Ghost Town

The city of Prypiat in the Ukraine was constructed in 1970 to house the workers for the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station which was under construction there, 18 km northwest of Chernobyl. The 1,000 Megawatt Reactor #1 went online in 1977. Three similar reactors were commissioned over the next 6 years, with #4 going live in 1983.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of decades, you pretty much know the rest of the story. On April 26, 1986, the #4 reactor suffered a complete meltdown. This means that the reactor core has lost coolant and the highly radioactive uranium fuel rods have melted and breached the core. Massive amounts of radioactive material entered the environment. This accident is widely regarded as the worst in the history of nuclear power, even topping Three-Mile Island's partial meltdown in 1979. The radioactive cloud affected most of Europe and the radiation spike could be measured around the world.

The 50,000 inhabitants of Prypiat were evacuated in extreme haste. Many went to Chernobyl, Kiev, or elsewhere in the Ukraine. The loss of life was high, but I suppose we'll never know exactly how high. I do know that the children's playground directly in front of the reactors is one of the most radioactive spots on Earth.

Reactor #4 was completely destroyed in the accident and workers quickly encased it in a thick concrete sarcophagus to limit further radiation. The remaining reactors at the plant continued to be used until they were replaced by other sources and the plant shut down for good in 2000. In 2007 a plan was devised to replace the already-disintegrating sarcophagus with a much better one designed by a French company (France, incidentally, is the world leader in implementing nuclear power. Over 90% of France's electricity comes from splitting uranium atoms; they have 58 operating plants that make so much excess power they export it to most of the rest of Europe. And they've never had a serious accident. Nuclear power is good, you just need to do it right. But I digress...)

Today the ghost town that was Prypiat is completely deserted and highly radioactive. Few people dare to venture there.

Few, but not none.

There is an adventurous girl from Kiev named Elena who took an incredible trip into the "Dead Zone", through the streets of the ghost town of Prypiat, and right up to the gates of the infamous power plant, armed only with a camera, a Geiger counter, and in the interest of limiting her exposure time, a very fast Kawasaki Ninja.

Her photographs, although of low quality on the web, are awesome. And her stories, touching. Just the reality of it. The toys and bumper cars that were being enjoyed one minute and were discarded forever the next. The old family photos. The stores decorated for the Labor Day parade on May 1st that would never come. Wondering what happened to all these people. Everything frozen in time. It's still April of 1986 in Prypiat.

Look through her site if you get the chance, it's an amazing trip into the heart of a lost world.