The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a focal point of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a now desolate area that was once full of life and hope. The city of Pripyat was founded nearby to house the plant’s workers and their families; the ninth “atomgrad” (a closed city) in the Soviet Union. They had no idea what the future held in store for them.
The power plant consisted of four RBMK-1000 reactors that produced about 10% of Ukraine’s electricity. Construction began in 1970 and was planned all the way to 2010 with a total of 12 reactors. The explosion of reactor No. 4 in 1986 buried those plans forever.
Like many great catastrophes, the Chernobyl disaster didn’t come without warning. Several dangerous incidents took place in the early 1980s, earning the Chernobyl power plant the reputation of “one of the most dangerous nuclear power plants in the USSR'' according to the Moscow government.
In 1986, a string of costly mistakes caused reactor No. 4 to finally explode and the Soviet government was very slow to react to it. It took a day to start evacuating nearby Pripyat. It took three days to tell the world, and only after Sweden demanded to know why they were getting abnormally high radioactive readings in Stockholm.
After the reactor fire had been contained and rubble cleared, reactor No. 4 was hastily covered by a steel and cement structure that was built in less than 8 months with liquidators working in 5-7 minute increments. In 2016, the aging structure was covered by the New Safe Confinement steel sarcophagus; it’s this structure that’s featured in Chernobylite.
What may come as a surprise, reactors No. 1-3 remained in operation even after the explosion of reactor 4—the Soviet Union couldn’t afford to shut the plant down both service-wise and financially. Yet 1991 saw a turbine fire in reactor No. 2, leading to its permanent shut down afterwards and the final nail in the power plant’s coffin. It was the same year Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union and, now run by ambitious reformers, both internal and external pressure was put on finally shutting the fickle power plant down. In 2000, the plant produced its last spark of electricity.
Life continues and time is very slowly healing the Exclusion Zone’s wounds. Today, tourists can visit the Chernobyl Power Plant, and recently they can even step foot in the infamous reactor No. 4 for a very brief moment and in protective clothes.
Have you been to or plan on visiting Chernobyl? Play Chernobylite and see what you can expect in the 3D scanned recreation of the area.
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