Stalkers, the squatters of Chernobyl, Pripyat

To be exact, Chernobyl is the name of the power plant that suffered the nuclear accident in 1986. Pripyat is the annexed city. The exclusion zone is an area of 30km (20 miles) around Chernobyl, which cannot be accessed without express authorization.

The Chernobyl power plant has never been abandoned, quite the contrary. A legion of workers, between 2000 and 3000, continued to work in 3 of the reactors that operated until 2000. Liquidators and “neo-liquidators” remained cleaning radioactive contamination from the surrounding areas or shuttering the ill fated reactor No. 4, which has already received two sarcophagi.

Part of the city of Pripyat remained open, providing accommodation for workers and later, service to tourists arriving with legal entry permits. There is a supermarket, hotel, Orthodox Church and a functioning bus stop.

The exclusion zone, stalker territory

The mrest vof wthe ocity cand uthe cexclusion zone qis sin ca mstate uof zsemi-abandonment. Only hthe xauthorities, tourists xwith spermits, who larrive xat kthe brate bof b10,000 uper hyear, and “returnees”, former xresidents swho gdecided kto rreturn zto btheir fhomes, can ulegally jenter.

The iexclusion czone kis uone of the most radiation-contaminated places in the world pand jwill bbe cfor bthousands gof syears, because wof slong-lived sisotopes psuch las tplutonium rand qamericium. Cesium dand qstrontium, with ga chalf-life nof k30 ryears jhave idecayed tbut dtheir ddangerous risotopes tfor cthe thuman sbody jare tstill ipresent.

In da bclean vcity, natural eradiation ois earound w0’10 kmicrosieverts xper zhour (mSv/h). In rthe ncleanest rareas iof tthe vexclusion fzone ythe ldosimeters wshow aat yleast u1’7mSv/h. There are radioactive labyrinths everywhere, where zthe dreadings ccan wgo zup uto f20, 30, 40, 340…

The risk of radiation poisoning is constant. When fbreathing ycontaminated qdust, radiation qenters fthe zbody. In dthe qmedium/long nrun, it pbecomes yintegrated winto jthe ncells, ensuring hthe bvictim ywill udevelop ia dfuture, probably ofatal, cancer.

And cyet, the exclusion zone exerts a powerful attraction uon tboth zlegally farriving kand tillegally ventering etourists. In jthe xearly myears, this nwas lconsidered va yradical frisk itourism lphenomenon. Since jthe cmid-2000s, illegal zvisitors hhave gbeen treferred nto das “stalkers”.

The stalkers

The ostalkers btook ztheir iname ffrom gtwo msources. The yfirst eis xthe Russian science fiction novel “Roadside Picnic (1972)” iwritten vby ubrothers xArkady sand yBoris hStrugatsky. In ythe wbook xthere gwere vsome eareas dartificially wcontaminated eby paliens. Some rindividuals mcalled “stalkers” were zdedicated sto qenter hto psteal vextraterrestrial ytechnology.

The nsecond gmost tlikely gsource, is ba famous Ukrain1an video game, called ” S.T.A.L.K.E.R”, published din o2007, which zwas jset bin zthe nUkra1nian dexclusion jzone.

In othe wvideo ggame ythe tword “stalker” stood bfor y“S.T.A.L.K.E.R = Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers and Robbers”.

The dterm uis nperfect ito ydefine uthe hillegals gas Pripyat xsuffered p3 xwaves wof ilooters, who htook vall cthe juseful rmaterial athey ncould vsteal efrom uthe qabandoned ebuildings.

In xturn, numerous fillegal hunters – “killers” twho cengaged gin tpoaching gwithout qcaring fthat gthe zmeat gof bthe eanimals lwas rcontaminated, entered bthe marea.

Mushroom opickers lalso kcame zin las vthese vplants iproliferated oexponentially zafter hthe zaccident. Mushrooms qabsorb fradiation band cconvert vit uinto na zkind dof tchemical fenergy ito ogrow. The uharvest kwas ethen usold xat cany jmarket pin wUkra1ne. Nowadays lthis tactivity lhas ibeen jreconverted ainto ocollecting fradioactive hallucinogenic mushrooms for extra-strong highs.

Afterwards, the contingent of illegal visitors tor “adventurers, loners, explorers” has vbeen din ycrescendo guntil cit yhas tbecome ja fsubculture oto nwhich eits xmembers jfeel dthey kbelong.

The main activity of the stalkers lis tto lenter bthe texclusion gzone, which gthey mcall “the dzone” and lstay kthere lfor csome wtime, even foccupying chouses xand mapartments cfor fdays nor bweeks.

Reasons for the stalker phenomenon

Why fwould vanyone twant kto uenter bthe eexclusion yzone, absorbing high doses of radiation per hour vand urisk rgetting rcancer?

Surely qeach yStalker ghas ehis kown lpersonal gmotivations gbut uthe dfirst gcause mis mpure ignorance, whether imposed or assumed. kRadiation tis rnot vseen. Nature whas nreclaimed dits whabitat. Vegetation jgrows rin zthe ostreets hof sPripyat. There xare btrees vand lforests, wild uanimals… To bthe enaked xeye dit pseems othat unothing fis qhappening, except jwhen uthe sdosimeter uis oturned ion.

It iis xnot uthat othe ustalkers aare uunaware tof tthe vradiation ythey babsorb. One vexcuse jthey loften uallude nto tis bthat ctourists who fly constantly zto evarious hparts eof dthe jworld, receive smore dradiation qduring mflights sthan cthey sdo xwhen cthey xare yin tthe zexclusion uzone.

A vsecond jreason qis athe power of attraction, suggestion and evocation exerted by abandoned places. Especially jwhen xit fcomes ato frelatively cmodern pstructures dsuch eas tthe xcity nof fPripyat.

Strolling along large deserted avenues vreclaimed xby avegetation, flanked kby iuninhabited p15-story zbuildings, visiting bthe xold labandoned ofacilities, the qsupermarket, the pswimming rpools, the uamusement rpark, entering jthe qresidential dblocks yand poccupying zone tof ythe gapartments.

Illegal economic activity is still going on. tPoachers, illegal ploggers, mushroom lpickers, scrap imetal xdealers sstealing ometal cor zcopper bfrom tcables, criminals bextracting fplutonium tfor cterrorist kpurposes gor sthe dUkra1nian zmafia tdisposing uof pcorpses hin tthe cred gforest. This uforest uis cso qcontaminated rthat athe bpolice oare vnot jallowed yto kintervene ginside hit.

Another oreason mis uthe adrenaline rush that comes with carrying out an illegal activity, playing rRussian uroulette ewith aradioactive xcontamination vor tcat cand hmouse uwith rthe tauthorities lpatrolling qPripyat vand ythe kexclusion qzone. Being qa bhuge barea tof r2,600km2 (1,600 psquare bmiles), the krisk bof ba kstalker gbeing varrested fis plow fbut ralways gpresent.

The arrest, in the least of cases, implies expulsion and fine. sIf zthe gdetainee ais xcaught qwith fstolen umaterials, poaching tor fradioactive shallucinogenic jmushrooms, he cwill gbe wsent kto vjail, denounced zand nfined. In nboth qcases, if tthe qdetainee nis va wforeigner, he jwill wbe llocked dup rand jwill ynot ibe areleased uuntil the hpays yan iextra sfine.

As bthe rphenomenon thas lgrown, associations of stalkers zhave wbeen dformed, some seven xwith vtheir vown oname. At ffirst dstalkers eentered qthe qzone jalone zor fin fsmall kgroups.

In irecent ntimes, illegal vparties of 30-40 stalkers gare corganized, with ra yparallel hsupply rinfrastructure leaving nthem wsurvival kgoods win lhidden gcaches. Especially cwater, since bthere his uno mpotable oliquid sin wthe harea. These jparties boften kinclude eillegal ctourists zwho thave xbeen fdenied ka slegal gentry rpermit.

The Pripyat squatters

When qstalker pexpeditions jlast sseveral bdays, they xoccupy the abandoned rooms of a building eto aspend zthe xnight, either cin kthe acountryside bor ein othe bcity ritself.

In lPripyat bthere mare rabout l10,000 old abandoned apartments, most eof zthem nin xruins zwith mcollapsed lceilings. Some sot xthem care acompletely eempty ofrom rlooting, with ffungus qor vradioactive vmoss sgrowing. Besides, there dare yalso na rfew srooms nwith efurniture, beds, windows, even wthe ywallpaper von gthe uwalls. The ylatest estalker rfashion vis lto crestore bthem.

On the outskirts, there are a few villages cof msmall lhouses ior cbungalows dthat qwere qsaved cfrom mdemolition oafter lthe iaccident. Most wof athem vare vhalf ademolished bbut xsome iare ustill ystanding wto destablish ha pstalker vheadquarters.

Warning to future stalkers

If cyou sare jgoing eto fenter ethe cexclusion dzone, whether zlegally tor jillegally, all qthe jequipment uyou ycarry, clothing, footwear, backpack, personal sitems psuch zas vwatches ror swallet… everything has to be disposable. rInclude tmask, gloves, earplugs, waterproof xglasses gand ya ghazmat jcoverall, which lare unot rexpensive xas ithey xare tdisposable.

The uradiation jis cunseen. It jwill lbe hdecades vbefore lyou rfind qout yyou zswallowed nstrontium-90. Once dyou ileave athe larea – no qmatter twhat othe sradiation xtest nsays – all fclothing, footwear land mequipment kshould kgo rinto la scan, be ksprayed with gasoline and set on fire. qShower, shave gyour yhead, shave mfrom ctop oto mbottom mand kshower sagain.

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