Map of contamination after Chernobyl for a year. Impact of radiation on wildlife and fauna

Vladimir Yavorivsky, people's deputy, head of the Temporary Deputy Commission to investigate the causes and consequences of the Chernobyl accident:

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant remains dangerous, even very dangerous. I'll explain why. Firstly, there are still about 800 unburied temporary storage facilities in the Chernobyl zone that have already existed for 28 years. This is equipment contaminated with high levels of radiation, abandoned sand or swamp pits. They radiate high level radiation.

Second. There is a problem with the so-called “red forest” that grew near the reactor itself. It is called red because all these pines changed color due to radiation after the disaster.

The new confinement will solve the problem of radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but it will remain for posterity

Well, the third problem is the confinement itself, which closes the fourth reactor. It is designed for a period that has long ended. The second casing around this hidden reactor is now being prepared. It is very heavy, it is a colossal weight, thousands of tons of concrete, and the nuclear power plant itself was built in an extremely criminal place, on the marshy soils of Polesie, very close to groundwater. And this possible subsidence is very dangerous, because surface water can penetrate into the main underground water layers.

I'm not even talking about the self-settlers who live there, about this thirty-kilometer zone itself with polluted meadows and waters.

Of course, danger remains. You know that the reactor was even accelerated. Little was said about him back then; it was back in Soviet times. That is, a chain reaction began in the fourth reactor when water got there. This sarcophagus itself is not airtight. Water, snow, and so on got there, and the chain reaction began to accelerate. It’s good that they noticed it in time and simply extinguished it.

Well, the sarcophagus itself is dangerous; it still emits radiation. And the amount of nuclear fuel that remains has not been established.

The new confinement will solve the problem of radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but it will remain for posterity.

I am not an expert in the nuclear industry, but it seems to me that building a waste storage facility would be the most the best option. We have already lost Pripyat, no one will return there in the coming centuries. Therefore, it is logical to build a storage facility there, and not pollute some other place. But let the scientists decide that.

But storage is a must. We have so much nuclear waste! All those capsules with fuel that were in the fourth reactor and that remained were taken from there and placed in a nuclear waste storage facility. In the same way from other reactors, all this needs to be hidden somewhere.

"God! Why is this stinking, creeping fog here in my forest! Why? After all, we are 145 kilometers directly from Chernobyl! Dear God, why are we suffering so much?! After all, in my region, my Polesie, there are places rich in berries and mushrooms, the famous Polesie cranberry. And suddenly everything is poisoned,” my friend Luda wrote in an essay 9 years after the largest technological disaster of the 20th century - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Holidays in a zone with the right to resettle

We have known Luda since childhood, which I spent with my grandmother, and as fate would have it, it was this beautiful picturesque corner - the village of Glushkovichi, Gomel region - became a zone with the right to resettle, where the land is contaminated with cesium-137 from 5 to 15 Curies per square kilometer at permissible norm up to 1 Curie. People received the right, but they didn’t want to leave their homes: after all, radiation is a colorless and odorless poison, but its consequences make you shudder...

I heard more about Chernobyl than all my Grodno peers. IN kindergarten, during the measurement of radiation levels, was the leader. But how could you give up an unforgettable childhood: your favorite boiled corn, which your grandmother collected at 6 in the morning in order to have time to cook it for breakfast, bike rides to the lake or river with friends, Indian cinema in the club, games of rubber bands and Cossack robbers. What kind of stars are there in Glushkovichi? - It seems you can reach it with your hand! Only sometimes, picking berries in the forest, - you should see how many blueberries there are in Polesie! - I was met with a terrifying inscription: “Forbidden zone! Grazing of livestock, picking berries and mushrooms is strictly prohibited! Increased radioactive zone!

I realized that radiation is evil a few years after the accident. Chernobyl hit my family like lightning: cousin Alena, who, together with her mother, father, three sisters and brother, had to leave their native Novoselki, Khoiniki district (50 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant) and move to Minsk as a “victim of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident,” was diagnosed with thyroid cancer... Fortunately, the operation was successful and the disease subsided, but the scar on the neck always reminds of the terrible consequences of the disaster.

3 million people died due to the accident?

The explosion of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the night of April 26, 1986 for millions of people divided life into before and after the Catastrophe. The radioactive cloud circled the Earth at least twice before dissolving for centuries, leaving traces throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

- Belarus is the most affected country, but 50% of dangerous radionuclides fell outside its borders. 400 million people received significant radiation exposure, 5 million, including 800 thousand children, live where they should not. But the World Health Organization (WHO) and the IAEA are afraid to tell the truth. In 1986, much was unclear: they made rash promises and said that everything would not be so scary. Now we can say: scary, unacceptably scary, and the end of this horror story is not in sight: the consequences will expand even more, and I don’t know what will come of it. We are entering the era of the children of Chernobyl: 7 generations of people will suffer from the consequences of the disaster, - said the President of the Center for Environmental Policy of Russia, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexey Yablokov at an international conference in Minsk.

According to the scientist, who a month ago published the 6th edition of the book “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for Man and Nature,” the real number of victims is hidden from the public.

- The official report of the IAEA and WHO states that due to the Chernobyl accident, an additional 9,000 people died from cancer, our figures are 50,000 deaths. Research by scientists has shown that the total additional mortality worldwide in the 20 years after Chernobyl amounted to one million people. After 1986, the number of miscarriages increased, and this is another two million unborn - this is the scale of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster! Therefore, they are silent about this: there is a nuclear lobby that does not benefit from the consequences being investigated and presented, - says Alexey Yablokov.

Grodno region is almost not polluted

Compared to the Glushkovichi, Grodno seemed a completely safe place in Belarus. No one here talked about radiation, and children did not go for treatment to Canada, Germany and even Japan, like the victims of Chernobyl. The Grodno region is truly considered one of the most unpolluted regions of Belarus.

In 1986, 23% of the territories of Belarus were contaminated with cesium-137 above 1 Curie per square kilometer. In the Grodno region, the most “volatile” radionuclide with an unacceptable density of contamination “settled” in three districts: Novogrudok, Ivyevsky and Dyatlovsky.

- In the region, 84 settlements were registered with periodic radiation monitoring, where the density of cesium-137 contamination was from 1 to 5 Curies per square kilometer, including in the Novogrudok region - 12, Ivyevsky - 50, Dyatlovsky - 22, says the head of the radiation hygiene department of the Grodno Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health Alexander Razmakhnin.

5.2% of forest lands in the Grodno region are located in the radioactive contamination zone. The distribution of cesium-137 isotopes was patchy, which is clearly visible on the maps.

What to expect from radionuclides

Meanwhile, the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster seems to bring good news - the half-life of “volatile” cesium has ended, which means the territories should be cleaner, but...

- The complete decay of cesium-137 lasts 300 years. From a physical point of view, this dose-forming radionuclide has now become two times less. It seems like the danger should decrease, but this did not happen. Why? There are fewer radionuclides; they sink into the soil, where they are “grabbed and pulled” out by plant roots. And outside, people who have lost fear collect mushrooms, berries, and graze cows in these territories. What turns out to be a paradoxical thing is that there is less cesium, but the internal exposure of residents who eat these products is greater. Chernobyl has not gone away, it is next to us and sometimes becomes angrier than it was! There are still miracles to come: there is also plutonium, which is now “at rest” in the exclusion zone (half-life - 24,000 years), but as it decays, it turns into americium-241, and this is an equally strong and “mobile” radiation emitter. Areas that were contaminated with plutonium in 1986 will become 4 times larger by 2056 because plutonium will turn into americium, - speaks Alexey Yablokov.

Consequences of "iodine" shock

The “iodine strike”, which took place from May to July 1896 in Belarus, caused the growth of cancer thyroid gland(RShchZ). The disease is officially recognized as the main medical consequence of the Chernobyl disaster. More than 50% of all cases of thyroid cancer in the group of 0-18 years in the 20 years after the accident occurred in children who were under 5 years old at the time of the “iodine shock”. According to official data, the number of people diagnosed with cancer (under 18 years of age at the time of the disaster) increased 200 times between 1989 and 2005.

In addition, according to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, before the disaster (1985), 90% of children were classified as “virtually healthy.” By 2000, the number of such children was less than 20%, and in the heavily polluted areas of the Gomel region - 10%.

According to official statistics, the number of disabled children increased 4.7 times between 1990 and 2002.

Numbers

According to the Department for Elimination of Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, 1 million 142 thousand Belarusians, including 260 thousand children, live in the zone of radioactive contamination with cesium-137 from 1 to 15 Curies per square kilometer. 1,800 people remain to live in areas subject to subsequent resettlement, with cesium contamination levels ranging from 15 to 40 Ci/km2. The residents themselves did not want to move to safer areas.

After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Bryansk, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions were exposed to radionuclide contamination in Russia. These territories are adjacent to the northern border of Ukraine and are located at a distance of 100–550 km from the source of the release of radioactive substances. To inform the public and the population living in contaminated areas, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has prepared an Atlas of modern and forecast aspects of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus. This Atlas contains a set of maps that display the spatial features of radionuclide contamination of Russian territory both in the past - in 1986, and current state. Scientists have also prepared forecast levels of pollution in Russia in 10-year increments until 2056.

Map of radioactive fallout contamination in Europe since 1986

Contamination of Russian territory with radionuclides in the 70s and 80s

In 1986, in some contaminated areas Russian Federation the population was evacuated. A total of 186 people were evacuated (in Ukraine, 113,000 people were evacuated from the radioactive contamination zone, in Belarus - 24,725 people).
Large-scale decontamination (cleanup) work was carried out in contaminated areas settlements and adjacent areas (roads). During the period from 1986 to 1987, 472 settlements in the Bryansk region (western regions) were decontaminated in Russia. Decontamination was carried out by the army, which washed buildings, cleaned residential areas, removed the top layer of contaminated soil, disinfected drinking water supplies, and cleaned roads. Army units carried out systematic dust suppression work - moistening roads in populated areas. By 1989, the radiation situation in contaminated areas had significantly improved and stabilized.

Pollution of Russian territory today

When preparing maps of modern contamination of Russian territory with radionuclides, scientists carried out comprehensive studies, which included an assessment of the distribution of cesium-137, strontium-90 and transuranium elements along the soil profile. It was found that radioactive substances are still contained in the top 0-20 cm layer of soil. Thus, radionuclides are located in the root layer and are involved in biological migration chains.
The maximum levels of contamination of Russian territory with strontium-90 and plutonium-239,240 of Chernobyl origin are located in the western part of the Bryansk region - where contamination levels for 90Sr are about 0.5 Curie/sq.km, and 239, 240Pu - 0.01 - 0.1 Curie /sq.km.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol and Tula regions with strontium-90.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with plutonium 239, 240

Maps of Russian 137 Cs contamination of Chernobyl origin

Maps of Bryansk region 137 Cs pollution

The Bryansk region is the most unfavorable in terms of radiation. Western districts of the region for a long time will be contaminated with cesium radioisotopes. According to forecast estimates in 2016, in the area of ​​the settlements of Novozybkov and Zlynka, levels surface pollution cesium-137 will reach 40 Curies per square kilometer.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1986)

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1996)

Map of pollution in the Bryansk region (as of 2006)

Map of predicted pollution of the Bryansk region (as of 2016)

Map of forecast pollution of the Bryansk region (as of 2026)

Map of predicted pollution of the Bryansk region in 2056.

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Oryol region

1986

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 1996 year.

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2006 year.

2016 year.

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2026 year.

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2056 year.

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Tula region

1986 year

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 1996 year

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2006 year

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2016 year

2026 year

Forecast map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2056 year

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Kaluga region

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1986

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1996

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 2006

2016 year

Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region 2026 year

Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region 2056 year

The material was prepared on the basis of the Atlas of modern and forecast aspects of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus, edited by academician Russian Academy Sciences Yu.A.Izrael and Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus I.M. Bogdevich. year 2009.

Check if there is a nuclear power plant, plant or nuclear research institute, storage facility for radioactive waste or nuclear missiles near you.

Nuclear power plants

Currently, there are 10 nuclear power plants in operation in Russia and two more are under construction (the Baltic NPP in the Kaliningrad region and the floating nuclear power plant “Akademik Lomonosov” in Chukotka). You can read more about them on the official website of Rosenergoatom.

At the same time, nuclear power plants in space former USSR cannot be considered numerous. As of 2017, there are 191 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide, including 60 in the United States, 58 in the European Union and Switzerland, and 21 in China and India. In close proximity to the Russian Far East 16 Japanese and 6 South Korean nuclear power plants operate. The entire list of operating, under construction and closed nuclear power plants, indicating their exact location and technical characteristics, can be found on Wikipedia.

Nuclear factories and research institutes

Radiation hazardous facilities (RHO), in addition to nuclear power plants, are enterprises and scientific organizations of the nuclear industry and ship repair yards specializing in the nuclear fleet.

Official information on radioactive waste in the regions of Russia is on the website of Roshydromet, as well as in the yearbook “Radiation Situation in Russia and Neighboring States” on the website of the NPO Typhoon.

Radioactive waste

Low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste is generated in industry, as well as in scientific and medical organizations throughout the country.

In Russia, their collection, transportation, processing and storage are carried out by Rosatom subsidiaries - RosRAO and Radon (in the Central region).

In addition, RosRAO is engaged in the disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear submarines and naval ships, as well as the environmental rehabilitation of contaminated areas and radiation-hazardous sites (such as the former uranium processing plant in Kirovo-Chepetsk).

Information about their work in each region can be found in environmental reports published on the websites of Rosatom, RosRAO branches, and the Radon enterprise.

Military nuclear facilities

Among military nuclear facilities, the most environmentally dangerous are, apparently, nuclear submarines.

Nuclear submarines (NPS) are so called because they run on atomic energy, which powers the boat's engines. Some of the nuclear submarines also carry missiles with nuclear warheads. However, major accidents on nuclear submarines known from open sources were associated with the operation of reactors or other causes (collision, fire, etc.), and not with nuclear warheads.

Nuclear power plants are also available on some surface ships of the Navy, such as the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great. They also pose some environmental risks.

Information on the locations of nuclear submarines and nuclear ships of the Navy is shown on the map based on open source data.

The second type of military nuclear facilities are units of the Strategic Missile Forces armed with ballistic nuclear missiles. Cases radiation accidents, related to nuclear ammunition were not found in open sources. The current location of Strategic Missile Forces formations is shown on the map according to information from the Ministry of Defense.

There are no storage facilities for nuclear weapons (missile warheads and aerial bombs) on the map, which can also pose an environmental threat.

Nuclear explosions

In 1949-1990, the USSR carried out an extensive program of 715 nuclear explosions for military and industrial purposes.

Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing

From 1949 to 1962 The USSR carried out 214 tests in the atmosphere, including 32 ground tests (with the greatest pollution environment), 177 air, 1 high-altitude (at an altitude of more than 7 km) and 4 space.

In 1963, the USSR and the USA signed a treaty banning nuclear tests in air, water and space.

Semipalatinsk test site (Kazakhstan)- the site of testing the first Soviet nuclear bomb in 1949 and the first Soviet prototype thermonuclear bomb with a yield of 1.6 Mt in 1957 (it was also the largest test in the history of the test site). A total of 116 atmospheric tests were carried out here, including 30 ground and 86 air tests.

Test site on Novaya Zemlya- the site of an unprecedented series of super-powerful explosions in 1958 and 1961-1962. A total of 85 charges were tested, including the most powerful in world history - the Tsar Bomba with a capacity of 50 Mt (1961). For comparison, the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima did not exceed 20 kilotons. In addition, in Chernaya Bay of the Novaya Zemlya test site, damaging factors nuclear explosion on naval facilities. For this, in 1955-1962. 1 ground, 2 surface and 3 underwater tests were carried out.

Missile test training ground "Kapustin Yar" in the Astrakhan region - an operating test site Russian army. In 1957-1962 5 air, 1 high-altitude and 4 space rocket tests were carried out here. The maximum power of air explosions was 40 kt, high-altitude and space explosions - 300 kt. From here, in 1956, a rocket with a nuclear charge of 0.3 kt was launched, which fell and exploded in the Karakum Desert near the city of Aralsk.

On Totsky training ground in 1954, military exercises were held, during which an atomic bomb with a yield of 40 kt was dropped. After the explosion, the military units had to “take” the bombed objects.

Besides the USSR, only China has carried out nuclear tests in the atmosphere in Eurasia. For this purpose, the Lopnor training ground was used in the north-west of the country, approximately at the longitude of Novosibirsk. In total, from 1964 to 1980. China has carried out 22 ground and air tests, including thermonuclear explosions with a yield of up to 4 Mt.

Underground nuclear explosions

The USSR carried out underground nuclear explosions from 1961 to 1990. Initially, they were aimed at the development of nuclear weapons in connection with the ban on atmospheric testing. Since 1967, the creation of nuclear explosive technologies for industrial purposes began.

In total, of the 496 underground explosions, 340 were carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site and 39 at Novaya Zemlya. Tests on Novaya Zemlya in 1964-1975. were distinguished by their high power, including a record (about 4 Mt) underground explosion in 1973. After 1976, the power did not exceed 150 kt. The last nuclear explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site was carried out in 1989, and at Novaya Zemlya in 1990.

Training ground "Azgir" in Kazakhstan (near the Russian city of Orenburg) was used for testing industrial technologies. With the help of nuclear explosions, cavities were created here in the rock salt layers, and with repeated explosions, radioactive isotopes were produced in them. A total of 17 explosions with a power of up to 100 kt were carried out.

Outside the ranges in 1965-1988. 100 underground nuclear explosions were carried out for industrial purposes, including 80 in Russia, 15 in Kazakhstan, 2 each in Uzbekistan and Ukraine, and 1 in Turkmenistan. Their goal was deep seismic sounding to search for minerals, creating underground cavities for storage natural gas and industrial waste, intensification of oil and gas production, moving large amounts of soil for the construction of canals and dams, extinguishing gas fountains.

Other countries. China carried out 23 underground nuclear explosions at the Lop Nor site in 1969-1996, India - 6 explosions in 1974 and 1998, Pakistan - 6 explosions in 1998, North Korea - 5 explosions in 2006-2016.

The US, UK and France conducted all their testing outside of Eurasia.

Literature

Much data about nuclear explosions in the USSR is open.

Official information about the power, purpose and geography of each explosion was published in 2000 in the book of a group of authors of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy “Nuclear Tests of the USSR”. It also provides a history and description of the Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya test sites, the first tests of nuclear and thermonuclear bombs, the Tsar Bomba test, the nuclear explosion at the Totsk test site and other data.

A detailed description of the test site on Novaya Zemlya and the testing program there can be found in the article “Review of Soviet nuclear tests on Novaya Zemlya in 1955-1990”, and their environmental consequences in the book “

List of nuclear facilities compiled in 1998 by Itogi magazine, on the Kulichki.com website.

Estimated location of various objects on interactive maps

How many years have passed since the tragedy? The course of the accident itself, its causes and consequences have already been completely determined and are known to everyone. As far as I know, there is not even any double interpretation here, except in small things. Yes, you yourself know everything. Let me tell you some seemingly ordinary moments, but perhaps you haven’t thought about them.

Myth one: Chernobyl is remote from big cities.

In fact, in the case of the Chernobyl disaster, only an accident did not lead to the evacuation of Kyiv, for example. Chernobyl is located 14 km from the nuclear power plant, and Kyiv is located only 151 km from Chernobyl (according to other sources 131 km) by road. And in a straight line, which is preferable for a radiation cloud and 100 km will not be - 93.912 km. And Wikipedia generally gives the following data - the physical distance to Kyiv is 83 km, along roads - 115 km.

By the way, here's a complete map to complete the picture

Clickable 2000 px

IN During the first days of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the battle against radiation was also waged on the outskirts of Kyiv. The threat of infection came not only from the Chernobyl wind, but also from the wheels of vehicles traveling from Pripyat to the capital. The problem of purifying radioactive water formed after the decontamination of cars was solved by scientists from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

IN In April-May 1986, eight radioactive control points for vehicles were organized around the capital. Cars heading to Kyiv were simply sprayed with hoses. And all the water went into the soil. Reservoirs were built in a fire emergency to collect used radioactive water. In just a matter of days they were filled to the brim. The capital's radioactive shield could turn into its nuclear sword.

AND Only then did the leadership of Kyiv and the civil defense headquarters agree to consider the proposal of polytechnic chemists to purify contaminated water. Moreover, there have already been developments in this regard. Long before the accident, a laboratory was created at KPI to develop reagents for cleaning Wastewater, which was led by Professor Alexander Petrovich Shutko.

P The technology for water disinfection from radionuclides proposed by Shutko’s group did not require the construction of complex treatment facilities. Decontamination was carried out directly in the storage tanks. Within two hours after treating the water with special coagulants, radioactive substances settled at the bottom, and the purified water met the maximum permissible standards. After that, only radioactive fallout was buried in a 30-kilometer zone. Can you imagine if the problem of water purification had not been solved? Then many eternal burial grounds with radioactive water would be built around Kyiv!

TO Unfortunately, Professor A.P. Shutko. He left us at just 57 years old, just 20 days short of the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. And the chemist scientists who worked with him side by side in the Chernobyl zone, for their dedicated work, managed to receive the “title of liquidators”, free travel in transport and a bunch of diseases associated with radiation exposure. Among them is an associate professor of the Department of Industrial Ecology of the National Polytechnic University Anatoly Krysenko. It was to him that Professor Shutko was the first to suggest testing reagents for purifying radioactive waters. Working with him in Shutko’s group were KPI Associate Professor Vitaly Basov and Lev Malakhov, Associate Professor at the Civil Air Fleet Institute.

Why is the Chernobyl accident, and the dead city is PRIPYAT?

There are several evacuated settlements located on the territory of the exclusion zone:
Pripyat
Chernobyl
Novoshepelichi
Polesskoe
Vilcha
Severovka
Yanov
Kopachi
Chernobyl-2

Visual distance between Pripyat and Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Why is only Pripyat so famous? It's just the most Big City in the exclusion zone and the closest to it - according to the last census conducted before the evacuation (in November 1985), the population was 47 thousand 500 people, more than 25 nationalities. For example, only 12 thousand people lived in Chernobyl itself before the accident.

By the way, after the accident Chernobyl was not abandoned and completely evacuated like Pripyat.

People live in the city. These are EMERCOM officers, police officers, cooks, janitors, and plumbers. There are about 1500 of them. It's mostly men on the streets. In camouflage. This is the local fashion. Some apartment buildings lived in, but do not live there permanently: the curtains are faded, the paint on the windows is peeling, the windows are closed.

People stay here temporarily, work on shifts, and live in dormitories. Another couple of thousand people work at the nuclear power plant; they mostly live in Slavutich and go to work by train.

Most work in the zone on a rotational basis, 15 days here, 15 days outside. Locals say the average salary in Chernobyl is only 1,700 UAH, but this is very average, some have more. True, there is nothing special to spend money on here: you don’t need to pay for public utilities, housing, food (everyone is fed three times a day for free, and not bad). There is one store, but the choice there is small. There are no beer stalls or any entertainment at the sensitive facility. By the way, Chernobyl is also a return to the past. In the center of the city stands Lenin in full height, a monument to the Komsomol, all the street names are from that era. In the city, the background is about 30-50 microroentgen - the maximum permissible for humans.

Now let’s turn to the blogger’s materials vit_au_lit :

Myth two: lack of attendance.

Many people probably think that the only people who go to the accident zone are radiation seekers, stalkers, etc., but normal people They will not approach this zone closer than 30 km. How fitting they are!

The first checkpoint on the road to the plant is Zone III: a 30-kilometer perimeter around the nuclear power plant. At the entrance to the checkpoint, such a line of cars lined up that I couldn’t even imagine: despite the fact that the cars were allowed through the control in 3 rows, we stood for about an hour, waiting for our turn.

The reason for this is the active visits by former residents of Chernobyl and Pripyat in the period from April 26 to the May holidays. They all go either to old places residence, or to cemeteries, or “tombs,” as they also say here.

Myth three: closedness.

Were you sure that all entrances to the nuclear power plant are carefully guarded, and no one except maintenance personnel is allowed in, and you can only get inside the zone by stepping on the guards’ paw? Nothing like this. Of course, you can’t just drive through the checkpoint, but the police just issue a pass for each car, indicating the number of passengers, and go ahead and get exposed.

They say that before they also asked for passports. By the way, children under 18 years old are not allowed into the zone.

The road to Chernobyl is surrounded on both sides by a wall of trees, but if you look closely, you can see the abandoned dilapidated ruins of private houses among the lush vegetation. No one will return to them.

Myth four: uninhabitable.

Chernobyl, located between the 30- and 10-kilometer perimeters around the nuclear power plant, is quite inhabitable. lives in it service staff stations and districts, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and those who returned to their former places. The city has shops, bars, and some other amenities of civilization, but no children.

To enter the 10-kilometer perimeter, it is enough to show the pass issued at the first checkpoint. Another 15 minutes by car and we arrive at the nuclear power plant.

It's time to get a dosimeter, which my madam carefully provided me with, having begged this device from her grandfather, who was obsessed with this kind of gadgets. Before leaving vit_au_lit I took readings in the courtyard of my house: 14 microR/hour - typical indicators for an uninfected environment.
We put the dosimeter on the grass, and while we take a couple of shots against the backdrop of the flowerbed, the device quietly calculates itself. What did he intend there?

Heh, 63 microR/hour - 4.5 times more than the average city norm... after that we get advice from our guides: walk only on the concrete road, because... The slabs are more or less cleared, but don’t get into the grass.

Myth five: the inaccessibility of nuclear power plants.

For some reason, it always seemed to me that the nuclear power plant itself was surrounded by some kind of kilometer perimeter barbed wire, so that God forbid some adventurer comes closer to the station than a few hundred meters and receives a dose of radiation.

The road leads us straight to the central entrance, where regular buses arrive from time to time, transporting plant workers - people continue to work at the nuclear power plant to this day. According to our guides, several thousand people, although this figure seemed too high to me, because all the reactors had long been shut down. Behind the workshop you can see the pipe of the destroyed reactor 4.

Square in front of the central administrative building rebuilt into one large memorial to those killed during the liquidation of the accident.

The names of those who died in the first hours after the explosion are carved on the marble slabs.

Pripyat: that same dead city. Its construction began simultaneously with the construction of the nuclear power plant, and it was intended for plant workers and their families. It is located some 2 kilometers from the station, so it suffered the most.

There is a stele at the entrance to the city. In this part of the road the radiation background is the most dangerous:

257 microR/hour, which is almost 18 times higher than the city average. In other words, the dose of radiation that we receive in 18 hours in the city, here we will receive in an hour.

A few more minutes and we reach the Pripyat checkpoint. The road runs close to the railway line: in the old days, the most ordinary passenger trains ran along it, for example Moscow-Khmelnitsky. Passengers traveling this route on April 26, 1986 were then issued a Chernobyl certificate.

People are allowed into the city only on foot; we were never able to get permission to travel, although the guides had IDs.

Speaking of the myth of non-attendance. Here is a photo taken from the roof of one of the high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the city, near the checkpoint: among the trees you can see cars and buses parked along the road leading to Pripyat.

And this is what the road looked like before the accident, during the time of the “living” city.

The previous photo was taken from the roof of the rightmost of the 3 nine areas in the foreground.

Myth six: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant does not work after the accident.

On May 22, 1986, by resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 583, the commissioning date for power units No. 1 and 2 of the Chernobyl NPP was set as October 1986. Decontamination was carried out in the premises of the power units of the first stage; on July 15, 1986, its first stage was completed.

In August, at the second stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, communications common to the 3rd and 4th units were cut, and a concrete dividing wall was erected in the turbine room.

After the work was completed to modernize the plant's systems, provided for by the measures approved by the USSR Ministry of Energy on June 27, 1986 and aimed at improving the safety of nuclear power plants with RBMK reactors, on September 18, permission was received to begin the physical start-up of the reactor of the first power unit. On October 1, 1986, the first power unit was launched and at 16:47 it was connected to the network. On November 5, power unit No. 2 was launched.

On November 24, 1987, the physical start-up of the reactor of the third power unit began; the power start-up took place on December 4. On December 31, 1987, by decision of the Government Commission No. 473, the act of acceptance into operation of the 3rd power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after repair and restoration work was approved.

The third stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, unfinished power units 5 and 6, 2008. Construction of the 5th and 6th blocks was stopped when high degree readiness of objects.

However, as you remember, there were many complaints from foreign countries regarding the operating Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

By the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 22, 1997, it was recognized as expedient to carry out early decommissioning power unit No. 1, shut down on November 30, 1996.

By the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 15, 1999, it was recognized as expedient to carry out early decommissioning power unit No. 2, shut down after an accident in 1991.

From December 5, 2000, the reactor's power was gradually reduced in preparation for shutdown. On December 14, the reactor was operated at 5% power for the shutdown ceremony and December 15, 2000 at 13:17 By order of the President of Ukraine, during the broadcast of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - National Palace "Ukraine" teleconference, by turning the fifth level emergency protection key (AZ-5), the reactor of power unit No. 3 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was stopped forever, and the station stopped generating electricity.

Let's honor the memory of the heroic liquidators who, without sparing their lives, saved other people.