The Silence is Deafening

Last week, I returned from a two-week vacation to Europe, which was my first time visiting the continent. While many people dream of seeing the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, or Vatican, I had a desire to see something different: the highlight for me was a $2,000 three-day, two-night private excursion to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Yes, I went to Europe to see a power plant.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant can be easily seen from the top of Pripyat's apartment buildings.

 I've always been strangely fascinated by Chernobyl. It was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, and the surrounding area is still contaminated and (somewhat) dangerous to visit. The nearby city of Pripyat is incredibly interesting because it is quite literally a place frozen in time: evidence of a bustling Soviet model town provides a stark contrast to the silence that is felt today. It has been featured in various video games, including Call of Duty 4, which is one of my all-time favorites. It has also been the subject of numerous History Channel shows and documentaries, including "Life After People" and "Zero Hour". Last year, I decided that I needed to visit the area sooner, rather than later, because not only are many of the buildings collapsing and becoming too dangerous to enter, but the New Safe Confinement is projected to be completed in 2016, which will completely enclose the original Power Plant, making it impossible for tourists to see what the building looked like. Walking around Pripyat was a lot quieter than I expected; there were no sounds of cars driving in the distance, no resonations of voices from other people. It had rained a little bit while I was there, so when I was exploring, all I could hear were isolated echoes of water droplets falling from a partially-collapsed roof, or the subtle sound of a once-hardwood floor slowly bending from decades of neglect. Unlike the movie "Chernobyl Diaries", I did not hear nor see any animals.

The Power Plant didn't always look like this: in November 2013, the old chimney 
was replaced with a shorter one to make room for the New Safe Confinement.

Contrary to popular belief, Chernobyl is extremely safe to visit. The Ukrainian government provides strict access control over the 30 km area surrounding the Plant, known as the Exclusion Zone. It is complete with numerous checkpoints, redundant radiation exposure checks, and 24-hour static and patrolling guards. There are currently twelve licensed tour guides, and each have to write a detailed report of what they did after each day. It is impossible to legally visit the area without getting prior permission, which takes about two weeks and is done through a sponsored tour agency. Luckily, all you have to do is submit your passport information, and the agency does the rest. It takes no less than seven signatures and some signed statements of understanding to gain access. Of course, the guide has the final say, and has the authority to cancel the trip at any time. (My guide had to do that once, when one group thought it would be fun to eat the radioactive moss.) The purpose for such tight security is two-fold: on one hand, the area is very much a living museum to the effects of radiation pollution and needs to be preserved, and on the other, it is important to enforce proper precautionary measures to minimize the chance of getting hurt. Some ground rules:

1.       No eating outside in the open air.

2.       No sitting down.

3.       No alcohol.

4.       No setting down personal belongings on the ground (tripods must have plastic bags on the legs).

5.       Do not go anywhere without your tour guide.

6.       Do not take anything outside the Zone.

7.       Do not take pictures of the checkpoints or gates surrounding the Power Plant.

8.       Do not violate the dress code (closed-toed shoes, pants, and long sleeves are required).

9.       Upon leaving the Zone (and in various places throughout), everyone is subject to pass compulsory radiation checks.

A demonstration of Chernobyl's modern radiation machines.

The roof of Pripyat's grocery store has certainly seen better days.

My private tour guide shares some wisdom from Pripyat's Main Square.

Believe it or not, there are still 2,000 people that work in the Exclusion Zone. The government uses mathematics to calculate acceptable doses of radiation, and time limits are enforced for visiting certain areas (some people that still work in the Plant are only allowed to work for 6 hours per day…with special protective clothing, of course). To determine the safety of specific sites in the Zone, the authorities use a Geiger counter, which is a device used to measure the exposure levels of radiation. Tourists are allowed a maximum daily dose of 3 microsieverts. The background radiation levels of most places on Earth are below .3 microsieverts per hour. Anything more is considered normal for fallout areas.

The sun came out at the perfect time for a reflective photo.
I love how the blue clouds turned out; I was used to seeing gray during my entire trip.

 The most radioactive part of my trip came when my Ukrainian tour guide, Nikolai, showed me the Pripyat Hospital. After the Power Plant exploded in the early morning hours of April 26^th, 1986, the first-responders – known as “liquidators” – were called to the scene to extinguish the flames. They were unaware of the unseen dangers. It wasn’t long before they became ill and were sent to the nearest hospital, about three km away from the Plant. Over thirty would die from acute radiation sickness. The liquidators’ coats, helmets, and boots can still be found in the basement and random areas of the hospital. I stumbled on an unrecognizable piece of cloth that gave a reading of 23.5 microsieverts per hour – over 156 times the amount of radiation seen just outside the building. While this may seem like a lot, my guide did the math: it would take about 20 days of continuous exposure at this level to die from radiation poisoning. Of course, it all depends on time, distance, protection, and the individual person. I’m not sure how long it would take to increase the risk of getting cancer, but I’m not willing to find out.

The world's most dangerous clothing? Maybe so - I found this piece of a firefighter's uniform in Pripyat's hospital,
where the first responders were taken after the initial cleanup. They died within two weeks from radiation poisoning.

Check out my CNN iReport on Pripyat, Ukraine!