Chernobyl Story

07/04/2022

Russian troops activity at Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants
https://chernobylstory.com/blog/russian-troops-activity-at-chernobyl/

14/02/2022

How the tragedy began 💥

Almost 36 years ago, the whole world was shocked by the terrible news of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In a short time, the name of the small Soviet city of Chernobyl has become for the entire world the personification of a terrifying man-made disaster.

On April 26, 1986, at 01:23 an explosion and fire occurred at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which completely destroyed the reactor. The building of the power unit partially collapsed, a fire broke out in various rooms and on the roof.

☢️As a result of the accident, radioactive substances were released into the environment, including isotopes of uranium, plutonium, iodine-131 (half-life - 8 days), cesium-134 (half-life - 2 years), cesium-137 (half-life - 30 years), strontium - 90 (half-life - 28 years)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 On April 27, the city of Pripyat (47 thousand 500 people) was evacuated, and in the following days, the population of the 10-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In total, during May 1986, about 116 thousand people were resettled from 188 settlements in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone.

💥 The release of fission products of nuclear fuel from the damaged reactor continued for 10 days from April 26 to May 6, 1986, during which time the total release of radioactive materials into the environment amounted to about 14 exabecquerels (about 380 million curies)

😔More than 200 thousand square km were exposed to radioactive contamination, 70% of which - on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

❕The total number of ""liquidators"" (including subsequent years) amounted to more than 500 thousand people from all over the former USSR.

The feat of the Chernobyl heroes will always serve as an example of courage, the highest professionalism and devotion to one's duty for us.

22/12/2021

CHERNOBYL ROBOTIC VEHICLES GRAVEYARD
Liquidation of the consequences of Chernobyl accident started as soon as it became clear that the situation is serious and fourth reactor is out of control. Evacuation of population, decontamination of the surroundings of the power plant and 30km zone, construction of Sarcophagus – these are just some of the tasks that needed more than 600,000 people to be accomplished. Obviously, there was a need for huge amount of the vehicles. Today, many of them rest in vehicle graveyards in Chernobyl zone.

As long as all those vehicles were working in contaminated zone, they were not able to come back to the “clean land” without being decontaminated. However, not all of them could be cleaned up. The most contaminated ones were left in the burial site called “Buriakivka” and it is located approximately 4 km away from the power plant. This Chernobyl machine graveyard has big size – 1200×700 m – and has 30 trenches with buried equipment and vehicles. Famous “robot” Joker (the one made by Germans to clean up the roof of the third reactor and didn’t work longer than 40 seconds) is left there as well.

More info: https://chernobylstory.com/blog/graveyard-of-the-vehicles-in-chernobyl/

12/07/2021

See more pictures at https://chernobylstory.com/blog/pripyat-morgue/

Pripyat morgue is small building which you can hardly see behind the trees. It doesn’t have any signs on it. It was built right between Pripyat hospital 126 and old cemetery. This location is available only in multiday and private tours as long as it is located aside from the main routes. Although entering buildings is prohibited, you can see a lot through the windows and doors. Autopsy tables, bottles with chemicals and with human samples – those are just some of the things you can find there. There was also a journal with medical records: names of people, age, and reason of death. The place is pretty creepy, however, adds a lot to the whole image of life in Pripyat before the accident.

25/05/2021

Abandoned River Port in Pripyat
https://chernobylstory.com/blog/pripyat-river-port/

Pripyat river port and riverside café are the markers of the high quality of life in the city. The route Kyiv-Chernobyl-Pripyat operated with high-speed passenger boats – "Meteor" and “Rocket”. Waiting for the departure, people could spend time in the riverside café.

Today, the main attractions of this location are the river itself and the café. The last one has beautiful stained glass and Soviet machines were the people could buy sparkling water....

25/03/2021

Chernobyl Claw of Death

The claw was used in decontamination process of Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. According to different data, it was involved in cleaning up the roof of the exploded unit either from concrete or uranium and graphite debris.

Today, it is located in the yard of the Service of Special Engineering Works in Pripyat. Even now, it is highly contaminated. You can measure there from a couple of dozens of microsieverts to more than thousands μSv/hour. However, to catch deadly dose, you’ll have to settle down there, so visiting it isn’t dangerous taking into account general safety rules of the zone.

09/03/2021

51 Fact About Chernobyl You Never Heard Before - Part 3

Here, we collected some of intersting facts so that you can check your knowledge about Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and gain new one.

26/02/2021

51 Fact About Chernobyl You Never Heard Before - Part 2
https://chernobylstory.com/blog/51-fact-about-chernobyl/

09/02/2021

51 Fact About Chernobyl You Never Heard Before - Part 1

https://chernobylstory.com/blog/51-fact-about-chernobyl/

28/01/2021