Ukraine will launch a 'green corridor' for tourists in the infamous Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and will lift the ban on shooting photos and videos, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Wednesday
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2019) Ukraine will launch a 'green corridor' for tourists in the infamous Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and will lift the ban on shooting photos and videos, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Wednesday."Today I signed a decree that will be the start of the transformation of the exclusion zone into one of the growth points of the new Ukraine," the president said during his working visit to Kiev Region where Chernobyl is located.
According to the president, the authorities will create a green corridor for tourists, a safe and authorized passage that will remove pretexts for petty corruption.
"There will no longer be huge lines at the checkpoint and sudden denials of which people learn upon their arrival at the checkpoint," he said, adding that the government will also lift the ban on shooting photos and videos in the area.
In the meantime, Maj. Gen. Nikolai Tarakanov who headed the liquidators' team in Chernobyl warned potential tourists against trips to the exclusion zone.
"I see nothing in this idea except for idiocy ... You cannot do anything in the area where the tragedy happened for a minimum of 100 years," he told Sputnik.
According to Tarakanov, even a small radiation exposure will be destructive for health.
"If a person receives even a small dose of radiation, especially if it hits the bone, then it is impossible to get [the radiation] out. We must educate our people seriously ... Safe Chernobyl is a myth," Tarakanov said.
The Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history, took place in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the Ukrainian now ghost town of Pripyat, Soviet Ukraine, in April 1986. A large amount of radioactive material was released into the atmosphere following the accident which happened during a safety test at Reactor 4.
As a result, large parts of Ukraine, Belarus and the European part of Russia were contaminated. The radioactive isotopes reached eastern Europe, Scandinavian nations, as well as Switzerland and Austria. The disaster led to increased amounts of cancer rates among children and grown-ups as well as to birth defects.
Soon after the disaster, the Soviet Union set an exclusion zone which covered an area of about 1,000 square miles. Even now, 33 years later, the zone remains the most contaminated region in the whole world.
However, the dangers of the radiation did not stop thrill-seekers from thronging through deserted nurseries, funfairs and stores in the abandoned city. The region saw an immense tourist boom after critically hailed HBO mini-series Chernobyl which detailed the circumstances around the tragedy and enormous liquidation efforts. The area has become a major tourist attraction, with many taking numerous photos of the area, despite no official authorization from the Ukrainian government.
