Pripyat

For other uses, see Pripyat (disambiguation).

Pripyat При́п'ять
City of regional significance
Coat of arms
Pripyat
Pripyat
Coordinates:
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Kiev Oblast
Raion	Chernobyl Raion (1923–1988)
Founded	4 February 1970
City rights	1979
Government
• Administration	State Agency of Ukraine on the Exclusion Zone Management
Population (2015)
• Total	0
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	none (formerly 01196)
Area code(s)	+380 4499

Pripyat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Prýp'jat′; Russian: При́пять, Prípyat′ <phonos file="Pripyat_Pronunciation.ogg">Pronunciation</phonos>) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus.

Named after the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970, the ninth nuclear city 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, a few days after the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Though Pripyat is located within the administrative district of Ivankiv Raion, the abandoned city now has the status of city of oblast significance within the larger Kiev Oblast (province), being administered directly from Kiev. Pripyat is also supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies, which manages activities for the entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

History

Background

See also: Chernobyl disaster

Panoramic view of Pripyat in May 2009

View of the Chernobyl power plant including 2003 radioactive level of 763 microroentgens per hour

Access to Pripyat, unlike cities of military importance, was not restricted before the disaster as nuclear power stations were seen by the Soviet Union as safer than other types of power plants. Nuclear power stations were presented as being an achievement of Soviet engineering, where nuclear power was harnessed for peaceful projects. The slogan "peaceful atom" (Russian: мирный атом, mirnıy atom) was popular during those times. The original plan had been to build the plant only 25 km (16 mi) from Kiev, but the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, among other bodies, expressed concern about it being 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 Kiev. After the disaster the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days.

A panorama of Pripyat, circa 2011. The abandoned Chernobyl power plant can be seen in the distance, at top center.

Post-Chernobyl years

Pripyat Ferris wheel, as seen from the City Center Gymnasium

The Pripyat swimming pool was still in use by liquidators in 1996, a decade after the Chernobyl incident.

In 2009, over two decades after the Chernobyl incident, the Pripyat swimming pool shows decay after years of disuse.

In 1986 the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Pripyat. After the city of Chernobyl, this is 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.

Infrastructure and statistics

Pripyat before the Chernobyl disaster

The following statistics are from January 1, 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 8 halls of residence for married or de facto couples.
• Education: 15 primary schools for about 5,000 children, 5 secondary schools, 1 professional school.
• Healthcare: 1 hospital that could accommodate up to 410 patients, and 3 clinics.
• Trade: 25 stores and malls; 27 cafes, cafeterias and restaurants could serve up to 5,535 customers simultaneously. 10 warehouses could hold 4,430 tons of goods.
• Culture: 3 facilities: a culture palace, a cinema and a school of arts, with 8 different societies.
• Sports: 10 gyms, 3 indoor swimming-pools, 10 shooting galleries, 2 stadia.
• Recreation: 1 park, 35 playgrounds, 18,136 trees, 249,247 shrubs, 33,000 rose plants.
• Industry: 4 factories with total annual turnover of 477,000,000 rubles. 1 nuclear power plant.
• Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus the nuclear power plant car park of about 400 units.
• 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.

Safety

The external relative gamma dose for a person in the open near the Chernobyl disaster site. The intermediate lived fission products like Cs-137 contribute nearly all of the gamma dose now after a number of decades have passed, see opposite.

The impact of the different isotopes on the radioactive contamination of the air soon after the accident. Drawn using data from the OECD report [1] and the second edition of 'The radiochemical manual'.

A natural concern is whether it is safe to visit Pripyat and the surroundings. The Zone of Alienation is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours around the area. Measurements taken in 2009, show radiation levels have dropped considerably, compared to the fatal levels of April 1986, due to the decay of the short-lived isotopes released during the accident. In most places within the city, the level of radiation does not exceed an equivalent dose of 1 μSv (one microsievert) per hour.

Cultural references

• The 2012 video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive features the map "Cache" which is loosely set around Chernobyl and Pripyat.
• In 2006, musician Example features Pripyat in his 18-minute documentary of the ghost town, and for his promotional video for his track, "What We Made".
• The city of Pripyat is the location of filming of the 2008 documentary White Horse.
• The mod called Chernobyl Zone for video game Arma 3 is situated to Pripyat and around ChNPP.
• The exclusion zone is the setting for Karl Schroeder's science fiction short story "The Dragon of Pripyat".
• In 2015, Urban Explorers from the group TiedTo111 abseiled a Soviet apartment block and the Ferris wheel in Pripyat.
• Pripyat plays an important role in the video games S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and its sequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat; in both the player is able to visit and explore various parts of the city.
• The novel Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith uses Pripyat as the setting for an investigation by Arkady Renko.
• Much of the James Rollins novel The Last Oracle takes place in Pripyat and around Chernobyl. The story revolves around a team of American "Killer Scientist" special agents who must stop a terrorist plot to unleash the radiation of Lake Karachay on the world during the installation of the new sarcophagus over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
• The city is also the setting for two missions in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare based around the main square and the amusement park, set after the disaster. Also the multiplayer maps "Bloc" and "Vacant" in the game take place in Pripyat. A small part of the city is seen briefly in a flashback in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and the multiplayer map "Fallen" takes place in Pripyat. Call of Duty: Black Ops features a map called "Grid", which takes place in Pripyat. A level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and a multiplayer map called "Wasteland" takes place in Pripyat and near Chernobyl, respectively.
• The American paranormal investigation series Destination Truth conducted an overnight investigation within Pripyat.
• The Northern Irish alternative rock band Ash have a track called "Pripyat" on their 2010 singles collection A–Z Vol. 1.
• The Swedish Industrial metal band Zavod have a track called "Pripyat" on their 2012 album "Industrial City".
• Ukrainian singer Alyosha recorded most of the video for her Eurovision 2010 entry Sweet People in Pripyat.
• The PBS documentary Radioactive Wolves analyzes and compares the health of wildlife within and without the Exclusion Zone.
• The song "Dead City" (Ukrainian: Мертве Місто) by Ukrainian Symphonic Metal band DELIA is about Pripyat, and scenes from the music video were shot in the city. DELIA's vocalist, Anastasia Sverkunova, was born in Pripyat just before the Chernobyl disaster.
• The majority of the 2011 movie Land of Oblivion was shot on location in Pripyat.
• The 2012 horror movie Chernobyl Diaries was inspired by the Chernobyl Disaster in 1986 and takes place in Pripyat.
• The 2013 film A Good Day to Die Hard is partly set in Pripyat.
• Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery's first solo album is called "The Ghosts of Pripyat" (2014).
• Pripyat is featured in the BBC program Top Gear in 2014, in series 21 episode 3, showing two of the three hosts of the show driving through the abandoned city.
• German pianist and composer Hauschka features Pripyat on the second track of his album Abandoned Cities.
• Pripyat is featured in the History Channel Documentary called Life After People.
• Filmmaker Danny Cooke used a drone to capture shots of the abandoned amusement park, some residential shots of decaying walls, children's toys and gas masks. He collected them in a 3-minute short film “Postcards From Chernobyl”, released in November 2014, while making footage for the CBS News 60 Minutes episode in early 2014 “Chernobyl: The Catastrophe That Never Ended”.

Transport

The city was served by Yaniv station on the Chernihiv–Ovruch railway. It was an important passenger hub of the line and was located between the southern suburb of Pripyat and the village of Yaniv. A terminus named Semikhody, built in 1988 and located in front of the nuclear plant, is currently the only operating station near Pripyat.

Personalities

• Alexander Sirota (b. 1976), photographer, journalist, filmmaker
• Lyubov Sirota (b. 1956), poet, writer, playwright, journalist and translator

Gallery

Ferris wheel of the Pripyat amusement park  Polissya hotel  Pripyat city limit sign

See also

• FC Stroitel Pripyat
• Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone
• Cultural impact of the Chernobyl disaster

External links

• Pripyat.com - Site created by former residents
• 25 years of satellite imagery over Chernobyl Pripyat map
• pripyatpanorama.com - Pripyat in Panoramas Project