Lost Places - Chornobyl Zone

We planned this trip for a long time. At last all organizational questions are solved, date is defined and... So 22, April in 7 AM, we take Evgenie Samoilov at Kyiv railway station and we go to the Zone.

 

 

 

Orane (25 brigade), Industrial zone ChNPP, Cargo port, the river Pripyat, railway station "Yaniv".

Ivankiv, Orane, turn on Dytiatki... "Here, here this place" - exclaims Evgenie, and I stop the car. To the right of road a big field with the rests of the destroyed brick buildings, overgrown with birches and aspens. 21 one year ago on this place 25 brigade of armed forces of the USSR, taking part in liquidation of consequences of Chornobil accident has been located.

• Orane, 25 brigade

We go across the field and I try to imagine how it looked 21 one year ago... The tents, hastily constructed barracks, mess-rooms, club... Evgenie as the guide conducts us across the field. "Here there was our tent, here there lived firemen, here were motor-car repair service workshops". Here "greetings from 86" - a skeleton from " water carter"... Level on scale is more then 600 mcR/h.

Fresh trench - the telephone cable is dug out.

Check point "Dytiatki", Chornobyl, ChNPP. We leave the car near ABK-1 to feed catfishes in a pond-cooler. Catfishes today not in mood. Two big fishes of metre and a half on ones is lazy turn under the bridge, without paying any attention to pieces of a long loaf which we throw in water. Maybe them already fed today :)... Bread pick up "fry" - half-metre ides...

• Industrial zone of ChNPP

To tank farm area we have got quite casually, having missed turn to port.

• Pripyat Cargo port

Liquidator Evgenie Samoilov on one of his former objects... 21 year later...

• The river Pripyat

Today is a very windy day, especially on river bank. The gamma background picture does not coincide with my last year’s gaugings - concerning pure places, have levels 2 - 3 mR/h, "dirty" places on the contrary, shows surprisingly low, almost natural background... Ashore sand is imported, pure, after the emergency... Therefore level of a gamma background does not exceed 200 mcR/h.

• Railway station "Yaniv"

All that I could learn about settlement Yaniv which was near the railway station with the same name, it that here were fierce fights in winter of 1943. And by the state on 1986 254 inhabitants lived here. For today from settlement a little that remains, after failure on ChNPP it has been almost completely taken down, and on its place pine wood is planted.

There is more photos of railway technics from station "Yaniv" and its vicinities in section: "Railway technique"

Here is the station. From platform already does not remain a trace for a long time. The big arch windows are block up with a brick. At the moment here there is a garage, in a court yard there is a building technics. And these two ТЕМ are in running order and belongs to Chornobilservis. They "run" from Vilchja to Semihody. Them do not let out outside of the Zone.

And these already "ran off"...

We sit down in the car and go further on the West.

Continuation in the second part: "Zone. Spring. Part 2"

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