Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Page 9 | Chernobyl City and Liquidator Monument

The city of Chornobyl.

The city of Chornobyl (Chernobyl being the old Soviet way of spelling the Ukrainian name) is situated about 14km south of the CNPP. The plant is actually named after the city, which has been settled since the 1100's, and prior to the accident occupied around 14,000 people. Today the city is home to around 400 who work within the zone: scientists, military, guards and zone staff and administration personnel (chernobylinterinform). The latter are those who take visitors on guided tours and keep a watchful eye on everything that goes on in the zone.

Like Pripyat, the whole city was washed down after the accident, on top of this, top layers of soil were removed and all water piping systems were moved above ground. Despite these efforts, there are still areas of contamination in Chornobyl, but they are well documented and known. Workers here respect these risks and are only allowed to work two weeks on and two weeks off to minimize extended exposure. There are also some who have moved back full-time since the accident -- they live in their houses with signs outside reading, "Owner of This House Lives Here."

Tribute to those that saved the world.

Above is the monument that stands in Chornobyl city in memory of all the firefighters and liquidators who lost their lives in the aftermath of the explosion. Many are still alive but suffering with illnesses and disabilities related to their heavy radiation exposure both on the night of the accident and in the weeks and months during clean up. This fitting tribute was actually built by current firefighters of Chornobyl city and it stands in front of their station, which you can just make out on the left of this picture.

Ship graveyard located in Chornobyl city.

Liquidator vehicle monument in Chornobyl city.

In the evening's during our stay in the zone we would walk from the Interinform hotel and across part of the town to the local store where we could buy snacks, drinks, cigarettes and other items. Our guide stayed with us the whole time while out in the city as the military presence in Chornobyl is quite extensive. Anyone unrecognised or found wandering on their own is immediately approached, questioned and better have the relevant documents on their person and a good reason for being there.

The 'Chornobyl Hotel' at the Chernobylinterinform.

Rossokha.

As I have been asked many times about visiting the mass vehicle graveyard in Rossokha, I will explain the situation there. There are some great photos online of this area 20km southwest of Chernobyl city where most of the vehicles and helicopters from the accident, evacuation and cleanup were hastily laid to rest, unfortunately we were a few weeks too late to visit this site. Our guide explained that as these vehicles where all used in cleanup operations that radiation levels there were extremely high even some 23 years on , and because of the dangerous mass looting of the vehicles for parts the zone administration stopped visits to this area in April 2008, in fact since then most of the cars, tanks, fire trucks and helicopter remains that were there have since been moved to other sites or buried. To visit there now there is pretty much nothing left to see and radiation levels on what is left there and in the soil can reach 300 milli-sieverts per hour, roughly one third of a lethal dose after prolonged exposure. Given these high levels it still amazes me that a lot of the vehicle engines and helicopter parts were robbed over time, smuggled out of the zone and sold for scrap in Kiev and surrounding areas.

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