Radioactive Chernobyl Reactor Control Room Is Open For Tourists Now | Innovation Discoveries

The Ukrainian government is focused on boosting tourism in the Chernobyl disaster zone.

The control room of Chernobyl’s reactor-four is where the Ukrainian engineers switched off the nuclear reactor’s cooling pumps while attempting a safety test in April of 1986. It was this action that eventually led to the explosion that claimed the lives of 28 persons and contaminated the surrounding area with radioactive waste.

Ukrainian authorities announced earlier this month that they would be giving access to the reactor control room to tourists. The building is situated under a 355-foot, 36,000-ton steel arch that was placed over an area around the reactor to cease radiation leaks.

This piece of information should, in itself, be enough of a warning and must make people think twice before they decide to check out the control room. Furthermore, the visits to the room are limited to only a few minutes to prevent excessive radiation.

The most alarming threat during this tour would be radioactive dust. As per maintenance workers, this dust has significant doses of radiation. If a visitor was to brush against something, they would be running the risk of getting contaminated with alarming levels of radioactive material. In order to prevent this from happening, workers make use of a chemical spray to keep the dust down.

This is less than the radiation exposure that you are exposed to during a transatlantic flight.