ChAES: Reactor 4 Control Room
(All photos courtesy of Mark Resnicoff © 2006-2008)
If any of you read the comments on the post Elena's Chernobyl, you likely would have noticed a link posted by one MarkR.
Well, I did, and I most impressed by Mark's essay, My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster.
I was so moved, I contacted Mark and he graciously consented to our posting a few of his photos.
He has a weblog, as well. He's really into this and if you're looking for a good cause, there are few better.
Mark's account is thorough and thoughtful. You'll have a pretty good idea of what happened and what is happening in the Chernobyl area by the time you're done with it. This is the work of an historian, and though saplings grow through dead wood and hide the deserted habitations of humans and concrete towers crumble, we should never allow this story to sink into the undergrowth, forgotten.
Mark Resnicoff is doing a pretty good job of it on his own. The dude's got some serious balls, actually. I don't know if I could have done what he did.
A taste:
After the initial cleanup, Reactor 4 was covered in a cement structure known as the Sarcophagus. Due to the highly dangerous radiation levels at the site, this edifice was hastily built without following proper construction techniques and was meant to last no more than 20 years. Steel girders were placed on top of the remains of the existing building without welding them into place and cracks between cement sections were not always sealed.
Sarcophagus: ChAES
Radiation Levels - School #1: Pripyat
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