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Special Interest Tourism 2 - Activity

Chernobyl

Elena standing on a high-rise tower in Pripyat, looking at the Chernobyl reactor

Biz/ed gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Elena Filatova to this resource. Elena, or "Gamma Girl", also known as a "Kid of Speed", has become well known for her travelogue: Ghost Town and the Land of the Wolves. This is a Web-based series of motorbike journeys around the Chernobyl area, made by Elena, supported with images and video. This work and Elena's other projects can be seen here.

Background to the Chernobyl disaster

Map of Europe showing Ukraine and Chernobyl

Chernobyl is located on the eastern fringes of Europe, near the border with Belarus.

Overnight on Friday 25th to Saturday 26th April 1986, a combination of faulty systems and human error led to two explosions at the Chernobyl-4 nuclear reactor in the Ukraine. Several tonnes of graphite insulating blocks were ignited, causing a release of radiation into the atmosphere.

Once it is on fire, graphite is extremely hard to extinguish. It took more than a week and several thousand tonnes of sand, boron, dolomite, clay and lead dropped from helicopters to put it out. Such was the level of radiation at the time that many of the helicopter pilots involved in this operation died.

Fire engine used to douse the fire at Chernobyl

One of the fire engines used in the desperate attempts to put out the fire - the drivers never made it home. Copyright: Elena Filatova.

It's important to understand why the explosions at Chernobyl were so deadly and yet also why a visit to the nuclear plant twenty years on is now possible. Here's a short explanation:

  • The device used for measuring radiation levels is called a Geiger counter
  • In many European cities, a Geiger counter would show a reading of around 20 microRoentgens per hour
  • 1,000 microRoentgens equal one milliRoentgen
  • 1,000 milliRoentgens equal 1 Roentgen

So, one Roentgen is 50,000 times the average radiation of a typical European city. A dose of 500 Roentgens within 5 hours is fatal to humans. Oddly, it takes about 2.5 times that dosage to kill a chicken and 100 times that to kill a cockroach.

  • In the first days after the explosion, areas around the reactor were emitting 3,000-30,000 Roentgens per hour.
  • The firemen who were sent to put out the reactor fire were killed immediately. In the words of Elena, they were 'fried on the spot by gamma radiation.'
  • Radiation entered the soil, affecting anything grown for food.
  • It is not retained by asphalt, which makes Elena's motorbike rides through this area possible.
'The Magic Wood'

Although safe on the asphalt, if Elena was to walk 100 metres into the woods in front of her, radiation levels would be 300,000 times higher than they are normally. Copyright: Elena Filatova.

Eventually, once the fire at Chernobyl was put out, the remains of the reactor were encased in an enormous steel and concrete shield, so it is now relatively safe to travel to the area; again, in the words of Elena: 'as long as one do not step off of the roadway and do not put nose in a wrong places...'

Radiation will continue to affect the Chernobyl area for the next 48,000 years, but humans may settle in the area within perhaps 600 years. Estimates vary as to precisely when the city will be fit for human habitation, but the likely range is between 300 to 900 years.

What was the impact of the Chernobyl meltdown?

The immediate impact of the explosions and fire at the reactor was the death of hundreds of workers and rescue personnel. The disaster occurred during the Soviet era and the whole state and media were under strict government control. Elena gives a chilling account of the immediate aftermath:

The Communist government that was in power then kept silent about this accident. In Kiev, they forced people to take part in their preciously stupid Labour Day parade and it was then that ordinary people began hearing the news of the accident from foreign radio stations and relatives of those who died. The real panic began 7-10 days after accident. Those who were exposed to the exceedingly high levels of nuclear radiation in the first 10 days when it was still a state secret, including unsuspecting visitors to the area, either died or have serious health problems.

Abandoned high-rises in Pripyat

Pripyat - a massive ghost town, thanks to the events of April 1986. Copyright: Elena Filatova.

Clearly, many thousands of people lost their lives as a result of the nuclear meltdown. There was undoubtedly a cover-up of these losses. Official sources continue to claim that the death toll was only some 30 people. Unofficially, between 300,000 and 400,000 people are thought to have died as a direct result of the event.

Once again, in Elena's words:

The final toll will not be known in our lifetime, and not in our children's either. It is easier to calculate material loses. It was a crippling economic catastrophe for the region - from which it may never recover.

In addition to these thousands of deaths, some 3,500 people either refused to leave their homes and villages, or simply returned there after the nuclear disaster struck in 1986. These people chose to stay and die (most likely) from radiation, rather than relocate and die of homesickness. Only around 400 of these 'refuseniks' survive to this day

.

What future for the Chernobyl nuclear plant?

A very long future awaits the site of the nuclear meltdown. Scientists believe that more than 90% of the radiation potential from Chernobyl still remains, buried under the steel and concrete sarcophagus. This casing will have to be replaced soon, as the old one is starting to disintegrate.

What's left buried amounts to around 190 tonnes of uranium and 1 tonne of plutonium. This part of the site will remain radioactive for an estimated 100,000 years. The Chernobyl legacy will remain for countless generations.

Why would tourists want to visit Chernobyl?

A checkpoint across a road

A checkpoint on the edge of the 'dead zone' around Chernobyl. Copyright: Elena Filatova.

There are probably many reasons why anyone would be interested in going to the site of a nuclear disaster, such as Chernobyl:

  • Environmental curiosity
  • Educational insight
  • Evocative sights and sounds
  • Mourning lost cities, towns and villages
  • Grieving for lost loved ones
  • Understanding the legacy of the disaster

Chernobyl and the lessons for the future:

The work of Elena Filatova has played a considerable part in galvanising awareness of the disaster and its impact on the region affected. This work continues, with Elena using her Web site and other channels to inform people throughout the world about the implications of accidents involving nuclear power plants.

Governments across the globe are looking for sources of energy to replace the fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) that will run out in future generations. These fossil fuels continue to add to carbon emissions into the planet's atmosphere. These are widely believed to be responsible for climate change. Nations are looking again at nuclear power and the 'clean' energy that it is said to be able to provide.

Elena Filatova's text and images serve as a cautionary tale to decision-makers and voters, faced with the choice of how to provide the power we need for everyday life. Those who believe that nuclear energy is completely safe may read her work and think carefully.

Task:

It is believed that the Chernobyl disaster area 'attracts' in excess of 3,000 people every year.

  • Is this travel and tourism activity ethically correct?
  • What are the motivations of these consumers of 'dark tourism'?
  • What benefits are to be gained from increasing tourist activity in the region?

Prepare for a group debate on the rise of Chernobyl tours. The following 'mock -up' of a promotional poster may help stimulate some ideas:

Mock-up poster saying, Chernobyl Tours. Have The Time of Your Half-Life! Visit the site of Reactor Number 4 - the sarcophagus!Meet people who worked at the site before its dramatic meltdown! Tour Pripyat - a Pompeii for the nuclear age! See the flora and fauna that have colonised the exclusion 'ghost zone'! Meet the 'refuseniks' the locals who couldn't leave their homes and villages, despite the health risks! Chernobyl - Go to hell and back in half a day.

Sources of further information: