Chernobyl

By Rebecca Hernandez

I can’t think of a better way to spend a holiday than to don special protective clothing, a respiration mask, and a Geiger counter and head into the remains of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

This tour is for the truly adventurous (perhaps even crazy) geek, one who isn’t scared of getting exposed to a bit of radioactivity in the process.

Tour companies have begun to host visits of the site, which include ‘sightseeing’ trips to Chernobyl Reactor #4, meetings with re-settlers in the exclusion zone (also creepily known as the ‘Zone of Alienation’), and tours of the ghost town of Pripyat and the Red Forest, where the pine trees died after the accident and turned an eerie shade of red in the process.

So just how dangerous is it to tour Chernobyl for the day? Tour websites claim you won’t get any more radiation than from a standard medical x-ray, however I suppose this depends on how long you hang out in certain areas. The highest radiation levels on the tour are located on the road which goes through the Red Forest, which reaches a reading of about 2000 microroentgens per hour. By comparison, background radiation is normally more around 1 microroentgen per hour, so I’m hoping the driver speeds up a bit through this area.

Despite all of this, I must admit, the tour sounds fascinating and if I find myself in the Ukraine any time soon I am going to jump at the opportunity to visit this place.

Time required: one or two days.

Money: ££

More information: Tour Kiev

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