Trip to Chernobyl & Pripyat

epswat

epswat

epswat

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Hi All, Long time lurker here...

Who would like to go on a trip to Chernobyl & Pripyat?
I am on a trip that is scheduled to go in October (21-26 October), and we are a little short of numbers. If anyone is interested, please let me know ASAP and I can get your name on the list.
Rough cost for the trip is £450 + Flight, which at the moment are going for £150. This includes everything, transfers, accommodation & meals. Everything bar Vodka which is cheap as chips and very nice.
You get 3 Full days in Pripyat and the surrounding area. 1/2 day in Keiv at then end of the trip as well, which will give you time to explore the Protestors in Euromaidan (assuming they are still there).
Within a year or 2, the old reactor will be covered up and will be gone from sight for ever. The authorities are tearing up the town of Pripyat at a rate of knots, so it will not look the same for much longer. Don't put it off, as it will not be there for ever.
This is the trip of a lifetime (although I have been twice now!).
Please only reply if you are interested, the old glow in the dark gag gets a little tedious.
 
Oh man, if it wasn't such short notice for me, I'd would jump on this opportunity. Have you considered the state of the country before going out there?
 
Nearly 4 months! You pay £100 deposit and the balance is payable on arrival in Kiev. The quicker you book up a flight the cheaper it is. I was there in April and it was fine! Kiev was awesome, a real atmosphere with the protesters. Real living history!
 
I would love to go but what sort of radiation exposer do get from a trip this long?

I will go and visit south korea visit at some point when I feel its a good time.
 
Phantom Shadow said:
Usually you will get more radiation from the flights there and back than the time spent in the city. For a longer trip it probably isn't any worse than a long haul flight.
Click to expand...

The reactor that melted down was one half of a sort of "Semi detached" reactor complex.

The "Neighbour" (And the other operational reactors on the site) continued to be used for electricity production for some considerable time after the accident.

Once the immediate crisis had passed, the radiation levels on site were/are not that great (ISTR a comparison with Dartmoor)

Its a bit like Fukushima, There is a massive "paranoia zone", but, in fact, if you lived your entire life in the control room of the stricken Fukushima power station you would still be about 10,000 times more likely to die as a result of the next Earthquake/Tsunami than you would as a result of radiation exposure! (Outside the "Paranoia Zone" coastal cities are being rebuilt and nobody seems to have any real issue with living in them! :rolleyes: )

As an aside. A graphite moderated, water cooled, pressure tube reactor seems like an, erm, "Bold" design concept! Why do people think it was adopted?? ;) (Hint, the USSR tended to use PWR designs in the USSR satellite states)
 
might be interested tbh. i need to check what holiday entitlement i have left at work and the dates to be sure though!! its somewhere ive always wanted to go, seems very eerie. If i do, i will be bringing 2 mates and the missus probably.

will let you know asap
 
I'd be well up for that (assuming you don't mind a random person), I'll check at work tomorrow to see if I can get the time off

Time to dig the SLR camera out :)
 
1) Elephants Foot is a definite no go area! Not good for your health at all However I would love to get access to Reactor 4 Control Room! However it is really difficult to arrange.

2) To those who are interested, let me know in the next week or so. The trip is being arranged via a Closed Facebook Group, so I will need to add you as friends. It is no problem not knowing anyone. First time I went, I knew nobody, and I made some really good friends. They are a really great bunch of people, and the socialising is good as well. Cheap Vodka and good company!

3) You get to spend around 20 minutes or so outside of Reactor 4, about 200 meters away from it, which is about as close as you are allowed. Dose from there is around 8mSv which is about double what you get on the plane. Pretty much everywhere else is around background dose with a few exceptions. The basement of Hospital 126 and a few scattered artefacts are very hot (fireman's uniforms and fragments of helmet liner) and you have the Claw. However you have to get very close to them for the dose to be dangerous. With radiation, it is Time X Dose, not just dose that is important.
One of the people who arranges the trip was working at the NPP on the night of the accident as an Engineer. He takes you around the Power Plant and Pripyat. He used to live there and has many interesting stories. Another guide Nikolai, was the person who showed the Top Gear team around Pripyat.

4) I'll post a flickr link to my trip last October. I am still working through my shots from the April trip.

As I mentioned, we need around 30 bodies to make the trip viable, and at the moment we are hovering around the 20 mark. So the sooner you can let me know the better.

Any other serious questions, please ask and I will do my best to answer!
 
I would be interested in this I have to admit, it just so happens I have a week of annual leave booked for that week as well. I need to look at my money situation as I'm saving for a car and potentially moving into my own place soon.

Genuinely would like to go though.
 
Parky said:
I would be interested in this I have to admit, it just so happens I have a week of annual leave booked for that week as well. I need to look at my money situation as I'm saving for a car and potentially moving into my own place soon.

Genuinely would like to go though.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you do want to go, and I will get you on the list. Trust me, it is worth it.
 
epswat said:
1) Elephants Foot is a definite no go area! Not good for your health at all However I would love to get access to Reactor 4 Control Room! However it is really difficult to arrange.
Click to expand...

I was joking - as I recall no one has been near the elephants foot and not died a few days later.

The pictures are quite something though.
 
Very very interested, add a Z for facebook. Got to ask permission (well, tell her I want to go) Its been on my to do list for a long long time. Send me a message.

Ah crapola, bloody wedding to go to. FFS.

NVM. Though this makes me what to go asap. Feel free to message me for any others.
 
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