[ame]http://youtu.be/l2FBsp2egzY[/ame]
So, literally days before I went to Chernobyl this year I was getting phone calls / texts/ emails from my government agent saying all kinds of mixed up messages: “The zone is closed” “No visitors” “I will find somewhere else for you to explore” We were all panicked. We all wanted to visit the zone so much, but the figures were more than double what we paid for last year for 16 people to do 16 day trips!
Not knowing what would happen next, we spent what time we could in the next 24 hours googling alternatives.
I found an unfinished Nuclear reactor in the south of Crimea; it looked epic.
To cut a short story long, we went to Chernobyl and had the time of our lives (see previous 13 reports).
That night, sat on the floor on some rough carpet in the workers accommodation in Chernobyl, I was thinking about Reactor 4, only a few miles away, just silently sat there. All of a sudden I remembered this other plant. It clouded my thoughts and, even while I was engaged in conversation I couldn’t help my thoughts wandering to this unfinished power plant. “I wonder if it‘s still there?” I thought as I nodded and smiled at the person I was talking to. “I wonder if it has security? Or a fence?“
The problem was, it is was 1,955Km from this tiny room where we were all sat, slap bang in the centre of Chernobyl.
To put things into perspective: Edinburgh to Barcelona is only 1,634Km by road.
But I think we can make it. I interrupt the current conversation, and suggest that the next day we all start making the 1,955Km journey across the Ukraine terrain, towards this one site,. Which may or may not still be there. Despite my rudeness, they agree. I Google the train times:
N.B 609 Rubles = £12.68.
The next day, we spend a full day exploring Pripyat (turns out that was the last full day the buildings were open.) I passed all my radiation scans at the 30Km Checkpoint around 15:45, and we headed to Kiev, getting some snacks and wine along the way.
20:00: We arrive at Kiev Tran station and board a train, which is due to take us as close to the reactor as the train route will allow. The train journey is scheduled to take 14Hrs 21 Mins, to cover the next 1,014Km.
“I stretched out across the seats. Knackered from a day exploring Pripyat. I looped my camera bag through one of my arms for security, knowing I was likely to fall asleep at any minute. But the anxiety of suggesting this (minimum 3 day) detour to my fellow travellers, with no guaranteed explore at the end, kept me from dozing off. As I watched the sun set over the passing tower blocks of suburban Kiev I turned to my wine. “Bollocks! I’ve not got an opener” I hissed. I made some hand gesture, and soon a spoon was helpfully handed to me from along the carriage. I managed to jam the cork into the bottle, and pour myself a glass. The babushka below me tapped a little sign on the cabin wall showing a silhouette of a wine glass, with a red strike through. I peeled off the shabby sign and stuck it to my wine bottle. In the Ukraine that is all you need to repeal a law. I drank the bottle of wine quickly, whilst making small talk, mainly through hand gestures, then fell asleep to the rhythmic pulse of the track.”
I wake up around 6am, with no hangover. We’re running late, and we arrive in Simferopol around noon, still 180km away from our target.
We quickly find a taxi rank, and with a Google map print out I start trying to explain to the driver why I’ve drawn a radiation symbol on the edge of a lake 180km away. We agree a price which roughly translates as:
£68 to drive us there
£4 an hour to wait outside while we explore.
£34 to drive us back.
Bargain. We set off into the countryside not knowing what will happen. Three hours of driving pass, the landscape changes. Eventually I see a silhouette looming on the horizon. It matches up with my aerial view.
Map Drawn after trip.
Green = Buildings explored
Orange = Buildings demolished
Red = Buildings occupied
We initially believe that we’re the only ones for miles around.
There isn’t even a fence.
We head towards the main reactor building, only to be met by a huge, deep barking noise. I can only imagine a dog at least the size of a bear in there.
We dart into a side building I have named as “Plant” on the layout.
We stick our heads out and go back towards the main reactor building. Loud barking again.
We skirt around the side to what I have called “Admin” The storey heights, and full height openings for fenestration would suggest that purpose.
We climb the unfinished stairs to the highest point. The view is spectacular.
I wanted to go to the edge, but it was just balancing there!
You can see this bare bit of structure on the aerial view. It would dwarf the Brandenberg Gate. Here it is from the Admin building:
And from the ground:
At the base were water inlet tubes, and they were huge!
We couldn’t progress any further west as people were dismantling the plant. Illegitimate or legitimate I’ll never know. We were extremely conscious of them as we made our way towards the reactor building: the main reason we’re here.
Looking up at the Southern façade:
On the video you hear the loud barking once again, followed by Simon saying “I’m going to have something big and heavy in my hand if I’m going near him” And with that he picked up a lump of concrete in his left hand, camera in the right hand and we anxiously followed him in.
We keep away from the barking as best we could, and made our way silently through the darkness towards the reactor. By the time we’re half way up I sense daylight, and turn a corner to investigate. I am met by the breathtaking majesty of an actual nuclear reactor core:
For an idea of scale, these holes are in the Southern façade in 5 pics up.
Hearing the clunking of the people removing metal near by, as well as barking, we knew our time here could come to an end at any moment, so we decided to head straight for the roof.
Reactor core at roof level:
The view East. The occupied workshops on the right, reservoirs to the left.
The view South:
That massive structure earlier that dwarfed the Brandenburg Gate…that’s the thing on the right:
The view West. The people were working directly below me!
The view North: You can see where one building has been completely demolished, and the one at the back is lived in. You can just make out the pig pen / man chopping wood!
Makeshift grappling hook:
Shielded chamber
After seeing all the roof had to offer we start to make our way down, stopping of course for some self portraits along the way.
Exploring each level systematically, we eventually find the control centre deep in the building. There is no light at all.
I check the time and realise we’ve been in here for 5 hours. We go back to our taxi driver who has been waiting patiently. Our bill comes to around £128 (1,525 UAH) But we give him 2,000 UAH (£160) which works out to £20 per person; absolute bargain for the distance / explore.
So, literally days before I went to Chernobyl this year I was getting phone calls / texts/ emails from my government agent saying all kinds of mixed up messages: “The zone is closed” “No visitors” “I will find somewhere else for you to explore” We were all panicked. We all wanted to visit the zone so much, but the figures were more than double what we paid for last year for 16 people to do 16 day trips!
Not knowing what would happen next, we spent what time we could in the next 24 hours googling alternatives.
I found an unfinished Nuclear reactor in the south of Crimea; it looked epic.
To cut a short story long, we went to Chernobyl and had the time of our lives (see previous 13 reports).
That night, sat on the floor on some rough carpet in the workers accommodation in Chernobyl, I was thinking about Reactor 4, only a few miles away, just silently sat there. All of a sudden I remembered this other plant. It clouded my thoughts and, even while I was engaged in conversation I couldn’t help my thoughts wandering to this unfinished power plant. “I wonder if it‘s still there?” I thought as I nodded and smiled at the person I was talking to. “I wonder if it has security? Or a fence?“
The problem was, it is was 1,955Km from this tiny room where we were all sat, slap bang in the centre of Chernobyl.
To put things into perspective: Edinburgh to Barcelona is only 1,634Km by road.
But I think we can make it. I interrupt the current conversation, and suggest that the next day we all start making the 1,955Km journey across the Ukraine terrain, towards this one site,. Which may or may not still be there. Despite my rudeness, they agree. I Google the train times:
N.B 609 Rubles = £12.68.
The next day, we spend a full day exploring Pripyat (turns out that was the last full day the buildings were open.) I passed all my radiation scans at the 30Km Checkpoint around 15:45, and we headed to Kiev, getting some snacks and wine along the way.
20:00: We arrive at Kiev Tran station and board a train, which is due to take us as close to the reactor as the train route will allow. The train journey is scheduled to take 14Hrs 21 Mins, to cover the next 1,014Km.
“I stretched out across the seats. Knackered from a day exploring Pripyat. I looped my camera bag through one of my arms for security, knowing I was likely to fall asleep at any minute. But the anxiety of suggesting this (minimum 3 day) detour to my fellow travellers, with no guaranteed explore at the end, kept me from dozing off. As I watched the sun set over the passing tower blocks of suburban Kiev I turned to my wine. “Bollocks! I’ve not got an opener” I hissed. I made some hand gesture, and soon a spoon was helpfully handed to me from along the carriage. I managed to jam the cork into the bottle, and pour myself a glass. The babushka below me tapped a little sign on the cabin wall showing a silhouette of a wine glass, with a red strike through. I peeled off the shabby sign and stuck it to my wine bottle. In the Ukraine that is all you need to repeal a law. I drank the bottle of wine quickly, whilst making small talk, mainly through hand gestures, then fell asleep to the rhythmic pulse of the track.”
I wake up around 6am, with no hangover. We’re running late, and we arrive in Simferopol around noon, still 180km away from our target.
We quickly find a taxi rank, and with a Google map print out I start trying to explain to the driver why I’ve drawn a radiation symbol on the edge of a lake 180km away. We agree a price which roughly translates as:
£68 to drive us there
£4 an hour to wait outside while we explore.
£34 to drive us back.
Bargain. We set off into the countryside not knowing what will happen. Three hours of driving pass, the landscape changes. Eventually I see a silhouette looming on the horizon. It matches up with my aerial view.
Map Drawn after trip.
Green = Buildings explored
Orange = Buildings demolished
Red = Buildings occupied
We initially believe that we’re the only ones for miles around.
There isn’t even a fence.
We head towards the main reactor building, only to be met by a huge, deep barking noise. I can only imagine a dog at least the size of a bear in there.
We dart into a side building I have named as “Plant” on the layout.
We stick our heads out and go back towards the main reactor building. Loud barking again.
We skirt around the side to what I have called “Admin” The storey heights, and full height openings for fenestration would suggest that purpose.
We climb the unfinished stairs to the highest point. The view is spectacular.
I wanted to go to the edge, but it was just balancing there!
You can see this bare bit of structure on the aerial view. It would dwarf the Brandenberg Gate. Here it is from the Admin building:
And from the ground:
At the base were water inlet tubes, and they were huge!
We couldn’t progress any further west as people were dismantling the plant. Illegitimate or legitimate I’ll never know. We were extremely conscious of them as we made our way towards the reactor building: the main reason we’re here.
Looking up at the Southern façade:
On the video you hear the loud barking once again, followed by Simon saying “I’m going to have something big and heavy in my hand if I’m going near him” And with that he picked up a lump of concrete in his left hand, camera in the right hand and we anxiously followed him in.
We keep away from the barking as best we could, and made our way silently through the darkness towards the reactor. By the time we’re half way up I sense daylight, and turn a corner to investigate. I am met by the breathtaking majesty of an actual nuclear reactor core:
For an idea of scale, these holes are in the Southern façade in 5 pics up.
Hearing the clunking of the people removing metal near by, as well as barking, we knew our time here could come to an end at any moment, so we decided to head straight for the roof.
Reactor core at roof level:
The view East. The occupied workshops on the right, reservoirs to the left.
The view South:
That massive structure earlier that dwarfed the Brandenburg Gate…that’s the thing on the right:
The view West. The people were working directly below me!
The view North: You can see where one building has been completely demolished, and the one at the back is lived in. You can just make out the pig pen / man chopping wood!
Makeshift grappling hook:
Shielded chamber
After seeing all the roof had to offer we start to make our way down, stopping of course for some self portraits along the way.
Exploring each level systematically, we eventually find the control centre deep in the building. There is no light at all.
I check the time and realise we’ve been in here for 5 hours. We go back to our taxi driver who has been waiting patiently. Our bill comes to around £128 (1,525 UAH) But we give him 2,000 UAH (£160) which works out to £20 per person; absolute bargain for the distance / explore.
