How many years have passed since the tragedy? The course of the accident itself, its causes and consequences have already been completely determined and are known to everyone. As far as I know, there is not even any double interpretation here, except in small things. Yes, you know everything yourself. Let me tell you some seemingly ordinary moments, but perhaps you haven’t thought about them.
Myth one: Chernobyl is remote from big cities.
In fact, in the case of the Chernobyl disaster, only an accident did not lead to the evacuation of Kyiv, for example. Chernobyl is located 14 km from the nuclear power plant, and Kyiv is only 151 km from Chernobyl (according to other sources 131 km) by road. And in a straight line, which is preferable for a radiation cloud and 100 km will not be - 93.912 km. And Wikipedia generally gives the following data - the physical distance to Kyiv is 83 km, along roads - 115 km.
By the way, full map for completeness
Clickable 2000 px
IN During the first days of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the battle against radiation was also waged on the outskirts of Kyiv. The threat of infection came not only from the Chernobyl wind, but also from the wheels of vehicles traveling from Pripyat to the capital. The problem of purifying radioactive water formed after the decontamination of cars was solved by scientists from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
IN In April-May 1986, eight radioactive control points for vehicles were organized around the capital. Cars heading to Kyiv were simply sprayed with hoses. And all the water went into the soil. Reservoirs were built in a fire emergency to collect used radioactive water. In just a matter of days they were filled to the brim. The capital's radioactive shield could turn into its nuclear sword.
AND Only then did the leadership of Kyiv and the civil defense headquarters agree to consider the proposal of polytechnic chemists to purify contaminated water. Moreover, there have already been developments in this regard. Long before the accident, a laboratory was created at KPI for the development of reagents for wastewater treatment, headed by Professor Alexander Petrovich Shutko.
P The technology for water disinfection from radionuclides proposed by Shutko’s group did not require the construction of complex treatment facilities. Decontamination was carried out directly in the storage tanks. Within two hours after treating the water with special coagulants radioactive substances settled to the bottom, and the purified water met the maximum permissible standards. After that, only radioactive fallout was buried in a 30-kilometer zone. Can you imagine if the problem of water purification had not been solved? Then many eternal burial grounds with radioactive water would be built around Kyiv!
TO Unfortunately, Professor A.P. Shutko. He left us at just 57 years old, just 20 days short of the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. And the chemist scientists who worked with him side by side in the Chernobyl zone, for their dedicated work, managed to receive the “title of liquidators”, free travel in transport and a bunch of diseases associated with radiation exposure. Among them is an associate professor of the Department of Industrial Ecology of the National Polytechnic University Anatoly Krysenko. It was to him that Professor Shutko was the first to suggest testing reagents for cleaning radioactive waters. Working with him in Shutko’s group were KPI Associate Professor Vitaly Basov and Lev Malakhov, Associate Professor at the Civil Air Fleet Institute.
Why is the Chernobyl accident, and the dead city is PRIPYAT?
There are several evacuated settlements located on the territory of the exclusion zone:
Pripyat
Chernobyl
Novoshepelichi
Polesskoe
Vilcha
Severovka
Yanov
Kopachi
Chernobyl-2
Visual distance between Pripyat and Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Why is only Pripyat so famous? This is simply the largest city in the exclusion zone and the closest to it - according to the last census conducted before the evacuation (in November 1985), the population was 47 thousand 500 people, more than 25 nationalities. For example, only 12 thousand people lived in Chernobyl itself before the accident.
By the way, after the accident Chernobyl was not abandoned and completely evacuated like Pripyat. 
People live in the city. These are EMERCOM officers, police officers, cooks, janitors, and plumbers. There are about 1500 of them. It's mostly men on the streets. In camouflage. This is the local fashion. Some apartment buildings are inhabited, but people do not live there permanently: the curtains are faded, the paint on the windows is peeling, the windows are closed.
People stay here temporarily, work on shifts, and live in dormitories. Another couple of thousand people work at the nuclear power plant; they mostly live in Slavutich and go to work by train.
Most work in the zone on a rotational basis, 15 days here, 15 days outside. Locals say the average salary in Chernobyl is only 1,700 UAH, but this is very average, some have more. True, there is nothing special to spend money on here: you don’t need to pay for public utilities, housing, food (everyone is fed three times a day for free, and not bad). There is one store, but the choice there is small. There are no beer stalls or any entertainment at the sensitive facility. By the way, Chernobyl is also a return to the past. In the center of the city stands Lenin in full height, a monument to the Komsomol, all the street names are from that era. In the city, the background is about 30-50 microroentgen - the maximum permissible for humans.
Now let’s turn to the blogger’s materials vit_au_lit :
Myth two: lack of attendance.
Many people probably think that only radiation seekers, stalkers, etc. go to the accident zone, and normal people will not come closer than 30 km to this zone. How fitting they are!
The first checkpoint on the road to the plant is Zone III: a 30-kilometer perimeter around the nuclear power plant. At the entrance to the checkpoint, such a line of cars lined up that I couldn’t even imagine: despite the fact that the cars were allowed through the control in 3 rows, we stood for about an hour, waiting for our turn. 
The reason for this is active attendance former residents Chernobyl and Pripyat from April 26 to the May holidays. They all go either to their previous places of residence, or to cemeteries, or “to the graves,” as they also say here.
Myth three: closedness.
Were you sure that all entrances to the nuclear power plant are carefully guarded, and no one except maintenance personnel is allowed in, and you can only get inside the zone by stepping on the guards’ paw? Nothing like this. Of course, you can’t just drive through the checkpoint, but the police just issue a pass for each car, indicating the number of passengers, and go ahead and get exposed. 
They say that before they also asked for passports. By the way, children under 18 years old are not allowed into the zone.
The road to Chernobyl is surrounded on both sides by a wall of trees, but if you look closely, you can see the abandoned dilapidated ruins of private houses among the lush vegetation. No one will return to them.
Myth four: uninhabitable.
Chernobyl, located between the 30- and 10-kilometer perimeters around the nuclear power plant, is quite inhabitable. The service personnel of the station and surrounding areas, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and those who returned to their former places live in it. The city has shops, bars, and some other amenities of civilization, but no children.
To enter the 10-kilometer perimeter, it is enough to show the pass issued at the first checkpoint. Another 15 minutes by car and we arrive at the nuclear power plant. 
It's time to get a dosimeter, which my madam carefully provided me with, having begged this device from her grandfather, who was obsessed with this kind of gadgets. Before leaving vit_au_lit I took readings in the courtyard of my house: 14 microR/hour - typical indicators for an uninfected environment.
We put the dosimeter on the grass, and while we take a couple of shots against the backdrop of the flowerbed, the device quietly calculates itself. What did he intend there? 
Heh, 63 microR/hour - 4.5 times more than the average city norm... after that we get advice from our guides: walk only on the concrete road, because... The slabs are more or less cleared, but don’t get into the grass.
Myth five: the inaccessibility of nuclear power plants.
For some reason, it always seemed to me that the nuclear power plant itself was surrounded by some kilometer-long perimeter of barbed wire, so that God forbid some adventurer would come closer to the station than a few hundred meters and receive a dose of radiation.
The road leads us straight to the central entrance, where regular buses arrive from time to time, transporting plant workers - people continue to work at the nuclear power plant to this day. According to our guides, several thousand people, although this figure seemed too high to me, because all the reactors had long been shut down. Behind the workshop you can see the pipe of the destroyed reactor 4.
The area in front of the central administrative building has been converted into one large memorial to those killed during the liquidation of the accident.
The names of those who died in the first hours after the explosion are carved on the marble slabs.
Pripyat: that same dead city. Its construction began simultaneously with the construction of the nuclear power plant, and it was intended for plant workers and their families. It is located some 2 kilometers from the station, so it suffered the most.
There is a stele at the entrance to the city. In this part of the road the radiation background is the most dangerous: 
257 microR/hour, which is almost 18 times higher than the city average. In other words, the dose of radiation that we receive in 18 hours in the city, here we will receive in an hour.
A few more minutes and we reach the Pripyat checkpoint. The road runs close to the railway line: in the old days, the most ordinary passenger trains ran along it, for example Moscow-Khmelnitsky. Passengers traveling this route on April 26, 1986 were then issued a Chernobyl certificate.
People are allowed into the city only on foot; we were never able to get permission to travel, although the guides had IDs.
Speaking of the myth of non-attendance. Here is a photo taken from the roof of one of the high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the city, near the checkpoint: among the trees you can see cars and buses parked along the road leading to Pripyat. 
And this is what the road looked like before the accident, during the time of the “living” city. 
The previous photo was taken from the roof of the rightmost of the 3 nine areas in the foreground.
Myth six: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant does not work after the accident.
On May 22, 1986, by resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 583, the commissioning date for power units No. 1 and 2 of the Chernobyl NPP was set as October 1986. Decontamination was carried out in the premises of the power units of the first stage; on July 15, 1986, its first stage was completed.
In August, at the second stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, communications common to the 3rd and 4th units were cut, and a concrete dividing wall was erected in the turbine room.
After the work was completed to modernize the plant's systems, provided for by the measures approved by the USSR Ministry of Energy on June 27, 1986 and aimed at improving the safety of nuclear power plants with RBMK reactors, on September 18, permission was received to begin the physical start-up of the reactor of the first power unit. On October 1, 1986, the first power unit was launched and at 16:47 it was connected to the network. On November 5, power unit No. 2 was launched.
On November 24, 1987, the physical start-up of the reactor of the third power unit began; the power start-up took place on December 4. On December 31, 1987, by decision of the Government Commission No. 473, the act of acceptance into operation of the 3rd power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after repair and restoration work was approved.
The third stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, unfinished power units 5 and 6, 2008. Construction of the 5th and 6th blocks was stopped when high degree readiness of objects.
However, as you remember, there were many complaints foreign countries regarding the operating Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
By the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 22, 1997, it was recognized as expedient to carry out early decommissioning power unit No. 1, shut down on November 30, 1996.
By the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 15, 1999, it was recognized as expedient to carry out early decommissioning power unit No. 2, shut down after an accident in 1991.
From December 5, 2000, the reactor's power was gradually reduced in preparation for shutdown. On December 14, the reactor was operated at 5% power for the shutdown ceremony and December 15, 2000 at 13:17 By order of the President of Ukraine, during the broadcast of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - National Palace "Ukraine" teleconference, by turning the fifth level emergency protection key (AZ-5), the reactor of power unit No. 3 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was stopped forever, and the station stopped generating electricity.
Let's honor the memory of the heroic liquidators who, without sparing their lives, saved other people.
Since we're talking about tragedies, let's remember The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred more than 30 years ago. The destruction of the reactor led to a colossal release of radioactive substances into environment. According to the official version, 31 people died in the first 3 months, and in subsequent years this figure approached one hundred. There is still some debate as to what caused the disaster. The consequences of what happened will be felt for many more decades, if not hundreds of years. After the accident, a 30-kilometer zone was established, from which almost the entire population was evacuated, and free movement was prohibited. This entire territory froze in 1986. Today we will look at 7 of the most interesting objects in Chernobyl zone alienation.
Today Pripyat is not such a “dead city” - excursions are regularly organized there, and stalkers walk around. Pripyat is considered a Soviet city-museum under open air. This abandoned place has retained the energy of the mid-80s, which attracts tourists from all over the world. We will look at some of the most interesting places of this city.
Hotel "Polesie" was once business card Pripyat. It is located in the city center, next to an amusement park, which is clearly visible from its windows, and with observation deck The main city square and the no less famous Energetik Palace of Culture are clearly visible. Climbing onto the roof becomes more and more dangerous every year, because it has not been in use for a long time. better condition, but visitors to the Zone are drawn to touch the huge letters that make up the name of the hotel.
The emergency response headquarters was set up in the hotel building. From the hotel roof the 4th power unit is clearly visible, so it was possible to correct the actions of the helicopters that were putting out the fire.
In some rooms there are dilapidated interior items. In general, looters did a good job in Pripyat at one time. They took out equipment, furniture, cut off batteries and took away everything that had any value, without even thinking about what all this could do great harm health.
Paradoxically, even today the hotel receives tourists who, of course, do not come there to rent a room. They admire the views of Pripyat, get acquainted with the features of Soviet apartments and are amazed at the trees that grow through the floor.
This artificial pond was created to cool the station's reactors. The cooling pond is located on the site of an abandoned quarry, several small lakes and the old bed of the Pripyat River. The depth of this reservoir reaches 20 m. A dam divides it in the middle for better circulation of cold and warm water.
Today the cooling pond is located 6 meters above the level of the Pripyat River, and maintaining it in this condition is costly. Taking into account the fact that the station is no longer operating, the water level is gradually reduced, and over time the reservoir is completely planned to drain. This causes concern among many, because at the bottom there is a lot of debris from the reactor of the fourth power unit, highly active fuel elements and radiation dust. However, negative consequences can be avoided if the gradual decrease in water level is correctly calculated so that the bare areas of the bottom have time to acquire vegetation that will prevent the rise of radioactive dust.
By the way, the Chernobyl NPP cooling pond is one of the largest artificial reservoirs in Europe.
The condition of the pond is constantly monitored in order to assess how its ecosystem has suffered from radiation exposure. Although the diversity of living creatures has decreased, it has not disappeared completely. Today, it is quite possible to catch a normal-looking fish in a pond, but it is not recommended to eat it.
DK Energetik
Let's return to the center of Pripyat. The main square of the city is overlooked by the Energetik Palace of Culture, which, along with the Polesie Hotel, is a must-see.
It is logical to assume that all the cultural activities of the city. Circles gathered here, concerts and performances were held, and discos were held in the evenings. The building had its own gym, library and cinema. The recreation center was a favorite place for the youth of Pripyat.
Today you can still find the remains of the marble tiles that lined the building, stained glass windows and mosaics. Despite the destruction, the building still retains that famous spirit of the Soviet era.
City amusement park in Pripyat
Perhaps the most famous attraction of Pripyat is the city amusement park with its Ferris wheel. It is worth noting that this one of the most contaminated places in the city, but once upon a time in the park, enthusiastic children's voices were heard every now and then.
Cars, swings, carousels, boats and other attributes of the amusement park will never be used for their intended purpose, but among numerous tourists and stalkers they are popular as a kind of attraction.
Ferris wheel managed to become a symbol of the already deserted Pripyat. Interestingly, it was never put into operation. It was supposed to open on May 1, 1986, but 5 days before that there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant...
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Today, for a certain amount of money, you can visit the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant itself. There you will see how it goes construction of the "Arch", which should cover the 4th power unit along with the old sarcophagus. In the power plant building itself, you can walk along the “golden corridor”, get acquainted with the reactor control panel, and also find out how the Chernobyl nuclear power plant worked in general. Regular excursions are limited only to tourists staying near the station.
The arch should cover the message of the 4th power unit Of course, illegal travelers cannot enter the heart of the Zone - everything is reliably guarded. However, the station and the “Arch” under construction are clearly visible from the high-rise buildings of Pripyat. Every self-respecting stalker is sure to capture a photo of the view of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
By the way, about 4,000 people now work at the station. They are engaged in the construction of the Arch and work on decommissioning power units.
Red forest
This area of forest, located not far from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, during the accident took on the largest share of radioactive dust, which led to the death of trees and coloring of their foliage brown-red. It is noteworthy that the enzymes of the trees reacted with radiation, which is why a glow was observed in the forest at night. As part of the decontamination, the Red Forest was demolished and buried. Today the trees are growing again, of course, already having a normal color.
However, today there are young pines with signs of mutations. This can be expressed in excessive or, conversely, insufficient branching. Some trees, having reached the age of about 20 years, were never able to grow above 2 meters. The needles on pine trees can also look intricate: they can be elongated, shortened, or completely absent.
By the way, the remaining power units were still operating for some time. The last one was turned off in 2000.
An unpleasant feeling may arise from the burial grounds where the demolished trees were buried. Mounds and branches sticking out of the ground evoke unpleasant associations for many.
The remains of unburied trees are also of interest. This view clearly demonstrates how nature can suffer from human activity. This area is perhaps one of the saddest places in the Exclusion Zone.
Arc
The object is represented by a huge complex of antennas. This radar station performed the task of detecting intercontinental missile launches. ballistic missiles. Our military could see the American missile, actually looking over the horizon. Hence the name "Arc". To ensure the operation of the complex, about 1000 people were needed, which is why a small town was organized for the military and their families. And so it arose object "Chernobyl-2". Before the accident, the installation was used for only a few years, and after that it was abandoned.
The radar antennas are of Soviet engineering. According to some reports, the construction of “Duga” cost twice as much as the creation of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Western countries were not happy with this installation. They constantly complained that she was interfering with work civil aviation. Interestingly, “Duga” created a characteristic knocking sound on the air, for which it was nicknamed “Russian Woodpecker”.
The height of the antennas reaches 150 m, and the length of the entire building is about 500 m. Due to its impressive size the installation is visible from almost anywhere in the Zone.
Nature is gradually destroying the buildings of the Chernobyl-2 facility. But the “Duga” itself will still stand for more than one year, unless, of course, the Ukrainian authorities (or some others) want to waste tons of contaminated metal, as happened with the fleet of vehicles that were involved in eliminating the consequences of the accident...
Many stalker-roofers, not afraid of the guards who patrol those places, climb as high as possible onto one of the antennas and capture Chernobyl landscapes in photos.
In the well-known series of games S.T.A.L.K.E.R. there is a so-called “Brain Burner” installation, with which “Arc” is associated, which further attracts adventurers.
Conclusion
The Chernobyl exclusion zone is undoubtedly a unique place on Earth, a kind of piece Soviet Union in the 21st century. It is very sad that the city of Pripyat was thoroughly plundered by looters - they could have at least left the finishing intact, but no - they even pulled out the wiring. However, it is important for the modern generation to treat the Zone not as a tourist attraction or a place where you can see places from the games, but as a reminder that our scientific achievements can leave scars on Earth that will take centuries to heal.
The terrible disaster in Chernobyl became an unprecedented event in historical chronicle nuclear energy. In the first days after the accident, it was not possible to assess the real scale of the incident, and only after some time an exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was created within a radius of 30 km. What happened and is still happening in the closed area? The world is full of various rumors, some of which are the fruit of an inflamed imagination, and some of which are the true truth. And the most obvious and realistic things do not always turn out to be reality. After all, we are talking about Chernobyl - one of the most dangerous and mysterious territories of Ukraine.
History of the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
A plot of land 4 km from the village of Kopachi and 15 km from the city of Chernobyl was chosen in 1967 for the construction of a new nuclear power plant, designed to compensate for the energy shortage in the Central Energy Region. The future station was named Chernobyl.
The first 4 power units were built and put into operation by 1983; in 1981, construction began on power units 5 and 6, which lasted until the infamous 1986. Over the course of several years, a town of power engineers emerged near the station - Pripyat.
The first accident hit the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1982 - after scheduled repairs, an explosion occurred at power unit 1. The consequences of the breakdown were eliminated within three months, after which the additional measures security to prevent similar incidents in the future.
But, apparently, fate decided to finish what it started; the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was not supposed to work. That's why on the night of April 25-26, 1986 Another explosion occurred at power unit 4. This time the incident resulted in a global disaster. No one can still say for sure what exactly caused the reactor explosion, which resulted in thousands of broken destinies, twisted lives and premature deaths. The disaster, Chernobyl, the exclusion zone - the history of this incident is controversial to this day, although the time of the accident itself has been established with an accuracy of seconds.
A few minutes before the explosion of the 4th power unit
On the night of April 25-26, 1986, an experimental test of turbogenerator 8 was scheduled. The experiment started at 1:23:10 on April 26, and 30 seconds later a powerful explosion occurred as a result of a drop in pressure.
Chernobyl accident
The 4th power unit was mired in fire, firefighters managed to completely extinguish the fire by 5 o’clock in the morning. And a few hours later it became known how powerful the release of radiation into the environment was. A couple of weeks later, the authorities decided to cover the destroyed power unit with a concrete sarcophagus, but it was too late. The radioactive cloud spread over a fairly large distance.
The Chernobyl disaster brought great trouble: the exclusion zone, created shortly after the event, prohibited Free access to the vast territory belonging to Ukraine and Belarus.
Area of the Chernobyl exclusion zone
Within a radius of 30 kilometers from the epicenter of the accident there is abandonment and silence. These are the territories Soviet authorities considered dangerous for permanent residence of people. All residents of the exclusion zone were evacuated to other settlements. Several more zones were additionally defined in the restricted area:
- a special zone occupied directly by the nuclear power plant itself and the construction site of power units 5 and 6;
- zone 10 km;
- zone 30 km.
The boundaries of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were surrounded by a fence, warning signs were installed about elevated level radiation. Ukrainian lands that fell into the forbidden territory - Pripyat itself, the village of Severovka, Zhytomyr region, villages Kyiv region Novoshepelevichi, Polesskoye, Vilcha, Yanov, Kopachi.
The village of Kopachi is located at a distance of 3800 meters from the 4th power unit. It was so badly damaged by radioactive substances that the authorities decided to physically destroy it. The most massive rural buildings were destroyed and buried underground. The previously prosperous Kopachi were simply wiped off the face of the earth. Currently there are not even self-settlers here.
The accident also affected a large area of Belarusian lands. A significant part of the Gomel region fell under the ban; about 90 settlements fell within the radius of the exclusion zone and were abandoned by local residents.
Mutants of Chernobyl
Territories abandoned by people were soon taken over by wild animals. And people, in turn, launched into lengthy discussions about the monsters into which radiation had turned the entire animal world exclusion zones. There were rumors about mice with five legs, three-eyed hares, glowing boars and many other fantastic transformations. Some rumors were reinforced by others, multiplied, spread and gained new fans. It got to the point that some “storytellers” started rumors about the existence of closed area museum of mutant animals. Of course, no one managed to find this amazing museum. And with fantastic animals it turned out to be a complete bummer.
Animals in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are indeed exposed to radiation. Radioactive vapors settle on plants that some species feed on. The exclusion zone is inhabited by wolves, foxes, bears, wild boars, hares, otters, lynxes, deer, badgers, the bats. Their bodies successfully cope with pollution and increased radioactive background. Therefore, the forbidden zone unwittingly became something of a reserve for many species of rare animals living on the territory of Ukraine.
And yet, there were mutants in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This term can be applied to plants. Radiation became a kind of fertilizer for flora, and in the first years after the accident, the size of the plants amazed the imagination. Both wild and commercial crops grew huge. The forest 2 km from the nuclear power plant was particularly damaged. The trees are the only ones who could not escape from the radioactive explosion, so they completely absorbed all the fumes and turned red. The red forest could turn out even more terrible tragedy, if it caught fire. Fortunately, this did not happen.
The Red Forest is the most dangerous forest on the planet, and at the same time, the most persistent. Radiation seemed to preserve it, slowing down all natural processes. So, the Red Forest immerses you in some kind of parallel reality, where the measure of everything is eternity.
Residents of the Chernobyl exclusion zone
After the accident, only station workers and rescuers were left in the exclusion zone to eliminate the consequences of the accident. The entire civilian population was evacuated. But the years passed, and significant amount people returned to their homes in the exclusion zone, despite legal prohibitions. These desperate guys began to be called self-settlers. Back in 1986, the number of residents of the Chernobyl exclusion zone numbered 1,200 people. What is most interesting is that many of them were already in retirement age and lived longer than those who left the radioactive zone.
Now the number of self-settlers in Ukraine does not exceed 200 people. All of them are dispersed across 11 settlements located in the exclusion zone. In Belarus, the stronghold of the inhabitants of the Chernobyl exclusion zone is the village of Zaelitsa, an academic town in the Mogilev region.
Basically, self-settlers are elderly people who could not come to terms with the loss of their home and all the property acquired through back-breaking labor. They returned to their contaminated homes to live out their short lives. Since there is no economy or any infrastructure in the exclusion zone, people living in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are engaged in homestead farming, gathering, sometimes hunting. In general, they were engaged in their usual type of activity within their own walls. So no radiation is scary. This is how life goes in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Chernobyl exclusion zone today
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant finally ceased operation only in 2000. Since then, the exclusion zone has become completely quiet and gloomy. Abandoned towns and villages make your skin crawl and make you want to run away from here as far as possible. But there are also brave daredevils for whom the dead zone is the abode of exciting adventures. Despite all the physical and legal prohibitions, stalker-adventurers constantly explore the abandoned settlements of the zone and find a lot of interesting things there.
Today there is even a special direction in tourism - Pripyat and the surrounding area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Excursions to the dead city arouse great curiosity not only among residents of Ukraine, but also among guests from abroad. Tours to Chernobyl last up to 5 days - this is how long one person is officially allowed to stay in the contaminated area. But usually trips are limited to one day. The group, led by experienced guides, walks along a specially designed route that does not cause harm to health.
When to visit
| May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | but I | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | |
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Virtual walk around Pripyat
And for those curious who do not dare to get to know Pripyat with their own eyes, there is a virtual walk through the Chernobyl exclusion zone - exciting and certainly absolutely safe!
Chernobyl exclusion zone: satellite map
For those who are not afraid to travel, it will be very useful detailed map exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It marks the boundaries of a 30-kilometer zone, indicating settlements, station buildings and other local attractions. With such a guide, you won't be afraid to get lost.
On the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, everyone usually writes about the accident itself, the liquidators, and shows creepy footage where even on old Soviet film the effects of radiation are visible. Sometimes they cover in detail life in contaminated areas or talk about the adventures of stalkers in the “Exclusion Zone”.
cause artificial rains directly on the heads of Belarusians. We are publishing for you a specialized investigative article from open sources, which shows that Moscow and I have a lot to pay off.
Chernobyl Rain on the heads of Belarusians
For twenty years, the authorities of the USSR, and then Russia, hid the monstrous crime they committed against Belarusians. The scandal broke out only in 2007, when stunning details of the events of 1986 became clear. On April 23, 2007, the British newspaper “ Daily Telegraph" published an article by Richard Gray " ". Here are the main points from this article:
‘How we made the Chernobyl rain’
Russian military pilots have described how they cleared clouds to protect Moscow from radioactive fallout after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Major Alexey Grushin took to the skies over Chernobyl and Belarus several times, where he used silver iodide projectiles to rain radioactive particles flying towards densely populated cities.
More than 4 thousand square miles of Belarusian territory were sacrificed to save Russian capital from toxic radioactive materials.
« «.
Immediately after the Chernobyl disaster nuclear reactor Residents of Belarus reported that black rain fell in the area of the city of Gomel. Shortly before this, planes were visible in the sky, circling above the clouds and dropping some multi-colored substances over them.
Briton Alan Flowers, the first Western scientist allowed to travel to the area to measure radioactive emissions from the Chernobyl area, says the fallout exposed the population of Belarus to 20 to 30 times the permissible level of radiation. Children were severely affected by radiation.
«.
Moscow has always denied that the rainfall occurred after the accident, but on the 20th anniversary of the disaster (2006 - editor's note), Major Grushin was among those who received a state award. He claims to have received an award for flying rain missions during the Chernobyl cleanup.
How exactly did they make it rain?
After this article, the question may arise - how can you actually make it rain? The meaning of the technology is quite simple: the concentration of moisture particles in a cloud leads to the appearance of precipitation, while dispersal leads to the impossibility of their formation. If you want to prevent rain, you should disperse the moisture in the cloud - all you need to do is fly through it several times in an airplane. But if you want to cause rain, then to do this you need to cause moisture condensation, for which silver vapor (dust) is very suitable, provoking the formation of raindrops. This method was successfully used in the USA back in the 18th century, when fires were lit, the smoke of which contained tiny particles of silver.
Laboratory aircraft still fly in the Russian Federation
Therefore, it is completely clear that when we're talking about about spraying silver nitrate, then this means only making rain.
Criminal confessions
In 2006, an appendix to “ Rossiyskaya newspaper""The Week" published an article " Chernobyl "Cyclone"» » by journalist Igor Elkov with the subtitle “20 years ago, a radioactive cloud could have covered Moscow.” Here's the article in full:
"Chernobyl Cyclone"
“Official sources report extremely sparingly about the Cyclone unit. Reading historical information: “In the early 70s in the USSR, as part of the creation of meteorological laboratories, it was decided to convert Tu-16 bombers. The Tu-16 Cyclone-N aircraft were intended to actively influence clouds, as well as to study the thermodynamic parameters of the atmosphere. In 1986, the Tu-16 Cyclone-N aircraft took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.”
Long-range bomber Tu-16
Actually, this is all that can be found out from open sources. " Took part“...And how did you take it? And, in fact, why were bombers needed in Chernobyl?
« — This complex consisted of 940 50-mm caliber barrels. Equipped with special cartridges, stuffed with silver iodide. To make it easier for you to imagine the effectiveness of this system, I will say that one cartridge was enough to make a “hole” in the clouds with a radius of one and a half kilometers (a cloud of one and a half kilometers instantly fell as rain on the ground, cleared of moisture).«
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The pilot talks about the work casually, like flights for meteorological experiments: the birth of a cyclone is recorded, the departure command, measurements, tacks, active influence. In form, these flights were not much different from routine ones. Only this time they flew towards radioactive cyclones. Where exactly did the “impact” on the clouds occur? Let's just say: not everything in this story has been declassified yet. Someday we'll find out. But the expansion of infection foci was stopped.”
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“The detachment was disbanded in 1992. By that time, the “Chernobyl” bomber had flown out its life and was “lay up” in Chkalovsky. The local Greenpeace found out about the “radioactive” plane from somewhere. According to legend, the “greens” arrived at the airfield, made their way to the commander, and started a scandal. After that, the “carcass” was disposed of.”
conclusions
Thus, the participants in calling deadly rains themselves openly admitted that the leadership of the USSR decided to deliberately destroy thousands and thousands of lives of Belarusians. And then we didn’t receive any compensation, apologies or medical assistance for you. It is worth noting that Putin later in 2007 awarded the members of the Cyclone detachment, who brought death to Belarusians, with the Order of Dmitry Donskoy. And our country is now choking on the epidemic oncological diseases, relying only on yourself.
The article was written based on materials from the publications: The Daily Telegraph, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, BBC, Secret Research.
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On the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, everyone usually writes about the accident itself, the liquidators, and shows creepy footage where even on film one can see the effects of radiation. Sometimes they cover in detail life in contaminated areas or talk about groups of stalkers in the Exclusion Zone.
But everyone is silent about one thing terrible fact, which is no less terrible than the silence of the Soviet leadership in the first days of the accident. The point is that radiation clouds at the end of April 1986 were moving towards Moscow. But the Soviet leadership decided to cause artificial rains directly on the heads of Belarusians. We are publishing for you a specialized article that shows that Moscow and I have a lot to reckon with.
BLACK RAIN OF CHERNOBYL
Judging by the statements of the Russian military, for twenty years the authorities of the USSR and then Russia hid the monstrous crime they committed against Belarusians. The scandal broke out only in 2007, when stunning details of the events of 1986 became clear.
On April 23, 2007, the British newspaper “ Daily Telegraph" published an article by Richard Gray " How we caused Chernobyl rain". Here are excerpts from this shocking publication:
« Russian military pilots have described how they cleared clouds to protect Moscow from radioactive fallout after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Major Alexey Grushin took to the skies over Chernobyl and Belarus several times, where he used silver iodide projectiles to rain radioactive particles flying towards densely populated cities.
Rainmaking experiments have been in development since the mid-1940s
More than 4 thousand square miles of Belarusian territory were sacrificed to save the Russian capital from toxic radioactive materials.
“The wind blew from west to east, and radioactive clouds threatened to reach densely populated areas - Moscow, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl“,” he said in a documentary called The Science of a Superstorm, which will be shown on BBC2 today.
« If rain fell over these cities, it would be catastrophic for millions. The area where my squad was actively collecting clouds was located near Chernobyl, not only in a 30-kilometer zone, but at a distance of 50, 70 and even 100 km«.
Immediately after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, residents of Belarus reported that black rain fell in the area of the city of Gomel. Shortly before this, planes were visible in the sky, circling above the clouds and dropping some multi-colored substances over them.
Briton Alan Flowers, the first Western scientist allowed to travel to the area to measure radioactive emissions from the Chernobyl area, says the fallout exposed the population of Belarus to 20 to 30 times the permissible level of radiation. Children were severely affected by radiation.
Flowers was expelled from Belarus in 2004 after claiming that Russia had caused radioactive rain. He states: « Locals they say they were not warned before the torrential rain and radioactive fallout began«.
A small child with cancer
We have already talked in detail about weather control mechanisms in a number of our publications. The meaning is simple: the concentration of moisture particles in a cloud leads to the appearance of precipitation, while dispersal leads to the impossibility of their formation. If you want to prevent rain, then you should disperse the moisture in the cloud - to do this, it is enough to fly through it several times on an airplane or have some other impact (explosions, etc.). But if you want to cause rain, then to do this you need to cause moisture condensation, for which silver vapor (dust) is very suitable, provoking the formation of raindrops. This method was successfully used in the USA back in the 18th century, when fires were lit, the smoke of which contained tiny particles of silver.
Therefore, it is completely clear that when it comes to spraying silver nitrate, this means ONLY making rain.
A cloud of hot dust, raised by the fire of an atomic fire to a monstrous height, could remain in the air indefinitely in clear weather. But the whole problem was that the trajectory of this cloud pointed towards Moscow. And the problem was aggravated by the fact that as he approached Moscow, the weather was not clear - there was a thunderstorm front there. Specialists (and even non-specialists) were obliged to understand that it was there, in this thunderstorm front in front of Moscow and above Moscow, that this dust cloud should be washed to the ground by precipitation.
Decontamination of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
In 1986, there were two weather control services in the USSR - civilian and military. The fact that the dispersal of clouds over Belarus was not carried out by the civil service, but rather by the military, already shows that the action was secret and not subject to publicity.
Criminal confessions
The supplement to the “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” “Week” (No. 4049 of April 21, 2006) published the article “ Chernobyl "Cyclone"»» by journalist Igor Elkov with the subtitle “20 years ago, a radioactive cloud could have covered Moscow.” It wrote:
« Official sources report extremely sparingly about the Cyclone unit. We read the historical information: “In the early 70s in the USSR, as part of the creation of meteorological laboratories, it was decided to convert Tu-16 bombers. The Tu-16 Cyclone-N aircraft were intended to actively influence clouds, as well as to study the thermodynamic parameters of the atmosphere. In 1986, the Tu-16 Cyclone-N aircraft took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.«.
Long-range bomber Tu-16
Actually, this is all that can be found out from open sources. “Took part”... And how did he take part? And, in fact, why were bombers needed in Chernobyl?
Densely populated areas were under the threat of radioactive contamination: from the Caspian Sea to Moscow, including the capital itself. Something had to be done. And do it very urgently. Helicopters could not “stop” the radioactive wind. For these purposes, it was decided to use special bombers of the Cyclone detachment.
Officially, the Tu-16 “Cyclone” was called a weather laboratory. Although it would be more logical to call this aircraft a meteorological bomber. Both the machine and the operating conditions were unique. Tu-16 in its own, so to speak, Everyday life known in the world under the name Badger - “Badger”. This is the first Soviet serial long-range bomber with swept wings. For its time, "Badger" was a serious "beast": it carried nuclear bombs and missiles, armed with seven cannons, reached speeds of up to 990 km/h and had a service ceiling of about 12 thousand meters. The civilian version of the bomber is known to the world as the Tu-104 airliner.
An example of a weather laboratory aircraft
Some of the artillery was removed from the aircraft, and the so-called cluster holder complex for special equipment was placed in the bomb bay:
« — This complex consisted of 940 50-mm caliber barrels. It was equipped with special cartridges filled with silver iodide. To make it easier for you to imagine the effectiveness of this system, I will say that one cartridge was enough to make a “hole” in the clouds with a radius of one and a half kilometers (a cloud of one and a half kilometers instantly fell as rain on the ground, cleared of moisture).«
Special meteorological bombs were developed, but for some reason they were abandoned. But on beam holders under the wing of the Tu-16, containers for spraying 600 grade cement were suspended.
« But it could be called cement,” the former pilot continues the story. " The substance was actually also a chemical reagent. Cement, like silver iodide cartridges, was intended to disperse clouds (instantaneous precipitation).«
“The work was backbreaking. On average we flew two to three times a week. Each flight lasted about six hours. And, as a rule, in the stratosphere, that is, wearing masks. The crew breathed a mixture half of pure oxygen. After such a six-hour " oxygen cocktail“According to the pilots, on the ground everyone drank a bucket of water - and could not get drunk.«
Both crews of the Cyclone detachment flew to fight the “Chernobyl clouds”, but always on the same Tu-16.
The pilot talks about the work casually, like flights for meteorological experiments: the birth of a cyclone is recorded, the departure command, measurements, tacks, active influence. In form, these flights were not much different from routine ones. Only this time they flew towards radioactive cyclones.
Where exactly did the “impact” on the clouds occur? Let's just say: not everything in this story has been declassified yet. Someday we'll find out. But the expansion of infection foci was stopped.”
The territory of Belarus contaminated with radionuclides
As a result, through the efforts of the crews of this Cyclone detachment, in the first days after the disaster, 2/3 of the radiation was dumped into Belarus and not allowed to reach Moscow.
« The battle of our “Cyclone” with “nuclear” cyclones stopped in December 1986, after the first snow fell and covered the radioactive dust. At that time, in our youth, we were frivolous about radiation and exposure. After all, no one really explained to us how to handle dosimeters, how to record exposure. First time serious attitude We encountered this problem at the Belaya Tserkov airfield. This happened almost a year after the disaster, in April 1987. I already told you how we were greeted there and how technicians with dosimeters ran away from our plane. I don’t know what their instruments showed, but they flatly refused to accept pistols and parachutes from us at this airfield. At first they didn’t even want to put the crew in a hotel. Then they settled in, but they allocated a separate wing, from which everyone immediately left. The plane was washed from morning to evening for two weeks. Looks like it's been washed.«
« The detachment was disbanded in 1992. By that time, the “Chernobyl” bomber had flown out its life and was “lay up” in Chkalovsky. The local Greenpeace found out about the “radioactive” plane from somewhere. According to legend, the “greens” arrived at the airfield, made their way to the commander, and started a scandal. After this, the “carcass” was disposed of.«
Thus, the leadership of the RSFSR decided that the main gifts from Chernobyl should go to the BSSR. And we didn’t receive any compensation, apology or help. It is worth noting that Putin later in 2007 awarded the members of the Cyclone detachment, who brought death to Belarusians, with the Orthodox Order of Dmitry Donskoy. But our country is now suffering from many cancers, relying only on itself.
The twenty-four years that have passed since the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have not helped the residents of the affected areas much - the surveyed areas appear on the pages of the atlas to be affected by severe allergies. And they still have a very long time to recover.
Radioactive book
“Atlas of modern and forecast aspects of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus” - this is what its full name sounds like - allows you to realistically assess the degree of radioactive contamination of the territories affected by this largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind. A series of atlas maps shows how the situation has changed from the time of the accident to the present. It also contains forecast maps that predict the dynamics of radioactive contamination until 2056.
Familiarity with the atlas maps allows one to draw disappointing conclusions. Despite the fact that 24 years have passed since the accident and most of the radioactive elements with a short half-life have already disappeared, and those, for example, cesium-137, continue to decay, the maps clearly show that even now many areas and settlements of Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula and Gomel regions have pollution levels that exceed those that are safe for life. On the maps these areas are highlighted in crimson. In fact, behind these bright spots are the lives of the people living in these territories.
Catastrophe
The accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986. As a result of the thermal explosion of the fourth block of the nuclear power plant, almost the entire set of radionuclides that were in the reactor at the time of the explosion was released into the atmosphere - a total of 21 elements. Most of these elements have a half-life of no more than two to three years. There are elements whose half-lives are enormous - for example, transuranium radionuclides (for plutonium-239 it is 24,110 years), but at the same time they have low volatility: they do not spread further than 60 km from the reactor. Of the entire large list of radioactive elements found in the atmosphere, the most dangerous are the isotopes of cesium-137 and strontium-90. This is due to several reasons. Cesium-137 is a long-lived radionuclide (its half-life is 30 years), it is well preserved in the landscape and is included in the life of the ecosystem, in addition, it is this element that has spread over the greatest distances from nuclear power plants.
If we talk about the nature of the spread of radioactive contamination after the accident, scientists believe that the process was influenced primarily by the meteorological situation and the movement of air particles within several days after the disaster. According to the data presented in the atlas, from April 26 to April 29, 1986, radioactive substances moved in the ground layer at an altitude of 200 m in the northwest, north and northeast directions from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Later, until May 7-8, the transfer continued in a southwestern and southern direction. Moreover, almost immediately after the release at an altitude of several kilometers, the western transfer of air masses joined the process - this is how the eastern Chernobyl trace was formed - spots of radioactive contamination that reached European countries. These spots were found in Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Finland.
Of course, the hardest hit areas were those located near nuclear power plants - Ukraine, the European part of Russia and Belarus. The area of land where the pollution density was more than 37 kBq/m2 (this is the level above which living in a given territory poses a danger) in the European part of Russia is 60 thousand km 2, in Ukraine - 38 thousand km 2, and Belarus - 46 thousand km 2. The most high levels pollution on the territory of Russia ended up in the Bryansk, and then in the Tula and Kaluga regions. In Belarus this is the Gomel region.
Russian Pollution
Over the years, the compilers of the atlas have repeatedly walked around contaminated areas and measured the content of radioactive isotopes in the soil. This allowed them to create a dynamic picture of the land being freed from radiation. However, as the maps show, such liberation will not come soon.
Thus, almost half of the Bryansk region remains heavily polluted to this day. In fact, the central and northwestern zones, limited by the cities of Bryansk, Zhukovka, Surazh and Pochep, can be considered more or less free. The worst hit, of course, was the western part of the Bryansk region (west of Starodub and Klintsy). In the “red” zone there are such cities and villages as Novozybkov, Zlynka, Vyshkov, Svyatsk, Ushcherlye, Vereshchaki, Mirny, Yalovka, Perelazy, Nikolaevka, Shiryaevo, Zaborye, Krasnaya Gora... But residents of the southern regions of the Bryansk region also need mandatory be examined by oncologists. Moreover, forests alienated from deforestation overgrow and periodically burn, releasing more and more portions of strontium and cesium into the air. And in the north, in the area of the cities of Dyatkovo and Fokino (especially between them - near Lyubokhna), the concentration of radionuclides almost reaches the resettlement threshold.
In the heavily affected zone of the Kaluga region (southern regions), up to 30 villages and towns of Spas-Demensky, Kirovsky, Lyudinovsky, Zhizdrinsky and Kozelsky districts of the region remain. The most dangerous concentrations of radioactive isotopes remain in the areas of Afanasyevo, Melekhovo, Kireykovo, Dudorovsky, Ktsyni, Sudimir and Korenevo.
The Oryol region was covered almost completely in 1986 - only the south-eastern corner of the region remained more or less clean. The heaviest doses of radiation fell on residents of the Bolkhovsky district (north of the region) and territories just south of Orel. As later measurements show, the Livninsky region still remains the only truly habitable region from the point of view of radioactive contamination. And residents of both Orel itself and all other districts of the region (especially Bolkhovsky) should not go anywhere without a dosimeter.
The cloud divided the Tula region in half. The zone north and northwest of Tula remained relatively clean, but everything south of the regional center fell into the zone of radioactive fallout. The center of the most polluted area was the city of Plavsk. And it stretches from the western edge Tula region long tongue reaching to the Node.
Now that almost half of cesium-137 has decayed, the life-threatening zone (with the right to vacate) has shrunk around Plavsk. However, the special control zone did not decrease much during this period, which indicates a fairly high concentration of the isotope hazardous to health.
Pollution of Belarus
Brest, the westernmost of the surveyed regions, received the main radioactive charge in the right side, from Lulinets and to the east. Although, due to the terrain, radioactive fallout also fell in the area of the cities of Drogichin, Pinsk, as well as the villages of Svyataya Volya, Smolyanitsa, Lyskovo and Molchad. By 2010, residential zones with the right to resettle remained around the city of Stolin and in the area of the villages of Vulka-2 and Gorodnaya.
In the Gomel region everything is, of course, much worse. Until now, the south of the region (south of the cities of Yelsk and Khoiniki) is covered with red-violet spots of infection, poorly compatible with a healthy and long life. However, the same can be said about the region, which starts from Gomel and stretches to the northern and eastern edges of the region. The most favorable zone here falls under the category of “residence with the right to resettle.” Almost the entire remaining territory of the region belongs to the residential zone under the special control of radiologists.
The most affected zones of the Grodno region (east, the Slonim-Dyatlovo-Berezovka-Ivye-Yuratishki line, as well as the Berezovka-Lida and Ivye-Krasnoe line) fell only into the category of zones with residence under radiation control. Here the annual effective dose does not exceed 1 mSv. Which, however, with prolonged exposure is also quite a lot.
In the Minsk region, the outskirts of the Minsk region - the south of the Soligorsk district, the western Volzhinsky district, the eastern Berezinsky district, as well as a relatively small area lying on the border of the Vileika and Logoisk districts north of Minsk - were hit by a radioactive blast. The center of the northern zone is the village of Yanushkovichi. However, despite the locality of the damage, the centers of radioactive territories are so dangerous that they are still classified as “residence with the right to resettle.”
The Mogilev region, which lies to the north of Gomel, was much less fortunate - the cloud passed through the very center of the region. Therefore, the zone limited by the cities of Kirovsk, Klichev, Mogilev, Chausy, Krichev, Klimovichi and Kostyukovichi remains poorly suitable for life, and in some places even contraindicated. True, over these 24 years, the above cities found themselves outside the specified zone and now limit it from the outside. With the exception of Mogilev, which is still in the zone with residence under radiation control, as well as Chaus, which, thanks to the activity of local isotopes, still remain in the zone of residence with the right to resettle.
Strontium-90 contamination is concentrated in the Gomel region, especially in the south. The second of the large affected areas is in the northeast of the region.
Future
Although the compilers of the atlas claim that the level of radioactivity in the affected areas has decreased significantly (and this is indeed the case), the forecast is not reassuring even for 2056: although by this time the distribution areas of cesium-137 and strontium-90 will have further decreased, locally there will still be zones with exceeding the maximum permissible values. Thus, exclusion zones will disappear from Russian territory only in 2049. Priority resettlement zones will be established only by 2100, and scientists will honestly be able to say that the background radiation in them is slightly higher than natural only by 2400. For Belarus, which received more serious damage, these deadlines are even more delayed. Even in 2056 (this is the last year for which the compilers of the atlas make a clear forecast), the Gomel region looks like a person with advanced allergies.
The atlas was published under the auspices of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and Belarus. Despite the fact that the disaster itself occurred on the territory of Ukraine, its Ministry of Taxes did not participate in the project. And, accordingly, there are no maps of the destruction of Ukrainian territories in the atlas. However, in the near future the site will tell you what is happening now in the main exclusion zone and its surroundings.
