Anybody who’s watched HBO’s dramatic miniseries Chernobyl has seen a gritty, realistic look at what happened during and after the infamous 1986 nuclear disaster in what was, at that time, Soviet Ukraine. But for some people, an extremely well-made cable TV series isn’t enough to satisfy their morbid curiosity about the tragic event. For some people it’s a tour of the actual nuclear facility or bust, and while it may seem insane, the Ukraine is now happy to oblige in order to help its “brand.”
An RT video of visitors touring reactor No. 4’s control room.
It’s hard to imagine that anybody would want to visit the 1,000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in what is now Northern Ukraine, let alone the actual control room for Chernobyl’s now-defunct reactor No. 4, but apparently there are scores of people with such desires, many of whom decided they wanted to visit after watching the HBO series. (Didn’t most people want to literally leave Earth after watching that series?)
In fact, a recent CNN travel report, which comes via Gizmodo, says that since Chernobyl first aired in May, tourism to the real-life nuclear disaster site has “surged dramatically,” and that “the move [to open up reactor No. 4’s control room to the public] is part of a government drive to encourage tourism in the area after President Volydymyr Zelensky signed a July decree designating Chernobyl an official tourist attraction.”
A look at the control room for reactor No. 3. As of 2019, the plant is still being decommissioned. IAEA Imagebank
And while much of Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone has been open to tourists since 2011, it’s only now that visiting peoples have been granted access to reactor No. 4’s control room — the one portrayed in stunningly accurate detail in the show. According to Ukraine’s president, Volydymyr Zelensky, who spoke during a visit to Chernobyl in July, the decision to open up the ghostly control room to tourists is happening because he wants to “give this territory of Ukraine a new life.” He added that he thinks the country needs to change the perception of Chernobyl as “a negative part of Ukraine’s brand.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree that sets out plans to develop the #Chernobyl exclusion zone as a site for tourism, including new walking trails and enhanced mobile phone reception: https://t.co/6yQwOxqN8G pic.twitter.com/IE135J2CUX
— World Nuclear News (@W_Nuclear_News) July 16, 2019
Feature image: Ruptly