I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading the article. I can't imagine what it is like there, to ride through a ghost town where time stands still. Thank you for the trip.

Chilling story of truth, I have referenced this from my web site and people are giving it 2 thumbs up. Not for the use of the English or the quality of the photos that where scanned to digital for this purpose but for story that is returned to us to remember what happened and the many that died from this.

Excellent reminder but can we learn from history – history says no

Thank you Elena.

Clive
Webmaster for
The Writers Voice.com
http://www.writers-voice.com

Absolutley chilling. I am in awe of this young girl's courage and very much appreciate her first hand account. It was 25 years ago that the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Harrisburg,PA -USA- almost suffered the same fate...there but for the grace of god... What will it take to abolish this madness once and for all?

this woman's knowledge of physics is as limited as her knowledge of history. calling this a "chilling story of truth" is unfair.

alexander akimov didn't push "the wrong button". a novice engineer would know not to design a reactor that can be destroyed by push of a button. he flipped a switch. an EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN switch, which was supposed to SHUT THE REACTOR DOWN. and it was the right thing to do. he followed the protocol. she doesn't mention that it was a gas explosion because xenon built up and the excess of neutrons was not absorbed (xenon poisoning). she also doesn't mention that the man who tried to stop the chain reaction died 3 weeks after the accident. a careless, insensitive and ignorant narrator.

she talks about serious issues and yet manages to smile and strike a pose for the camera, and then dares to call pripyat her "favorite part" of the ride! with this reaction, i doubt she ever lived there.

by the way, radiation does not "evaporate", and some of the numbers (death toll as well as levels of radiation) are misquoted.

the pictures are real, of course, but to call this photojournalism is not quite fair, considering that they were taken at different times and came from different sources. many of these look familiar (and i do happen to have a lot of resources, including a collection of books, and articles from iaea and nrc on the topic), and could have been taken from internet sites or photocopied from books.

and have you wondered, why her bike only appears on one picture? on the EDGE of the zone? well, civilian vehicles are kind of prohibited there, unless you're an employee who has special business bringing a vehicle there. after all, there's a good possibility of contamination, and who would want to risk losing a kawasaki if it became contaminated? she says there's no radiation on the pavement. what? there are no gamma rays floating around? no alphas bouncing? how about the ash and the radioactive dust that were expelled from the reactor during the explosion? you know, the ones that were detected in scandinavia? well, a vehicle, or wind for that matter, can easily stir that dust up. that's why the only cars that travel through the zone have their windows tightly closed and sometimes taped.

she may have ridden her bike around the town and the power plant, but i doubt she made it past the checkpoint.

Veronika, the point of her journal is not to give a view from a scientific standpoint. You certainly put much emphasis on this. Her dad is a scientist - that gives both of them more credit than you. Also, she does mention that she has a permit to ride on many of the roads which would otherwise be closed off. Her photos and particularly, her poses in them...are not intended to burden the visitor with the tragedy of what happened there. These photos are of her visiting the place, just like I am sure you have photos of you being in a park or at a club. This is not an educational site, but a site made for ignorant people to be more aware. With that said, I am glad to know that you stand very firmly on your beliefs and that your knowledge is very great about this issue. Maybe you should not visit her site anymore. As far as the scientist pushing the wrong button or what else, who cares? But you are that anal about these things - we all see the result. Lastly, is your comment about living there. I live in USA. I am from St. Petersburg / Leningrad. Her living there is irrelevant. what’s important is her trip through the ghost town and the visual imagery she brings to people like myself who have never been at this area and who don’t know anyone who has. She is doing a great service for people like myself and should be admired - and not put down and critiqued. If you come up with a website where you will have enough balls to even get on a bike, not to mention driving ALONE through one of the most dangerous places in the world, let me know. I would love to see your work and admire it. If you are in the states, I would even attempt to pay you a visit and speak to you about your experience.

Tried not to vomit reading veronica's claptrap.

Elena does not infer she is a master of Physics.

A Akimov pressing AZ button did have unfortunate results.

It was not xenon poisoning that blew the reactor but steam pressure from PVC 'hot spots' - a known issue with RBMKs. Xenon poisoning actually shuts down a reactor. It 'poisons' the reaction.

I didn't see any fancy stylised posing.

She never said she lived in Pripyat, she said she lived 2 hours away.

I couldn't find 'evaporate' on any of her pages even using a search. But as the nuclides decay the radiation does decrease.
BTY, Gamma waves do not 'float' and Alpha particles do not bounce around. The generally quickly decay into helium, within inches of the source.

Where are *your* sources on the correct figures?

V says she stole the photos from articles? and then - what - photoshopped herself holding the dosimeter into them? phhfft! Only one pic with the bike, V you didn't even go to every page.

What about all the ash on the roadways? what about it? as V says, the wind can blow it around and after 18 years most of the loose stuff is watered in of has indeed blown away. Elena does however mention sticking to the centre AMAP.

Elena mentions where she could not take the bike, and what - V says she probably rode around the plant - good guess - that's what Elena said she did. What was expected, ride the bike into the turbine room?

V you are just a whinging, nit-picking, bandwagoneer with minimal critical reading skills, less social skills and almost none when it comes to ionising radiation or reactors.

"What was expected? ride the bike into the turbine room?" - I love it...Thank you pap.

i just visited the site again - sorry for the late responses.

igor - first of all. i never mentioned what i do for living. i have a degree in science. my father was an operator at unit 4 of the chernobyl nuclear power plant. i think he, talking to him and his expertise amount to more than you can imagine. secondly, i never said where i live. i live in south-eastern washington state (hanford rings any bells?), and grew up in pripyat. i was evacuated from that town 1 day after she was. thirdly, her comments about akimov were very unfair. and it does matter to a lot of people, especially since he is considered a hero.
and lastly, after i posted some of my comments on her site, she corrected it. that includes statements about making it through checkpoints, and how she got her permit (po blatu ot papy). i think i was right.

pap - i lived less than 2 MILES away, not 2 HOURS. i made a mistake on the xenon. yes, it was a steam explosion. xenon interfered with the moderator (boron carbide), that's what i meant to say. comment taken. my sources are the international nuclear energy agency and nuclear regulatory commission documents (widely available on the internet). i specifically used those words in relation to the particles and waves. i said *some* of the pictures.

p.s. as a proof of the corrections i offer you this: there are two sites.

one is at angelfire, which she updates. the other one is a mirror site, which is not updated as regularly. it's at http://elenaschernobyl.com

search for "evaporate" there.

i've been trying to find some of what i'd read. this site is one of my favorites:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07app.htm

there is also a report by the world health organization on the matter, which states numbers far below 300,000 casualties.

i did not mean to be offensive to anyone when i posted what i did. but i do feel that i have legitimate reasons. i agree with igor on the site being an easy-to-digest sort of a piece of information for those who wouldn't bother to ask extra questions. and every discussion group that brought up this site expressed the same oohs and the aaahhhs.

i didn't lie and i didn't try to offend anyone in my responses (pap?) once again, i do admit that i made a mistake in the technicality. i've been kicking myself for it, i assure you. i am very interested in physics, i read a lot of it (even had As in my physics classes), but i must admit my degree is actually in cell biology. i work as a biochemist.

for some reason, about a week ago, every acquaintance of mine who happens to be aware of my previous place of residence decided to send me this link. i felt like the information was partially false, and i wanted to do my part to disprove it.

as i feel guilty for expressing my opinion on this blog, i would greatly appreciate at least knowing that you acknowledged reading what i wrote. thank you.

Veronika - If you are a student of science and publish errors in considered retort, you should now realise how much easier it is for someone telling a simple story about riding a bike to do so.
Next time you might cool off and reflect a bit before jumping in hamfisted and then actually assist the author with relevant detail.

I read the other site and I still don't find anything worth the scathing critique you launched.
The site was never intended to be a definitive source, just one persons pictures and thoughts.
To my mind, much of the 'evaporation' or other perceived inaccuracies is simply her way of expressing complex things in a language not her own or possibly errors introduced by a third party translator.

Sure, I agree Akimov wasn't the direct cause of the event and I note she 'dropped' from name from the other site, however some people do blame Akimov for scraming the reactor instead of increasing coolant. I remain sceptical on this and agree that Akimov did the natural thing – try to quickly shut the bugger down.
Reading several reports over the years indicates the blame starts with the state energy ministry and the culture that surrounding the industry not one man in particular.

The consensus seems to be…
-It was an ill-conceived and dangerous experiment
…On a flaky reactor type
…Using people whose skills were not up to the job.

For an analysis as good as most see…
http://www.engineering.com/content/ContentDisplay?contentId=41009009

out of curiosity, pap and igor, what do you do?

about your recent post, pap. once again, i feel like i'm being scolded. i'm not 5 years old. i admitted my fault. it's very easy to become defensive about topics that are so important to one. in my case, also hasty. it was my fault.

elena contacted me a few days ago, and we have since exchanged >=20 emails. and i have actually been "assisting the author with relative details". she is very nice.

I'm glad that Veronika is in communication with Elena. More communication about this disaster is still required, as there are still contrary viewpoints as to the effect on human health.

I researched 18 years of reports and summarized what I found at this URL:
http://ripples.typepad.com/ripples/2004/04/chernobyl_diggi.html

hello, David.

what you had on your website was quite impressive - thank you. i think another thing to consider is that cancer is not the only outcome of such an event. there is a suite of chronic and non-chronic diseases that are not fatal (and therefore a lot more difficult to quanify).
for example, like many adults, for a few years following the accident my parents lost their short-term memory. it probably sounds strange and almost improbable, and of course may not have been caused by radiation as much as by stress. but the fact that everyone and their neighbor experienced the same effects to nearly the same degree makes it worth mentioning.
problems with gastrointestinal and cardiac systems were strangely common among children with whom i grew up. there were certain times of the year when we underwent medical checkups and for a few months following the abovementioned divisions of hospitals in kiev were filled with children from pripyat'.

in a case like this it's very difficult to make conclusions: the illness can be easily caused by parents and everyone else "expecting" the child to be sick because, well, of the accident. but then again, 10,000 lemmings can't be wrong, right?

Veronica - I think we have all started on the wrong foot. I would also like to express my apologies for scolding you about the information and your tone as you posted it on your previous letters. To answer your questions, I do Transfer Pricing for PricewaterhouseCoopers in NYC. I am no where hear the science field and learning that you ARE - I am even more apologetic. Sorry.

i was actually asking because you and pap did make good points. i was wondering where the expertise came from. i made some unnecessarily strong statements too quickly. fortunately, elena is very open-minded. we have been exchanging quite a bit of information as well as resources on photographs (i have a collection of books on chernobyl). -v

Veronika, if you can, or better, if you have - any digital photos of Chernobyl other than the ones found on Elena's site, can you fwd them to me? And the points that I made about your post...were not based on any scientific data or knowledge but were something I just thought would be the right thing to say. I am glad that we understood each other like adults...although I am not quite one yet :)
You can email me any relevant information if you have a chance to mnbgt@aol.com Thank you.

i have actually been supplying elena with some general images, and they should be up on the site soon.

otherwise, the most interesting ones i have are those of my father and al gore in chernobyl in 1998. i find it interesting that amid this intense wave of interest no one brought this visit up. a high profile politician who happened to care about the topic as much as any one of us. besides, al was one of the main driving forces to close the plant in 2000.

Veronika, if you would ask Elena to contact me, or provide me with Elena's e-mail, that would be excellent. I think her site is amazing and frightening. Dont sweat your little rant, it's totally understandable if you have strong feelings abouts something. Everyone does it. Thanks a lot, you can reach me at Theone234@hotmail.com

Being born on April 26th, (not that year though) I've always had a fascination about the disaster. Now, as a physics student (astro, not nuclear) I've really become curious about the emission of the radiation and the stories that Elena told: the firemen instantly killed, the glowing trees, the strange shiny clouds, and the people watching on the bridge directly into the core only to be bombarded by deadly rays. Basically, the effects of those murderous particles that you can't sense and the sick power that they wield. I can't grasp it... I don't even know how to express it well. Does anyone know of good sites or books with photos of these effects or even more amazing stories about what the people experienced that day? I'd like to see examples and articles about the things that Elena talked about.

brent - i emailed elena and gave her your address. just to let you know.

asmith - one of the best books on the matter is "ablaze" by p.p. read. not only does it go indepth into the engineering and physics, it also touches on the politics.

Veronika, I would also greatly appreciate if you could give me Elena's e-mail (or forward mine to her, either way). I tried looking for it on her site but couldn't find it. My e-mail is Guillaume@141.com. I was in France when this disaster happened and the French government refused to admit that there was any danger in eating food that had been exposed to the radioactive cloud that travelled above Europe, even though neighboring countries warned against consuming vegetables, etc... I have been fascinated by Chernobyl ever since it happened (I was only a teenager back then) and have always tried to learn more about it. One very good site I found is this one: http://www.dissident-media.org/infonucleaire/special_tcherno.html

It's in French but I think some of the links are in English.

Well anyway I would like to thank Elena for her web site, it's really touching...
This could easily happen in France too (there is a nuclear power plant next to Paris) and it shows how terrible nuclear energy really is.

Thank you,
Guillaume

Dear Veronika,

I'd like too to get in touch with Elena in order to let Italy know her chilling ride. Could you help me to reach her? Thanks a lot

filipposensi@dlmargherita.it

Hi,
I've translated Elena's page to Polish and I wanted to ask her if she has nothing against publishing it. There's a link to original website so people have access to the newest version.
To Veronika - could you ask Elena or give her my e-mail so I'll ask her
Thanks in advance, here's my email:

bmwu@poczta.fm

and the translated website:

http://www.mojasd.prv.pl/strony/ghosttown/

http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=8951

it's been proven to be fake.

Issue Date: July 10, 2004, Vol. 8, No. 28
Kim Komando Show Home Page: http://www.komando.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

--> OKAY, I WAS TAKEN FOR A RIDE
In April I wrote about an incredible Web site. It was created by a
Ukrainian motorcyclist named Elena. She allegedly took pictures of
a restricted area devastated by the nuclear accident in Chernobyl,
Ukraine. She claimed that her father was a physicist and she used his
pass to gain access to this area. The site is located at:
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/

It turns out she didn't ride a motorcycle, her father isn't a physicist
and she wasn't alone! According to a story in the LA Times, the woman's
name is Lena Filatova. She and her husband took a tour of the
restricted area through a Kiev travel agency. Anyone can be given a
similar tour: http://www.ukrcam.com