Pripyat River

The Pripyat River or Prypiat River (Ukrainian: Прип’ять, pronounced [ˈprɪpjɑtʲ]; Belarusian: Прыпяць, Prypiać, [ˈprɨpʲatsʲ]; Polish: Prypeć, [ˈprɨpɛtɕ]; Russian: Припять, [ˈprʲipʲɪtʲ]) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately 710 km (440 mi) long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine again, draining into the Dnieper.

The Pripyat passes through the Zone of alienation around the Chernobyl reactor, site of the nuclear disaster. It is polluted with radionuclides. The concentration of caesium-137 in river sediments continues to increase. The city of Prypiat, Ukraine (population 45,000) was completely evacuated after the Chernobyl disaster.

Name etymology

At least three etymologies have been proposed for the name:-

• In Slavic languages, the component "pri" means "near", and the component "pyat" means "5". This river has a confluence with five other rivers.

• It might derive from the local word pripech used for a river with sandy banks.^[1]
• From a Western-Baltic name Preipente "the river at (till) the spurs", the Pripyat river being very shallow in the area inhabited by Western Balts.

Tributaries

• Horyn River (659 km; 22,700 km²)
  • Sluch (451 km; 13,800 km²)

See also

• Pripyat Marshes

References

External links

• Pripyat: Radioactive pollution, 2003

Books

• (in Russian, English and Polish) Ye.N.Meshechko, A.A.Gorbatsky (2005) Belarusian Polesye: Tourist Transeuropean Water Mains, Minsk, Four Quarters,
• (in Belorussian, Russian and English) T.A.Khvagina (2005) POLESYE from the Bug to the Ubort, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 985-06-1153-7.