Twenty Years After, The zones of Chernobyl: Chernobyl plant, Chernobyl City, Pripyat, 10km zone and 30 km zone (part 6 of n)

Around Chernobyl (the nuclear plant n. 4) a "alienation" zone (aka"exclusion zone" aka "controlled area"aka "30 km zone") has been created.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_alienation

The alienation zone includes a circle of 30 km around the nuclear plan but extends further into the West.

Specials laws, and by-laws, are applied to this area and nobody can legally enter without a specific permission, asked and given inadvance.

Entering the zone people must show a identification document (the passport if you are a foreigner). In the way out people must be submitted to a brief radiological exam.

(

In a previous post I show the point where I have entered thealienation zone and a college been submitted to radiological exam in the way out.

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/04/twenty-years-after-inout-part-4-of-n.html
)

In the alienation zone all economic activity is prohibit, except if itis related to the management or study of the Chernobyl accident and its effects, or somehow support those activities. People that work outside the buildings must wear protective cloths, although in some cases the protection only covers the hair.

The maps of this area can sometimes difficult to understand because theUkrainian rule only applied in Ukrainian territory and the Belarus border is, in theNorth and Est, less than 30 km from the reactor.

The alienation zone is divided in several sub-zones. The "zone I" is the inner sub-zone, roughly 10 km around the reactor but extending further to the West, in some places to around 50 km.

Nobody is allowed to live there, but some people work there. (the exact number and size of the different zones has changed withtime, but the "30 km alienation zone" and the "10 km inner zone" have always been the base of any zoning).

Chernobyl (the city) is near the border of the "Zone I", but outside,at around 15 km from the plant, so people live there.

The most know city inside the zone I is Pripyat, a city build recently to lodge the workers at the plant, before the accident. Pripyat is now completely abandoned since it is inside "zone I"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat,_Ukraine.

http://pripyat.com/en/

http://pripyat.com

For people that is going to stay outside, for long, in the "zone I",it is recommended to use protective cloths covering most of the body.

Photos: I took this pics entering the alienation zone at the passport control point. It shows the alienation zone and sub-zones - TheUkrainian the word for "zone" looks like "3OHA".
The map extends only to Belarus border (in the North andEst), what is understandable, since it
only coverts territory underUkrainian jurisdiction, but sometime this is misleading about the dimension of the tragedy.

In the placard we can also see the a list of several parameters in the different sub-zones.

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-Jun-4):

The point where I enter (and left) zone III:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=51.117867,+30.122217&t=k&om=0&ll=51.118448,30.122194&spn=0.023221,0.085831

The pictures shown here were also taken in the same place