anyone been to Pripyat?

[shakotan]

11069597_10205519283635448_24506242101158427_n by νιᴩ, on Flickr

Vroom Vroom!

[llewop]

pidsy said:

just watched a piece on Sky news on the containment being moved over at the moment. the guy they had on there being interviewed was pretty excited.

quite sad that we were some of the last people to see Reactor 4 in its (almost) original state.

they said it should be covered in the coming days.

‪Timelapse video of Chernobyl arch sliding http://po.st/xSdApv via @EBRD‬

It took a few days to complete and looks like they had a swarm of drones scattered about to capture it! I knew they had started a couple of weeks ago, but not seen confirmation it was complete until today - was getting worried it had got stuck half way along the track!

[pidsy]

All the stuff you just mentioned in your post is why we are going back in march for 4 days in march. I was so taken by the area (and Kiev) that I need to do more exploring.

Awesome place.

[pidsy]

llewop said:

?Timelapse video of Chernobyl arch sliding http://po.st/xSdApv via @EBRD?

It took a few days to complete and looks like they had a swarm of drones scattered about to capture it! I knew they had started a couple of weeks ago, but not seen confirmation it was complete until today - was getting worried it had got stuck half way along the track!

I must admit - I googled it when I got back to work after lunch and saw it was done. The sky coverage was so half hearted that it doesn't surprise me it's already been done.

[llewop]

pidsy said:

I must admit - I googled it when I got back to work after lunch and saw it was done. The sky coverage was so half hearted that it doesn't surprise me it's already been done.

I can't remember when I saw it had started, saw a video of the first few metres, then nothing until today. The worrying thing about it not completing the move would have been the 30k tonnes or so not resting on something designed to do so! The build area is well supported, the final position too..... in between; not so much!

[llewop]

Apparently A BBC4 programme on the NSC later this month, but will doubtless also have overview of the area and history. Wed 21st Dec at 9pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08650s6

Documentary which follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000 tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It films close up with the team of international engineers as they race to build the new structure before Chernobyl's original concrete sarcophagus - the hastily built structure that covers the reactor - collapses.

Built to last just thirty years, the temporary sarcophagus is now crumbling, putting the world at risk of another release of radioactive dust. Radiation levels make it impossible for workers to build the new shelter directly over the old reactor, so engineers are erecting the new megastructure - taller than the tower of Big Ben and three times heavier than the Eiffel Tower - to one side and will then face the challenge of sliding the largest object ever moved on land into place over the old reactor.

I don't recall 'racing to build .... before the sarcophagus collapses' but I guess it gets interest and introduces 'drama'.

[pidsy]

That should be interesting. Thanks for posting the details.

[shakotan]

KimJongHealthy said:

Interestingly there are about 180 people still living within the exclusion zone who returned to their family homes after the dust have settled. You don't get a chance to drink some chernobyl moonshine every day:

Is that the same old lady we visited, with the bedridden sister that looked like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars?

[llewop]

KimJongHealthy said:

I found some photos from under the sarcophagus, this is as close as I was allowed:

interesting - so you were allowed through the visitor centre building and to the edge of the NSC construction platform/site? Certainly different to how it used to be - in the past they have been twitchy about you taking pictures through the window of the visitors centre (or anywhere really!) and wouldn't have got past it without the right passes and a search!

[pidsy]

KimJongHealthy said:

I believe a lot depends on a tour guide, our has been going there for over 10 years now, he works closely with few national scientific institutions and even organised entry for some TV crews in the past, so he personally knows almost everyone there.

Same for wandering freely for hours in Pripyat, I've seen groups being driven from building to building in a minibus, we could just walk around the town almost unrestricted (there was some extra security due to presidential visit preparation).

I'd love to know who you go out there with - I'm looking to go again in the coming months and I'd like to see more of the non-touristy bits.
Feel free to PM if you don't want to post openly.

[llewop]

KimJongHealthy said:

I believe a lot depends on a tour guide, our has been going there for over 10 years now, he works closely with few national scientific institutions and even organised entry for some TV crews in the past, so he personally knows almost everyone there.

yeah - as in so many cases, sometimes who you know is what matters! We certainly found it useful to employ a good number of local 'fixers' who knew the system. The first time I was there and we were entering some of the security areas they got sniffy about exact serial numbers of equipment: even down to the number of irrelevant zeros - so for example 00001234 for an item marked 0001234 wasn't allowed in!

[pidsy]

So the route I was going to take is being problematic (he's in hospital).

Going back in April with someone else. 3 days this time and we should see some of the more unseen parts of the area.

Can't wait.