Believe or not, one can visit Chernobyl, just contact one of a few Ukrainian operators who organize tours almost every day…
Go in the morning to Kiev at the now famous square Maidan, and it is a bus of tourists “de l’extrême” which soars some 150km north of the capital, near the Belarusian border.
The first stop is at the checkpoint of the 30km zone, where the passports of all visitors are controlled by a militia Member… and it was quite crowded that morning !
Then the bus restarts and takes us to the old village of Chernobyl (to distinguish from Prypiat who is the new town built in 1970 for the personnel of the plant), that existed long before the plant and is still inhabited by scientists and manufacturers of the new sarcophagus. The first point “of interest” is the alignment of the road signs from all the villages deserted following the disaster, and that looks to be mistaken at a cemetery. Following an exhibition of robots liquidators (fallen down after a few days because of the intensity of radiation, and which have been replaced by conscripts), the fire station with its monument “to those who have saved the world” (installed by firefighters themselves, the Ukrainian State did not contribute to height of a kopeck. You said ingratitude ?), then the relatively famous kindergarten which could now serve as decor for a second-rate horror movie.
The guide always keeps with him a Geiger counter, that remains surprisingly calm most of the time. You should know that the road has been rebuilt since the disaster and is regularly washed, and certain lands were covered with new land. Nature, which resumed its rights gives a misleading impression : it is forbidden to put things in earth, to gather plants and sink in the woods. In some places reported by the now well-known pictogram, the meter suddenly panics.
Approaching then the “Monster” that was nearly scratch map Europe, and we discover in passing the carcasses of two other reactors whose construction was brutally interrupted the aftermath of the disaster, with a nuclear waste storage building designed by the French, but unusable because of too small dimensions (“the most expensive monument offered by the France in the Ukraine” according to the guide); We also see the reactors 1 and 2 (It is the 4 that exploded) which continued to operate until the early 2000 !
After a few “selfies” 3rd type, we are heading to Pripyat, the Soviet model city built in 1970 to host the plant staff. All Soviet classics therein : monolithic buildings, “dvorets kultury” (Palace of culture, in fact an entertainment financed by the plant : cinema, Theatre…), the grand hotel, empty store… and the famous Ferris wheel, which was never filmed because it was to be inaugurated on Sunday following the accident at the plant…
Return, the passage of the checkpoint includes the detection of contamination. Small second of concern through the portal until the indicator light “ЧИСТИЙ” (clean) does light…
