.....my....God!

That place is the stuff of dreams for me. Would love to go there. Is it expensive?

Looking on Google maps, there seems to be a fence all the way round the city.


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## UrbanX

Romford Reject said:


> Oh.....my....God!
> 
> That place is the stuff of dreams for me. Would love to go there. Is it expensive?
> 
> Looking on Google maps, there seems to be a fence all the way round the city.



Depends what you do there! This trip I only booked a 4 hour tourist trip in the zone. About £150 per person. Normally to do this experience you'd have to book all the places in the trip to ensure its private (16 x £150). But I done a deal  Plus flights, which are normally cheap - but my Bday fell in the middle of Euro 2012, which was in Kiev, so i paid a fortune! Plus a hotel in Kiev both sides. 

Yes there is a fence around the city. And the reactor, and the 10km checkpoints, and the 30km checkpoint. All are military patrolled. It's militarized zone. The city is derelict, but Reactor 4 hasn't been decommissioned, so is a live nuclear site.


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