Rare Look Inside a Radioactive Ghost Town
PRIPYAT, Ukraine, April 19, 2006 — -- I'm writing this from an old Russian train headed north toward a nation that President Bush has labeled an "outpost of tyranny." A place that journalists, especially Americans, rarely get to go.
On that, more in a minute. But first, let me tell you a little about Chernobyl. We spent the day there Tuesday, and it was an eerie sight. A ghost town, tended by a small community of brave people struggling to keep it safe. Reactor No. 4, which exploded 20 years ago next week, is surrounded by an exclusion zone five times the size of New York City. Not many outsiders choose to venture in.
I don't want to give away too much from the stories you'll see on ABC starting next week. But among the people we met are a few Americans -- nuclear engineers doing their best to make sure Chernobyl doesn't jeopardize the world again. Locked inside its crumbling cement sarcophagus, the failed Reactor No. 4 is still full of enough radioactivity for dozens of atom bombs.
Scientists say the sarcophagus, built in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, wasn't built to last this long. There are already so many holes in it that when we held up a Geiger counter, the numbers were off the charts.
Nearby we saw the empty city of Pripyat, a company town, evacuated under a cloud of radioactive fallout. There's a Ferris wheel there, built for a May Day celebration that never took place. Chernobyl blew up on April 26. By May 1, Pripyat had been abandoned.
The birch trees of the surrounding forest have started to reclaim Pripyat. We found saplings growing on the rooftop of one apartment building. Aside from the sound of birds, it seemed to be the only sign of life.
We also met an extraordinary Ukrainian grandmother who never left Chernobyl. Actually, she told us she left for three days before she decided she didn't know what the fuss was about, so she went back home to her village. Only 15 people live there now. The village used to have a population of several hundred. With no one left to talk to, she has long conversations with her livestock.
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