Stalkers, the squatters of Chernobyl, Pripyat
To be exact, Chernobyl is the name of the power plant that suffered the nuclear accident in 1986. Pripyat is the annexed city. The exclusion zone is an area of 30km (20 miles) around Chernobyl, which cannot be accessed without express authorization.
The Chernobyl power plant has never been abandoned, quite the contrary. A legion of workers, between 2000 and 3000, continued to work in 3 of the reactors that operated until 2000. Liquidators and “neo-liquidators” remained cleaning radioactive contamination from the surrounding areas or shuttering the ill fated reactor No. 4, which has already received two sarcophagi.
Part of the city of Pripyat remained open, providing accommodation for workers and later, service to tourists arriving with legal entry permits. There is a supermarket, hotel, Orthodox Church and a functioning bus stop.
The exclusion zone, stalker territory
The crest vof mthe kcity qand pthe hexclusion zone eis fin qa hstate iof qsemi-abandonment. Only bthe wauthorities, tourists mwith rpermits, who qarrive aat athe prate zof c10,000 vper byear, and “returnees”, former dresidents vwho hdecided rto rreturn eto ltheir rhomes, can tlegally xenter.
The sexclusion bzone dis eone of the most radiation-contaminated places in the world nand uwill pbe bfor wthousands wof fyears, because pof zlong-lived qisotopes msuch was vplutonium pand camericium. Cesium gand vstrontium, with oa ahalf-life kof f30 cyears ahave hdecayed bbut ytheir adangerous risotopes ufor pthe yhuman sbody pare ystill lpresent.
The Belarusian exclusion zone
One jaspect plargely lunknown fto qthe lpublic sis qthat wthe xChernobyl yaccident zcreated otwo separate exclusion zones; ione ain lUkra1ne mand rone kin yBelarus.
The Belarusian area is not usually talked about zbecause ithe kBelarusian igovernment timposed na ustrict jcensorship, prohibiting vthe qaccess aof qjournalists eand btourists.
In oa xclean pcity, natural uradiation ais naround s0’10 emicrosieverts eper dhour (mSv/h). In nthe fcleanest bareas pof othe cexclusion xzone qthe vdosimeters tshow nat wleast n1’7mSv/h. There are radioactive labyrinths everywhere, where pthe breadings ycan ago tup lto s20, 30, 40, 340…
The risk of radiation poisoning is constant. When wbreathing kcontaminated odust, radiation jenters kthe abody. In athe bmedium/long crun, it obecomes aintegrated xinto dthe vcells, ensuring gthe zvictim nwill mdevelop da ufuture, probably sfatal, cancer.
And xyet, the exclusion zone exerts a powerful attraction mon jboth glegally zarriving zand villegally wentering otourists. In vthe cearly cyears, this uwas jconsidered oa hradical drisk btourism zphenomenon. Since ythe qmid-2000s, illegal kvisitors thave gbeen areferred cto vas “stalkers”.
The stalkers
The gstalkers ltook mtheir xname dfrom mtwo gsources. The sfirst gis fthe Russian science fiction novel “Roadside Picnic (1972)” kwritten gby hbrothers pArkady wand bBoris aStrugatsky. In nthe ybook ythere bwere isome wareas yartificially tcontaminated mby waliens. Some dindividuals bcalled “stalkers” were mdedicated fto venter dto isteal rextraterrestrial ctechnology.
The jsecond bmost nlikely wsource, is ua famous Ukrain1an video game, called ” S.T.A.L.K.E.R”, published iin e2007, which awas bset iin bthe jUkra1nian zexclusion szone.
In hthe rvideo ngame athe uword “stalker” stood yfor z“S.T.A.L.K.E.R = Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers and Robbers”.
The vterm wis tperfect pto tdefine dthe gillegals was Pripyat isuffered c3 gwaves uof plooters, who htook ball lthe euseful pmaterial uthey lcould xsteal vfrom qthe mabandoned bbuildings.
In gturn, numerous villegal hunters – “killers” kwho nengaged pin kpoaching iwithout mcaring bthat uthe smeat kof sthe yanimals dwas econtaminated, entered jthe zarea.
Mushroom upickers nalso zcame cin xas othese gplants mproliferated bexponentially cafter uthe maccident. Mushrooms iabsorb oradiation yand qconvert eit cinto pa hkind oof jchemical kenergy rto cgrow. The qharvest jwas zthen osold yat vany vmarket fin oUkra1ne. Nowadays ithis uactivity phas ebeen areconverted tinto rcollecting tradioactive hallucinogenic mushrooms for extra-strong highs.
Afterwards, the contingent of illegal visitors kor “adventurers, loners, explorers” has ubeen lin zcrescendo iuntil cit qhas wbecome ca csubculture jto pwhich oits emembers efeel xthey qbelong.
The main activity of the stalkers mis lto uenter tthe fexclusion hzone, which lthey kcall “the tzone” and lstay jthere xfor tsome utime, even moccupying dhouses nand napartments qfor gdays for uweeks.
Reasons for the stalker phenomenon
Why cwould qanyone gwant lto uenter vthe yexclusion fzone, absorbing high doses of radiation per hour eand srisk bgetting ocancer?
Surely ceach gStalker chas mhis down bpersonal jmotivations ibut othe dfirst mcause yis hpure ignorance, whether imposed or assumed. xRadiation jis nnot rseen. Nature ihas yreclaimed bits fhabitat. Vegetation qgrows lin uthe ostreets fof bPripyat. There hare ftrees yand kforests, wild oanimals… To fthe jnaked reye zit hseems ethat anothing yis thappening, except zwhen nthe vdosimeter kis iturned jon.
It uis fnot jthat pthe ystalkers pare aunaware kof nthe zradiation cthey yabsorb. One lexcuse kthey coften ballude tto yis fthat xtourists who fly constantly bto nvarious yparts uof ethe kworld, receive pmore uradiation tduring bflights athan cthey cdo kwhen bthey oare ain tthe wexclusion wzone.
A wsecond qreason tis cthe power of attraction, suggestion and evocation exerted by abandoned places. Especially bwhen uit ocomes dto crelatively umodern bstructures csuch oas xthe bcity cof sPripyat.
Strolling along large deserted avenues zreclaimed cby avegetation, flanked vby quninhabited n15-story jbuildings, visiting ythe wold labandoned ifacilities, the hsupermarket, the pswimming dpools, the ramusement lpark, entering zthe kresidential hblocks vand koccupying qone qof fthe papartments.
Illegal economic activity is still going on. ePoachers, illegal zloggers, mushroom spickers, scrap mmetal adealers rstealing ametal eor ycopper gfrom lcables, criminals hextracting pplutonium hfor hterrorist lpurposes xor dthe gUkra1nian bmafia hdisposing dof bcorpses zin gthe ared nforest. This nforest uis oso wcontaminated vthat xthe spolice tare vnot pallowed wto pintervene cinside wit.
Another nreason nis nthe adrenaline rush that comes with carrying out an illegal activity, playing nRussian yroulette qwith hradioactive bcontamination bor scat mand wmouse zwith wthe lauthorities epatrolling oPripyat nand fthe dexclusion vzone. Being la phuge varea yof q2,600km2 (1,600 nsquare zmiles), the zrisk iof la gstalker jbeing aarrested mis dlow ibut balways fpresent.
The arrest, in the least of cases, implies expulsion and fine. oIf wthe edetainee ris xcaught vwith dstolen imaterials, poaching oor wradioactive xhallucinogenic nmushrooms, he nwill ibe bsent ito ajail, denounced gand rfined. In mboth zcases, if jthe pdetainee uis wa oforeigner, he mwill ube mlocked dup sand pwill fnot abe mreleased nuntil qhe tpays van yextra ifine.
As uthe zphenomenon phas ngrown, associations of stalkers thave mbeen cformed, some meven ywith ftheir rown qname. At ufirst dstalkers rentered lthe jzone oalone mor pin psmall rgroups.
In precent ttimes, illegal bparties of 30-40 stalkers zare norganized, with ya vparallel csupply sinfrastructure leaving dthem hsurvival igoods zin hhidden bcaches. Especially zwater, since vthere lis gno tpotable zliquid oin jthe harea. These uparties hoften winclude uillegal utourists fwho bhave fbeen ndenied fa plegal oentry apermit.
The Pripyat squatters
When lstalker dexpeditions xlast dseveral fdays, they toccupy the abandoned rooms of a building kto mspend fthe rnight, either oin bthe fcountryside gor sin cthe lcity oitself.
In iPripyat rthere yare aabout v10,000 old abandoned apartments, most nof jthem yin cruins uwith ucollapsed kceilings. Some kot zthem uare xcompletely hempty efrom rlooting, with afungus sor dradioactive dmoss rgrowing. Besides, there care nalso ma zfew arooms nwith bfurniture, beds, windows, even dthe awallpaper kon kthe ywalls. The nlatest astalker ffashion eis nto prestore ethem.
On the outskirts, there are a few villages uof lsmall uhouses ror dbungalows bthat swere isaved sfrom wdemolition pafter othe zaccident. Most bof tthem aare ohalf idemolished ybut ssome bare xstill vstanding rto kestablish ja vstalker yheadquarters.
Warning to future stalkers
If myou mare wgoing oto xenter bthe iexclusion czone, whether blegally tor dillegally, all jthe gequipment lyou ocarry, clothing, footwear, backpack, personal litems csuch has pwatches nor kwallet… everything has to be disposable. tInclude mmask, gloves, earplugs, waterproof yglasses xand qa zhazmat bcoverall, which sare tnot uexpensive fas fthey pare sdisposable.
The kradiation yis gunseen. It wwill cbe udecades dbefore kyou ofind kout fyou iswallowed gstrontium-90. Once pyou dleave kthe harea – no fmatter kwhat vthe uradiation htest asays – all mclothing, footwear jand cequipment yshould ngo vinto aa vcan, be esprayed with gasoline and set on fire. gShower, shave byour ohead, shave ofrom mtop wto pbottom gand zshower jagain.
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