The Orthodox Church, wherever she is - sometimes in places not at all intended for life - transforms everything around her. A vivid example of this is the temple of the prophet Elijah in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Destruction and desolation reigns throughout the Zone, and the church, thanks to the efforts of the rector and a handful of parishioners, is well-groomed, and services are being held in it. Correspondents of Neskuchny Sad, Deacon Fyodor KOTRELEV and Konstantin Shapkin, were convinced that an Orthodox church is the only island of normal life in Chernobyl.
Every year on April 26, next to the same 4th power unit, a meeting is held in memory of all those who died from the disaster. For several years now, through the efforts of Father Nikolai Yakushin, the ceremony has begun with a memorial service.
And at 1.23 am on April 26, the bell, installed in the courtyard of the Ilyinsky temple in Chernobyl, rings as many times as many years have passed since the day of the disaster. This year the bell rang 21 times
The construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP) began in 1970, 19 kilometers from the regional center of the Kyiv region, the city of Chernobyl. In the same year, the city of Pripyat was built two kilometers from the nuclear power plant, in which the service personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant settled - at the time of the accident, the population of the city was 60 thousand people (15 thousand people lived in Chernobyl). On September 26, 1977, the first power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant produced the first kilowatts of electricity. Nineteen years later, on the night of April 26, 1986, for reasons that have not yet been clarified, an explosion occurred at the 4th power unit, which resulted in the release of a huge amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. About 500 thousand people took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. From the first days of the accident to this day, a 30-kilometer exclusion zone has been operating around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which can only be entered with a special permit. Inside the zone, special zones of a smaller area are established around various objects.
A board installed in the courtyard of the temple of Elijah the Prophet. "Sound of sorrow. Stop and bow your head - in front of you is the Drevlyane land in the mountain of a nuclear catastrophe. Before the people who lived here for centuries and, like sand, scattered all over the world. God, help us sinners overcome this misfortune.
In Chernobyl (19 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant), unlike Pripyat (3 km), people return
Pripyat was built in 1970, just three kilometers from the nuclear power plant, so that the Chernobyl employees living in the city could easily get to work. This proximity ruined the city: here the radiation background is so high that it is absolutely impossible to live.
It has been 21 years since Pripyat, the city of nuclear scientists, has been strictly forbidden to enter: the 1986 disaster, the causes of which have not yet been clarified, made the city dangerous for people. Only marauders and other adventurers enter the Zone. It was they who left their drawings on the walls of the Pripyat house of culture overgrown with forest.
Chernobyl silence
Empty houses, overgrown with small, weedy forest and ivy-covered jungle. Dozens, hundreds of empty houses. If the windows are closed with shutters, the house looks like a dead man with his eyes closed. And if the shutters are open and the window openings gape with emptiness, then it looks like a death cry. There are practically no cars here, and therefore there is complete silence, broken only by the singing of birds, which makes it even more creepy.
The city of Chernobyl is the Zone. Someone calls it dead, someone in the official exclusion zone, but everyone says "zone". You always remember Tarkovsky's Stalker.
From time to time, people dressed in camouflage uniforms pass through the overgrown undergrowth streets. On the chest there is a patch with a blood type, in the pocket there is a small dosimeter, which you regularly need to check in order to find out how much radiation you got. These people work at Chernobylservice and are needed here to service the sarcophagus. These are dosimetrists who constantly measure the radioactive background in the Zone, these are engineers and builders who maintain the reinforced concrete sarcophagus that covers the 4th power unit of the station, these are drivers of special equipment that takes radioactive items to special burial sites. With one of the employees of "Chernobylservice", dosimetrist Nikolai from Taganrog, correspondents of "NS" met shortly after their arrival in Chernobyl.
Walking around the city, we found ourselves in the Memory Park - on the site, overgrown with grass, there are freshly painted fire engines, armored personnel carriers and other special equipment. We decided to attach a pocket dosimeter to the cars, which immediately showed increased radiation. At that moment, a loud cry was heard: “What are you doing there?! Back immediately!” A middle-aged man in a camouflage suit and a large dosimeter slung over his shoulder was shouting. “There may be an increased background,” Nikolai told us. But looking at the numbers recorded by our device, the dosimetrist was seriously frightened: “This, lads, is something too much!” Nikolay ran to the equipment and turned on his dosimeter. However, he failed to find the “dirty spot”: apparently, the spot was small, and we could not show its exact location.
People in camouflage - engineers, dosimetrists, builders - work on the sarcophagus that covers the 4th unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. "Somebody's got to do the job," they say
Control over the level of radiation in Chernobyl is mandatory
Monument to the heroes of Chernobyl. The prototype of this monument was the Chernobyl fire brigade, who was on duty on the night of the disaster. Almost all of his fighters died
There are several hundred people like Nikolai here in the Zone. They come for a few days and return home - this is called a shift method. “Well, someone has to do this work,” they calmly say. “And the salaries here are higher than on the other side of the zone.”
April 26 marks 21 years since the day when a very pretty Ukrainian town became one of the synonyms for misfortune, horror, catastrophe. The night of April 26, 1986, when the reactor of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, divided the lives of thousands of people into “before” and “after”. And this furrow went so deeply through the lives of people that until now, almost twenty-one years later, they remember every minute of the tragedy. For example, one recalls: “On the morning of the 27th, at half past eight, I leave the house, and people in chemical protection met me…” - “No, at half past eight they had not yet been brought up, it was already in the afternoon, closer to twelve!” And so Chernobyl and Pripyat can tell everything every minute. Many say that they have been dreaming of the catastrophe all these years, and the Zone, as it were, does not want to let them go. “I was thirteen years old when the explosion happened,” recalls Roman from Kiev. - We lived in Pripyat: my parents worked at the station. I remember as soon as I heard from the guys about the accident, I wanted to take a moped in the garage and go to the station - we didn’t understand anything then. But he could not open the garage door: the lock jammed, and did not go. Maybe that's why I'm still alive. The next day we were evacuated. So many years have passed, but I still come every year to Chernobyl and Pripyat. Why? I don't know, it pulls, that's all. I have been dreaming of Pripyat every night for all these years! And only a few years ago I had a constant feeling of anxiety, which was all the years after the accident. Now Pripyat is completely empty. The radiation background in the city is very high, it is absolutely impossible to live there. Block high-rise buildings are empty, the streets are overgrown with forest. The apartments are littered with broken furniture, pieces of wallpaper, clothes, shoes. The floor is littered with broken glass. This is the result of 20 years of time and looters. According to engineers, these houses will never become residential: too much destruction.
self-settlers
Having learned that we are interested in everything in Chernobyl, our new acquaintance, the car mechanic of Chernobylservice Petro, decided to show the most important thing, from his point of view, the most important - self-settlers: “Imagine, some of them even during the days of general evacuation, when everyone didn't leave. That's where we're going!" Along the Chernobyl streets, Petro leads us somewhere deep into the quarters. Twilight rapidly turns into night darkness, at nine o'clock in the evening. Only later we were told that there is a curfew in Chernobyl, 20.00, after which any movement in the city is strictly prohibited. But either we were lucky, or Petro knew where to go, we were not caught. Only with the onset of night in Chernobyl do signs of human habitation become visible - in some places the lights are on in the windows. There are, however, several five-story buildings where shift workers live - it is always crowded and light there. But basically Chernobyl is all one-story, private. Before the revolution, the city was in the Pale of Settlement, and there were more than half of the Jews. In Chernobyl, they still show the grave of one of the founders of Hasidism, Naum Chernobyl. During the Great Patriotic War, most of the Jews were exterminated by the Germans. And all the same, if not for the catastrophe, the city could resemble Vitebsk from the paintings of Chagall: small, once whitewashed houses, some sheds woven from branches ...
And the light in the windows is self-settlers, people who, for various reasons, chose life between the spots of radioactive contamination, with a dosimeter in their hands. Basically, these are old pensioners who, as they themselves say, have nothing to lose. There are two or three dozen of them.
Petro has been working in Chernobyl on a rotational basis in a car repair shop for all twenty years that have passed since the disaster. “Firstly, I love Chernobyl, and secondly, there is work here, but not outside the Zone,” he explains. With the confidence of a frequent visitor, Petro jumps over the fence, opens the gate from the inside, knocks on the window: “Semyonitch, open it!” The owner, an old, but still not decrepit man, lets us into the house: "Stepan Semyonitch," he introduces himself, "and my little lady, grandmother Natalka." Grandmother is somewhat frightened, but, seeing the familiar face of Peter, she smiles and invites us to enter. Everything in the house is somewhat dilapidated and a little neglected, as happens with old people. But in each red corner there is a solid large icon, and this gives rise to a feeling of solidity and comfort. On the bookshelf there is a photograph of the owners in their youth - everything is as it should be - on the table there are fresh rolls baked by grandmother Natalka.
Stepan Semenovich and Baba Natalka are native Chernobyl people. “After the accident, they gave us an apartment in another city,” Stepan Semenovich said, “I went, looked and realized: we won’t be able to live in a foreign land. So they stayed here, in Chernobyl. And nothing, we live "
After the Holocaust, they were given housing in one of the cities of Ukraine, but after going there for a couple of days, Semenych realized that I would not live. And they returned to Chernobyl.
- How did you live? Was it not scary?
- And so they lived. When the station exploded, we were planting potatoes and tomatoes. So they didn't die of hunger. Yes, and the store worked: the liquidators also had to somehow live, - Stepan Semenych recalls.
The city was rapidly emptying, by the beginning of May women, old people and children were taken out, a little later than men. In order to avoid panic, people were told that they were leaving their homes for two or three days, so they took money, documents and a change of clothes with them. As soon as Chernobyl was empty, looting began. First, the police went home in search of good things, then the military, and only later “specialists of a general profile” began to visit. “I remember,” says Semenych, “in the early days I fought with the police more than once. Yes, yes, I used to go out with an ax and just say so: well, they say, put back everything that you took, otherwise I’ll smash your whole car!
Self-settlers live on pension and from the garden. Of course, before digging a new bed, they “ring” the ground with a dosimeter. If the dosimeter shows an increased background, dig a few meters away. They also catch and eat fish from the Pripyat River, on which the city stands. They assure that the radiation in the fish is even less than in the one bought in Kyiv at the market. They also eat mushrooms from the surrounding forests. But only white ones: for some reason they are the only ones that do not accumulate radiation. “We are not afraid of radiation,” say the self-settlers, “after all, we are still alive, which means that it is not so scary! And those who then left their native places, where are they now? Yes, most have already died, but we lived here, we live and will live until we die of old age!
I will build my church 
Ask any person in Chernobyl, even if he is a shift worker and came here for the first time only yesterday, how to get to the Ilyinsky Church. You will be shown. Because the temple of the prophet Elijah is, without any exaggeration, the most lively place in the entire 30-kilometer exclusion zone. The self-settlers have life, and in the church fence of the Ilyinsky temple - truly Life with a capital letter. If Chernobyl and all the settlements of the Zone sink further into thickets and fall apart, then here flowers bloom along neat gravel paths, here is a mowed lawn on which tables for summer meals are set. There are freshly whitewashed walls and domes shining with gold. After a walk through the empty and silent Chernobyl, you feel like the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir in St. Sophia. Even the birds seem to sing louder here.
And just seven years ago, the temple was a match for the general Chernobyl landscape: boarded up windows, rickety domes, peeling walls. And so it was until Nikolai Yakushin, a former parishioner of the Ilyinsky Church, had the strength to look at it. Now Archpriest Nikolai Yakushin is the rector of the Ilyinsky Church, and then he was just a machine operator, an employee of one of the agricultural complexes. “You understand,” says Fr. Nikolai, I am a native Chernobyl, and my wife, mother Lyubov, is also from here. Of course, we left after the accident, they gave us an apartment in Kyiv, but we still regularly came to Chernobyl: to visit the graves at the cemetery, to look at our native places. And Ilyinsky Church is especially dear to us: we were baptized and married here, both my mother and grandmother were parishioners here. In general, we love him very much.
Once arriving in Chernobyl, Nikolai Yakushin saw that the temple simply began to fall apart: the dome on the bell tower was about to fall, the porch had broken off the wall and was growing into the ground. He realized that something had to be done. I went to the administration of the exclusion zone: give me boards, give me roofing iron, give me paint. “They were surprised: who are you? - recalls about. Nikolay. - I told them: yes, I am a parishioner of this temple! And they say: you should go from here. So I went to Vladyka Mitrofan.”
The Vicar of the Metropolitan of Kyiv, Archbishop Mitrofan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky, greeted Nikolai cordially. “And I told him: is it possible to appoint a rector to Chernobyl, otherwise everyone is chasing me, as an unofficial person? Vladyka says: we will search. A month passes, Vladyka calls me and says: But you study at our seminary, don't you? I really studied at the seminary then: I did it just like that, to improve my education. And he: so you accept the parish in Chernobyl, otherwise no one wants to go there, they are afraid. So Nikolai Yakushin became a deacon, and then a priest.
Just such a person should be the rector of the temple in Chernobyl. Father Nikolai combines incredible energy (after all, Chernobyl is a city of power engineers after all!) with amazing good nature: a smile never leaves his face, and it is simply impossible to imagine him angry! All secular skills - engineering, technical, mechanization, construction - were very useful to the new rector of Ilyinsky Church. “I leveled the dome personally,” says mother Lyubov with undisguised pride. “It was scary to watch, but he built some kind of scaffolding, tied himself with a rope, prayed and climbed.” Repairs in the temple were also supervised by the father rector himself. He also decorated the temple himself: no matter what you ask in the temple - about the bizarre metal flowers on the doors, about the tombs in which particles of holy relics rest - there is only one answer to all: but the priest himself did it. Of course, his mother helps Father Nikolai in everything. She is behind the box, and on the kliros, and in the parish hotel, where guests like the correspondents of the National Assembly or the clergy, who sometimes come to concelebrate with Father Nikolai, stay, and in the refectory. In a word, harmony. The only thing to regret is the very small parish. But how can he be big here, in Chernobyl? Self-settlers are old and infirm, shift workers are loaded with work. And yet there is a parish, although small, in Chernobyl. At the Sunday liturgy there are five or six people, on holidays - more. On such days of the church year as Holy Saturday, Pascha and Radonitsa, which is called “Grobki” here, several hundred people come.
Of course, Father Nikolai has a hard time: a small parish means a small income. And a lot of work is required in the Ilyinsky Church: to install heating, to cover the roof, and to cut down the undergrowth, which over the years since the Catastrophe, has overgrown the churchyard. Three years ago, the rector went to his bishop for advice: what to do? And Vladyka Mitrofan blessed Fr. Nikolai to make a religious procession through the Ukrainian dioceses with the venerated icon of the Elias Church - the image of St. Nicholas. According to the temple inventory, this icon was revered as miraculous already in the 18th century: cases of healing were repeatedly recorded from it. It is with this icon that Father Nikolai passes through the parishes. All donations go to support the Ilinskaya Church: “We say so: St. Nicholas sent us heating in the temple. A very big help!" says Mother Love. 
And last year, on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, the Metropolitan of Kyiv granted St. Ilyinsky Church another shrine: the icon of the Chernobyl Savior - perhaps one of the most unusual icons we have ever seen in terms of iconography. Christ, the Mother of God, Archangel Michael, the souls of those who died in the Holocaust, rescuers in gas masks, doctors and power engineers in white coats - unusual, too "modern" characters very convincingly remind how recently the Chernobyl tragedy occurred. The image was painted in 2003 with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv. Last year, Father Nikolai, with two icons, traveled from Sevastopol to Chernobyl: there is a legend that St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. “Since Chernobyl has affected every family in one way or another, people come to this image with great excitement and with great faith,” says Father Nikolai.
“Father, how many parishioners do you have?” “You know, sometimes it seems to us that there are very few, three old men. And sometimes we directly feel that we have hundreds of parishioners! After all, Chernobyl is a worldwide phenomenon!”
The staff of the Elias Church is small: father, matushka, two stokers and ... their own, "regular" bell-ringer - rotational worker Nikolai. He comes from Kyiv not only during his watch, but also on his free days. It is he who, on the night of April 26, at exactly 1.23, when the anniversary of the Holocaust is celebrated, rings the bell hanging in the churchyard near the worship cross. Calls as many times as years have passed since the accident. And this ringing announces to the entire Zone: in Chernobyl there is a Church that the gates of hell will not overcome! The Divine Liturgy is celebrated in Chernobyl. And this means that in Chernobyl there is a place where Life conquered death. So Chernobyl has hope, Chernobyl has a future. Whether normal life will return to Chernobyl - no one knows: whether it is possible to clean the entire area from radioactive stains - is unknown. But there will be Orthodox life in Chernobyl, people will come to Ilyinsky Church. As long as there is a temple, there will be life.
On the day of the anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a prayer service was served right on the territory of the station. A lot of people always come to such prayers. This time, among the clergy was the correspondent of the National Assembly, Deacon Fyodor Kotrelev.
Epilogue
On the threshold of the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village. Krasno, three kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the dosimeter shows a 4-fold excess of the maximum permissible level of radiation. But as soon as you cross the threshold of the temple, the radiation background becomes normal - the same as in Moscow
Traveling around the Zone, we visited a village abandoned by the inhabitants, three kilometers from the reactor. In the village stands the wooden church of Archangel Michael. On the street, near the church, the level of radiation exceeds the maximum allowable four times. In ordinary buildings, radiation is less, since radioactive dust does not get there from the street, but still, the dosimeter readings are far from normal. Inside the temple, the dosimeter shows “normal”. Indeed, there is simply no place for death in the Church!
We bring to your attention a few more photos brought by our correspondents from Chernobyl, Pripyat and the surrounding area
In the temple of the Archangel Michael (village Krasnoye)
In Pripyat...
... the streets have long turned into groves
Where there are almost no people, animals thrive. They walk here, almost without fear of anyone.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on April 26, 1986. The accident is regarded as the largest of its kind in the history of nuclear energy, both in terms of the estimated number of people killed and affected by its consequences, and in terms of economic damage. During the first three months after the accident, 31 people died; the long-term effects of exposure, identified over the next 15 years, caused the death of 60 to 80 people. 134 people suffered from radiation sickness of varying severity. More than 115 thousand people from the 30-kilometer zone were evacuated. Significant resources were mobilized to eliminate the consequences, more than 600 thousand people participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident.
As a result of the accident, about 5 million hectares of land were withdrawn from agricultural circulation, a 30-kilometer exclusion zone was created around the nuclear power plant, hundreds of small settlements were destroyed and buried (buried with heavy equipment).
After assessing the scale of radioactive contamination, it became clear that the evacuation of the city of Pripyat would be required, which was carried out on April 27. In the first days after the accident, the population of the 10-kilometer zone was evacuated. In the following days, the population of other settlements of the 30-kilometer zone was evacuated. It was forbidden to take things with them, children's favorite toys, and the like, many were evacuated in home clothes. In order not to fan the panic, it was reported that the evacuees would return home in three days. Pets were not allowed to be taken with them.
Today the city of Pripyat has become a ghost town.
Ferris wheel in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine. This city is located just a few kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Construction of a new sarcophagus over the exploded fourth block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
City of Pripyat.
This was the Energetik Palace of Culture in the city of Pripyat in 1986, and this is how it became 30 years later.
View of the fourth block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the city of Pripyat.
Built a new sarcophagus over the fourth block.
An employee of the plant for the processing of liquid radioactive waste at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine.
Containers at the plant for processing liquid radioactive waste at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
A worker stands near an interim spent fuel storage facility under construction. Ukraine.
People light candles at a memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died in the aftermath of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine.
Abandoned radar system "Duga", which is located inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Ukraine.
A wolf in the forest, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in April 2012.
A house in the abandoned village of Zalesye, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine.
A worker from the State Ecological Reserve testing radiation levels on a farm, in Vorotets, Belarus, April 21, 2011, near the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Ivan Semenyuk, 80, and his wife Marya Kondratovna, near their home, located in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, in the village of Parushev, Ukraine.
Ruined house, in the abandoned village of Vezhishche, in the exclusion zone, 30 km around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Carousel in Pripyat.
The interior of the Palace of Culture "Energetik".
Textbooks are scattered on the floor of a music school in the village of Zalisya, located inside the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, September 29, 2015.
The skeleton of a dog inside a 16-storey building in the city of Pripyat.
Moose in a state reserve, inside the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, near the village of Babchin, about 370 km (231 miles) southeast of Minsk, Belarus, March 22, 2011.
Game attractions in Pripyat.
Abandoned cafe. Pripyat.
Remains of a swimming pool. Pripyat.
Instrument panels in the control room of reactor two of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. They are almost identical to those that stood in the control room of the fourth reactor, at the time of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. September 29, 2015.
The dosimeter shows about one microroentgen / hour, which is considered the norm, behind the fence of the remains of the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Lynx near Chernobyl, Ukraine, in December 2012.
In the photo: the old sarcophagus of the fourth block (left) and the new sarcophagus, which should replace the old one (right). Pripyat, March 23, 2016.
Installation of a new sarcophagus.
A woman visits her abandoned house during the Radunitsa holiday, during which it is customary to visit the graves of deceased relatives, in the abandoned village of Orevichi, near the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, southeast of Minsk on April 21, 2015. Every year, residents who fled their villages after the Chernobyl accident return to visit the graves of their relatives, as well as to meet former friends and neighbors.
April 26 is the Day of Remembrance for those killed in radiation accidents and catastrophes. This year marks 33 years since the Chernobyl disaster - the largest in the history of nuclear energy in the world. A whole generation has already grown up that did not experience this terrible tragedy, but on this day we traditionally remember Chernobyl. After all, only by remembering the mistakes of the past can we hope not to repeat them in the future.
In 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl reactor No. 4, and several hundred workers and firefighters tried to put out the fire, which had been burning for 10 days. The world was enveloped in a cloud of radiation. Then about 50 employees of the station were killed and hundreds of rescuers were injured. It is still difficult to determine the scale of the disaster and its impact on people's health - only from 4 to 200 thousand people died from cancer that developed as a result of the received dose of radiation. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will be unsafe for people to live for several more centuries.
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1. This 1986 aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, shows the destruction from the explosion and fire of Reactor 4 on April 26, 1986. As a result of the explosion and the fire that followed it, a huge amount of radioactive substances was released into the atmosphere. Ten years after the world's largest nuclear disaster, the power plant continued to operate due to an acute shortage of electricity in Ukraine. The final stop of the power plant occurred only in 2000. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik) 
2. On October 11, 1991, while reducing the speed of turbine generator No. 4 of the second power unit for its subsequent shutdown and putting the separator-superheater SPP-44 into repair, an accident and a fire occurred. This photograph, taken during a press visit to the station on October 13, 1991, shows part of the collapsed roof of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, destroyed by fire. (AP Photo/Efrm Lucasky) 
3. Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the largest nuclear disaster in human history. The picture was taken three days after the explosion at the nuclear power plant in 1986. In front of the chimney is the destroyed 4th reactor. (AP Photo) 
4. Photo from the February issue of the Soviet Life magazine: the main hall of the 1st power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 29, 1986 in Chernobyl (Ukraine). The Soviet Union admitted that there had been an accident at the power plant, but provided no further information. (AP Photo) 
5. A Swedish farmer removes straw contaminated through precipitation several months after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in June 1986. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) 
6. A Soviet medical worker examines an unknown child who was evacuated from the nuclear disaster zone to the Kopelovo state farm near Kyiv on May 11, 1986. The picture was taken during a trip organized by the Soviet authorities to show how they deal with the accident. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko) 
7. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and his wife Raisa Gorbacheva during a conversation with the management of the nuclear power plant on February 23, 1989. This was the first visit by a Soviet leader to the station since the April 1986 accident. (AFP PHOTO/TASS) 
8. Kievans stand in line for forms before checking for radiation contamination after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Kyiv on May 9, 1986. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko) 
9. A boy reads an ad on a closed playground gate in Wiesbaden on May 5, 1986, which says: "This playground is temporarily closed." A week after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion on 26 April 1986, the Wiesbaden municipal council closed all playgrounds after detecting levels of radioactivity between 124 and 280 becquerels. (AP Photo/Frank Rumpenhorst) 
10. One of the engineers who worked at the Chernobyl NPP undergoes a medical examination at the Lesnaya Polyana sanatorium on May 15, 1986, a few weeks after the explosion. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) 
11. Activists of the organization for the protection of the environment mark the railroad cars, which are infected with radiation dry whey. Photo taken in Bremen, northern Germany on February 6, 1987. The serum, which was brought to Bremen for further transport to Egypt, was produced after the Chernobyl accident and was contaminated with radioactive fallout. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer) 
12. An abattoir worker puts suitability stamps on cow carcasses in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, on May 12, 1986. According to the decision of the Minister of Social Affairs of the federal state of Hesse, after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, all meat began to be subjected to radiation control. (AP Photo/Kurt Strumpf/stf) 
13. Archive photo from April 14, 1998. Workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant pass by the control panel of the destroyed 4th power unit of the station. On April 26, 2006, Ukraine marked the 20th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which affected the fate of millions of people, required astronomical costs from international funds and became an ominous symbol of the dangers of nuclear energy. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV) 
14. In the picture, which was taken on April 14, 1998, you can see the control panel of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV) 
15. Workers who took part in the construction of a cement sarcophagus that closes the Chernobyl reactor, in a memorable photo in 1986 next to an unfinished construction site. According to the data of the Union of Chernobyl of Ukraine, thousands of people who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster died from the consequences of radiation contamination, which they suffered during work. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik) 
16. High-voltage towers near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant June 20, 2000 in Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) 
17. The duty operator of a nuclear reactor records control readings at the site of the only operating reactor No. 3, on Tuesday, June 20, 2000. Andrey Shauman pointed angrily at a switch hidden under a sealed metal cover on the control panel of the reactor at Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant whose name has become synonymous with nuclear catastrophe. “This is the same switch that can be used to turn off the reactor. For $2,000, I'll let anyone push that button when the time comes," Shauman, acting chief engineer, said at the time. When that time arrived on December 15, 2000, environmental activists, governments, and ordinary people around the world breathed a sigh of relief. However, for the 5,800 Chernobyl workers, it was a day of mourning. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
18. 17-year-old Oksana Gaibon (right) and 15-year-old Alla Kozimerka, victims of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, are being treated with infrared rays at the Tarara Children's Hospital in the capital of Cuba. Oksana and Alla, like hundreds of other Russian and Ukrainian teenagers who received a dose of radiation, were treated for free in Cuba as part of a humanitarian project. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP)
19. Photo dated April 18, 2006. A child during treatment at the Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, which was built in Minsk after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, representatives of the Red Cross reported that they were faced with a lack of funds to further help the victims of the Chernobyl accident. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images) 
20. View of the city of Pripyat and the fourth reactor of Chernobyl on December 15, 2000 on the day of the complete shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Photo by Yuri Kozyrev/Newsmakers) 
21. Ferris wheel and carousel in the deserted amusement park of the ghost town of Pripyat, next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant May 26, 2003. The population of Pripyat, which in 1986 was 45,000 people, was completely evacuated within the first three days after the explosion of the 4th reactor No. 4. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred at 1:23 am on April 26, 1986. The resulting radioactive cloud damaged much of Europe. According to various estimates, from 15 to 30 thousand people subsequently died as a result of exposure to radiation. Over 2.5 million people in Ukraine suffer from diseases acquired as a result of exposure, and about 80,000 of them receive benefits. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
22. Pictured on May 26, 2003: an abandoned amusement park in the city of Pripyat, which is located next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
23. Pictured May 26, 2003: gas masks on the floor of a classroom in a school in the ghost town of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
24. In the photo dated May 26, 2003: a TV case in a hotel room in the city of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
25. View of the ghost town of Pripyat next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
26. Pictured January 25, 2006: an abandoned classroom in a school in the deserted city of Pripyat near Chernobyl, Ukraine. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will be unsafe for people to live for several more centuries. According to scientists, the complete decomposition of the most dangerous radioactive elements will take about 900 years. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
27. Textbooks and notebooks on the floor of a school in the ghost town of Pripyat January 25, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
28. Toys and a gas mask in the dust in the former elementary school of the abandoned city of Pripyat on January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
29. In the photo on January 25, 2006: an abandoned sports hall of one of the schools in the deserted city of Pripyat. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
30. What is left of the school gym in the abandoned city of Pripyat. January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
31. A resident of the Belarusian village of Novoselki, located just outside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in a picture dated April 7, 2006. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV) 33. On April 6, 2006, an employee of the Belarusian radiation and ecological reserve measures the level of radiation in the Belarusian village of Vorotets, which is located within a 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images) 
34. Residents of the village of Ilintsy in the closed area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about 100 km from Kyiv, pass by the rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine, who are rehearsing before a concert on April 5, 2006. Rescuers organized an amateur concert dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for more than three hundred people (mostly elderly people) who returned to live illegally in villages located in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images) 37. Construction team wearing masks and special protective suits on April 12, 2006 during work to strengthen the sarcophagus covering the destroyed 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO / GENIA SAVILOV) 
38. On April 12, 2006, workers sweep away radioactive dust in front of a sarcophagus covering the damaged 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Because of the high levels of radiation, crews only work for a few minutes. (GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images) (14
ratings, average: 4,79
out of 5)
Thirty years have passed since it thundered. During all this time, continuous actions were taken at the station and adjacent territories to eliminate the consequences of the accident, but today Chernobyl is still a zone unsuitable for life. Nobody lives there, wild forests are concentrated around, and a variety of rumors, myths and legends circulate about this gloomy area, about which it is time to make horror films.
What is Chernobyl today? What does the modern generation need to know about the catastrophe that once literally turned the world upside down and continues to be dangerous to this day? This and other facts about what Chernobyl looks like today will be discussed in this article.
Chernobyl today according to the legislation of Ukraine
Chernobyl is now a huge piece of wildlife with unique flora and fauna.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on the legal status of this territory contaminated by the explosion of a nuclear power plant. Simultaneously with this law, a decree on the creation of a special biosphere reserve in this area came into force and gained force. Thus, Chernobyl today is turning into a protected area, which is protected by law.
Only the question remains open: will a new start be made after this for a full-fledged restoration of nature in, thanks to which Chernobyl could now at least partially recover.
The future Chernobyl reserve is being created in order to preserve typical natural complexes in the territory of Polesye in a natural state, as well as to increase the function of the barrier of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the zone of unconditional resettlement, and at the same time stabilize the hydrological regime.
In addition, the territories that were contaminated with harmful radionuclides will be rehabilitated. In the future, it will be possible to conduct scientific research here. That's what it says on the official website of the President of Ukraine. Such is the state of the territory, such is Chernobyl now.
Thus, the terrible tragedy is not forgotten. Even now, after three decades, Chernobyl today allows certain actions to be taken that will help, if not eliminate all the consequences completely, then at least improve the state of the Zone.
Biosphere Reserve - what is it?
At the word "reserve" we, as a rule, immediately imagine a beautiful, green territory, where animals walk freely, beautiful butterflies fly and various luxurious plants bloom. So, in fact, it looks like a classic reserve. A biosphere reserve is a slightly different phenomenon. Let's take a closer look at what Chernobyl is now on the verge of becoming a biosphere reserve.
Once again, we note that a biosphere reserve is not a classic reserve where human activity is prohibited, that is, any interference with nature. After the zoning process of the biosphere reserve is completed, in addition to the buffer zone, an economic zone will appear there, when possible.
What will it be and why
About what Chernobyl looks like today, photos tell more eloquently than any information. Those who are not indifferent are more interested in the question of what exactly will happen next.
As noted by the chairmen of the Ecological Center of Ukraine, one must first of all understand that the presence of the Chernobyl Reserve will not be able to completely close the polluted territory as such. After all, in addition to the reserve itself, there is still an industrial zone of enormous size. This is due to the fact that initially the rest of the territories were built next to the industrial station. Where the Chernobyl nuclear power plant stands, there are various reservoirs, shelters and other miscellaneous objects.
These objects, of course, will not be included in the territory of the biosphere reserve. The reserve should cover only "natural" areas where there was practically no industrial activity. The main idea is that the biosphere reserve is obliged to help nature recover and get a second chance for a full life. See what Chernobyl looks like in the photo today. The photographs clearly depict the entire deplorable state of the territory, and how environmentalists should best proceed, is a question to which the answer is not obvious.
By the way, environmentalists themselves comment on the situation as follows: “We are well aware that the most important and powerful tool that helps people is nature. The bigger and stronger nature, the safer, the better. Therefore, the task of man is to provide nature with the opportunity to recover, to do everything so that this happens as quickly and efficiently as possible.
In natural reserves, any human activity is prohibited. But the Chernobyl biosphere reserve is like a cake of many layers. There may be an economic, recreational, and protected area. Scientists and security guards can also live in the biosphere reserve, harmoniously using their work. The only condition that is set for these people is not to harm nature in any way.
Why is a biosphere reserve created?
So, Chernobyl today is a potential biosphere reserve, which should start a new life for nature. For people, the contaminated area remains prohibited. According to experts, it will be possible to live there no earlier than in 20 thousand years.
Today, this is too unbearable a figure to be taken seriously. In any case, the creation of a biosphere reserve is by far the best option. This is better than accumulating radioactive substances or "shifting" territories, allocating them for agricultural purposes. Now it is simply dangerous and wrong from the point of view of the security of all mankind. Of course, the regime of the biosphere reserve will be properly and significantly different from the reserves of the rest of Ukraine.
A map of the Chernobyl zone will help to better determine where and how best to set up a biosphere reserve. And the issue of creating such a territory requires careful study. The incoming questions should be solved by specialists - biologists, experts in the field of conservation, as well as nuclear physicists. In other words, experts from different fields should be invited to this issue.
Today, in addition to unresolved issues, it remains to wait for the creation of an administration in the reserve, as well as to recruit the necessary specialists. I want to believe that this project will prove itself from the best side.
What problems may arise when creating a reserve
Of course, any new undertaking may entail a number of problems that need to be addressed responsibly and correctly. It is known that there are much fewer nature reserves in Ukraine than, for example, in Europe. Our reserves occupy only 5% of the total territory, while in the West this figure reaches 15%.
However, our undertakings do not take place in order to imitate Europe. The reason is that influential people want to significantly reduce the Chernobyl zone, after which they take it into private ownership and build their enterprises there.
Nothing happens for nothing in the world, influential people first of all try for themselves, but, in principle, these initiatives are quite noble. One way or another, the Chernobyl zone will get a chance for a second life.
The Chernobyl zone continues to shrink, therefore, environmentalists also need to take up combat positions in time. So that the clever rich still do not dismantle all the lands, the boundaries of the exclusion zone must be clearly fixed, then there will be no questions where it is possible to build and where not.
Is the Chernobyl nuclear power plant operating?
People often ask on the Internet: “Are the Chernobyl NPP working now”, “Is the Chernobyl NPP working now”? The World Wide Web will be able to tell you in detail that the Chernobyl Chernobyl NPP is working or not. We, on the other hand, to the question of whether the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is currently operating, can answer for sure: no, it does not work, since already in 2000 it ceased to exist forever.
To date, the Chernobyl zone is a fairly large piece of wildlife with a unique flora and fauna. This is the very place where nature is restored, resting from the destructive actions of man. Chernobyl today surprises with the appearance of rare brown bears that have returned here after a 100-year break. Lynxes, wild boars, elks, river lynxes, river otters, roe deer, foxes, wolves, deer, owls, cranes, horses also managed to breed here...
An amazing fact was the appearance in the local forests of a black stork, listed in the Red Book. "Sheltered" Chernobyl today and other unique animals. Some of them no longer exist in other territories of the Earth. As you can see, the Chernobyl zone has become unsuitable for human life, but at the same time it is an excellent habitat for our smaller brothers. By the way, the emptiness of the Zone played an important role in all this. Animals and birds can roam here for real, without human attempts to interfere and control the natural processes of the world.
Prospects for the creation of a protected area
So, the Exclusion Zone tends to soon turn into a protected area. Therefore, now the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is working to restore the natural conditions for animals, to make sure that nature triumphs where man can no longer rule.
In general, the program of biosphere reserves must provide for at least five basic tasks. After all, in addition to preserving nature, activities should also be carried out here, which will be aimed at education and science. In the end, the most important human research will be carried out here.
The Chernobyl zone is now an excellent testing ground for developing science and providing nature with excellent conditions for growth. Ecologists themselves note this: “We understand that in Chernobyl and on the territory of the biosphere reserve, there are areas that remain almost untouched and clean. This will give people living nearby the opportunity to officially exist and also carry out scientific and research activities.”
Photos of Chernobyl today clearly show that this zone is still the Exclusion Zone. It is difficult to imagine a more deserted and gloomy zone. However, today the decision to create a biosphere reserve there really deserves attention and respect. First of all, the creation of the reserve will make it possible to coordinate scientific programs.
In the future, the territory of the reserve is planned to be expanded towards the Zhytomyr region, where the Drevlyansky reserve already exists, and towards Belarus, where there is already a Belarusian radio-ecological reserve. What benefit will we all get from this? In addition to a huge array of wildlife, which will get a chance for revival, this protected area has every chance of becoming a natural reserve in Europe. The Chernobyl zone on the map will become greener and healthier than Chernobyl today, not to mention the territory in reality.
Chernobyl zone today. Energy of sun
Continuing to consider the Chernobyl issue today, it should be noted that the government plans to build power plants in Chernobyl that will operate on solar energy. According to experts, the energy generated by these stations will provide electricity to a third of the population of Ukraine.
What's up with Chernobyl now? This question can be answered more briefly: it is practically dead. Once the city of Pripyat was one of the most prestigious cities in the entire Soviet Union. Now it is a ghost town, coldly nestled under the Ukrainian sky.
What is happening now with Chernobyl does not inspire much positive, however, with common efforts we can fix it. According to experts, the Exclusion Zone may soon become the largest source of solar energy. Ukraine is ready to use more than 6 thousand hectares of free land in order to create the production of solar energy, biogas and heat. Thus, what is now in Chernobyl may in the near future completely change for the better, more perfect.
To date, solar panels that will provide a third of Ukraine with energy are at the development stage. It is planned that the first four-megawatt solar panels will be installed within the next year. All this will allow us to continue using the infrastructure left over from the nuclear power plant. In addition, after the transition to solar energy, the country will be able to spend less on the production of energy sources, and the population, in turn, will be able to pay less on utility bills.
It should be noted that Chernobyl, affected by the disaster, currently stretches for thousands of square kilometers, and still remains dangerous for human habitation. The power of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is about four thousand megawatts.
Radiation in Chernobyl
The catastrophe that broke out on April 26, 1986, became the largest in the history of nuclear energy. After the explosion of the fourth power unit, an exorbitant amount of harmful radioactive substances turned out to be in the air.
Radiation in Chernobyl has reached simply immense proportions, which will remind of itself for many years to come, if only by the fact that it will be impossible to live in this zone for a long time to come. The level of radiation in Chernobyl, as well as the level of radiation in Pripyat, is simply a colossal set of harmful substances, that is, it is not possible to live there.
Only in the first three days after the accident, about thirty people died, and more than eight million people living in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were exposed to radiation exposure. At the same time, the Exclusion Zone was created around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, from which evacuation from Chernobyl and Pripyat was carried out. Together with these cities, 74 villages were cleared.
The city of Chernobyl, whose radiation was and is life-threatening, does not let people in anymore, but there is expanse for animals. On the Internet, for the query "Chernobyl radiation" you can get a significant amount of information that answers this question. Then you yourself will be able to decide how dangerous it is to be on the territory of the Zone.
Is there radiation in the Chernobyl area today?
Is there radiation in Chernobyl today? On the one hand, I want to immediately say that it is there, so stay away from Chernobyl.
But what about trips to this zone, how about the fact that some daredevils secretly make their way there in search of adventure? Do some people work there, make plans to create solar stations and set up a biosphere reserve? If it were impossible because of radiation, then, probably, all this would not be discussed. So there's a chance that somewhere the level of radiation is safe enough to live there.
This is true - it is still possible to live in Chernobyl, but only for a short time. From two to 14 days, depending on the degree of radioactive contamination of the selected area.
If we talk about Chernobyl, the level of radiation can be very different. And what kind of radiation in Chernobyl, probably, even the experts themselves cannot answer with accuracy, although they regularly do their research there.
Of course, there are definitely very "dirty" places in the Chernobyl area. First of all, these are various burial grounds, where cut soil and other radioactive garbage were brought, which, for various reasons, was scattered throughout the Zone. Also, these are traces of radioactive cemeteries, liquidation equipment, and of course, the placement of the very, inside which the deadly radioactive background is still kept. But if you go there as a tourist, then naturally you will not be tempted by such places. They just won't let you in. Even if you ask very strongly and pay generously.
Chernobyl today for tourists
To date, there are places in Chernobyl where it is absolutely impossible to recover. At the same time, we remind you that it is impossible to live in Pripyat in any case, since too long a stay in this Zone is fraught with irreversible changes in the body.
At the same time, if you look at things realistically, then thanks to cleaning, the efforts of past and present, an increased level of radiation that can cause radiation sickness is located only in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Therefore, only professionals with proper equipment and training can be in such places.
As already mentioned, excursions are carried to Pripyat, which involve the complete safety of every tourist. Only for a short time do the emissions of traces of radioactive substances intersect in the bus.
In addition, horror stories about the presence of radioactive iodine, which really took place during the explosion, are now very common. This radioactive iodine was very dangerous for the human thyroid gland without timely (during the first two weeks of the accident) taking a special protective drug. Meanwhile, over time, radioactive iodine decayed, and now, thirty years after the tragedy, it is no longer anywhere.
However, one cannot say that the situation is too optimistic, since radiation has been and will be there, and no one will live there for a long time. But anyone who has already reached the age of eighteen, has no contraindications, does not drink alcohol on the territory of Chernobyl can become a guest of the Exclusion Zone. You will be able to see with your own eyes all the wonders and secrets that Pripyat hides, which once was in full swing with life and was ready to develop and move forward.
Route for a trip to Chernobyl today
Such is the situation of Chernobyl today. Most likely, it is impossible for the current generation to understand the feelings and emotions of the eyewitnesses of that terrible tragedy that thundered all over the world on April 26, 1986.
Then some facts were classified in order to prevent mass panic, but now, thanks to the raised archives, documentary investigations, we can draw certain conclusions that were previously hidden. For example, despite everything, Chernobyl is now an unsafe area for walking. Therefore, if you decide to go there, keep in mind that you will have to move only along the indicated route, under the guidance of experts - masters of their craft.
In principle, the permission to conduct excursions in the Exclusion Zone can be treated differently. However, in fact, this is not so bad, because it makes it possible to personally get acquainted with the past of the USSR, frozen in an instant. After all, what once represented future progress for the Soviet Union is now an abandoned ghost town. The Soviet Union also no longer exists, which makes it clear that there is nothing eternal and permanent in the world.
As a result of the explosion, six million people from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus found themselves in a cloud of nuclear dust that circled our planet twice.
Towns and villages surrounding the nuclear plant are first evacuated and then abandoned as the government has created a huge exclusion zone around the plant.
The final exclusion zone has a radius of 30 kilometers and covers 81 settlements with its length.
Unlike the city of Pripyat and the city of Chernobyl-2, residents remained in small villages at the time of the evacuation.
They did not want to leave their homes. They were not afraid of the introduced liability and fines for being in the exclusion zone, nor were they afraid of radiation. They stayed, and then others returned.
The state looks at it, so to speak, through its fingers, it is useless to fine people anyway, they don’t have money, and it’s financially expensive to arrange a new evacuation, because you have to build new houses for them.
Life and work in Chernobyl and Pripyat: understanding the lives of those who work and live in the exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant.
Many are interested in whether people live in Chernobyl now?
Yes, people live in Chernobyl. Some on a rotational basis, others on a permanent basis.
- Nearly 7,000 people still work at the power plant
- Some live in the exclusion zone for up to 14 days, while others go to neighboring cities
- Despite being outside the exclusion zone, radiation levels in these cities are still 30 times higher than normal.
- About 400 people live throughout the territory, mostly self-settlers, poor farmers and former factory workers who arbitrarily resettled in the exclusion zone
For most Ukrainians, the exclusion zone is a frightening place, a dark spot on the map where few dare to settle or work.
However, for those who grew up around Chernobyl, the thought of leaving their home was too painful.
Several years passed and people who did not take root in new places returned.
There is no work here, more precisely, you can work in two directions either at the station, or provide for the lives of workers - trade in stores, work in a hotel.
All these vacancies are available only in Chernobyl, but there are no jobs at all in the nearby villages.
The people living there eat from the garden, go fishing, earn extra money as guides or let travelers in for the night.
It is difficult to earn money as a guide, mostly ready-made groups, already formed in Kyiv, come here.
Capital firms do not want to work with locals. Caught fish can be sold at a nearby market, but this is prohibited. For the sale of items from the exclusion zone threatens a prison term.
They buy such fish reluctantly and for nothing, although 30 years have passed since the disaster and the fish is believed to have overcome radiation and is simply not susceptible to it, the fear of eating such fish is strong.
The locals have no choice in food and the fish on the table is just a feast. Some products are brought by travelers, the same applies to medicines, as well as medical care.
There are charitable organizations that help locals with medical care, but this is also rare.
Of course, you will not meet young people in such villages, for the most part they are pensioners, whether someone will remain here after their death remains an open question.
31 years after the disaster, life continues here, albeit in a miserable and often desperate state.
Despite the exclusion zone, the surrounding area is still exposed to 20 to 30 times normal levels of background radiation, and no one knows what impact this has on people's health.
Nevertheless, there are restrictions: a person must be 18 years old and can stay there for no more than 5 days, and preferably a maximum of two.
For those wishing to spend the night provided. It was opened not so long ago and it is designed for a hundred people. The rooms have plasma TVs, shower and toilet, as well as free internet.
The main tourist contingent is under 21 years old, fans of the game “S.T.A.L.K.E.R”.
Also, a lot of people come to shoot documentaries, with scientific research, journalists.
There are also a lot of people who used to live here. In general, if you think that they are completely empty, then this is a mistake.
There, life “boils” in its own way, one German tourist even held a wedding ceremony there.