How are tours in Chernobyl

Now tours to the Chernobyl exclusion zone are carried out by several Ukrainian operators, who daily send buses there with fans of unusual rest. After the release of the series about the accident at a nuclear power plant, demand doubled. For those who cannot get on such excursions or simply consider them too boring, illegal guides work. They are ready to lead the tourist along stalker paths and arrange an overnight stay in an abandoned house - the program is individual, and the price is negotiable.

Gathering a group, a couple of hours by bus, a sightseeing tour, a photo with the main attractions in the background, lunch in an authentic place, a magnet for memory and the way back Everything is like in a regular tour, only you must have a dosimeter with you and follow simple rules.

 
All inclusive with dosimeter

Now the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is surrounded by a 30-mile exclusion zone, this is a specially protected area. But you can still get here, and absolutely legally. Every day, several hundred tourists come to the abandoned city of Pripyat and the operating Chernobyl, where shift workers serving the station live. Everyone is given an individual dosimeter and taught to use it. It turns out that the person did not just go on an excursion, but also learned the basic skills of survival in the event of a radiation disaster.

A few days before the trip, Chernobyl visit, a potential tourist contacts a company officially operating in the exclusion zone, leaves his passport data and makes an advance payment. Prices for excursions for foreigners start at $ 99.

 
People gather in the morning at a certain place in Kiev, where they are met by a guide. In about an hour and a half, they take a bus to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Chernobyl-visit.com offers one or more day trips and all kinds of excursions. Recently, an option has appeared for lovers of sports recreation - kayaking on the Pripyat River. For those who book an individual excursion, they are ready to show even the Chernobyl NPP itself from the inside. You can walk along the "golden" corridor connecting the administrative building with four power units. Now it is lined with special golden-colored panels that protect from radiation. Group tours often begin with a tour of one of the abandoned villages abandoned by residents a few days after the accident. The next location on the way of the group is the destroyed village of Kopachi, four kilometers from the station. The houses here were not washed from radiation, but simply buried with the help of heavy equipment. During a one-day tour, walking around Pripyat under the supervision of a guide is given only a few hours, during a multi-day tour - at least the whole day.

Travel by the rules

To officially travel to the exclusion zone, you must be over 18 years old. There are no requirements for the health of tourists. Employees of the company assure that during the trip a person receives a dose of radiation no more than an hour's flight. But in general, the territory is clean enough and suitable for finding a person.

It's important to know

Tourists cannot take out any found items from the exclusion zone: according to Ukrainian law, this is equivalent to the movement of radioactive waste and is considered a criminal offense.

Despite the fact that trips are almost all inclusive, there are some restrictions in the exclusion zone. Tourists are required to wear closed clothes and shoes and cannot take out any objects found from the Chernobyl zone: according to Ukrainian law, this is equivalent to the movement of radioactive waste and is considered a criminal offense. Upon departure, all visitors undergo double dosimetric control. If nothing criminal is found, and only footwear contaminated with radiation is radioactive, they are washed and after that the tourist is released from the territory.

 
Also, according to the rules, you cannot smoke outside specially designated areas, sit down and lie down on the ground, eat mushrooms and berries found and drink water from puddles if it suddenly occurs to someone. Tourists must follow the instructions of the guides. All accompanying persons undergo special training, receive a license to conduct excursions in the Chernobyl zone and know how to avoid danger, and not only radiation.