Pripyat

Prypiat При́п'ять (Ukrainian) При́пять (Russian) Prypiat c. 2006
Country	Ukraine
Founded	1970
Population  (Before the Chernobyl accident)
• Total	50,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	EEST
Website	http://pripyat.com/en/

Prypiat ([При́п'ять, Pryp”jat’] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); [При́пять, Pripjat’] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)), or Pripyat, is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident.

Background

Panoramic view of Pripyat in May 2009.

View of the Chernobyl power plant including current radioactive level

Unlike cities of military importance, access to Prypiat was not restricted prior to the disaster. Before the Chernobyl accident, nuclear power stations were seen by the Soviet Union as safer than other types of power plants. Nuclear power stations were presented as being an achievement of Soviet engineering, where nuclear power was harnessed for peaceful projects. The slogan "peaceful atom" ([мирный атом, mirny atom] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) was popular during those times. Initially the plant was intended to be built only 25 km from Kiev, but the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, among other bodies, expressed concern about the station being too close to the city, and so the station, together with Pripyat, were built in their current location — about 100 km from Kiev. After the disaster, the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days.

After Chernobyl

The Pripyat Ferris Wheel, as seen from the City Center Gymnasium.

In 1986, the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Pripyat. After the city of Chernobyl, this is the second largest city for accommodating plant workers and scientists.

Many of the building interiors in Prypiat have been vandalized and ransacked over the years. Because the buildings are not maintained, the roofs leak, and in the spring the rooms are flooded with water. It is not unusual to find trees growing on roofs and even inside buildings. This hastens deterioration, and due to this, a 4-story school collapsed in July 2005.

One notable landmark often featured in photographs of the city, and visible from aerial-imaging websites such as Google Maps, is a long-abandoned ferris wheel located in one of the town's parks.

Safety

The contributions made by the different isotopes to the dose (in air) caused in the contaminated area in the time shortly after the accident. Note that this image was drawn using data from the OECD report, [1] and the second edition of 'The radiochemical manual'.

A natural concern is whether it is safe to visit Prypiat and the surrounding area. The Exclusion Zone is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours of the area. The radiation levels have decreased from the high levels of April 1986 due to the decay of the short-lived isotopes released in the accident.

The city and the Exclusion Zone are now bordered with guards and police, but obtaining the necessary documents to enter the zone is not considered particularly difficult. A guide will accompany visitors to ensure nothing is vandalized or taken from the zone. The doors of most of the buildings are open to reduce the risk to visitors, and almost all of them can be visited when accompanied by a guide. The city of Chernobyl, located a few miles from Prypiat, has some accommodations including a hotel, many apartment buildings, and a local lodge, which are maintained as a permanent residence for watch-standing crew, and visitors.

Cultural references

• The video games S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat take place in the Zone of Alienation, and include a detailed rendition of Pripyat.
• The video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare features Pripyat in the campaign mode.
• The hospital section of the video game Half Life 2: Episode 1 was based on photos of a hospital in Pripyat.
• In The History Channel's Life After People, Pripyat is used as an example of the effects of time and nature on cities after the extinction of humans.
• The city plays a major role in the music video "Everything is Everything" by the band Beats and Styles.
• The city of Pripyat is the location of filming of the 2008 documentary White Horse.
• Several issues of the Vertigo comic book series The Losers are set in Prypiat. The city is used by rogue spies a base to construct nuclear weapons. The existing level of background radiation masks the weapons-grade plutonium used to create the bombs.
• The exclusion zone is the setting for Karl Schroeder's SF short story "The Dragon of Pripyat".
• In 23rd episode of Destination Truth, Joshua Gates and his team hunt ghosts in the abandoned Soviet city. After the hunt, the team seek advice from the founders of Ghost Hunters and The Atlantic Paranormal Society, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson.

Music Videos: Kool Savas - Der Beweis

See also

• Zone of alienation
• Elena Filatova

External links

• Pripyat pollution - Radioactive contamination in the Pripyat city
• Pripyat.com - Site created by former residents
• Prypiat on Soviet map (1986)