Ukraine to Open Chernobyl Area to Tourists in 2011

[TitsMcGee]

KIEV, Ukraine -- Want a better understanding of the world's worst nuclear disaster? Come tour the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Beginning next year, Ukraine plans to open up the sealed zone around the Chernobyl reactor to visitors who wish to learn more about the tragedy that occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday.

Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of northern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people were resettled from areas contaminated with radiation fallout in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Related health problems still persist.

The so-called exclusion zone, a highly contaminated area within a 30-mile radius of the exploded reactor, was evacuated and sealed off in the aftermath of the explosion. All visits were prohibited.

Today, about 2,500 employees maintain the remains of the now-closed nuclear plant, working in shifts to minimize their exposure to radiation. Several hundred evacuees have returned to their villages in the area despite a government ban. A few firms now offer tours to the restricted area, but the government says those tours are illegal and their safety is not guaranteed.

Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Yershova said experts are developing travel routes that will be both medically safe and informative for Ukrainians as well as foreign visitors

She did not give an exact date when the tours were expected to begin.

"There are things to see there if one follows the official route and doesn't stray away from the group," Yershova told The Associated Press. "Though it is a very sad story."

The ministry also said Monday it hopes to finish building a new safer shell for the exploded reactor by 2015. The new shelter will cover the original iron-and-concrete structure hastily built over the reactor that has been leaking radiation, cracking and threatening to collapse.

The new shell is 345 feet tall, 853 feet wide and 490 feet long. It weighs 20,000 tons and will be slid over the old shelter using rail tracks. The new structure will be big enough to house the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or the Statue of Liberty in New York.

The overall cost of project, financed by international donors, has risen from $505 million to $1.15 billion because of stricter safety requirements, according to Ukrainian officials.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which manages the project, said a final estimate of the project's cost will be released after the French-led consortium Novarka finalizes a construction plan in the next few months.

[Raev]

What part of our mod will be open for tourists? o.O

*ducks*

Edited December 13, 2010 by Raev

[phee]

What part of our mod will be open for tourists? o.O

*ducks*

The reactor?

[creatureofthenyte]

Is Chernobyl radio active ?

[phee]

Is Chernobyl radio active ?

No of course not... I doubt she listens to the radio all that much actively... she probably listens to CDs and MP3s mainly knowing her tastes.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

i prefer non-glow-in-the-dark testicles, but still good to know. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeehPLaI_NU

[StormKnight (1)]

Chernobyl is radioactive?!

That would explain the reason I set of the Geiger counters at work.

*runs like hell*

Edited December 14, 2010 by StormKnight

[darknight1]

In Soviet Russia, you can get radiation poisoning for free?

[TitsMcGee]

In all jokingness aside lol, I have a link saved on my other computer of a blog of one of those "illegal tours" of the near by complete with pictures, and it's FUCKING AWESOME. I'll post it tonight when I go up for bed.

[KatRN05]

I would go as long as I didn't come back radioactive.

[TitsMcGee]

I would go as long as I didn't come back radioactive.

From what I remember reading on the blog about the tours, they make you burn everything you wore so you don't bring back anything radioactive.

[prick]

First 1000 tourists get to glow in the dark for free.

[Eevee]

First 1000 tourists get to glow in the dark for free.

!!!

Genius!

I'd totally go and then add myself to my glow-in-the-dark collection.

And also...touring Chern, ehh?

Its a girl's dream come true.

[TitsMcGee]

In all jokingness aside lol, I have a link saved on my other computer of a blog of one of those "illegal tours" of the near by complete with pictures, and it's FUCKING AWESOME. I'll post it tonight when I go up for bed.

I looked for that link and I couldn't find it, which is sad because I usually save everything. It was really fucking cool, the pictures were just eerie and epic all at the same time.

[Destroit]

So...reading the title I was like "Wow cool, awesome, honeymoon potential right there...can finally have my dreams come true and go over there..."

But I reluctantly clicked the link figuring you were all already having a field day with it . So being the good humored sport I am, here:

Anyone can have a tour of Chernobyl's reactor for the low low cost of $85!

So...reading the title I was like "Wow cool, awesome, honeymoon potential right there...can finally have my dreams come true and go over there..."

But I reluctantly clicked the link figuring you were all already having a field day with it . So being the good humored sport I am, here:

Anyone can have a tour of Chernobyl's reactor for the low low cost of $85!

[StormKnight (1)]

So...reading the title I was like "Wow cool, awesome, honeymoon potential right there...can finally have my dreams come true and go over there..."

But I reluctantly clicked the link figuring you were all already having a field day with it . So being the good humored sport I am, here:

Anyone can have a tour of Chernobyl's reactor for the low low cost of $85!

Do they let you play with the control rods?

*bolts*

[phee]

Do they let you play with the control rods?

*bolts*

Remember insert them slowly to avoid meltdown.

[Destroit]

Do they let you play with the control rods?

*bolts*

Remember insert them slowly to avoid meltdown.

This is clearly some hot moderator-on-moderator-on-moderator passive trolling right here .

This is clearly some hot moderator-on-moderator-on-moderator passive trolling right here .

[Scar My Machine]

I looked for that link and I couldn't find it, which is sad because I usually save everything. It was really fucking cool, the pictures were just eerie and epic all at the same time.

Youtube has videos posted from people that have been through that area. It is very eerie seeing the area frozen in time and also the urban decay that is taking place.

[StormKnight (1)]

In all seriousness, not a place that should be on the Infiltration.org list of places to explore alone.

They had men run into the area of the meltdown (faster=less exposure) with lead bricks to drop into place to contain things. I hear a lot of those guys are sick, dying, or dead.

[n0Mad]

They had men run into the area of the meltdown (faster=less exposure) with lead bricks to drop into place to contain things. I hear a lot of those guys are sick, dying, or dead.

Because if the radiation doesn't get you, the lead poisoning will.

[Destroit]

In all seriousness, not a place that should be on the Infiltration.org list of places to explore alone.

They had men run into the area of the meltdown (faster=less exposure) with lead bricks to drop into place to contain things. I hear a lot of those guys are sick, dying, or dead.

All of the men forced to complete this were in their 20s in 1984. I believe there were about fifty of them. They were to run up, pile on what they could, and then run away when their bones began to hurt.

In 2001, only one of them was alive and dying of cancer. That would a 20 year old male worker 37 in 2001...but none of them except the one even made it.

All of the men forced to complete this were in their 20s in 1984. I believe there were about fifty of them. They were to run up, pile on what they could, and then run away when their bones began to hurt.

In 2001, only one of them was alive and dying of cancer. That would a 20 year old male worker 37 in 2001...but none of them except the one even made it.

[Destroit]

Youtube has videos posted from people that have been through that area. It is very eerie seeing the area frozen in time and also the urban decay that is taking place.

Indeed. I have almost everything down pat in my head on a mental map for, uhm, obvious reasons .

(If anyone asks "What do you mean?" for that last statement, I'm going to facepalm harder than I've ever facepalmed before)

Indeed. I have almost everything down pat in my head on a mental map for, uhm, obvious reasons .

(If anyone asks "What do you mean?" for that last statement, I'm going to facepalm harder than I've ever facepalmed before)

[Enishi]

If I ever go back to Russia to visit my lady friend again I am TOTALLY hopping over to the Ukraine to check this out .

[Destroit]

If I ever go back to Russia to visit my lady friend again I am TOTALLY hopping over to the Ukraine to check this out .

SHENANIGANS! Nobody can go there before I do!

SHENANIGANS! Nobody can go there before I do!