Ukraine eyes UNESCO World Heritage tag for abandoned plant and wasteland
Ukrainian nuclear agency worker Viktor Kozlov received an unusual birthday gift from his wife Maryna: tickets for a 90 minute flight over Chernobyl, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
The trip gives passengers a bird’s eye view of the abandoned buildings in the ghost town of Pripyat that once housed nuclear workers, and the massive domed structure now covering the reactor that exploded on April 26, 1986.
On the flight, run by Ukraine International Airlines, passengers craned their necks, pointed and took pictures on their phones of the site that has become one of the country’s major tourist destinations.
The disaster, which struck during a botched safety test at the plant 110 km (70 miles) north of the capital Kyiv, forced tens of thousands of people to abandon the area permanently, leaving wildlife behind to thrive in the contaminated zone.
“I read a lot about the Chernobyl accident and I know every second of the disaster timeline,” Kozlov, whose interest in the industry was prompted by having grown up in another town with a nuclear plant, said during the flight.
“I was surprised by the nature around the plant. It looks so pure, nature won over a human here,” he added.
Thirty-one plant workers and firemen died in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, mostly from acute radiation sickness. Thousands more later succumbed to radiation-related illnesses such as cancer, although the total death toll and long-term health effects remain a subject of intense debate.
As Ukraine marks the 35th anniversary of the accident, the former Soviet republic will apply for Chernobyl to receive UNESCO World Heritage status to attract more visitors and funding to develop the area.
Hoping that such an assignation could mean more funding and more tourists, the government has begun a process that could eventually allow it to apply to the United Nations’ cultural, scientific and education body for protection.
On April 26, the former Soviet republic marks the 35th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, when a reactor at the plant, located some 108 km (67 miles) north of the capital Kyiv, exploded during a botched safety test.
The result was the world’s worst nuclear accident that sent clouds of radiation across much of Europe and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
“We believe that putting Chernobyl on the UNESCO heritage list is a first and important step towards having this great place as a unique destination of interest for the whole of mankind,” said Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko.
“The importance of the Chernobyl zone lays far beyond Ukraine’s borders … It is not only about commemoration, but also history and people’s rights,” he told Reuters.
Before sending an application to the UN, locations seeking UNESCO protection had to be included on a national cultural and historic heritage list, according to the minister.
Tkachenko said his ministry recently decided to include a huge military radar built near the city of Chernobyl in the 1970s in the list. It is also discussing expanding that to the whole of the 30km Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Most of the area around the abandoned nuclear plant is a wilderness of empty buildings, scrubland and rubble. All of the buildings in Pripyat, a ghost town that was once home to 50,000 people mostly working at the plant, are in need of repair.
Tkachenko said he hoped that Chernobyl, which had already become a popular site for adventure tourists before the coronavirus pandemic prevented most international travel, would bounce back and begin to lure visitors again.
In 2019, HBO’s “Chernobyl” was behind a jump in the number of visitor to the power plant and nearby Pripyat, with 120,000 people visiting the area.
For Pilot Yevhen Nechyporenko, the flights over Chernobyl reminded him of his childhood when he spent summer holidays near the area.
“It attracts people like a magnet. Also by looking at these places from above, you imagine yourself there,” he said in the cockpit.
“It is very interesting to look closely into every detail of the area, into what is happening there, what changes took place around the plant and in the town, how the nature is developing and taking over.” (Reuters)