Pripyat
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Pripyat
| |
|---|---|
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| Country |  Ukraine |
| Oblast |  Kiev |
| Raion |  Ivankiv (since 1986) |
| Founded | 1970 |
| City rights | 1980 |
| Government | |
| • Administration | Zone of alienation |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 0 (abandoned since 1986) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST |
| Postal code | none |
| Area code | +380 4499[1] |
| Website | http://pripyat.com/en/ |
Pripyat (Template:Lang-uk; [При́пять, Pripjat’] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)), is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus[2]. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth "nuclear-city" ("атомоград" in Russian). Its population had been around 50,000 before the accident. Annual growth of population was estimated at around 1,500 including 800 new-born citizens and over 500 newcomers from all the corners of the Soviet Union. It was planned that the Pripyat's population should rise up to 78,000 in the nearest future. Pripyat had a railroad link to Kiev Yazov station as well as a navigable river nearby.
Background
Unlike cities of military importance, access to Pripyat 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,[3] were built in their current location — about 100 km from Kiev. After the disaster, the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days [2].
Development
Along with its prime goal as being the home to nuclear station's employees, Pripyat had been viewed as major railroad and river cargo port in the Northern Ukraine. The urban nomenclature was quite typical for the time. There were traditional ideological names on the city's map like Lenin Av., International Friendship St., Heroes of Stalingrad St. etc. There also were some street names that reflected local traits, e.g. Embankment St., Builders Ave., and Enthusiasts Ave. Lesya Ukrainka St. has some cultural implications since it bears the name of one of the greatest poets of Ukraine. A "peaceful atom" theme had not been alluded to, owing to Igor Kurchatov street.
Pripyat had a defined downtown where city hall (city council), the biggest malls, major recreational and public catering facilities and the Polissya hotel had been located.
The chief idea of the urban layout was the so-called triangular principle, developed by Moscow architects with Nicolay Ostozhenko in charge. After some adjustments by Kiev architects, the plan of the city's development was finally approved. For the time, this triangular one-of-a-kind layout was unique, though by the time the construction of Pripyat had started it had been implemented in dozens of Soviet cities and the novelty soon wore off.
The triangular method featured alteration of five-story buildings, with multiple-story ones which made the city lined with broad vistas, open spaces, and wide horizon visible from almost every corner. Unlike the old cities with their tiny yards and narrow streets, Pripyat had been initially planned to look free and vivid, all for the living comfort of its inhabitants. Besides the calculated boost of street space, the goal had been achieved by making the streets and blocks symmetrical. These solutions taken together were intended to immunize Pripyat from such scourges of modern times as traffic-jams.
Infrastructure and statistics
Population: 49,400 people prior to the disaster. Average age was about 26 years old. Total living space - 658,700 sq m. 13,414 apartments in 160 apartment blocks, 18 halls of residence could room up to 7,621 single males or females, 8 halls of residence for married couples.
Education: 15 primary schools for about 5,000 children, 5 secondary schools, 1 professional school.
Healthcare: 1 hospital that could accommodate up to 410 patients, 3 clinics.
Trade: 25 stores and malls; public catering: 27 cafes, cafeterias and restaurants could serve up to 5,535 customers simultaneously. 10 warehouses could hold up to 4,430 tons of goods.
Culture: 3 facilities. A culture palace, movie-theater and school of arts, with 8 different societies.
Sports: 10 gyms, 3 indoor swimming-pools, 10 shooting galleries, 2 stadiums.
Recreation: 1 park, 35 playgrounds, 18,136 trees, 249,247 shrubs, 33,000 rose plants.
Industry: 4 factories with total annual turnover of 477,000,000 rubles.
Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus Chernobyl power plant owned car park of about 400 units.
Telecommunication: 2,926 local numbers managed by the Pripyat Phone Company, plus 1,950 numbers owned by Chernobyl power station's administration, Jupiter plant and the Department of Architecture and Urban Development.
Post-Chernobyl years
In 1986, the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Pripyat. After the city of Chernobyl, this is the second largest city for accommodating power plant workers and scientists in CIS.
Many of the building interiors in Pripyat have been vandalized and ransacked over the years. Due to the fact that the buildings have not been maintained for over two decades, the roofs leak, and in the springtime the rooms are flooded with water. Trees can be seen growing on roofs and even inside the buildings. All this adds to a deterioration process, 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 the Pripyat amusement park.
Safety
A natural concern is whether it is safe to visit Pripyat and the surroundings. The Zone of Alienation is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours around the area. The radiation levels have dropped considerably, compared to the fatal levels of April 1986 due to the decay of the short-lived isotopes released during the accident. In most places within the city, the level of radiation does not exceed equivalent dose of 1 μSv (one microsievert) per hour.
The city and the Zone of Alienation 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 held 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 km south from Pripyat, 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 tourists.
Cultural references
- The city plays a major role in the music video "Everything is Everything" by the band Beats and Styles.[citation needed]
- The city of Pripyat is the location of filming of the 2008 documentary White Horse.[citation needed]
- The short film The Door was shot in 2008 in Pripyat.[4]
- Several issues of the Vertigo comic book series The Losers are set in Pripyat. 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.[citation needed]
- The exclusion zone is the setting for Karl Schroeder's SF short story "The Dragon of Pripyat".
- Pripyat is the title of a song by rock band Ash (band). It was the sixth release of their A to Z singles series, a year long twenty six single subscription. The video is a compilation of photography by Robert Polidori from his book, Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl.
See also
References
External links
- Pripyat pollution - Radioactive contamination in the Pripyat city
- Pripyat.com - Site created by former residents
- Pripyat on Soviet map (1986)
- Pripyat: Ghost City Chronicles
- The Chernobyl Poems of the former inhabitant of Pripyat Lyubov Sirota
- "Our Pripyat" — YouTube channel with some films about Pripyat before Chernobyl catastrophe and to present time.
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