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Chernobyl’s control room will soon be open to tourists

With over 40,000 times the safe level of radiation, Chernobyl’s control room will soon be available to visit – but only for five minutes at a time.

Forget Disneyland, everyone knows the real tourist money is in disaster zones and places of tragic historical significance. At least that seems to be the case with Chernobyl, a ghost town in Ukraine that’s infamous for being the site of the 1986 nuclear explosion.

It’s also soon to be a hot spot for five minute tours, apparently. It may not have the rollercoasters of world-renowned theme parks or the glitzy glamour of big cities, but Chernobyl does have exceedingly high radiation levels and unsafe structures that won’t be habitable for at least several millennia.

If you’re wondering why Chernobyl has suddenly become a hot spot for tourists then you probably missed the popular HBO series based on the disaster that came out earlier this year. According to the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Management, the team organising 21 new tour routes, the TV show ‘boosted interest’ in the area.

‘Everyone now wants to see more and we are going to satisfy the demand’.

 

Is there an obligation to actually meet that demand, though? We shouldn’t really be encouraging people to flock to Chernobyl. The site is still incredibly hazardous and represents one of the darkest moments in human history. This ain’t like visiting the Eiffel Tower.

Should we really be treating disaster zones as tourist destinations?

We’ve already spoken before about influencer culture shamelessly using Chernobyl as a means of gaining Instagram clout. It became such a problem that the producers of the HBO show had to step in and ask people to stop because, you know, it’s a bit insensitive.

What’s more disheartening here is that a state organised agency is bucking in on the tourism trend. It makes sense economically; a hefty profit is a hard thing to refuse, but it comes uncomfortably close to exploiting a tragic site for the sake of a quick buck. HBO’s series is intentionally written to demonstrate the monstrous aftermath of mishandling nuclear energy and isn’t meant to advertise the town as a sightseeing opportunity.

People who do choose to visit will only be allowed into the control room of unit four – where things went a little off the rails, to put it mildly – and only for five minutes at a time. They’ll be given face masks, anti-radiation suits, and large industrial boots. Over 85’000 people have visited in 2019 alone and that number is only set to rise as popularity increases.

I can’t stop people visiting the site and if it’s purely for educational purposes then it may be a positive experience for some. But, we should remember why we’re visiting the place to begin with, and respect that it’s not for Insta opportunities or to gain social media followers.

Plus, those radiation levels are enough to keep most sensible people away. Let’s just hope we don’t see more posed influencer shots in the nuclear danger zone where people lost their lives – it’s something none of us need to see.

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