Prypiat, Ukraine
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Prypiat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Pryp”iat’; Russian: ; ) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border of Belarus. It was home to Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers. The city was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster.
Contrary to cities of military importance, access to Prypiat was not restricted prior to the disaster. Before the Chernobyl accident the nuclear power stations were seen by Soviets as safe like any other power plants. The nuclear stations were presented as an achievement of Soviet engineers, which managed to use nuclear power for peaceful projects. The slogan "peaceful atom" was popular those days. Initially it was considered to build a nuclear plan 25km from Kiev, but in particular the Ukrainian Academy of Science expressed the concern of the station being too close to Kiev, and the station and the city were built in their current location about 100km from Kiev.
Until recently, the site was practically a museum, documenting the late Soviet era. Apartment buildings (four of which were constructed but yet to be used), swimming pools, hospitals, and other buildings were all abandoned, and everything inside the buildings was left, including records and papers, children's toys, and clothing. Residents were only allowed to take away documents, books and clothes that were not contaminated.
However, the apartment buildings were completely looted some time around the start of the 21st century. No article of value was left behind; even toilet seats were taken away. Because the buildings are not serviced, the roofs leak, and in spring the rooms are swamped in water. It is not unusual to find trees growing on the roofs and even inside buildings. This hastens deterioration, and in several decades most of the city will likely lie in ruins.
Prypiat and the surrounding area will not be safe for human habitation for several centuries. The most troublesome radioactive isotope (caesium-137) released by the accident (external gamma exposure short biological halflife in humans) will take 300 years to decay away to one thousandth of the present level. The strontium-90 will decay away on the same time scale, the strontium is a beta emitter which has a long biological halflife in humans which can disease through internal exposure. When the cesium activity has decayed to this level then it is likely that the area can be used again for most human activities. Below it can be seen in the graph that cesium is responsible for almost the entire gamma dose rate due to the accident experienced in Prypiat. This has not prevented wildlife from entering the area; wild animal populations are actually quite large in the exclusion zone, capitalizing on the lack of human occupation. They are of course unaware of the risk to their health. Statistics are not yet widely available to indicate changes in animal reproductive cycles nor mortality rates.
The city is easily accessible, although it is unsafe to travel about the city without a radiation detector. The doors of all the buildings are open to reduce the risk to visitors, although many have accumulated too much radioactive material to be safe to visit.
Beginning in 1986, shortly after the disaster, the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Prypiat.
See also
External links
- [WikiSattelite view of Pripyat and Nuclear station at WikiMapia]
- [Site about Pripyat created by its former residents. Contains photos from the deserted town of Pripyat and much other useful information]
- [Pripyat Ghost Town (1970-1986): a tale by Elena Filatova with photos]
- [Greenpeace pictures with no text]
- [town Pripyat forum - in Russian -]
- [Pripyat message board (requires registration and approval)]
- [Gallery from Prypiat City (www.opuszczone.com)]
- [Pripyat - Ghost Town II (www.opuszczone.com)]
- [Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl] - a commercial site, however, containing free-access contamination maps and photogallery, including dozens of photos of Pripyat
- [The Chernobyl Poems of Lyubov Sirota]
- [Prypyat on Soviet map (1986)]]
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