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See the original image at nuclearflower.com —

Phantom City of Pripyat: Chernobyl's Alienation Zone [PICS]

nuclearflower.com — Prypiat is an abandoned city in the Zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. It was home to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers. The city was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster.

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  • flashpointbob, on 07/19/2008, -4/+186Seeing these pictures make me see how good a job Infinity Ward did on Call of Duty 4
    • ut2k4king, on 07/20/2008, -1/+15Reminds me more of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., if only because they call it the Zone. You're right, though, CoD4 really made these levels not only graphically beautiful but true-to-life.
      • themastersb, on 07/20/2008, -4/+1Too bad the gameplay of STALKER was so crappy although it did look good.
      • BugMeNot2, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Are you serious, themastersb?
        S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s gameplay was phenomenal. It was a breath of fresh air to the FPS genre.
    • samuraiswordsmn, on 07/20/2008, -0/+39So true.... It brings me back to holding off 100 enemies while camping on that old ferris wheel platform. Either that, or playing Bloc.
    • boomybx, on 07/20/2008, -0/+31The sniper flashback level in COD4 is my favorite. The buildings, the pool, the playground... it's exactly the same as on the pictures.
    • EddietheHated, on 07/20/2008, -0/+14Win for Infinity Ward. I wasn't aware of how true-to-environment the flashback mission was. I just assumed it was an amalgam of photos and concept art (similar to the rest of the game's fictional environments).
    • jaikob, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5That exactly what I was thinking when I went through the pictures.
    • MarkTaiwan, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4this pic look surprising like one of the buildings in the Chernobyl level
      http://www.nuclearflower.com/pripyat/img_9133.jpg
      EDIT: and this
      http://www.nuclearflower.com/pripyat/img_9341.jpg
    • jpjandrade, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4*****, just seeing these photos remembered me the horrors of beating this level on veteran.

      Very truthful. If you go to the Chernobyl page on wikipedia, you'll see more photos that are just like the level.
    • kphiaminx, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3I totally agree. I kept thinking, "Odd, I feel like I've seen these before..."
    • cjsimmons, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1IW did a really good job. I was blown away when I saw the photos of the sports center and realised how much detail and realism IW put into the game.
    • chaos7, on 07/21/2008, -1/+1wow this picture is totally recreated in COD4:
      http://www.nuclearflower.com/pripyat/img_9341.jpg
    • MrMax99, on 07/21/2008, -1/+1thats exactly what I was thinking. especially the pool area and the ferris wheel.
  • rockchops, on 07/19/2008, -0/+66I like photos of creepy abandoned things and places. This is a great series. Has the feel of a post-apocalyptic world.
  • rearlgrant, on 07/19/2008, -0/+17I've seen documentaries about this place, and I think NPR did a report on it. If I understand right, it's quite the nature preserve now with animals living in houses, etc.... I'd recommend playing catch and release, and not eating, "Blinky."
  • FuZi0nDET, on 07/19/2008, -0/+11Pretty damn creepy and stunning all at once. I always wondered what things are going to look like when we are gone, pretty f'ing spooky! The photographers did one hell of a job here. I'm curious how is that they are safe, these zones are still contaminated, what keeps them from getting sick?
    • ninzoris, on 07/20/2008, -1/+14I remember reading about a woman riding her motorbike through that area a few years ago. She said allot of the sheltered and smooth surfaces were low in radiation levels. But organic matter and soil was highly contaminated. So riding in the middle of the road was safe, where as walking a few feet away from the road was not.
    • p47plane, on 07/20/2008, -2/+8You need to study radiation. Radiation levels around Chernobyl are low enough that the risk is long-term health effects. It'd be a completely different story if they were closer to the reactor.
    • firesphotons, on 07/20/2008, -1/+0Sounds like you could use a studybook in time distance & shieldling yourself there p47
    • Scynet, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6Educate yourself:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVB0F7kORII&feature ...

      Skip to around 36:35 for radiation damage info. Or just watch the whole thing, it's quite interesting. In fact, I recommend the whole Physics 10 course videos to anyone interested.
  • BBWolf, on 07/19/2008, -6/+41Deja-vu all over again. Anyone else play STALKER?
    • SaperKain, on 07/19/2008, -40/+150 years old dude playing STALKER. Yeah right. You are so full of *****. Democrat my ass. Shut your ***** mouth you douchebag.
      • BBWolf, on 07/20/2008, -3/+32Yup, started playing Pong in 74, Atari then Nintendo with my stepson, then Super Nintendo, then PC's. The boy (28 now) still plays consoles but I just play on the puter. 5 years guild Officer playing EverCrack, Quake, Q2, HL & HL2, Tomb Raider Legend, WW2-online, and about every shooter and RPG you can name...have Crysis, Stalker, Giants, Oblivion, Battlefield 1942, Assissins Creed, Neverwinter Nights2 and GTA SA on my machine now. Waiting for the new Duke Nukem and Fallout impatiently. My wife will telI you I'm addicted...I'll tell you it is a great stress releaver.

        Build my own machines too. This one is Bad Ass.

        You don't know me. I know ppl like you, and the sad thing is that in your world you think you're important enough that someone will lie to impress you. Your not important. Neither am I. Ego is not reality. Deal with it.

        A smart man knows what he knows.
        A wise man knows what he does not know.
        A fool knows everything.

        I am a smart man who is wise enough to know when to shut up and listen to what I don't know from those that do. Which are you?
      • SaperKain, on 07/20/2008, -27/+1Did you just declare yourself to be a smart man? Don’t you think you may be just a little too “fair & balanced” when it comes to passing that judgment.
      • AchaIemoipas, on 07/20/2008, -1/+13He's a lot smarter than you, that's for sure. Then again, so are my dogs.
      • ORBAT, on 07/20/2008, -1/+10Comparing SaperKain to a dog is insulting. To the dog, that is.
      • smacksaw, on 07/20/2008, -2/+3My favourite:

        Only a fool claims he is wise
    • TheHayze, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7I had just gotten to this level in stalker before my game poo'ed out on me. But I had long enough to run and gun, and explore parts of the city. Granted, they kinda glorified the decay a little bit for the game, but the basics were there, and were beutiful. The whole game is really something special once you step back, stop fighting for a while, and just explore the zone.
  • DeffJeff, on 07/20/2008, -6/+5It took me forever to figure out how to snipe that guy on that level
  • Loxias, on 07/20/2008, -0/+84Fifty Thousand people used to live here!
  • elperegrino, on 07/20/2008, -0/+9i thought nature would have claimed more in 20 years. i was surprised to see roads more of less intact where i would have expected jungle.
  • Flushnasty, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Spooky
  • JMScheib, on 07/20/2008, -0/+21Get out of here, Stalker!
    • Erythroxylum, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7I said come in; don't just stand there.

      You can take tours of the Exclusion Zone, travel around with a guide (to avoid the more extreme areas of radiation exposure) and even stay in the Chernobyl Hotel.

      http://www.tourkiev.com/
  • aserer511, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2rather eerie-are any of those geiger readings permanently hazardous?
    • erkokite, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2No, the readings aren't harmful. The radiation is though. ;)
  • PopASquatt, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6Come in, don't stand there!
  • cshontz, on 07/20/2008, -11/+1...and penis is Russian for what?
    • cshontz, on 07/20/2008, -1/+0Damn. I was hoping to start a meme with my obscure reference.
  • netneutrality, on 07/20/2008, -3/+2"The view from the top"

    If that's the case, you've just fallen off, and there's water below.
    • byrdgang, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Scroll down...you'll then see why the guy says "from the top."
  • Ainsleh, on 07/20/2008, -0/+10Amazing seeing a city frozen in time like this...
  • Deathfrogg, on 07/20/2008, -2/+11Much better website for pictures of the Chernobyl disaster area. Interesting blog.

    http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
    • BBWolf, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Its good to be reminded of human cost in the equation. Thx for the link.
    • byrdgang, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Here's a quote from that blog (the quote is above a picture of an old man):

      "This old man lives in the Chernobyl area. He is one of 3.500 people that either refused to leave or returned to their villages after the meltdown in 1986. I admire those people, because each of them is a philosopher in their own way. When you ask if they are afraid, they say that they would rather die at home from radiation, than die in an unfamiliar place of home-sickness. They eat food from their own gardens, drink the milk of their cows and claim that they are healthy.....but the old man is one of only 400 that have survived this long. He may soon join his 3,100 neighbors that rest eternally in the earth of their beloved homes. It appears that the people with the most courage were the first to die here. Maybe that is true everywhere."
  • aquadoguk, on 07/20/2008, -3/+7Call of Duty 4 is a great game
  • hauntedchippy, on 07/20/2008, -0/+8And yet all I can think about is how awesome a place that would be for paintball
  • rasde, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3CHERNUUBUUU.......... STTUUUKUUUR!!!!
  • panuta, on 07/20/2008, -2/+9I've been there before... and I shot a lot of bad guys with sniper.
  • krete, on 07/20/2008, -8/+2Was he holding a radiation meter?
  • fruscianteisgod, on 07/20/2008, -0/+13i think i sniped someone from the top of one of those buildings after crawling a couple miles in a ghile suit.....maybe it was just a dream
    • MarkTaiwan, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3did you only sniped his arm off, by any chance? cause I think I had the same dream...
  • Infidelcastr0, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7The more photos I see from Pripyat/Chernobyl the more I wanna go there.


    Wearing lead underwear....
  • suckaPU, on 07/20/2008, -10/+1too bad the russians cant engineer stuff right for *****
    • ORBAT, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Hey, don't forget about the AK line of guns and all the other equipment used to hurt people.
  • loopsta, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Some of the buildings were eerily familiar after playing stalker.
  • hamGrenade, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6get out of here s.t.a.l.k.e.r.!
  • thetenthlisten, on 07/20/2008, -6/+950,000 people use to live here...
  • AL7AIR, on 07/20/2008, -0/+16Looking at the headlines: Why are people still making the assumption that the big cylindrical chimney is the actual reactor? Those are the cooling towers. The reactor is in one of the more blocky buildings of the main plant, or in a smaller dome in some cases. Yes, those towers are a very dominant structure of some nuclear plants but they are not the buildings you have to fear when they collapse
  • ComplexBlue, on 07/20/2008, -2/+3I, too, was reminded of COD4. Great game.
  • ShootTheCore, on 07/20/2008, -2/+19Why shouldn't you wear Ukranian underwear?
    Because Chernobyl fall off...

    Diggers, I do apologise...
    • Frostek, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3Chernobyl fall out... it's fall out...! I still laughed though. ;-)
      • ShootTheCore, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Cheers, sorry I cocked that up a bit =P
  • avidday, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I just finished a book by James Rollins called "The Last Oracle" that had significant portions take place in this town, even in the hotel. Kind of interesting to match the events of the book to these pictures.
  • Number23, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2"Pernicious nonsense! Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too." -- Parnell, Repo Man
  • iSinned, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter16.html

    There is a picture of the paintings in the abandoned building. Compare it with the picture in the Digg article and you can see how stuff was moved around, probably to be more appealing and interesting for the tour.
  • the3stars, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Wow, its amazing how many of those pics look exactly like STALKER, GPG did a great job.
  • Virgule, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4I see an instrument showing 0.466 and another reading at 0.417. What does it mean? Is it good or bad?

    "A "dirty" place " show 0981. ok then
  • iTrike, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6If you like these photos don't miss these: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~dmcmill/Photographs.h ...

    They're taken by University of Manitoba photography prof David McMillan who visits Pripyat almost annually. Very artistic and moving.
  • smacksaw, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3I explored the site a little more. While I love this topic and always check out the links or documentaries on the telly, I didn't really much care for the intent of the site. Yes, yes - no nuclear power because this is going to happen again. I almost think these people have a hidden agenda, like they don't want everyone to have access to lots of clean energy. Because I guarantee you they're not offering the alternative of burning more fossil fuels. The only thing they're offering is for us to all go live in mud huts.
    • TheGeneral07, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3Nuclear power is just fine. This is an example of gross negligence and incompetence.
    • BBWolf, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1This was a Graphite Core reactor, and the Graphite ignited causing a melt down. The types of Reactors used in the West, and in Russia today are much different in design and this cannot happen as graphite is not used as a core material. They are Much safer.
      • TheGeneral07, on 07/20/2008, -0/+0Still even though using graphite was a horrible idea, it was an even worse idea to disable the control rods and let the reactor overheat.
      • michnuc, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Don't just blame the graphite. The burning graphite contributed to spreading the core contents, not the melt down.

        Melt-downs are caused by the fuel heating-up beyond the cooling system capacity. At Chernobyl, the reactor design used natural uranium as fuel and heavy water and graphite were used to moderate the neutrons. Due to the design there was a large positive void coefficient, which basically means that when the reactor gets hotter, the reaction rate increases and vice versa. Normally this ok (like in CADNU reactors), when the void coefficient is small and positive. In the old RBMK designs, it was very positive, and thus the increase in reactivity was too great for the response (control rod drop) to mitigate the event ( rods took 20 seconds to drop).

        However, the event occurred because they were running a dangerous test with an inexperienced staff, while the reactor had high poison concentrations. Control rods were removed beyond what should have been allowed. A scram after the test rapidly inserted the poorly designed control rods and between some breaking, jamming and the initial reactivity jump, the reactor increased in reactivity, and thus the fuel and temperature increased rapidly.
        The temperature increase in the fuel heated the moderators (graphite and water). The water boiled off, creating a large pressure increase. At Chernobyl, this blew the lid off of the reactor, and the dry core then melted down. The heat from the melting fuel and air through the broken room caused the graphite to ignite and burn, which ignited a hydrogen bubble above the reactor (created from either steam-zircaloy or steam-hot graphite reactions) and exploded the building roof off. (Thanks palehorse864) The raging fire carried contaminants far from the reactor and into the atmosphere.

        Current reactor designs use graphite as a moderator (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor) effectively and safely.
  • mooseofshadows, on 07/20/2008, -1/+8Three questions:

    1) Is it legal to be in there?
    2) Is it safe to be in there?
    and provided the answer to 2 is "yes", then
    3) How can I get in on the action?
    • LoveWidescreen, on 07/20/2008, -0/+101. No, but the authorities tolerate those who still live there. If you do some Google searching you'll find recent (within the last few years) interviews with BBC and other reporters who have interviewed people who still live in the zone who have said that the authorities let them stay and sometimes even provide some necessities.

      2. Debatable. It become quite a wildlife refuge and there are still people who live there and farm on the land. Obviously, there are sections that are far more contaminated than others, and a lot of the radioactive isotopes have gone beneath the soil surface due to rain.

      3. There are several tours that are available from a few companies based out of Kiev that do tours to Chernobyl and the Zone. Believe me, I'd love to go there not only to visit Kiev, which looks like a wonderful city, but also to satisfy my morbid fascination with the Chernobyl incident. Again, Google is your friend.
    • ShebearMasha, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0If you have much money:
      1) Yes
      2) Yes
      3) Buy a ticket

      If you don't have money or don't want to pay:
      1) No
      2) No
      3) Go to the site again and look at the pics.

      :) :) :)
  • Virgule, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1More "dead zone" expedition: Spring 2008
    http://www.nuclearflower.com/spring-2008/pluto01.h ...
  • iJessicaRabbit, on 07/20/2008, -1/+6"It was amusing to observe how some people with radiometres were hysterically peeping with excitement to find the hottest point on it, and other people, on the sly, departed far away from it."

    lol; Natural Selection
  • suboh, on 07/20/2008, -1/+0No mutants? No good.
  • Jericon, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I could spend hours going through that site.
  • LiQuiDCo2, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2good selection of pictures some you may have seen before well the places (like the fair ground)
    some new bits the panoramic pictures (even tho not stitched together) are really interesting

    these pictures are a reminder if the devastation and shows you how nature will always take land back
    long after we have gone and wrecked this planet
  • tewstep, on 07/20/2008, -1/+1I'd chuckle if in the middle of the pics, someone slipped in "Bloc"
  • DaviDaviDaviD, on 07/20/2008, -2/+2The pool is featured in Cal of Duty 4, really creepy.

    Pictures of Pripyat always appear and they never get old.
  • phosphor112, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6OMG!!!!!!
    Obviously everyone else that played one of the greatest games ever realize that the creators of STALKER were right on the money with this one.
    For those who think COD4 is a good representation, play STALKER, honestly, that game kinda changed my life..lol. Idk how to explain it, but playing Oblivion Lost Mod 2.0 really set something into my mind that just makes everything seem eerie.
    • BBWolf, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3True. Playing 2.0 now. Very cool mod.
  • jbrand45, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7I remember when Chernobyl happened. My father worked at a nuclear power plant here in the states, so it was kind of a big deal. Saw a lot of news footage about it then, as well as many documentaries.

    As I got older I learned more about it. Chernobyl is what happens when safety regulations are lax and people who aren't fully trained are on critical job duties.

    I've seen many of the photo tours that some woman (cannot remember her name right now) did while riding through on a motorcycle. Very chilling, seeing how the city is abandoned and desolate, except for the wildlife and plant life. Humans will probably not live there again for a long time, as the trees in particular have soaked up a lot of radiation.

    And I have to agree with some of the above comments . . . would make a pretty killer paintball zone, assuming you're wearing the proper equipment.
    • ShebearMasha, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0actually people do live there. not exactly in chernobyl, but in little towns and villages around it. a lot of people who didn't leave in 1986 died of leucaemia and radiation sickness. but there are some who servived and even have children now.
  • microchp, on 07/20/2008, -1/+5Kindof reminds me of an old site called kidofspeed or something. Ill see if I can find that URL.
  • BlackholeStorm, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3Looks like the Beijing Olympics logo except backwards in this pic

    http://www.nuclearflower.com/pripyat/img_9154.jpg
  • Zergvasion, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Next-Gen Graphics.
    Call of Duty 5 in 4D.

    On a serious note, some of those photos are somewhat disturbing. Just creepy.
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