Prypiat (city)
| Prypiat При́п'ять (Ukrainian) При́пять (Russian) |
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  Prypiat
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Oblast |  Kiev |
| Raion | City of oblast subordination |
| Founded | 1970 |
| City rights | 1980 |
| Government | |
| - Administration | Zone of alienation |
| Population (2001) | |
| - Total | 0 (abandoned since 1986) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | none |
| Area code(s) | +380 4499[1] |
| Website | http://pripyat.com/en/ |
Prypiat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Pryp'yat’; Russian: При́пять, Pripyat’), is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, in the Kiev Oblast (province), near the border with Belarus[2]. The city has a special status within the Kiev Oblast subordinating directly to it, although is located in the Ivankiv Raion (district). The city also is being supervised by the specially assigned ministry as part of the Zone of alienation. Prypiat was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth nuclear-city, "атомоград" (atomograd) in Russian, literally "atom city". Its population had been around 50,000 before the accident. Annual growth of population was estimated at around 1,500 including 800 new-born citizens and over 500 newcomers from all the corners of the Soviet Union. It was planned that the Prypiat's population should rise up to 78,000 in the nearest future. Prypiat had a railroad link to Kiev Yazov station as well as a navigable river nearby.
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Background
Unlike cities of military importance, access to Prypiat was not restricted prior to the disaster. Before the Chernobyl accident, 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, mirnyj 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 the station being too close to the city, and so the station, together with Prypiat,[3] were built in their current location — about 100 km (62 mi) from Kiev. After the disaster, the city of Prypiat was evacuated in two days [2].
Development
Along with its prime goal as being the home to nuclear station's employees, Prypiat had been viewed as major railroad and river cargo port in the Northern Ukraine. The urban nomenclature was quite typical for the time. There were traditional ideological names on the city map like Lenin Av., International Friendship St., Heroes of Stalingrad St. etc. There also were some street names that reflected local traits, e.g. Embankment St., Builders Ave., and Enthusiasts Ave. Lesya Ukrainka St. has some cultural implications since it bears the name of one of the greatest poets of Ukraine. An "atom for peace" theme had not been avoided too, owing to Igor Kurchatov street.
Prypiat had a defined city centre where city hall (or city council), the largest shopping centres, major recreational and public catering facilities and the Polissya hotel had been located.
The chief idea of the urban layout was the so-called triangular principle developed by Moscow architects, the project which then famous Nicolay Ostozhenko had been running. After some adjustments by Kiev architects, the plan of the city's development was finally approved. For the time this triangular one-of-a-kind layout was unique, though by the time the construction of Pripyat had started it had been implemented in dozens of Soviet cities and the novelty soon wore off.
The triangular method featured alteration of five-storey buildings, with high-rises which made the city lined with broad vistas, open spaces, and the horizon visible from almost every corner. Unlike the old cities with their tiny yards and narrow streets, Prypiat had been initially planned to look free and vivid, all for the comfort of its inhabitants. Besides the calculated boost of street space, the goal had been achieved by making the streets and blocks symmetrical. These solutions taken together were intended to immunize Prypiat from such scourge of modern times as traffic-jams.
Infrastructure and statistics
Population: 49,400 prior to the disaster. Average age was about 26 years old. Total living space - 658700 m2. 13,414 apartments in 160 apartment blocks, 18 halls of residence could room up to 7,621 single males or females, 8 halls of residence for married 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, 3 clinics.
Trade: 25 stores and malls; public catering: 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 stadiums.
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.
Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus Chernobyl power plant owned car park of about 400 units.
Telecommunication: 2,926 local phones managed by the Prypiat Phone Company, plus 1,950 phones owned by Chernobyl power station's administration, Jupiter plant and the Department of Architecture and Urban Development.
Post-Chernobyl years
In 1986, the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Prypiat. 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).
Many of the building interiors in Prypiat have been vandalised and ransacked over the years. Due to the fact that the buildings have not been maintained for over two decades, the roofs leak, and in the springtime the rooms are flooded with water. Trees can be seen growing on roofs and even inside the buildings. All this adds to a deterioration process, and due to this, a 4-story school collapsed in July 2005.
One notable landmark often featured in photographs of the city, and visible from aerial-imaging websites such as Google Maps, is a long-abandoned ferris wheel located in the Prypiat amusement park.
Safety
A natural concern is whether it is safe to visit Prypiat and the surroundings. The Zone of Alienation is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours around the area. The 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 equivalent dose of 1 μSv (one microsievert) per hour.
The city and the Zone of Alienation are now bordered with guards and police, but obtaining the necessary documents to enter the zone is not considered particularly difficult. A guide will accompany visitors to ensure nothing is vandalised or taken from the zone. The doors of most of the buildings are held open to reduce the risk to visitors, and almost all of them can be visited when accompanied by a guide. The city of Chernobyl, located a few kilometers south from Prypiat, has some accommodations including a hotel, many apartment buildings, and a local lodge, which are maintained as a permanent residence for watch-standing crew, and tourists.
Cultural references
- The city plays a major role in the music video "Everything is Everything" by the band Beats and Styles.
- The city plays a major role in the music video "Sweet People" by Alyosha
- Irish artist Cormac Phelan (a.k.a. Thirteen) includes a track called "Prypiat" on his second album entitled "Come Back"
- The city of Prypiat is the location of filming of the 2008 documentary White Horse.
- The short film The Door was shot in 2008 in Prypiat.[4]
- Several issues of the Vertigo comic book series The Losers are set in Prypiat. The city is used by rogue spies a base to construct nuclear weapons. The existing level of background radiation masks the weapons-grade plutonium used to create the bombs.
- The exclusion zone is the setting for Karl Schroeder's SF short story "The Dragon of Pripyat".
- Pripyat is the title of a song by rock band Ash (band). It was the sixth release of their A to Z singles series, a year long twenty six single subscription. The video is a compilation of photography by Robert Polidori from his book, Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl.
- The player visits Prypiat 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.
- Two missions in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ('All Ghillied Up' & 'One Shot, One Kill') take place in Prypiat, where the player (as Price) is tasked with sniping a target trying to gain nuclear material from the destroyed power plant and then exfiltrating near the Ferris wheel. Parts of the same mission was playable in reverse in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in the Special Ops minigames (namely 'Hidden'). It is also used for two multiplayer maps in both Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2. The map Bloc from fourth part of game takes place in an abandoned housing area near the Ferris Wheel, and Wasteland in MW2 takes place just on the outskirts of the Chernobyl reactor site. The outskirts going towards the reactor, and the surrounding areas, are baked with radiation and have radioactive warning signs posted all the way around. If the player goes past these warning signs, the radiation will kill the player within a few seconds, or if it's a hardcore game, almost instantly.
- The novel Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith uses Pripyat as the setting for an investigation by Arkady Renko
- In 1989, the Irish singer, Christy Moore included a song about Prypiat called "Farewell To Pripchat (Near Chernobyl)" in his album entitled "Voyage". The song was written by Irish songwriter, John McDermott. The song begins, "It was a Friday in April 1986, The day that nightmare began..." and finishes with "...The streets speak a deafening silence, Nothing stirs but the sand."
- 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.
Evacuation note, April 27, 1986
"For the attention of the residents of Prypiat! City Council informs you that due to the accident at Chernobyl Power Station in the city of Prypiat the radioactive conditions in the vicinity are deteriorating. The Communist Party and officials, the armed forces are taking necessary steps to combat this. Nevertheless, with the view to maintain people as safe and healthy as possible, the kids being top priority, we need to temporarily evacuate the citizens in the nearest towns of Kiev Oblast. For these reasons, starting from April 27, 1986 2 p.m. every apartment block will be able to have a bus supervised by the police and city officials at its disposal. It is higly advisable to take your documents, some vital personal belongings and a certain amount of food, just in case, with you. The senior executives of public and industrial facilities of the city has decided on the list of emloyees needed to stay in Prypiat to maintain these facilities in good working order. All the houses will be guarded by the police during the evacuation period. Tovarishchs, leaving your residences temporarily please make sure that you have turned the lights, electrical equipment and water off and shut the windows. We beg you to keep calm and orderly during this temporary evacuation."
See also
- Zone of alienation
- Elena Filatova
- Alexander Sirota
References
External links
- Pripyat pollution - Radioactive contamination in the Pripyat city
- Pripyat.com - Site created by former residents
- Pripyat on Soviet map (1986)
- Pripyat: Ghost City Chronicles
- The Chernobyl Poems of the former inhabitant of Pripyat Lyubov Sirota
- "Our Pripyat" — YouTube channel with some films about Pripyat before Chernobyl catastrophe and to present time.
- Touring Chernobyl In 2010 - A photo tour from 2010 including many photos from Pripyat
- Turkish article about Prypiat
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