Pripyat or Prypiat (A Ghost Town) Northern Ukraine, Near The Ukraine–Belarus border, Russia

Pripyat or Prypiat is a ghost town in northern Ukraine, near the Ukraine–Belarus border. Named after the nearby river Pripyat, the town was founded on February 4, 1970, as the ninth "atomgrad", a type of closed town in the Soviet Union, to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster. 

The town closest to the No. 4 reactor was Pripyat. It had 15 primary schools, a large hospital complex, 25 stores, 10 gyms, along with parks, cinemas, factories, pool, amusement park, and other marks of a thriving community. Due to people, who lived there, it was one of the most beautiful and luxury city in the Soviet Union. Only about three kilometers from the explosion, the entire city was forced to complete evacuate on April 27, in just three hours. It was possible just because this scenario was part of the building plans of the plant.

Although Pripyat is located within the administrative district of Vyshhorod Raion (prior to the 2020 raion reform Ivankiv Raion) the abandoned municipality now has the status of city of oblast significance within the larger Kyiv Oblast (province) and is administered directly from Kyiv. Pripyat is also supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies, which manages activities for the entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. 

Access to Pripyat, unlike cities of military importance, was not restricted before the disaster, as the Soviet Union deemed nuclear power stations safer than other types of power plants. Nuclear power stations were presented as achievements of Soviet engineering, harnessing nuclear power for peaceful projects. The slogan "peaceful atom" (Russian: мирный атом, romanized: mirnyy atom) was popular during those times. The original plan had been to build the plant only 25 km (16 mi) from Kyiv, but the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, among other bodies, expressed concern that would be too close to the city. As a result, the power station and Pripyat were built at their current locations, about 100 km (62 mi) from Kyiv. After the disaster, the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days.

In 1986, the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Pripyat. After the city of Chernobyl, this was the second-largest city for accommodating power plant workers and scientists in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

One notable landmark often featured in photographs of the city and visible from aerial-imaging websites is the long-abandoned Ferris wheel located in the Pripyat amusement park, which had been scheduled to have its official opening five days after the disaster, in time for May Day celebrations. The Azure Swimming Pool and Avanhard Stadium are two other popular tourist sites.

 

On 4 February 2020, former residents of Pripyat gathered in the abandoned city to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pripyat's establishment. During the 2020 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone wildfires, the flames reached the outskirts of the town; they did not reach the plant.

Pripyat infrastructure and statistics before the Chernobyl disaster, 1983. The following statistics are from 1 January 1986.

Population: 49,400 before the disaster. The average age was about 26 years old. Total living space was 658,700 m2 (7,090,000 sq ft): 13,414 apartments in 160 apartment blocks, 18 halls of residence accommodating up to 7,621 single males or females, and eight halls of residence for married or de facto couples.

Education: 15 kindergartens and elementary schools for 4,980 children, and five secondary schools for 6,786 students.

Healthcare: One hospital that could accommodate up to 410 patients, and three clinics.

Trade: 25 stores and malls; 27 cafes, cafeterias, and restaurants that collectively could serve up to 5,535 customers simultaneously. 10 warehouses that could hold 4,430 tons of goods.

Culture: Three facilities: a culture palace, the Palace of Culture Energetik; a cinema; and a school of arts, with eight different societies.

Sports: 10 gyms, 10 shooting galleries, three indoor swimming-pools, two stadiums.

Recreation: One park, 35 playgrounds, 18,136 trees, 33,000 rose plants, 249,247 shrubs.

Industry: Four factories with total annual turnover of 477,000,000 rubles. One nuclear power plant with four reactors (plus two more planned).

Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus the nuclear power plant car park with 400 spaces.

Telecommunication: 2,926 local phones managed by the Pripyat Phone Company, plus 1,950 phones owned by Chernobyl power station's administration, Jupiter plant, and Department of Architecture and Urban Development.

A concern is whether it is safe to visit Pripyat and its surroundings. The Zone of Alienation is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours around the area. In most places within the city, the level of radiation does not exceed an equivalent dose of 1 μSv (one microsievert) per hour. The climate of Pripyat is designated as Dfb (Warm-summer humid continental climate) on the Köppen Climate Classification System

Many movies has been filmed at Pripyat like - A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), Chernobyl Diaries (2012), Land of Oblivion (2011), History Channel documentary Life After People, Lost City of Chernobyl (May 2015), The documentary White Horse (2008). In many other movies and documentary used Pripyat as movie set location.

Over three decades later, this ghost town is a freeze-frame of the Soviet Union in 1986. Communist propaganda still hangs on walls, personal belongings litter the streets and abandoned buildings. The hammer and sickle decorate lampposts, awaiting May Day celebrations that never took place. Toys are strewn about a schoolhouse where they were last dropped by children who are now fully grown. All clocks are frozen at 11:55, the moment the electricity was cut.

Despite the common info, city was never completely abandoned. Military, police, scientist and other public authorities use the city as base to clean radiation in the newly created zone of alienation. The famous pool was in service until 1996. There is still electricity in some part of Pripyat, and to this day there is functional vehicle base in the city, water supply for the plant, and in former laundry… there are still laundry after 30 years, where uniforms of plants workers are washed. in the same building triangle radiation danger signs are made.

Ironically, the absence of humans has been excellent for wildlife. In 1986 wildlife was not doing well in Chernobyl, out competed for resources by pine and dairy farms. After people left the deer and boar populations returned almost immediately, and despite having radiation levels thousands of times higher than normal, they were not showing obvious signs of mutations (though the plants got pretty weird including some actual glowing) and the animal populations grew enormously. After the elk, moose, deer and boar returned so did their predators the wolves and lynx. Today the animal populations more closely resemble that of a national park than a radioactive containment zone. As it turns out, from the animals point of view, a nuclear disaster is preferable to normal human habitation.

To tour Pripyat, Chernobyl, and other surrounding villages, one must first obtain a day pass from the government. These passes can be obtained through the touring companies located in Kyiv, about 110 kilometers from the blast site. There are five well-known tour agencies that take visitors to Pripyat. However, due to the lack of repair, the buildings and other structures in the town are becoming increasingly dilapidated. Because of this, many tour companies will not allow visitors into the buildings.

Other than the crumbling buildings, safety is not a major concern. It takes between 300 and 500 roentgens per hour of radiation to deliver a lethal dose. Levels on the tour range from 15 to several hundred micro-roentgens per hour. All tours end with a screening for radiation levels.

Already, after only three decades of abandonment, Pripyat is beginning to be swallowed up by the surrounding forest. Someday soon, it will no doubt be completely overgrown. Though each tour differs slightly in the itinerary, most run a few hundred dollars per person, with the price going down the more people added in the group. This price also includes a lunch for every tour, and some even cover lodging. As stated before, each agency has a slightly different itinerary, but all the tours will visit roughly the same sites. 1. Chernobyl: The site of the explosion (all tourist must stay at least 200m from the Number 4 nuclear reactor sarcophagus, which was built to contain any further spills of the radioactive debris). There is a visitor center with a model of the reactor however, and questions about the explosion will be answered there. 2. Pripyat is also on the list. Sites to see include the public schools, a hospital, a never opened fairground complete with ferris wheel, and many homes and apartments, all abandoned. However, most tours do not allow people inside buildings due to their unsound structural instability. 3. Up until April 2008, visitors were also taken to the vehicle scrap yard where military machines used during the radioactive clean up were dumped. The Ukraine government has deemed this vehicle cemetery unfit for visitors due to it still lethal dose of radiation. Vehicles included helicopters, trucks, and ambulances. However, some tours take visitors to a safer abandoned shipyard instead. Some tours include trips to other abandoned villages around the area and optional survivor guides upon request. Lunch for all tours is provided by food from outside the contamination zone.

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