Notes of the Colorado Cockroach. New face of Chernobyl
Good health to all readers and readers!
I know that a lot of time will pass from the moment my first (but not the last, I will say straight away) visit to Chernobyl ended, but of course, holidays, weekends, but nonetheless.
So, Chernobyl. I have long promised to tell you, show, show, I fulfill.
I will begin, perhaps, with the sacramental phrase "Chernobyl is no longer the same." And I will not lie to any half a hryvnia. I don’t know how for whom, but today Chernobyl has several people, unlike Pripyat and a lot of smaller settlements, both former and not so much.
The Official
Maybe for some it will be a discovery, but today Chernobyl is completely inhabited. And almost three thousand people live there. Half - shift workers: physics, energy, biologists. Watch and learn. Plus, public utilities (yes, no kidding!), Employees of the power plant (no, not Chernobyl NPP, but ChTPP) and everything else.
People live, you will laugh, in houses. In the apartments. A fair number of houses are heated and illuminated, so life can be said to be quite normal.
The streets are sweeping, cleaning, and even the bus goes. Two routes. Scheduled.
From where, ask, such luxury? It's simple. There is electricity. It illuminates, pumps out groundwater from canned power units, and so on. All this thanks to the built TPP. On fuel oil.
This is the new landmark of the Exclusion Zone. Trumpet. There used to be a famous pipe at the power unit, now here is another one. But - the pipe. As a symbol of the fact that nuclear power is here, the pipe, and it has arrived.
Yes, and this, as you already understood, is the very Sarcophagus. Under which today is the same power unit, from which it all started in 1986 year.
The picture of desolation, of course, not for weak nerves.
Former station switchgear. In those days, it worked exclusively on the distribution and distribution of electricity, today it works partially. To receive electricity from the mazutnoy TPP. And feeds the whole city and the station.
Unfinished 5 block of the Chernobyl NPP. Willingness over 80%. They didn’t even preserve it, they just left it.
Place of water discharge. The same cooling pond. A little phonite, but not critical, within the limits of permissible. There are scumbags who try to catch local catfish. Sometimes it turns out, sometimes local catfish catch scumbags on the bait.
And this is the highlight of the program, one might say. See how different is the structure from the overall picture? So this is the very storage facility for the spent nuclear fuel storage facility, that is, spent nuclear fuel, which was nevertheless built. The French began to build, the Americans finished. Our purely "bring-bring" was, therefore, probably built.
So here it is quite possible to store this very fuel. From all Ukrainian NPPs, in spite of Atomenergo, yours.
And now guess how much fuel is stored here? Weakly without Google?
Zero integer, zero tenths of a kilogram or gram. Never mind. It is important that for the sake of this zero eight trucks of money were “mastered”, and a storage facility was built. From which sense zero.
Ask, why is it so? And I will answer with my usual ease. And not delivered.
They didn’t deliver fuel to him because there’s nothing to carry on! Everything we did was yours! In nature, tricky, like local cockroaches. Your “Atomenergo” left, and not only the special wagons, the special carts they took out!
So all plans for storage of the imported SNF in Chernobyl run into this. If someone brings special wagons and locomotives, then yes, you can store. And to no - and there is no court, and there either.
So we live ...
And I will tell you about one more unique institution. I can not hold.
This is a bar. Even not so, but as in the well-known computer game "STALKER" - Bar. The only Chernobyl and unique. Called "Drunk muzzle." The fastest bar in the world, I guess.
The fact is that in Chernobyl, as in a city of special treatment, there is a curfew. Patrols and all that. And because "Drunk muzzle" works two (TWO!) Hours a day. From 19 to 21 hours. And since reeling with alcohol through the streets is strongly discouraged, everyone has two hours to fill the tanks to the eyeballs.
In the evening there is music, illumination and all other pleasures. They say it looks very funny.
Arrivals
The second part, if not of the population, of the organisms that live in Chernobyl - you will laugh, but these are tourists. No matter how sad it may sound, today Chernobyl is a kind of tourist site that enjoys close attention. Moreover, not only Ukrainians. They come from all over Europe.
All these are managed by several companies, the largest one is called “Chernobyl-tour”. And they arrange tours here from 1 to 3 days lasting. The guides are proud to talk about numbers. 30 thousand last year and already more than 50 thousand of this.
On that day when I was there, there were Austrians, Swedes and Czechs.
Who has the desire and dollars to tickle his nerves overnight in a dead city, to the services of such individuals as many as two hotels. One was so before, the second was made from the hostel liquidators. Fully preserving all the surroundings of the 80s of the last century.
They say the contents of the "Rainbow" went to the equipment. But since everyone hangs out with dosimeters, and no one rushes out of the windows in panic, then everything is normal in terms of radiation.
Personal taxi for VIP clients. There are several of them.
Shows attractions depending on the price of the tour. Generally - from 40 to 500 dollars. For some reason, the sarcophagus is forbidden to take pictures, they are looking very carefully at this. But they bring almost "to the entrance." Foreigners quite like it.
Since I am not a foreigner, but also a harmful type, of course, the Sarcophagus was filmed in all its glory. Found, you know who forbid ...
In general, I will talk about my impressions and what I saw a little out of order, so I will say about two more places. The first is an exhibition of liquidators' equipment in Chernobyl. Robots and machine guns that fought alongside people. Yes, they were deactivated as best they could, but it didn’t work out with everyone. Because show almost on the run.
This one, nicknamed “Flying Scrap”, still gives out almost an x-ray per hour.
And this is a Japanese dosimetrist. Out of order, because the radiation completely ruined his scheme.
But most of all I was hooked by a monument. Handmade. They created it, as best they could, with the hands and means of the participants in the emergency response.
Dosimetrists, firefighters, work station, engineer, doctor, soldier. Strong monument. Very strong.
But I will tell you about the monuments in the second part.
local
Local here already three groups. The first is returnees. These are people who just after a while returned to their homes and live here or live for their own pleasure. Houses. Some guides bring visitors to them to look at the subsistence economy, and are likely to share part of the profits. Sort of lively attractions of the Zone.
The second group is "metalworkers". Workers cutter and argon. Continuing to systematically cut and cut everything you can reach in terms of the metal and taking it out of the Zone. They are trying to fight them, but as with any Ukrainian hydra, the struggle is senseless and merciless and ends with a victory for the metalworkers. Cut and take out.
Third group Stalkers. They are, have not gone away. Just like in the novel Strugatsky or already mentioned game. Despite the prohibitions and cordons penetrate into the Zone and something is muddy there. What and why - no one knows. With them, the authorities also wage war, and also lose. Horse guard and bicycle patrols of the National Guard, guarding the perimeter, usually lead the pursuit to the nearest fishing line. If a group of stalkers went into the forest - no one will pursue, for it will be difficult to predict that it will arrive from the forest.
Rumor has it that in our time, some groups of these stalkers are armed no worse than the characters in the game. The main occupation of stalkers - also excursions. Only without prohibitions. Do you want to store the equipment or a photo session on the roof of the power unit? No problem. If only physical training was enough.
Particularly famous in terms of mayhem, the Belarusian gang of stalkers "Guerrillas". These few breakthroughs through the cordons, they enter the territory of the Exclusion Zone from their territory. Pripyat swamps. They do not want to share with anyone, so they use the experience of their ancestors to the fullest.
I witnessed a very interesting appeal of the guide to the group that went to Pripyat and beyond. If, he says, you will see stalkers (which is unlikely, of course, but still), especially when there are representatives of the bodies with us, by no means attract attention to them. They will not appreciate it, and may be useful.
I then asked what could be useful? It turns out that it happens, but not often, thank God, that tourists from multi-day tours, taking impressions and vodka on their chests, lose control over themselves and get lost. You have to search for them and catch them. This is where experienced stalkers, who know the terrain, come in handy. For a moderate fee.
But what struck me the most was the air. Not in terms of purity, although in this regard too. I have never seen such a lively movement in the sky, and I am unlikely to see it. Dozens drones buzz, growl and whistle at different heights. They deliver everything you need: alcohol, batteries, cigarettes and everything you might need.
I was shooting an abandoned pier in Pripyat, when a clearly self-made, multi-engined monster flew out of the forest at great speed, crossed the river and disappeared on the other bank. It is a pity that the photo did not work, was not ready.
The spot in the upper left corner is exactly what he hooked.
In short, progress is evident. Somewhere, maybe they dream of such a thing, but here the drone, dragging under the belly several baklazhkah with alcohol and blocks with cigarettes - routine.
But, as you, probably, understood, I in Chernobyl not absolutely on excursion appeared. More precisely, not at all on the tour. On intelligence. And he had to meet with one organism, moderately radioactive, with which it could be perfected, and see something from the fact that everyone is not shown even for money.
So I will continue my story after a while. Especially if it will be interesting to you, my dear. At this let me say goodbye, but not for long. So - clean your air and non-thrashing dosimeters. Yours sincerely.
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