On April 26, 1986, there was an explosion of an atomic reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This day was remembered by all residents of the Soviet Union as the day of the most terrible catastrophe, which claimed the lives of thousands of people and created a multi-kilometer exclusion zone, from which all residents were urgently evacuated.
Now, after 28 years, the radiation background in the Chernobyl region is gradually recovering. The exclusion zone is already open for visits, so anyone over the age of 18 can go there for an excursion.
The city of Pripyat, located in the immediate vicinity of the crash site, still remains uninhabited. At present, it is a kind of monument to that catastrophe and a reminder of this terrible page in our history.
Excursion tours to Pripyat
In order to get into the exclusion zone, you need to obtain a special permit, but there are travel agencies in Kiev dealing with this issue. You just need to find such a company via the Internet, contact its representative, sign up for an excursion at a convenient time for you, and leave your passport data.
The excursion will be allowed only to the person for whom the pass was issued, the identity will need to be confirmed with your passport. If the data does not match, your trip will be denied.
Departure is carried out from Kiev, to which you will have to get on your own. It is advisable to check with the tour operator in advance what you need to take with you and how best to dress.
As a rule, one-day and two-day tours are organized to Chernobyl with an obligatory stop in Pripyat.
Safety of visiting Pripyat
The radiation background in this area is still quite high, on average 85 mcr / h, while the norm is 20 mcr / h. However, this level of radiation is comparable to the radiation of an X-ray machine, which means that a one- or two-day excursion cannot cause serious harm to health, the main thing is not to stay there for a long time.
A background hazardous to health remains in the immediate vicinity of the sarcophagus, therefore, excursion groups are prohibited from approaching it closer than 10 kilometers.
Remember that no items can be taken from Pripyat as souvenirs. They can contain high levels of radiation and can expose you to radiation after traveling for a long time.
Be extremely careful when inside buildings. No one has followed them for more than a quarter of a century, so they are all, without exception, in disrepair. The collapse of ceilings and stairways is possible at any time.
Why go to Pripyat
For a long time this place was visited only by scientists and journalists, but everything changed with the release of the popular computer game called “S. T. A. L. K. E. R.”, as well as a series of books on this topic. Fans all over the world wanted to see with their own eyes what is really happening in Pripyat.
There are also a lot of extreme tourists and just curious people among tourists.
