# chernobyl/pripyat july 2010



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

hello everyone. 

me and a friend went to chernobyl and pripyat over two days and stayed in the chernobyl city motel. we were not sure what to expect but all in all it was a very laidback, friendly experience. two days didn't even scratch the surface of whats there to see but as there was only us two and the guide we got to see a lot more than some do if they go in big groups. i would urge anyone who likes this sort of thing to go for it. the only let down is the food is awful pretty much everywhere in ukraine.

i'm no photographer so please excuse how crap some of the pics are but you get the idea.

abandoned boats at chernobyl city.






abondened military vehicles in chernobyl city, reasonably high radiation about 12000 micro roentgens/hour (mrh)









the main road up to the chernobyl nuclear power plant (CNPP). looks desolate but actually well used as 2000 people still work in the area. cooling channel on the left.





reactors 5 and 6. unfinished due to the accident. the site was supposed to be vast when it was finished, they planned to build 12 reactors in total.














reactor 4, the one that exploded.





reactors 3 and 4.





reactor 3 close up. radiation is around 15000 mrh here. no one looked bothered though. there was a bloke slowly sweeping the road and an office block directly next to it.






then our driver said there was a place he had found that not many get to see, even our guide hadn't seen it. the cooling pond is a vast lake used, unsurprisingly, to cool the reactors. they bred fish in the pond to keep it clean. here is the pond tanks.





inside the adjacent shed was equipment used to breed the fish. this was in use till as late as 1998.





inside the lab buildning next door, presumably the fish they bred.





one room had loads of these specimens in a cupboard. lots had dates on.





long winter nights in the lab? lots of vodka.





all the mod cons. strange gas heater. some of the rooms looked like they had been used recently, one had a bed and recent style clothing.


----------



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

into pripyat at the end of the first day.

list of tenants in the block of flats.






someones flat. they all look pretty similar inside. most were bedsits with a rock and roll bed and little else left behind. ends of the blocks were proper 1/2 bed flats.





in the roof space of the block. mmmm asbestos.





poor old rex, don't know if he ate something he shouldn't have or was just old. been there a while anyway.





view from the roof. nursery to the right. all the roofs looked dodgy, all mishapen and looking like they were going to fall in, we didn't hang about up there.





one thing we forgot was a good torch. there are all sorts of holes everywhere and also open lift shafts falling 16 floors.






into the nursery now. this was probably one of the best buildings for being relatively intact with lots of stuff left behind. there are 15 of these in the town and loads of other schools too, one has collapsed i believe.





sleeping area for the babies.





one thing they were not short of, dollies. there are hundereds of them lying around.






into the engineering works now. i have a lot of pics from here but almost all have people in them and i don't have their permission to use them yet. if i do i'll post them up or find time to blank them out. the works are well worth a visit, loads of machinery, trucks, buses, switches and levers to play with.


----------



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

round to the hospital. not much here to be honest.most of the equipment has been taken by the liquidators and the building is one of the worst for general condition.













the police station was interesting though. the cells and everything are cool. the second floor had been boarded up for some reason. we surmised that as the building was used for all the top brass to stay in after the disaster they had customised it for some reason or another. we got access through another stair well and there was nothing special on the other side of the boards.





out the back of the police station and fire station. not sure why the trucks are on the roof.





lots of cool machinery out here though, none particularly radioactive.









this badboy is a little way from the police station. we couldn't stay here long as its badly contaminated. IIRC its 300000+ mrh.  





into one of the schools. i'll try and get the pics from my mate of the radiation levels inside and out of this building. the radiation in the courtyard is high but inside the building its almost nothing. very strange.

physics lesson





most rooms were like this





in the canteen. masks not used by the kids but by the liquidators later on. in the engineering works we found a whole room of these. some were unopened so we opened one, it let off a mighty hiss as we cracked the can open........new pair of trousers required.


----------



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

off to the port now. port building at the top of the steps to the boats.





water dispensers between the port building and the cafe. it was hot but i wasn't tempted.





stopped off for a film at the prometheas (sp) cinema. tried to get to the projector but it was manky up there. think it was here we saw a viper outside in the grass.





supermarket. lots of cool stuff here. in the back there is a strange racking system with a fixed forklift thing, didn't get a pic of it, if anyone has one post it up please.





the restaurant above the supermarket, pretty much gubbed, lots of womens shoes in here for some reason. this building is huge and there are at least 4 large restaurants and a mall style area too.





big kitchens out the back of the fancy restaurant next to the cultrual centre. these went on forever.





service corridor between kitchens.






cultural centre taken from the hotel roof. supermarket etc is on the left behind the trees.





mural inside the cultural centre. this building is big with lots to see inside, boxing rings, music rooms, theratres, lecture halls etc.





small pool for the top brass. apparently this is where all the debauchery went on, hookers and the like.





big pool for the normal folks.





big gym hall.





the hotel from the cultural centre......call of duty anyone?





last but not least the obligatory fairground visit. well photographed but heres mine anyway.


















thats all for now. if i get round to it i'll post the rest and even my mates pics when i get them. hope you liked it and thanks for looking.


----------



## Locksley (Aug 1, 2010)

Awesome! I'd love to go but just don't have the monies lol. Guess I'll have to make do with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In fact it always stuns me just how accurately they captured the look and feel of the place in the games.


----------



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

Locksley said:


> Awesome! I'd love to go but just don't have the monies lol. Guess I'll have to make do with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In fact it always stuns me just how accurately they captured the look and feel of the place in the games.




thanks. yeh it was quite expensive as there was only two of us. if you go with one of the tour companies they charge a flat fee and it doesnt matter how many go, within reason. best bet would be to get a load of mates and split the cost. either that or a site like this could run a tour.

if i went back i think i would try to pay the interinform guides direct and try and hire a driver through them or in kiev. that would probably save a fair old wedge. once you are there its relatively cheap compared to old blighty's high prices.


----------



## Foxylady (Aug 1, 2010)

Fabulous tour, nickso. Several areas that I haven't seen before. The abandoned boats and tanks are great...and I love that Port building.
Cheers.


----------



## lizm73 (Aug 1, 2010)

Great photos 
I had no idea you could pay for a trip there 
Did you have to wear special equipment?


----------



## King Al (Aug 1, 2010)

Superb report nickso, lots of bits i’ve not seen before, the fish breeding bit is cool and the supermarket Looking forward to seeing the pics from your next holiday!!


----------



## lost (Aug 1, 2010)

Some away from the usual shots there, nice work


----------



## nickso (Aug 1, 2010)

thanks folks. we got really lucky to have such a good guide and we were lucky to get off the beaten track too.

lizm73- no special equipment provided or required. like i say i wish i had a good torch. the guide said there was an underground labyrinth that he wouldn't let us go in. i reckon if we had the time, a torch and decent bribe we could have gone in though. two days simply isn't enough to see it all. i'm envious of the guides, even though they get bored of seeing the same old buildings they must get to see stuff no one else has.

king al- next holiday is in south america.......can't see it being so atmospheric but you never know


----------



## thepetrolhead (Aug 2, 2010)

Really outstanding stuff and great to see some new areas and images from such a fascinating place. Looks like you had a great guide. I get the impression that not all guides are the same. You clearly had a really liberal and knowledgeable one. I am deeply and unashamedly jealous.


----------



## loxley (Aug 2, 2010)

great pics love to go there maybe next years holiday .


----------



## sYnc_below (Aug 2, 2010)

Amazing place, always love seeing pix of Pripyat, you're braver than me


----------



## Lady Muck (Aug 2, 2010)

I love to see reports on Pripyat/Chernobyl. Great pics !


----------



## adam.h (Aug 4, 2010)

Awesome pics! would love to go there myself.


----------



## NobodyGirl (Aug 5, 2010)

I have to say im terribly Jealous, Im desperate to go. And these pics have made the heart grow fonder.


----------



## nickso (Aug 6, 2010)

if you are thinking of going, just do it. you won't regret it. 

to those asking about the guides. i reckon it's hit or miss. our first guy was really good the second guy not so good but we did keep him up til 3am drinking the night before so he was heavily hungover. 

most work 15 days on and 15 off and there was only three there when we were. obviously i don't know what the ones that were off are like. we also got lucky that our driver was extremely knowledgable about pripyat, even though he didn't speak english and clearly wanted to go home early on the second day, he took us to a few bits not often seen it seems.

will probably get further pics next week. i'll put them up if i get them.


----------



## nickso (Aug 15, 2010)

some more pics. seems my mates camera is even worse for quality than mine but hey ho. 



first building we went into.






relaxing on my balcony 





inside the block










view from the roof.





shows just how isolated the place is.





and how close it is to the reactor





another dolly in the kindergarten





getting a bit overgrown.





bus out the back of the engineering works





something important missing for it to work.





truck cab, quite f ew lying around





driver and guide trying to weigh themselves





radiation pretty low here. would be similar on the high street in your town.





in one of the rooms we found all these masks, some unopened.





we opened one and were going to try it on but they were too radioactive to risk it.


----------



## nickso (Aug 15, 2010)

outside the secondary school.





this didn't turn out as well as i hoped but it's stil linteresting top pic is the dosemeter reading inside the school building just next to an open window. bottom pic is the meter held outside the window into the courtyard, less that a metre of distance but a big change in contamination. 0.41 and 1.87 if you can't see it.









school canteen and the kitchens.





radioactive moss at the fairground, a good deal higher than normal, 15.27 if you cant see it.





bottom of the ferris wheel.





bigger gym hall, can't remember where this is......probably the cultural centre.





tired now. more tomorrow maybe.


----------



## nickso (Aug 15, 2010)

another view of the hotel from the main square at the bottom of Lenin Prospect.






from the hotel terrace we can see the main square. cultural centre on the right. supermarket/mall and restaurant building in the middle.





on the hotel terrace. the tiles were probably megabucks back in 1970-odd when they were fitted. the tree is firmly rooted to the spot, i tried to move it but it was solid.





just inside the front door of the hospital. doctors info on the boards and loads of admin info.....no idea what any of it means though. 





moving along randomly to the inside of the cinema. very dark in here....obviously. i really hope someone is inspired on this site to go and take a camera and decent flash to the cinema hall. the building is manky in general but the theatre hall is in pretty good condition.





front door of the police station. if you get this far go in, its one of the better buildings.





outside the fire station. it's directly behind the police station. inside is in pretty average condition and we chose not to go far into it. it's a big building though and there might be some gems in there for the more adventurous.





outside of the mall/restaurants. this is right next to the supermarket. it's a big building and easy to get lost in. while my mate took this pic i was deep in the bowels of the kitchens i posted pics of earlier.





directly outside the supermarket building looking towards the cultural centre and hotel.





the main road out of pripyat. this looks like it was taken right outside the guard station. the second time we left here there were trucks flying towards us with rad signs stuck to the front. our driver cursed somethig in ukrainian and the guide told us to wind our windows up quickly. turns out the trucks were probably full of radioactive material.....they were all open on the back and dust was flying about as they drove on. gotta love the soviet way.  the windows were kept shut for a mile until we reached the red forest....the worst contaminated area of all as it was the direction of wind travel on the day of the disaster....all the trees died in an instant and were later buried. we opened the car windows and measured the very high rad count on the dosemeter. 






the main drag in chernobyl city. this is the way back into town and about 100 metres down is the left turn to take us back to kiev and ultimately home.






enjoyed it thoroughly and i hope i'l get back one day. two things concern me. firstly, the trees and bushes are getting to be a bit overgrown. obviously if they want it to look as it was in 1986, they want it the way it is. problem is in about 5 years you might not get into the place as its too overgrown. 

secondly, some of the buildings are in very poor condition. at least one building has collapsed and several more look like they are on their merry way. the lax attitude to safety is a bonus but possibly a danger in the near future. i urge you to go now.


----------



## tommo (Aug 15, 2010)

very nice, i never get bored of seeing this place, yeah u get the normal tourist shots but then like u have done and alot of people have started going off and doing some of the stuff not normally seen, great one 

i will get over there one day i am sure lol


----------



## spacepunk (Aug 23, 2010)

Brilliant. I'm reading Iain banks 'Transition' at the mo and theres a bit where the character drives thru pripyat, so it's nice to see some images. Also, there was an article in the sun last week about the tours, £100 a pop seemingly.


----------



## sj9966 (Aug 23, 2010)

Top stuff, I am looking at visiting next year,do you mind me asking which tour company did you use?


----------



## chaoticreason (Aug 23, 2010)

I am green with envy; unlike you guys who probably just plain green.
Amazing shoots! It must be every urbexmen's dream come true to get to see such a place.Very sad it was created by such a great disaster though.


----------



## nickso (Aug 23, 2010)

sj9966 said:


> Top stuff, I am looking at visiting next year,do you mind me asking which tour company did you use?



thanks guys.

we went with soloeast travel. they have a good website and were very good overall, they did double book us however and were late picking us up with no explanation, all worked out ok in the end though.


----------



## T-bar (Aug 24, 2010)

Nice one guys keep the pics coming if you have anymore


----------



## Lauren444 (Aug 26, 2010)

Brilliant pictures, I really would like to go here, don't know if I would have the balls to or not though!
Hopefully one day! 
Thanks for posting you're pics, I love looking at Chernobyl & Pripyat.


----------



## devonian42 (Sep 10, 2010)

Thanks for these pics and your narrative of the visit nickso.

Another jewel on this gem of a site


----------



## Scaramanger (Sep 12, 2010)

Nice report.


Has your hair fell out yet ???


Don't know if yourve ever been to this site but its by some russian bird who cruises around the site on her motor bike. Her broken english is quite entertaining. Interestingly she says the area is no longer on local maps so unless you know the area you could be lost forever !!

have a look http://www.kiddofspeed.com/

see what you think

thanks

114


----------

