Completely unrelated to politics of any kind, shape, colour, or marital status...

I have a new obsession, it would seem. Perhaps it would be more apt to refer to it as a fascination. An intense haunting that has entered the peripheral of my consciousness and refuses to leave.

I've wanted to travel many places, some of which I've gotten around to and some of which I never will, but I never expected I'd want so desperately to travel to this place...

Chernobyl.


At 01:23AM in the northern reaches of Ukraine near the border of Belarus, reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes. Those in the nearby towns of Chernobyl and Pripyat quickly evacuate, but not after staring awestruck at the huge glowing ball of radiation slowly ascending into the heavens. The forest next to the plant is said to have actually glowed red with radiation. Every tree had to be cut down and buried beneath one metre of soil to avoid the spread of radiation.

3500 people returned to their homes some time later, ignoring the many warnings. They said they would rather die at home the live elsewhere. Only 400 of those people are alive today, the rest dead from accumulated radiation in their bodies.

Now the area is considered cursed. Everywhere within 3,000km of ground zero has been called the "exclusion area" and has been closed off to the general public. It is not impossible to attain entry, however, but you must bring with you a geiger counter.

Reactor #4

The worst part? On that day only 10% of the radioactive nuclear fuel exploded. The other 90% remains inside that cement tomb dubbed "the sarcophagus", hastily built to trap the radiation. But the cement walls are quickly collapsing, were they to implode another sizable dose of radiation would sweep Europe. Or worse, the nuclear fuels could continue to seep into the earth and enter Europe's water supply through aquifers. Imagine... one disaster and all of Europe is without drinkable water.

But it's not the dangers or terror of what has happened that draws me to long for a drive through the exclusion zone... It's the mystery of what's been left behind. The haunting memories left in houses, the photos that no one came back to claim, the pre-school with writing still on the chalkboard.

I don't know why, but this place is simply beautiful. And I will see it some day.

(For further reading, I highly recommend Elena Filatova's writings on her trips through Chernobyl and Pripyat. http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/index.html)

(Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_catastrophe)