What is it REALLY like to visit Chernobyl?
- Ashley
- Jul 2, 2023
- 10 min read
50,000 people used to live here, but now it's a ghost town.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, situated in the former Soviet Union, witnessed a catastrophic event in 1986. During this incident, a reactor encountered a power surge, leading to an explosion that dispersed a cloud of radioactive substances over various regions of Europe.
This incident has earned a notorious reputation as the most severe nuclear disaster in history.
After the explosion, approximately 350,000 individuals were forced to evacuate, leaving their homes and belongings behind indefinitely. The regions surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, including the neighbouring city of Pripyat, have since transformed into desolate ghost towns.
I want to make it clear; tourism in this place is not entertainment. Even those who initially visit for tourism purposes end up leaving with an entirely transformed mindset. Exploring the exclusion zone evokes a profound sense of connection to this monumental event of biblical proportions.
What happened to Chernobyl?
On April 26th, 1986, A routine test at the Chernobyl power plant went horribly wrong, and two massive explosions blew the 1,000-ton roof off one of the plant’s reactors, releasing 400 times more radiation than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (hee-row-shee-mah).
The worst nuclear disaster in history killed two workers in the explosions and, within months, at least 28 more would be dead from acute radiation exposure. But thousands more — perhaps 50,000 or more — were killed by cancer and other diseases associated with the radioactive fallout.
The radioactive cloud was deposited nearby as dust and debris but was also carried by wind over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe.
Apart from the ever-unfolding human toll from the disaster, the Chernobyl accident also left behind a huge area of radiation-tainted land. A 770-mile-wide Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site isn’t considered safe for human habitation and can’t be used for logging or agriculture due to contaminated plants and soil.
Shortly after the accident, Soviet soldiers were dispatched in teams to eliminate the dogs and cats residing within the exclusion zone to prevent them from carrying radiation beyond its boundaries. However, in present times, there is a significant presence of animals in Chernobyl. It is common to come across numerous dogs and cats, and if fortunate, you might even catch a glimpse of one of the approximately 100 wolves inhabiting the zone.
Is it safe?
Visiting Chernobyl isn't exactly harmless. But it isn't super harmful either if the strict rules are followed. You can certainly explore the Chernobyl area, including the exclusion zone, which encompasses a 30-kilometre radius around the plant, where all the reactors are now decommissioned. While certain radioactive particles from the initial disaster still persist in the atmosphere, their levels of exposure are within tolerable limits for limited periods of time.
Some individuals have voluntarily returned to their homes within the exclusion zone, residing in areas with higher-than-normal environmental radiation levels. However, these levels are not life-threatening. Yet it is important to note that prolonged exposure to low but unconventional levels of radiation is less hazardous than sudden high-dose exposure, and research studies have not found a direct correlation between chronic low-level exposure and increased cancer risks - yet.
To tackle the ridiculous issue of the site spewing non-stop radiation, a 35,000-ton steel confinement was erected over reactor 4 (the site of the explosion) and cost a whopping £700 million. According to official figures, after its installation - radiation near the plant dropped to just one-tenth of previous levels. The structure was designed to contain the radioactive debris for 100 years - but after that time, they will have to think of a new way to contain the outrageous levels of radiation.
Supposedly, Chernobyl tours subject you to only a fraction of the radiation you would encounter during a transatlantic flight. During the tour, you are given Geiger counters (devices that measure radiation exposure), and there were occasional spikes in radiation levels when we passed through areas with lingering high radiation. It can be quite unsettling to suddenly hear the counters beeping loudly.
During your visit to Chernobyl, you won't be required to wear any specialized gear such as masks or protective suits. However, it is necessary to dress in long-sleeved shirts and pants when inside the inner exclusion zone.
It is crucial to refrain from taking any souvenirs from Chernobyl as the highest priority. Within Pripyat, various items like books, newspapers, toys, and more are scattered throughout. Although it might be tempting to grab one of these as a memento, it is highly dangerous due to the lingering high radiation levels in some objects.
But that being said, provided you follow the advice of your guide and take precautions such as not touching anything, you should be fine.
The full Chernobyl tour
All Chernobyl tours involve visiting several points of interest all over the exclusion zone:
Chernobyl Town
Reactor 4
Pripyat
Supermarket
Amusement Park
Avahard Stadium
Kindergartens
Azura Swimming pool
Duga Radar
Final Checkpoint
Upon meeting my tour group on an early January morning. Our guide Yuri greeted us and introduced us to our driver Nikolai. As we boarded the van and embarked on our journey northward, they treated us to a Chernobyl documentary for us to watch.
After approximately two hours, we reached the checkpoint marking the entrance to the 30-kilometre exclusion zone. We came to a halt, and Yuri distributed our designated tickets to each of us. He proceeded to provide a detailed explanation of the upcoming procedures and made us sign a waiver and a long list of rules to follow. Exiting the van, we proceeded to the border crossing on foot. A guard carefully examined our passports and tickets before granting us passage into the exclusion zone. Our next destination was Chernobyl town.
Chernobyl Town
Chernobyl town is the closest occupied town just before you reach the inner 10-kilometre exclusion zone (the 10km zone is where the much more contaminated places and ghost towns such as Pripyat and the reactor 4 power plant are located).
This was my first stop of the day, and I was pleasantly surprised to find several hotels in the area, which are great places to stop for the night if you're brave enough - but it happened to be the place where we decided to load up on some food before heading up through the checkpoint to the 10km exclusion zone.
And don’t worry, the food was radiation-free, or so I was told.
Reactor 4
The first stop in the 10km zone is visiting the site where it all began, or should I say ended. Here you can stand and view the 35,000-ton steel sarcophagus that embodies the disaster site - from a great distance, of course.
There are tours which allow you to go inside Reactor 4 and view the control room, but these cost considerably more.
Something strange that happened in this area is that we were strictly told not to video or photograph any other building around the structure - only the sarcophagus itself. To this day, I still have no idea as to why. Conspiracy theorists, have at it.
From here, we then drove straight up north to the small town of Pripyat - which was my favourite part of the trip.
Pripyat
The 10km exclusion zone possesses an eerie beauty. The landscape is now adorned with vegetation, as nature gradually reclaims the abandoned structures in the vicinity. The overall ambience is deeply haunting but very surreal. In Pripyat, we got the chance to adventure through many of the buildings.
Throughout the whole tour, we stopped multiple times at various radiation hotspots and points of interest. As I mentioned, we were given personal Geiger counters for our trip which helped us gauge the levels of radiation we were being exposed to in the area.
And just so you know, anything above 4 Microsieverts is considered a big red flag. Which I guess isn’t a lot considering it's 1 BILLION times less than the amount pumped out at reactor 4 immediately after the explosion.
During one of our stops in Pripyat, we got swarmed by a pack of friendly wild dogs when one guy in our tour group decided to open a pack of crisps - now I understand why they don’t allow you to bring in food. We were also told not to touch any of the animals as they could have lingering radiation on their bodies and fur. But no amount of radiation will ever stop me from petting a good boy.
Whilst it was advisable to refrain from touching anything in the exclusion zone, I was pleasantly surprised by the considerable liberty granted to explore and wander within the abandoned buildings of Pripyat.
Supermarket
As we were wandering through the town of Pripyat, we came across a large supermarket, which is where I stumbled across a very strange and very radioactive manhole. The Geiger counter went absolutely nuts when I stood near it, indicating over 18 microsieverts of radiation.
The supermarket is also where I stumbled across an endless amount of former Soviet propaganda, which was incredibly interesting as some of it was very well preserved.
Amusement Park
The next stop was the iconic amusement park. The Chernobyl amusement Park or “Park of Culture and Rest” as it was officially titled, was never used by residents of the city as it was due to open on 1st May 1986 (five days after the accident).
The park contains a large iconic Ferris wheel, bumper cars, a parachute ride, a shooting range, and more. These rides now sit rusting, as grass and shrubs grow through the cracked concrete floor.
Many areas of the Amusement Park are considered to have high levels of radiation. This is because the helicopters which transported the radioactive soil away used the park as a landing ground. The residual soil was then washed into the ground, meaning that the moss that grows here can be highly radioactive.
Avahard Stadium
A short distance away from the iconic Ferris wheel was Avahard Stadium. The stadium was intended to be the home ground of Pripyat's very own football team - however, due to the disaster, it never had the chance to show its true colours.
Kindergartens
Pripyat is also home to several schools, with 15 of them being nurseries which catered to over 5000 children.
Today, visiting the nurseries gives the feeling of sadness and lost childhood on one hand, and creepiness on the other. Tiny shoes, little beds, a lot of toys and books – all these objects were supposed to bring happiness, but the accident and evacuation painted them black.
It wasn’t the sight of the objects however, they are exactly what you’d expect to find. It was the images they conjure up in your mind that struck me. Thousands of children exposed to deadly radiation before being permanently evacuated must of had a detrimental effect on them, psychologically if not physically.
Apart from this, the kindergartens were once again stuffed with propaganda images and stories. There were posters on the walls in the corridors, stories in the books and just images depicting happy communist life.
Azura Swimming pool
Something I was very disappointed about, was not being able to go inside the main Azura Swimming Pool, which is such an iconic spot among urban explorers like myself.
As of the last few years, a lot of the buildings were deemed unsafe to enter due to the significant erosion of the foundations. The Azura Swimming Pool is one of them. I guess it's not worth the risk.
That being said, depending on who’s around - some guides are known to turn a blind eye if you do feel the need to wander. But after a lot of persuasion, it turned out that my guide was not willing to take the risk either. He explained to me that motion sensors and hid inside the buildings at risk, with hopes of catching people who break those rules.
Duga radar
Our final stop of the day was one of my favourites - the Duga radar. Once a closely guarded secret, this immense structure can be seen for miles around. From a distance, it appears to be a gigantic wall. But on close inspection, it's an enormous, monolithic structure made up of hundreds of huge antennas and turbines - truly a surreal sight.
Construction of the Duga began in 1972 when Soviet scientists looking for ways to mitigate long-range missile threats came up with the idea of building a huge over-the-horizon-radar, that would bounce signals off the ionosphere to peer over the Earth's curvature.
But despite the gigantic scale of the project, it appeared that the scientists lacked a full understanding of how the ionosphere works - resulting in an unwitting failure before it was even built.
I’m not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but we got to watch a beautiful sunset whilst we were here and it turned out to be an incredible spot to watch it from.
Fire Station and Apartment Complex
A short distance from the radar, there were two buildings which we were sneakily led inside. The first was an abandoned fire station, which contained a cool miniature model of Chernobyl. It was also super interesting to see the crazy artwork and murals painted on the inside.
The second was a large 5-story apartment building, which was absurdly creepy, but had some amazing things inside that I’ll never forget, including a rotting grand piano on the top floor.
Final checkpoint
Before leaving the exclusion zone, whilst passing through the checkpoint once more - we were made to walk through a very strange device which measured our absorbed radiation and basically ensured we had not picked up too much radiation on our visit. It really got my heart racing whilst waiting for the confirmation as I don’t really know what happens if you fail this.
How to book a tour
For international travellers, the most feasible method to explore the Chernobyl exclusion zone is by participating in guided tours offered from Kyiv. These tours depart from the central area of Kyiv and may involve a significant cost, typically ranging between £60 and £200 per person. It is advisable to make reservations in advance to secure a better price and allow sufficient time for security checks conducted by the authorities. Personally, I opted for Solo East Travel and found their tour to be excellent in terms of quality and organization.
Typically, the tours commence at around 8 AM and span approximately 12 hours. The journey to the Chernobyl exclusion zone from Kyiv takes approximately two hours, during which you can engage in watching documentaries that recount the history of the Chernobyl accident, ensuring time passes swiftly.
Be sure to check out the tour guide that made all of this possible, they were extremely thorough with their information, and took you through many places that others would not!
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the operation of this tour has been suspended. My utmost concern is for the safety and well-being of my friends and the staff at Solo East Travel.
Overall, visiting Chernobyl was an incredibly eye-opening and interesting place to visit, and I can’t recommend this place enough. Walking through the abandoned and deserted towns was just like looking back in time.
There are arguments suggesting that the Chernobyl disaster had a somewhat positive outcome by unveiling the devastating power of nuclear technology to the world. Additionally, it can be contended that the substantial expenses incurred during the cleanup process played a role in the eventual decline of the USSR.
And it’s crazy to think that we humans aren’t expected to repopulate the area and it will not be safe for people to live in the Exclusion Zone for more than 24,000 years. But Im extremely grateful I had the chance to visit the site when I did, and is definitely something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Check out the full tour below!
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