I could tell something was awry with Yuri’s left eye.
As we talked, the eye seemed to wander further off to the left, like a Cesium electron leaving its nuclei buddy. Yuri didn’t seem to notice or make any kind of head tilting compensation.
Shaking the Geiger counter, he shook his head. “Things not look good here.â€
We moved on to the next stop.
It all started just outside the Exclusion Zone, also known as the Fourth Zone or the “hot†zone. This 30km radius was abandoned in 1986 just after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and subsequent evacuation. People are still allowed inside certain areas of the Exclusion Zone, but only for a few hours or a number of days, based on the location and the type of activity.
As an American that thought it was wrong the way Ivan Drago used steroids versus pure barn-trained Rocky, it was bit strange going into a Soviet structure, a once top-secret nuclear military encampment. I felt the full weight of the cold war on me at the checkpoint-Charlie-like security gates where a bulky enforcer came out to check over my passport. He squinted and grunted a lot, looking me over, and going through it page by page. I’ve only got two blank pages at the end of my passport, so I am sure he thought I fit the travel profile of a spy. Although, if he brought it up, I would argue that spies would not use passports and they would just sneak in. He would then argue that spies that did not want to appear like spies would use regular passports. After that, I would have no argument, so I am glad we did not go down that path. I don’t think he spoke English anyway.
He handed the passport back to me and sent me on to the town of Slavutych, where I was to meet with Yuri. There was not much English spoken at all during this time. There was a lot of grunting and gesturing, all of which seemed to get me down the one road that led deeper into the hot zone.
This road was especially lonely. Skeletal trees lined its sides with occasional abandoned buildings, crumbling into the ice and snow. The day was crystal clear and even though I could see to infinity down this slide rule of a road, I could see nothing at the end.
I passed by several strange structures, including one I suspected to be the infamous Steel Yard “Over-The-Horizon†radar that was used to monitor ICBM launches to the east using ionospheric reflection.
When I got to the Slavutych, a few kilometers away from the security gates, I saw something I did not expect – several people walking around a concrete city. They strode with somewhat of an abandoned gait, and looked in different directions with glassy eyes, almost as if they had resigned themselves to living within this area. I didn’t see any children or women, just severe-looking men in heavy clothes, slogging from one place to another. I don’t know where they came from or where they were going. They simply moved from one blocky concrete structure to the next.
The town of Slavutych was built just after the nuclear disaster in 1986. The town supposedly had several thousand inhabitants, mostly formed by the children that evacuated Pripyat during the meltdown. Before the town was built, they covered the land with two meters of uncontaminated soil. “Move to the panacea of Slavutych, now with two meters of soil over the radiated Earthâ€. I can see the promotional pamphlets now.
I understand that there are many children in the town and even things like restaurants and swimming pools, but I did not see any of that. I went straight to a military building.
It was concrete, like most everything else. The floor was had a water-warped laminate that looked like a wood texture. The walls looked thin and cold inside and there was not decoration besides old maps on the walls and the only furnishings were tired chairs and conference tables.
Then I met Yuri. He looked like he might have been young and robust at one point, but now he was a bit upset to see me, because it meant another trip to the heart of the meltdown. We shook hands and he was perfectly nice. It had been a while since I had spoken English, so I was happy to see he spoke it clearly and well.
He put on his military jacket and fur hat and we headed into another cold room with a large map of the area. He motioned loosely at it, then squinted into the middle of the map – a large red circle, then shrugged it off and motioned for us to leave.
We got into the van and started driving to the ghost town of Pripyat. Yuri told me he was from Moscow and his curious job choice was a shade of indentured servitude that brought him into the hot zone for many weeks on end. He said it in a matter-of-fact way, as if that is just the way things are expected to be.
Very soon outside of Slavutych, we stopped at Rudyi Lis, the Red Forest, so-called because of the heavy fallout cloud that dumped radioactive dust all over the pine forest. It caused cases of albinism in swallows and undocumented damage to other wildlife. I don’t know if it affected squirrels or not, but since they are already insane, there is no reliable control group.
Yuri got out of the van near a “Welcome to Chernobyl†sign at the edge of the Red Forest. He pulled out the Geiger counter, which was clicking away faster than Jack Bauer during a typical hour, and it read 0.293. Ouch. He squinted at it and clicked the glass, a universal move of technology readout desperation, and began hustling back to the van. I flipped off the Nikon and followed without question.
Along the way, I didn’t see any animals even though I was going through what has come to be known as the “Radiological Reserveâ€. Yuri told me that many Polesian native animals have flourished since the area was abandoned by humans. I didn’t see any, but then again, since I was putting my life in Yuri’s hands, I accepted his claims without question. If he says there are lots of animals, there are lots of animals. If he says this area has a lot of radiation and we need to leave, then we need to leave.
We eventually four-wheeled our way through the snow to deserted Pripyat. I’ve already written a bit about that ghost town in part one, but I am now posting a few more pictures and things I noticed.
Because nothing is maintained, every roof of every building in Pripyat has leaks, causing swampy conditions inside all the rooms. This has resulted in all sorts of fauna, trees, roots, weeds, and other strange things to flourish in these Planet-of-the-Apes conditions. I am sure a botanist would have a field day there, seeing as there is still ample Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 that is slowly decaying there and probably causing all sorts of random mutations. I pictured Venus fly traps that eat humans and the like.
Below is a picture of the schoolhouse. As children evacuated, schoolbooks, papers, drawings and coloring books were left scattered behind. It is as if everyone just suddenly disappeared and time froze in a Soviet educational stasis of 1986. However, that educational system was clearly amazing. We are doing a lot of programming work in the Ukraine with our game company, and these ex-Soviets come from the same system that enabled their brains to launch rockets with slide rules. They are absolutely some of the smartest and sharpest math/comp-sci minds in the world. The US public education system is as socialist and government-operated as the Soviet system, but the general populace of the US does not have close to the scientific prowess of the typical cold-war child. I don’t know why this is, but I do know that I have digressed.
I have also included another picture of the abandoned and crumbling amusement park that was just completed prior to the meltdown. Now, the ferris-wheel carts are rusted and falling off the perimeter, sitting askew in the snow. I wanted to go over and get into them, but my spidey-sense told me there was a light coating of radioactive isotopes that might stain my A&F pants.
Next, here is a giant apartment building that was abandoned and is slowly collapsing due to the harsh winters and rainy springs. A lot of windows have been broken and desperate daredevils sneak in to loot on occasion. It wasn’t exactly the homiest place in the world, and I am not sure everyone got the damage deposits back. Then again, I don’t know if mid-eighties Soviet policy had a robust apartment deposit system in place.
Below that picture is a phone booth outside the entrance to another apartment building. You can clearly see the amount of disintegration in the past 20 years. The paint colors have stayed bright… Nothing galvanizes paint like a sealant of unstable elements.
Heading over the reactors themselves was another matter. The snow was thick and the roads were difficult to see. We swerved around and Yuri looked nervous. I don’t like my Russian military die-hards to look nervous. It is a bad sign. He mentioned we should not get off the road because we end up in areas that have not yet been “scrubbedâ€.
Approaching the main reactor, we stopped and found one that had not yet been completed. It was a hollow husk of a structure, left to fall apart in the radioactive fallout. You can see that another one was just in the beginning stages to the right.
We came across a small power station that looked partially destroyed. It was not some place I felt comfy walking into, so I just zoomed in for a quick shot and continued on.
Last, here is a picture of another Chernobyl reactor that was abandoned in the chaos of the fallout. The cranes remain there, and I did not see a lot of activity, to say the least. Interestingly, even though I was with Yuri, who knew this place inside out, whenever I would ask question, he would just shake his head. He didn’t want to talk about it.
We decided it was time to go, so I headed for the exit of the Exclusion Zone faster than Trotsky heading the Politburo.
Upon leaving the compound, I spent a short period inside the decontamination center. You can see me below, jammed into a 10,000 kilo metallic device used to check the amount of rads all over my body. Often times, people end up with a “light dustingâ€, as they so brochurely described, of radiation.
This Soviet-era decontamination center that is nothing like the decontamination center used by Trip and T’Pol. I can assure you of that.
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March 25th, 2007 14:07 | Stuck In Customs » Blog Archive » Inside the Chernobyl Exclusion zone
[...] am currently writing Part 2 (edit: completed and located here) of my adventures in Chernobyl (Part 1 of the Chernobyl story is here). It’s kind of a long [...]
March 25th, 2007 14:11 | Stuck In Customs » Blog Archive » Nuclear Winter in Chernobyl
[...] (Part 2 of those story is located here.) [...]
March 25th, 2007 15:31 | Mokona
Great pictures. The HDR adds so much depth to the images if only video looked like that
read both parts, really cool
March 25th, 2007 20:06 | azxplorer
You say the Geiger counter read 0.293. What is the scale? Could be 0.293 of anything?
Roentgens per hour? Per day? Per year?
March 25th, 2007 20:21 | AC
“[...] and these ex-Soviets come from the same system that enabled their brains to launch rockets with slide rules. They are absolutely some of the smartest and sharpest math/comp-sci minds in the world. The US public education system is as socialist and government-operated as the Soviet system, but the general populace of the US does not have close to the scientific prowess of the typical cold-war child.”
Amen to that. I was born and educated in a country of the former communist block (and I’m now a software engineer in the US
. The decay of the educational system back there is a tragedy, and the lack of interest and investment into the US educational system is going to hurt badly in the long run as well.
March 25th, 2007 20:27 | Andrew
It’s no longer called “the Ukraine”
March 25th, 2007 20:42 | Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 - more HDR pictures of Chernobyl « News Coctail
[...] Part 2 – more HDR pictures of Chernobyl Filed under: Uncategorized — recar @ 1:57 am Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 – more HDR pictures of Chernobyl Great story (2nd part) of Trey Ratcliff’s trip into Chernobyl with some excellent HDR [...]
March 25th, 2007 22:29 | Speed
azxplorer, usually Geiger Counters use Becquerels since they are the SI unit of radioactivity.
March 25th, 2007 22:34 | MikeCD
Those two unfinished structures aren’t reactors, they’re water cooling towers.
March 25th, 2007 22:47 | Ivan
Brilliant story and images, Trey. Not much is being written about this disaster and consequences, so I’m glad you’re bringing some fresh observations.
On the technical side of things – is there a reason why I get errors when I’m trying to push the “back” button on your blog? I use PC Mozilla and it keeps doing this again and again.
March 26th, 2007 05:05 | Scott
dont know what’s better – the amazing pics, or your unfettered commentary. cheers!
March 26th, 2007 05:48 | James
Excellent story.
I like the “no heels” warning in the last pic
March 26th, 2007 07:31 | Chernobyl: B Movie Wonderland at Fundable Films Blog
[...] These pictures are from a blog post by Trey Ratcliff: My Chernobyl Adventure Part 2: The dirty bomb details [...]
March 26th, 2007 07:43 | Stuck In Customs
haha yes… When I first went in there, I was afraid they were going to make me strip down!
March 26th, 2007 07:44 | Ricco Leung
Real Adventure! Excellent Picture! Cool!!!
March 26th, 2007 10:05 | The Airport and News » Kishor Krishnamoorthi’s Website
[...] Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 – more HDR pictures of Chernobyl [...]
March 26th, 2007 10:22 | susan
Great pictures and wonderful way you tell the story Trey!
March 26th, 2007 14:57 | Ted
the 3rd picture, is Russian Pedro
March 26th, 2007 15:08 | Chris
This is an amazing story of yours. I’m glad to see that you were willing to share it with everyone online. Thank you for that as well as the photos. Top notch stuff.
March 26th, 2007 15:54 | Angela Bams
That is totally crazy you are a loon!
April 2nd, 2007 01:13 | SirOJ
“Every woman in my life told me this was a bad idea. Every man said it sounded awesome.”
Do women still think that it was a bad idea now that your wiener glows in the dark (and you’re probably growing an extra one somewhere on your body)?
April 2nd, 2007 02:47 | Stuck In Customs
Haha it’s all very Skin Deep around here.
April 5th, 2007 07:47 | morganusvitus
The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)
April 10th, 2007 21:52 | Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 - more HDR pictures of Chernobyl | Dan’s Stuff
[...] read more | digg story [...]
April 11th, 2007 03:44 | Environment News » Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 - more HDR pictures of Chernobyl
[...] story (2nd part) of Trey Ratcliff’s trip into Chernobyl with some excellent HDR pictures.read more | digg story April 11th, 2007 | Category: Environment News [...]
April 20th, 2007 08:20 | brainde
Hi!
It’s realy interesting, i’d travel to there too, although my friends say i’m crazy, but i’m only very interested. By the way, there are really lot’s of animals there, Yuri had right, and the nature shows it’s face like never was happened. There was a hungarian expedition to chernobyl 1 year ago (from the technical university), they have made great pictures too, and explorations, and a video, that you can download, unfortunately only in hungarian, but when i have time, i maybe make subtitle in english. The video is here: http://www.reak.bme.hu/csernobil/index.htm?sajto
Pictures:
http://www.reak.bme.hu/aszodi/Chernobyl_online_album/index.html
PPS: ENGLISH TOO!!!
http://www.reak.bme.hu/csernobil/sajto/Csernobil2005_MNT_HuEng_v8.pps
April 20th, 2007 08:26 | brainde
Sorry right PPS link!:
http://www.reak.bme.hu/csernobil/sajto/Csernobil2005_MNT_fotovalogatas_HuEng_v8.pps
April 22nd, 2007 07:31 | Motorcycle Guy
That amusement park is so creepy….
May 3rd, 2007 18:52 | MetallMann
HI-RES images of *DANGER* zone….
What else do we wish…
Great telling also,
Tnx
May 13th, 2007 00:41 | Vanteeve Mn
Great photo’s esp the amusement park as this appears in the STALKER game about the Zone!
June 26th, 2007 14:46 | roof sealant
roof sealant…
I found it very useful. Thanks for the knowledge. I am personally trying to follow the advice & try to be independent….
July 5th, 2007 09:28 | SirTie
dude…. why or why in the world would you go there ????
I am surprised your digital equipment was working fine in the conditions of high radiation,
cameras still ok?
July 6th, 2007 11:25 | Stuck In Customs
hehe – no prob – camera works better than ever.
July 9th, 2007 11:33 | Pat Shaw
Visited Slavutich in ‘94. Thanks for showing
parts I missed. Faith of the people amid it all amazed me. Was diagnosed with cancer on return in 2002. Hope you are well. Pat
July 15th, 2007 17:11 | Disney Land Location
Disney Land Location…
I don’t agree with you in 100%, but you covered some good points regarding this topic…
July 27th, 2007 09:26 | SirTie
so thats why you get such an amazing hdrs…
August 14th, 2007 16:58 | GerwingR
Good Photos. thanks for the narative also..
Ralph G. Vancouver.bc.ca
August 23rd, 2007 19:29 | The+Gas+Grill
Hello your message is amazing. I will definitely read your diary.. thank you again
October 5th, 2007 06:25 | Andrew Bourke
That was really interesting. I hope you dry cleaned those clothes really really really really really well!
Thanks for sharing your fantastic adventure.
October 15th, 2007 11:29 | Chernobyl Adventure Part 2 - more HDR pictures of Chernobyl « Environment News
[...] read more | digg story [...]
January 15th, 2008 01:20 | dude
mesothelioma is lung cancer caused by asbestos,
but i loved the article, and i want to go to Chornobyl and take the tour.
January 21st, 2008 00:12 | tk
your pictures are just great. Ive been making a story that involves a nuclear winter and your pictures are great. If you could give me more information about your trip, that would be great!
January 22nd, 2008 15:04 | sjr02
Very good read and great pics! How do you know that all of the radiation is off of you?
January 24th, 2008 13:59 | kemizz
dude , I read you story about 600 times , since I’m planning to go there as well during summer (already in contact with embassy)
but I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind …
drop me a mail if possible , since I can’t find a contact adres here
cheers
Robin.
January 25th, 2008 11:30 | keith
wow good job with everything, my time is not spent reading :p but goddamn u did such a good job, heartbreaking at same time as eye opening
January 28th, 2008 14:41 | SKG
Took a handful of my 8th grade students on your site today and were fascinated with your pictures and commentary. Thanks for such a remarkable pictorial story. Your site stimulated highly intellectual leading edge thought for 8th graders.
January 28th, 2008 19:48 | Stuck In Customs
Hey great – glad to hear it!
January 29th, 2008 07:38 | Alex
The most stunning pictures of Pripyat and the Zone I´ve seen…
What did you do to the pics? Is that a little Photoshop magic? So surreal…
Great work, thanks!
January 29th, 2008 07:54 | Alex
OK, found the tut!
HDR…
This will be a lovely tool to play with!!
Thanks for the tut, and again for the Pripyat story.
January 29th, 2008 10:27 | Stuck In Customs
Thanks!
March 11th, 2008 06:14 | magpie
hey there! congratulations for this wonderful documentary!
i am from Romania (a country south from Ukraine);
I was always interested about the city of Pripyat;
I am also a skillful 3D modeler and so I wanted to bring this city to me by modeling it; I would like to please submit me some high quality pictures of the buildings (blocks, flats, cinema, militia, post office or any other buildings) and other objectives (parks, parking lanes, cars, pylons, light pylons, symbols, “propaganda”); I did not found any map of Pripyat;
I kindly wait for your response and e-mail with photos… Thank you very much
May 1st, 2008 15:36 | androo
a great collection of information and photos… thanks for the good read!
August 1st, 2008 15:44 | Jimbo Jonas
Amazing story written with a great sense of humour. Thanks for that and the great pictures.
Jim
August 3rd, 2008 00:50 | Namagem
Oh, wow.
What an amazing adventure.
If you are interested at all, the areas in those pictures seem to have been extremely accurately reproduced in the game Call Of Duty 4.
August 24th, 2008 01:24 | michele
I would LOVE the chance to get to visit Pripyat – especially with a camera. You are soo lucky!
Nice pics, the ferris wheel is especially poignant for some reason.
September 7th, 2008 01:37 | haylee
What a fantastic composition & an incredible set of images you captured. Not to mention your intriguing sense of humor.
September 7th, 2008 23:42 | drburtoni
wonderful series of photos and descriptions. if radiation dust can settle on you, what keeps the camera clean? including the internal working parts? more on the harmful levels of radiation would clarify some of the readings you encountered. how long must you remain at certain levels? are the boys still swimming correctly? sorry about all the questions, but the interest of the story almost demands them.
thanks.
November 4th, 2008 13:31 | Pripyat the ghost city « GoodColors
[...] here if you would like to know more about [...]
November 16th, 2008 23:59 | david Birtles
Incredible images.
I am going to Pripyat Chernobyl in december ( 26th) looking through your photos I am so excited to to do this!!!
Thanks for taking these images!
David
December 19th, 2008 09:23 | Brian
Great blog!
December 21st, 2008 20:14 | Le Louarn
Hello,
Very interesting pictures… I am french and I will go there in january for an artistic création… Four artists follow me for the ship… Could you give me some contact with ukrainian people who will be ok to speak about the tchernobyl catastroph and to help us to visit Pripiat… or others area contamined ? Please. It is very important for french people to understand nuclear dangerosity…
best regards
Phil
December 23rd, 2008 21:59 | Bram2008
Amazing story, it open my eyes!!! Thanx.
January 1st, 2009 18:59 | R?dolfs Putni?š
Some of my relatives were fooled to do the cleaning after the Chernobyl disaster. When you ask a 19 y.o. red army private to do special assignment that will cover up the remaining half a year service in a few days, they rarely said no. Nice photos, I’m quite eager to pick up those HDR skills.
There are even more astonishing sights in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. An abandoned town called Chernobyl-2 has great sights and the forsaken radar station Duga is also an unforgetable sight (You could search wikipedia for “Rusian Woodpecker” to see some photos of that monster antenna).
P.S. Sorry for the broken english, post-soviet educational system was not too keen on foreign tongues.
January 1st, 2009 19:48 | Stuck In Customs
Interesting!
Thank you everyone for your good feedback.
January 7th, 2009 19:18 | Toni B.
I would never have done this, but so glad that you did. Very amazing pictures and story.
January 17th, 2009 20:18 | brookliner7
Wow, Trey, amazing pictures and story!
I have always loved exploring in combination with photography, and Pypriat is my exploration grail.
After seeing and reading your story, I finally feel motivated enough to make this trip happen, so thank you in advance for your inspiration.
I want to plan a trip there as well (and for a vacation) to do some photography.
I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind corresponding with me via email for some more detail.
warm regards,
Christopher
January 21st, 2009 08:52 | sosasa (sosasa)
2?????????http://tinyurl.com/7oxgfq
January 22nd, 2009 04:05 | Joe
Hi!
I like people with guts and you’re one of them.
I wish to try to visit Chernobyl but I don’t know where to start from.
Maybe you or someone can help me to get there.
Thanks a lot and congratulations.
January 30th, 2009 04:07 | www.iamsignal.com
??? ???????????? ????? ??????. ? ?????, ??? ??? ???? ???????? ???????.
February 1st, 2009 14:11 | Diego
Hello mate.
I’m 19 & I’m from Argentina. I was serching photos of Chernobyl @ Flickr, and I found your blog.
First of all, I must congratulate you by the experience description, and of course, the photos.
The sensations being in a place like that must be indescribable.
I want to know it some day.
A big hug.
Diego A. Magliano Dêdâcek
February 1st, 2009 20:44 | Stuck In Customs
Thanks all!
Diego – I am coming to Argentina in a few months… you in BA?
February 3rd, 2009 17:42 | conor
hi i think what you have done is awsome and very interesting. would u email me on any more info about you journey and other things. thank you. conor, UK
February 18th, 2009 10:21 | Justin
Of course, if it was TNG, they wouldn’t need to rub each other down with decon cream, because they would be scrubbed inside the pattern buffer >.> 22nd century ^.^
February 18th, 2009 16:04 | Israel engaged in covert war inside Iran: report - Page 2 - Debate Politics Forums
[...] Chernobyl babies is enough to make anyone never want a nuke used. English Russia ? More Chernobil My Chernobyl Adventure Part 2: The dirty bomb details __________________ On 2-5-09, ?Economy In Crisis, Every Day Counts!??Obama. On 2-15-09, White [...]
July 14th, 2009 07:12 | david
very nice “travel” documentary. i remember well the day it happened. thanks.
July 16th, 2009 17:39 | safariman
Very interesting and well told adventure story. It’s the kind of trip I like to take, but I don’t have a story to top yours!
July 23rd, 2009 16:30 | mesothelioma
Very nice. Thanks for this.
August 4th, 2009 09:50 | Bill
Very interesting article. Cool pictures. The ambulance chasing mesothelioma ads at the bottom are a bit tacky tho.
August 19th, 2009 14:19 | Sue
You are a very talented and lucky guy (like your mom must say). I love your photography and am in awe of the experiences available to you.I waited anxiously for a year to tour the Mansfield (Ohio) Reformatory and worried about the lead paint. You go to Chernobyl… Keep up the good work and stay safe.
September 14th, 2009 19:00 | Steven Shellenberger
The Ferris Wheel area and hotel are amazing. Especially since both are recreated exactly in Call of Duty: 4. Its so cool to see actual photographs of them.
October 18th, 2009 10:20 | Aundré Bumgardner
Wow very powerful pictures trey…Suprised to see how identical these pictures are to thoses depicted in call of duty.
December 24th, 2009 18:55 | luke
the people might of been looters, or they might of been checking for looters.
Anyway, thanks for sharing that!
THANKS, Luke….
P.S I really want to go there someday!
January 12th, 2010 13:37 | Christoffer Lundtoft Larsen
I just read part 1 and part 2. That was awesome. Thanks for sharing!