At 1:23am on 26th April 1986, an explosion at the number 4 reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant blew the roof open and sent a cloud of radioactive dust into the sky.
In recent times, firms set about leading excursions to the area in and around Chernobyl. The full day visits head out from Kiev somewhere around 9am, and these have to be prebooked. Details of individuals on the trip must be submitted and you must definitely take your passport. If your name is not on the list, or you don't have your passports, the guards at the edge of the exclusion zone will not let you in as 2 individuals on our bus found to their cost and had to jump off the bus. The checkpoint is about 78km (49 miles) from Kiev, and there is absolutely nothing to do there. From this point the bus goes into the exclusion zone and doesn't be back for between 5-6 hours.
At the time of the tragedy, Chernobyl was home to 14,000 people and right now, many people still live in the exclusion area and various people construction in the town for as many as 4 days a week. The trip commenced in Chernobyl for a traditional Ukraine lunch. First stop is the fire station where there is a monument to the brave fireman who fought to contain the radiation a large number of whom died of radiation sickness.
Next stop is the Chernobyl power plant where you find your first experience of the empty properties. There are a number of visits around the plant and you get to within two or three hundred metres of the reactor. Now, it's not easy to believe what transpired here but the tour guides Geiger counter leaves you under no illusions that there is still a huge amount of background radiation in the zone.
The very last stop is at the ghost town of Pripyat which lies less than a couple of miles from the power plant. At the time of the accident it was a much bigger city than Chernobyl with a population of approximately 50,000. Nevertheless, police evacuated the population with very little warning, and it is an eerie place to visit. Books lie all with the class rooms, the fun fair which was due to be opened on 1st May 1986, is little by little rusting away and nature has started to reclaim the roads, town square and structures.
The excursion leaves Pripyat and returns to the edge of the exclusion zone where everyone must pass through a scanner to make certain they haven't been exposed to abnormal quantities of radiation. Once everyone is back on the bus has been given the all clear, it travels back to Kiev.
More Information:
Kiev is one of the host cities for the Euro 2012 Finals. Visitors to Kiev may want to take an excursion out to Chernobyl.
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