In the Shadow of Chernobyl
26 mins 33 secs
10:00:32
Members of the German charity Children of Chernobyl are making their first ever visit to the site of the disaster that gave rise to its creation. A letter from national agency InterInform and valid identity papers are enough to be allowed through the two border crossings into the restricted areas that surround Chernobyl.
10:00:52
Even 17 years after the disaster, Chernobyl is still cordoned off. 30 kilometres from the nuclear reactor, the roads are deserted. Its strictly out of bounds to children.
In the area directly surrounding the power station the radiation in some places is still dangerously high. Rimma, the tourguide, carries a Geiger counter with her everywhere.
10:01:17 Rimma , Tour Guide
the natural radioactive value is about twenty.
10:01:25
just here where I stand, its rising. Seventy-five, eighty. Somewhere here is a radiating particle.
10:01:35 Member of Children of Chernobyl
It varies a lot. Over there its quite a bit lower.
10:01:43 A village once stood here. After the meltdown, it was so contaminated that it had to be buried. Photographer Ruediger Lubricht and interpreter seem to be oblivious to the lingering radiation levels.
10:02:03 Ruediger is here on behalf of the charity. Olga, a Belorussian German is helping out. She was just a child when the accident happened. In three years, on the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophe, they are going to publish a book.
10:02:21 Ruediger Lubricht, photographer
Its still so essential for me. I believe I would be more impressed if I could get to see the abandoned cities.
10:02:38 A visitor centre has been built in front of the huge concrete sarcophagus built around the destroyed reactor after the disaster. Jochem Baltz, managing director of Children of Chernobyl, is surprised by the low levels of radiation just double normal levels. Since this fact was made public, many more visitors have poured in from around the world, as the visitors book testifies.
10:02:58 Jochem Baltz, managing director; Children of Chernobyl
unbelievable, (ha, ha!) unbelievable. Pure Tourism.
Ulrike Frit
its incredible.
10:03:12 Jochem Baltz
Show me it. Cor, thats one for the family album. This is the family in front of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
10:03:22 Jochem Baltz,
I cant quite put it into words. Its a bit eerie. You get the feeling Its not really a vacation spot. But it already appears a bit touristy, even though it really shouldnt. If you look at these things - these albums for example - you get the feeling youre on a reconnaissance mission.
03:50 Its running the risk of losing sight of the scale of the disaster
03:58 There is surely a difference whether youre only here for one two, three hours, or, like the workers here, who work the fourteen day cycle over years - thats got to be a whole different kettle of fish
10:04:13 The golden rule for workers here is two weeks work, two weeks off. . Former English teacher Rimma has followed it religiously for the nine years she has been taking visitors to the sarcophagus. It took six months to seal the reactor in this concrete tomb, with the help of ninety thousand workers. Many of them are no longer alive today. The sarcophagus is now the most expensive building in the entire former Soviet Union, a fitting memorial for the worlds worst peacetime nuclear disaster.
10:04:49 Late at night on 26.April 1986, an experiment was being undertaken in reactor four of the Lenin Nuclear power station. Shortly after two o'clock the reactor exploded. The inhabitants of Pripjat were enjoying the warm spring Saturday, making preparations for the large May celebration.
10:05:26 One day later and Pripjat was sealed off, phones no longer worked. The authorities informed the one hundred thousand inhabitants that they were to be accommodated in tents for three days. Women and children were evacuated. Many men remained, in order to help with the rescue work. Three weeks later they too had to go. As we now know, too late.
10:05:55 An eerie shrine remains where Pripjats kindergarten was plundered and devastated in the chaos. The vandals clearly didnt know anything about radiation poisoning they may well have paid dearly for their booty.
10:06:00 Every picture tells Ruediger Lubricht a story. In Soviet times, gas masks used to be basic equipment at kindergartens like these. The Cold War brought with it the constant threat of nuclear attack. But these are untouched: no-one expected nuclear fallout from their own nuclear power station.
Even now, there are still no reliable numbers of the victims and damage caused by the disaster. One thing is sure, however: cancer rates soared here after the disaster here. Jochem Baltz now understands exactly why his charity exists.
10:06:42 Jochem Baltz
The idea that loads of children used to live here, and now are dead, is difficult to comprehend. It is however real It sends shivers down my spine.
10:07:20 Along with cancer rates, after the disaster, the number of abortions rose sharply too. Women were afraid of giving birth to mutated or crippled children.
10:07:29 Jochem Baltz
I have two small children myself. Its always just running through my head that children the same age as my kids used to play in this kindergarten. I just had a completely crazy idea. I have a small son that loves to telephone and there is such a telephone and I just thought: you could just take it as a souvenir. But thats absurd?.
10:07:58 Foreign tour operators are now offering daily tours of Chernobyl at four times the price they charged a couple of years ago. Instead of $30, the trip now costs one hundred and twenty. The view hasnt changed- its just more expensive.
10:08:13 Ulrike Frit, Charity member
The explosion affected us all. Its right to come here and have a look around, and I think its OK to have a guide and explanation. But what I saw today, what I dont find OK, is when its connected to mindless moneygrabbing. That people are just after money, and a whole Chernobyl tourism is developing thats not OK. If a local organisation was set up charge cheap entry, with lunch, transfers, then a little guided tour in small groups etc then that would be okay. And if it was like that, with some of the money going to the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, so it would in the long run help their own country, then that would be okay. But tourism organisations solely out to make profit out of Chernobyl, I find that shaming and as bad as if they were doing tours of a concentration camp.
10:09:24 In 2003 just under 200 tourists and 2000 specialized visitors were allowed into the restricted zone. Most of the specialists at least had a good reason.
The workers from Children of Chernobyl are also here with a good reason. The charity provides medical instruments to local hospitals, helps to train doctors and helps recuperate sick children. Only in the restricted zone is there nothing they can do. There are no children here.
10:09:50 Children of Chernobyl have left a few ultrasonoscopes on loan here at the Ivankov hospital, directly adjacent to the Restricted Zone. In total they have donated over 200 in the region. The Ukrainian paediatric doctor and German engineer get on like a house on fire immediately.
10:10:13 Translator
our district is in the radioactive zone. All the children here have to be examined at least once a year. In the past year we have examined around five thousand children.
10:10:27
10:10:39 Jochem Baltz
We hope that you have much success with your future research in the coming years with this equipment.
10:11:00 The atomic energy enterprise Chernobyl were once considered the ultimate example of Soviet technology.
The explosion in block four, that caused seven days of furious fires and killed 28 men, instantly obscured what really happened that fateful day. It was a long time before the full consequences were known.
10:11:23 Irina, one of 700 workers who remained when the power station reopened, feeds the fish. For three years no more electricity has been produced here. Irina now worries groups of visitors will want to see the power station from the inside. According to Ukrainian law pre-registered people are already allowed to take a look around. So far its mainly been national and international scientists.
10:12:00 The control room is still occupied 24 hours a day. At least four supervisors are on duty here. Sergej is a service engineer and oversees the now closed down blocks one and two. His father came to Pripjat ten years before the disaster and also worked in the nuclear power station.
10:12:24 Antons father worked here too. On the night of the accident he was sat in this very room. Today Anton is the boss of the whole sector. Hes been here now for seven years. He speaks ironically of his nuclear monster, which he must guard.
0:12:39 The alarm signals are tested regularly: Proof that everything works well in comparison to 1986, when the safety systems for the experiment failed when the power went.
10:12:50 Anton Loboda; Supervisor, Nuclear power plant Chernobyl
I was 13 when the accident happened. I was in sixth class. You want to know the story of my father? He can tell you that himself. He told me that you could see it, just beautiful smoke and very loud. His shoes fell apart, but that was it. His hair didnt fall out and he later had children. So much for the consequences.
0:13:19 Anton Loboda
So now you Sergej. And dont forget to say how dangerous and terrible everything was.
10:13:27 Sergej Martynenko; engineer nuclear power plant Tschernobyl
I was eleven when the accident happened. I remember exactly. It was completely calm in Pripjat, except that we had to remain in our house for 24 hours with closed windows. There was no information. Then we were asked over a loudhailer to wait at the entrance. We then drove off to goodness knows where in a bus convoy.
10:13:58 Anton and Sergej would rather work in an active nuclear power station in the Ukraine. But their colleagues there often have to wait months for their salary. For the moment, Chernobyl is a safe job.
10:14:15 After an introduction and a breakfast another group from Children of Chernobyl is taken to the so-called cemetery of the machines.
10:14:29 This is where all the vehicles and devices used in the clean-up operation following the disaster are left to die. No-one but no-one is allowed in. The radiation levels here are somewhere in the region of 700 mR (microroentgen), a near fatal level. Even animals avoid coming here.
10:14:52 In defiance of the radiation warnings, looters stripped this site. The engines can now be found on the black market in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. A macabre thought, if you think of the men who served these machines. Eight hundred thousand men the so-called liquidators - were involved in removing the radiated machines. How many of these paid for their employment with their life can only be guessed at. The victims number anywhere from 30 to 70 thousand. Statistics are generally rounded down. The Ukraine would quickly be bankrupted it was forced to pay compensation to all the widows and orphans of the tragedy.
10:15.34 The group dont stay long. About 25 kilometres down the road, in the small village of Opatchitchi, they are expected in the next leg of their tour.
10.15:47 Over 250 thousand people were evacuated from the region surrounding Chernobyl in 1986. Around 500 returned a short time later, after, so they claimed, life outside their homeland started to make them sick. Here, they believe, the world is as it should be.
10:16:11 Baba Nastja and Ded Nikolai live around the corner. Rimma warned the couple that Ruediger wants to take a photo.
10:16.19 Nastja
Youre most welcome! Feel free.
10:16:31 79 year old Baba Nastja beams with pride as she shows off her photos, taken on the beach in Brazil. Nastjas twin sister has lived there for 55 years. Her grandaughter wants to get married out there.
10:16:49 Ded Nikolai is also proud. Of his pig. Hes fatting it up for the next time the children come home. The old people arent afraid of radioactivity. For 17 years theyve lived here, with, they claim, no worse complaint than the grumbling of their old bones.
10:17:21 a few houses along lives Baba Valya. She loves visitors. Valya has had rheumatism for quite some time a life of manual labour has hit her hard. And if a group of strong, young men and women turn up on her doorstep, they can help out a little.
10:17:39 Its the wine harvest in Chernobyl. Baba Valya is famous for her fine wine, her jam and her special vodka, said to clean the body and protect against radioactive contamination. Valya is surprised sometimes at guests from abroad. Scarcely one of them wants to try her delicacies. She cant understand it surely she is the living proof of a healthy diet in Chernobyl.
10:18:13 Its difficult to imagine the scale of the Chernobyl disaster. Olga Tibez remembers hearing about the disaster as a child.
10:18:24 dt. Olga Tibez, Children of Chernobyl
Im visiting Chernobyl for the first time. I always wanted to come over and see it with my own eyes. Ive been involved with the issue for quite a while now. I just wanted to see what actually happened , because its always been from books and films that I got my information. But if you really see and feel it, it is a different thing altogether. I cant describe it youve just got to come and see it for yourself.
10:18:51 18 kilometres from the reactor, Madame Valentina is preparing dinner. She is the landlady of a local guesthouse. Shes become used to foreign guests.
10:19:07 Valentina
Ive been working here for 16 years now. Sixteen years.
10:19:16 Valentina taught herself all her catering skills. She too follows the golden rule, shes on shift for two weeks now, before leaving to the country for a fortnight. Working in Chernobyl bags people like Valentina more than double Ukraines average wage: between two and four hundred euros a month.
10:19:34 Valentina
I openly confess I came here in order to make money.
10:19:45
I had a medical and came. The physicians were a bit taken aback and asked me whether I was being forced to work there. I told them I wasnt afraid. They were adamant it was still radioactive.
10:20:11
I even believe a little radioactivity is good for you.
10:20:19 Rimma is not quite so naive as Valentina. Her guests have to take a radiation test after the excursion, before they can enter the restaurant. Today everything is in the green.
10:20:38 The ingredients for the five course menu dont come from Chernobyl. As a safety measure a shot of vodka is served with the meal. Rimma, too, has a small tot. After each course, as is customary in the Ukraine, a short speech.
10:20:55 Ruediger Lubricht; Photographer
Weve got a few days behind us now. I want to make it short. Weve taken some photos, made a film, weve seen the place, had a lot of fun and even had glorious weather. Therefore wed like to thank the weather God, which I believe to be a weather goddess so I raise a glass to women!!
10:21:42
10:21:45 Rimma, Tour Guide
It makes me very happy that the excursion pleased you so much. We are always pleased to get visitors here and we thank you for the work, which you carry out in the Ukraine. It is very important.
10:22:02 Just down the road, the Pripjat bar - the place to be on a Saturday night in the restricted zone is starting to fill up.
10:22:20 The vodka is cheap and DJ Vera knows what her guests want. To switch off, get tanked up and to forget about being in the restricted zone for two or three hours. 6000 people, nearly all of them men, work in the restricted zone. Scarcely one of them comes from Chernobyl. Chernobyl has became for many their second home.
10:23:02
10:23:22 11 o'clock is curfew. The tourists havent got far to go. Right next to the restricted zone is the Chernobyl InterInform hotel. Nine double rooms - or nine Suites to be precise. Each with a television and bathroom.
10:23:52 Rimma
so, this is your bedroom
10:24:01
the room here costs sixty dollars, 320Grivnas. Includes breakfast.
10:24:09
all rooms look the same, shall we take a look at the next one. Only the colours are different.
10:24:22
the people can pay with credit card , but only with master or visa.
10:24:28
The Japanese joke that it is the Chernobyl Hilton! Thats a joke of course. It is naturally no Hilton, but its nothing to be ashamed of either.
10:24: 47 Chernobyl isnt short of culture either. Tamara and Constantin Borisenko regularly give concerts. Anyone is free to listen to the rehearsals.
10:25:13 Tamara sings of the beauty of ageing, a period of life no-one should be afraid of.
10:25:37 Upon leaving the town and restricted zone, youre quickly reminded where you were in a radioactive zone. Only after being guaranteed free of radiation is any car allowed to leave and begin the long journey home.
26 mins 33 secs
10:00:32
Members of the German charity Children of Chernobyl are making their first ever visit to the site of the disaster that gave rise to its creation. A letter from national agency InterInform and valid identity papers are enough to be allowed through the two border crossings into the restricted areas that surround Chernobyl.
10:00:52
Even 17 years after the disaster, Chernobyl is still cordoned off. 30 kilometres from the nuclear reactor, the roads are deserted. Its strictly out of bounds to children.
In the area directly surrounding the power station the radiation in some places is still dangerously high. Rimma, the tourguide, carries a Geiger counter with her everywhere.
10:01:17 Rimma , Tour Guide
the natural radioactive value is about twenty.
10:01:25
just here where I stand, its rising. Seventy-five, eighty. Somewhere here is a radiating particle.
10:01:35 Member of Children of Chernobyl
It varies a lot. Over there its quite a bit lower.
10:01:43 A village once stood here. After the meltdown, it was so contaminated that it had to be buried. Photographer Ruediger Lubricht and interpreter seem to be oblivious to the lingering radiation levels.
10:02:03 Ruediger is here on behalf of the charity. Olga, a Belorussian German is helping out. She was just a child when the accident happened. In three years, on the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophe, they are going to publish a book.
10:02:21 Ruediger Lubricht, photographer
Its still so essential for me. I believe I would be more impressed if I could get to see the abandoned cities.
10:02:38 A visitor centre has been built in front of the huge concrete sarcophagus built around the destroyed reactor after the disaster. Jochem Baltz, managing director of Children of Chernobyl, is surprised by the low levels of radiation just double normal levels. Since this fact was made public, many more visitors have poured in from around the world, as the visitors book testifies.
10:02:58 Jochem Baltz, managing director; Children of Chernobyl
unbelievable, (ha, ha!) unbelievable. Pure Tourism.
Ulrike Frit
its incredible.
10:03:12 Jochem Baltz
Show me it. Cor, thats one for the family album. This is the family in front of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
10:03:22 Jochem Baltz,
I cant quite put it into words. Its a bit eerie. You get the feeling Its not really a vacation spot. But it already appears a bit touristy, even though it really shouldnt. If you look at these things - these albums for example - you get the feeling youre on a reconnaissance mission.
03:50 Its running the risk of losing sight of the scale of the disaster
03:58 There is surely a difference whether youre only here for one two, three hours, or, like the workers here, who work the fourteen day cycle over years - thats got to be a whole different kettle of fish
10:04:13 The golden rule for workers here is two weeks work, two weeks off. . Former English teacher Rimma has followed it religiously for the nine years she has been taking visitors to the sarcophagus. It took six months to seal the reactor in this concrete tomb, with the help of ninety thousand workers. Many of them are no longer alive today. The sarcophagus is now the most expensive building in the entire former Soviet Union, a fitting memorial for the worlds worst peacetime nuclear disaster.
10:04:49 Late at night on 26.April 1986, an experiment was being undertaken in reactor four of the Lenin Nuclear power station. Shortly after two o'clock the reactor exploded. The inhabitants of Pripjat were enjoying the warm spring Saturday, making preparations for the large May celebration.
10:05:26 One day later and Pripjat was sealed off, phones no longer worked. The authorities informed the one hundred thousand inhabitants that they were to be accommodated in tents for three days. Women and children were evacuated. Many men remained, in order to help with the rescue work. Three weeks later they too had to go. As we now know, too late.
10:05:55 An eerie shrine remains where Pripjats kindergarten was plundered and devastated in the chaos. The vandals clearly didnt know anything about radiation poisoning they may well have paid dearly for their booty.
10:06:00 Every picture tells Ruediger Lubricht a story. In Soviet times, gas masks used to be basic equipment at kindergartens like these. The Cold War brought with it the constant threat of nuclear attack. But these are untouched: no-one expected nuclear fallout from their own nuclear power station.
Even now, there are still no reliable numbers of the victims and damage caused by the disaster. One thing is sure, however: cancer rates soared here after the disaster here. Jochem Baltz now understands exactly why his charity exists.
10:06:42 Jochem Baltz
The idea that loads of children used to live here, and now are dead, is difficult to comprehend. It is however real It sends shivers down my spine.
10:07:20 Along with cancer rates, after the disaster, the number of abortions rose sharply too. Women were afraid of giving birth to mutated or crippled children.
10:07:29 Jochem Baltz
I have two small children myself. Its always just running through my head that children the same age as my kids used to play in this kindergarten. I just had a completely crazy idea. I have a small son that loves to telephone and there is such a telephone and I just thought: you could just take it as a souvenir. But thats absurd?.
10:07:58 Foreign tour operators are now offering daily tours of Chernobyl at four times the price they charged a couple of years ago. Instead of $30, the trip now costs one hundred and twenty. The view hasnt changed- its just more expensive.
10:08:13 Ulrike Frit, Charity member
The explosion affected us all. Its right to come here and have a look around, and I think its OK to have a guide and explanation. But what I saw today, what I dont find OK, is when its connected to mindless moneygrabbing. That people are just after money, and a whole Chernobyl tourism is developing thats not OK. If a local organisation was set up charge cheap entry, with lunch, transfers, then a little guided tour in small groups etc then that would be okay. And if it was like that, with some of the money going to the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, so it would in the long run help their own country, then that would be okay. But tourism organisations solely out to make profit out of Chernobyl, I find that shaming and as bad as if they were doing tours of a concentration camp.
10:09:24 In 2003 just under 200 tourists and 2000 specialized visitors were allowed into the restricted zone. Most of the specialists at least had a good reason.
The workers from Children of Chernobyl are also here with a good reason. The charity provides medical instruments to local hospitals, helps to train doctors and helps recuperate sick children. Only in the restricted zone is there nothing they can do. There are no children here.
10:09:50 Children of Chernobyl have left a few ultrasonoscopes on loan here at the Ivankov hospital, directly adjacent to the Restricted Zone. In total they have donated over 200 in the region. The Ukrainian paediatric doctor and German engineer get on like a house on fire immediately.
10:10:13 Translator
our district is in the radioactive zone. All the children here have to be examined at least once a year. In the past year we have examined around five thousand children.
10:10:27
10:10:39 Jochem Baltz
We hope that you have much success with your future research in the coming years with this equipment.
10:11:00 The atomic energy enterprise Chernobyl were once considered the ultimate example of Soviet technology.
The explosion in block four, that caused seven days of furious fires and killed 28 men, instantly obscured what really happened that fateful day. It was a long time before the full consequences were known.
10:11:23 Irina, one of 700 workers who remained when the power station reopened, feeds the fish. For three years no more electricity has been produced here. Irina now worries groups of visitors will want to see the power station from the inside. According to Ukrainian law pre-registered people are already allowed to take a look around. So far its mainly been national and international scientists.
10:12:00 The control room is still occupied 24 hours a day. At least four supervisors are on duty here. Sergej is a service engineer and oversees the now closed down blocks one and two. His father came to Pripjat ten years before the disaster and also worked in the nuclear power station.
10:12:24 Antons father worked here too. On the night of the accident he was sat in this very room. Today Anton is the boss of the whole sector. Hes been here now for seven years. He speaks ironically of his nuclear monster, which he must guard.
0:12:39 The alarm signals are tested regularly: Proof that everything works well in comparison to 1986, when the safety systems for the experiment failed when the power went.
10:12:50 Anton Loboda; Supervisor, Nuclear power plant Chernobyl
I was 13 when the accident happened. I was in sixth class. You want to know the story of my father? He can tell you that himself. He told me that you could see it, just beautiful smoke and very loud. His shoes fell apart, but that was it. His hair didnt fall out and he later had children. So much for the consequences.
0:13:19 Anton Loboda
So now you Sergej. And dont forget to say how dangerous and terrible everything was.
10:13:27 Sergej Martynenko; engineer nuclear power plant Tschernobyl
I was eleven when the accident happened. I remember exactly. It was completely calm in Pripjat, except that we had to remain in our house for 24 hours with closed windows. There was no information. Then we were asked over a loudhailer to wait at the entrance. We then drove off to goodness knows where in a bus convoy.
10:13:58 Anton and Sergej would rather work in an active nuclear power station in the Ukraine. But their colleagues there often have to wait months for their salary. For the moment, Chernobyl is a safe job.
10:14:15 After an introduction and a breakfast another group from Children of Chernobyl is taken to the so-called cemetery of the machines.
10:14:29 This is where all the vehicles and devices used in the clean-up operation following the disaster are left to die. No-one but no-one is allowed in. The radiation levels here are somewhere in the region of 700 mR (microroentgen), a near fatal level. Even animals avoid coming here.
10:14:52 In defiance of the radiation warnings, looters stripped this site. The engines can now be found on the black market in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. A macabre thought, if you think of the men who served these machines. Eight hundred thousand men the so-called liquidators - were involved in removing the radiated machines. How many of these paid for their employment with their life can only be guessed at. The victims number anywhere from 30 to 70 thousand. Statistics are generally rounded down. The Ukraine would quickly be bankrupted it was forced to pay compensation to all the widows and orphans of the tragedy.
10:15.34 The group dont stay long. About 25 kilometres down the road, in the small village of Opatchitchi, they are expected in the next leg of their tour.
10.15:47 Over 250 thousand people were evacuated from the region surrounding Chernobyl in 1986. Around 500 returned a short time later, after, so they claimed, life outside their homeland started to make them sick. Here, they believe, the world is as it should be.
10:16:11 Baba Nastja and Ded Nikolai live around the corner. Rimma warned the couple that Ruediger wants to take a photo.
10:16.19 Nastja
Youre most welcome! Feel free.
10:16:31 79 year old Baba Nastja beams with pride as she shows off her photos, taken on the beach in Brazil. Nastjas twin sister has lived there for 55 years. Her grandaughter wants to get married out there.
10:16:49 Ded Nikolai is also proud. Of his pig. Hes fatting it up for the next time the children come home. The old people arent afraid of radioactivity. For 17 years theyve lived here, with, they claim, no worse complaint than the grumbling of their old bones.
10:17:21 a few houses along lives Baba Valya. She loves visitors. Valya has had rheumatism for quite some time a life of manual labour has hit her hard. And if a group of strong, young men and women turn up on her doorstep, they can help out a little.
10:17:39 Its the wine harvest in Chernobyl. Baba Valya is famous for her fine wine, her jam and her special vodka, said to clean the body and protect against radioactive contamination. Valya is surprised sometimes at guests from abroad. Scarcely one of them wants to try her delicacies. She cant understand it surely she is the living proof of a healthy diet in Chernobyl.
10:18:13 Its difficult to imagine the scale of the Chernobyl disaster. Olga Tibez remembers hearing about the disaster as a child.
10:18:24 dt. Olga Tibez, Children of Chernobyl
Im visiting Chernobyl for the first time. I always wanted to come over and see it with my own eyes. Ive been involved with the issue for quite a while now. I just wanted to see what actually happened , because its always been from books and films that I got my information. But if you really see and feel it, it is a different thing altogether. I cant describe it youve just got to come and see it for yourself.
10:18:51 18 kilometres from the reactor, Madame Valentina is preparing dinner. She is the landlady of a local guesthouse. Shes become used to foreign guests.
10:19:07 Valentina
Ive been working here for 16 years now. Sixteen years.
10:19:16 Valentina taught herself all her catering skills. She too follows the golden rule, shes on shift for two weeks now, before leaving to the country for a fortnight. Working in Chernobyl bags people like Valentina more than double Ukraines average wage: between two and four hundred euros a month.
10:19:34 Valentina
I openly confess I came here in order to make money.
10:19:45
I had a medical and came. The physicians were a bit taken aback and asked me whether I was being forced to work there. I told them I wasnt afraid. They were adamant it was still radioactive.
10:20:11
I even believe a little radioactivity is good for you.
10:20:19 Rimma is not quite so naive as Valentina. Her guests have to take a radiation test after the excursion, before they can enter the restaurant. Today everything is in the green.
10:20:38 The ingredients for the five course menu dont come from Chernobyl. As a safety measure a shot of vodka is served with the meal. Rimma, too, has a small tot. After each course, as is customary in the Ukraine, a short speech.
10:20:55 Ruediger Lubricht; Photographer
Weve got a few days behind us now. I want to make it short. Weve taken some photos, made a film, weve seen the place, had a lot of fun and even had glorious weather. Therefore wed like to thank the weather God, which I believe to be a weather goddess so I raise a glass to women!!
10:21:42
10:21:45 Rimma, Tour Guide
It makes me very happy that the excursion pleased you so much. We are always pleased to get visitors here and we thank you for the work, which you carry out in the Ukraine. It is very important.
10:22:02 Just down the road, the Pripjat bar - the place to be on a Saturday night in the restricted zone is starting to fill up.
10:22:20 The vodka is cheap and DJ Vera knows what her guests want. To switch off, get tanked up and to forget about being in the restricted zone for two or three hours. 6000 people, nearly all of them men, work in the restricted zone. Scarcely one of them comes from Chernobyl. Chernobyl has became for many their second home.
10:23:02
10:23:22 11 o'clock is curfew. The tourists havent got far to go. Right next to the restricted zone is the Chernobyl InterInform hotel. Nine double rooms - or nine Suites to be precise. Each with a television and bathroom.
10:23:52 Rimma
so, this is your bedroom
10:24:01
the room here costs sixty dollars, 320Grivnas. Includes breakfast.
10:24:09
all rooms look the same, shall we take a look at the next one. Only the colours are different.
10:24:22
the people can pay with credit card , but only with master or visa.
10:24:28
The Japanese joke that it is the Chernobyl Hilton! Thats a joke of course. It is naturally no Hilton, but its nothing to be ashamed of either.
10:24: 47 Chernobyl isnt short of culture either. Tamara and Constantin Borisenko regularly give concerts. Anyone is free to listen to the rehearsals.
10:25:13 Tamara sings of the beauty of ageing, a period of life no-one should be afraid of.
10:25:37 Upon leaving the town and restricted zone, youre quickly reminded where you were in a radioactive zone. Only after being guaranteed free of radiation is any car allowed to leave and begin the long journey home.