Radiation safety of CHORNOBYL TOURs

Are the tours to the Chornobyl exclusion zone dangerous because of the radiation, as it is often believed? It can surprise you, but – no, they are not.

In fact, visiting the places, where once nuclear tests were conducted or accidents occurred (and which still have an elevated level of radiation) is rather common nowadays. The visitors regularly travel to the Nevada (USA) and Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) former test sites, Chornobyl (Ukraine as well as Belarus) and Fukushima (Japan) post-accident zones. /all names above are hyperlinks to the respective tour-operators/ All these countries are members of the UN World Health Organization and International Atomic Energy Agency, and obey the strict international standards of radiation safety and protection.

For example, during the visits to the Chornobyl zone, all visitors receive mandatory personal accumulating devices from the zone authorities. The tour operator also controls the level of radiation background with own dosimeters. The readings of both invariably show, that at the end of the 1-day tour to the Zone visitors receive as much (or rather, as little) external radiation as they will receive during 1-2 hours of a jet flight! Moreover, when the tourists decide to visit the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, they will be issued with another (and this will be already the third) personal dosimeter from the plant radiation safety authority! And this ChNPP tour adds perhaps one more hour of flight, in terms of the irradiation dose.

The dose obtained is so small because, in comparison with the first period after the Chornobyl explosion, the radiation has already decreased more than one thousand times there. As a result of massive decontamination efforts and natural processes, the majority of the Zone area has returned to its pre-accident, natural radiation background. And this is just one of many unexpected, but remarkable facts you will learn during the visit to the Chornobyl exclusion zone.

You can ask – “But what about the possibility of accumulation of radionuclides inside my body during the trip?” There is a reliable and clear answer to this question. Monitoring of the Chornobyl guides, who spend in the zone from 50 to 250 days each year, has given an extremely persuasive result: the content of radionuclides in their bodies hasn’t changed after all the time they spent in the Exclusion zone and is the same as before they started working as Chornobyl guides. This several-year study was done in the leading world institutions – the Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Radiation Medicine and Institute of Radiation Protection – at very special top-precision instrument-installation.

By the way, right now (and all your life!) you have a little tiny amount of radionuclides in your body. Because we live in a world with low but constant presence of radioactive substances around us – including the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. So through the years human body – like all living beings – has perfectly adjusted to small amounts of radiation.

So the visit to the Chornobyl exclusion zone is going to be completely safe if we comply with the simple radiation safety rules. Those are the following:

• we are obliged to wear closed shoes and clothes – no short sleeves, open sandals, fancy openings, skirts, shorts or bare ankles allowed;
• we always need to follow the established and certified routes. It’s not allowed to walk away from a guide;
• it’s prohibited to sit or place personal belongings, photo and video equipment on the ground; 
• it’s prohibited to eat or drink outside – only on board a bus, inside of the buildings of canteens, cafeterias, hotels; 
• it’s not allowed to smoke outside with the exception of specially designated areas;
• it’s prohibited to gather, consume, or take outside the Exclusion zone vegetables, fruits, berries, mushrooms, plants, etc.;
• hunting and fishing in the Zone are forbidden;
• it’s prohibited to drink water from the open sources – rivers, wells, etc.;
• it’s not allowed to swim in the local rivers, lakes and other water basins;
• it’s prohibited to bring in and take out of the Exclusion Zone any animals (dogs, cats, etc.); 
• it’s strictly forbidden to take any items outside the Zone;
• it’s prohibited to set off the fire;
• we should always wash our hands and face before eating or drinking anything; 
• when leaving the Chornobyl exclusion zone we are obliged to pass compulsory radiation control of clothes, footwear, personal items, and transport.

Radiation is a natural thing that accompanies us our entire lives. During your tour to the Chornobyl zone, you will get a full understanding of this natural phenomenon and also gain skills of radiation survival. You’ll see the unique objects of the Chornobyl exclusion zone, understand reasons of the accident, get to know all the amazing stories, and see everything with your own eyes – while being completely safe!

In case you want to examine radiation levels in the Chornobyl zone on your own – you can buy a personal Geiger counter or rent it just for your tour.

Interested in the amount of radionuclides you have accumulated in the whole body during your entire life? You have an opportunity to pass the whole body spectrometer procedure.

Want to take the readings of radiation levels of your food, in your house, or measure the construction materials? Our Kyiv-based specialists will be glad to assist!

If you want to learn in more detail about the radiation safety of the Chornobyl trips – welcome here!