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Chernobyl Cooling Tower

COOLING TOWERS FOR 3RD GENERATION OF REACTORS

Cooling towers are quite typical buildings that are usually used in different types of thermal and nuclear power plants to cool a huge amount of water with a directed flow of atmospheric air. It is difficult to imagine the size of the unfinished giants of Chernobyl. The Chernobyl cooling tower is visible at a distance of many kilometers of the exclusion zone.

When approaching Chernobyl cooling towers, the radiation level in the area should be measured. Exceeding the norm by more than 10 times. Not surprising, because the destroyed reactor is about a kilometer in a straight line. If you bring the dosimeter to the moss on the ground, then the numbers will double, because the moss collects radionuclides very well.

Chernobyl Cooling Tower-2

Dimensions of Cooling Towers in Chernobyl

According to confirmed plans, the power plant was supposed to have 12 reactors. Unfortunately, an accident in 1986 destroyed all of these plans. Oddly enough, there are only 2 towers at the factory, and both are not completed. The fact is that a big pond was used to cool the reactors of the first and second stages, stretching 11 kilometers parallel to Pripyat almost to Chernobyl itself. Despite its impressive size, reaching 25 square kilometers, its capacity would not have been enough for the third stage, and it was not possible to enlarge the pond further. Therefore, engineers decided to build cooling towers.

The Chernobyl cooling towers are powerful reinforced concrete structures. The completed height of the structure is about 150 meters with a diameter of 126 meters.

Unit 5 and its cooling tower were supposed to be finished by the end of 1986. Unit 6 was just at the beginning of its construction. Units 1-4 were cooled down by the water from the pond. Engineers studied the possibility of expanding it, but the technology of cooling towers seemed more effective and less costly. When the accident happened, the construction was frozen for an undefined time. Later, the priorities changed. It was necessary to deal with shelter for ruined unit 4, but not the new reactors.

Chernobyl Abandoned Cooling Tower inside

Where are the Chernobyl Cooling Towers

The third generation of the reactors and the cooling towers is the first thing that the visitors see when approaching the power plant. The facilities are located on the artificial island surrounded by a branch channel. All the groups have a stop there to take panoramic pictures and simply observe the whole site. Rusty construction of unit 5 and the cooling towers are always played by the sun and the sky: bright as amber or dark as buckwheat honey, but always beautiful. Disastrously beautiful.

Only by being inside, you understand the real scale of the Chernobyl cooling tower. The structure shows interesting aerodynamics. Inside of it, there is a very strong echo. Even the crunch of a branch under the foot leads to loud noises, not to mention a scream. But walking inside buildings is not recommended. The point is not even in an increased rational background, but in the fact that tiles fall from the walls, therefore it is very dangerous inside.

Chernobyl Abandoned Cooling Tower-2

Commemorative Mural in the Chernobyl Cooling Tower

On the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Australian artist Guido van Helten painted the wall inside the 110-meter Chernobyl tower. The master painted on the wall a photograph taken in 1986 by the photojournalist Igor Kostin. He was one of the first to be at the center of the Chernobyl disaster, and took the first photographs of the destroyed reactor in Chernobyl, coming close to it. Nowadays, these places are even more in demand among tourists, thanks to the mural.

You can see Cooling Towers for the 3rd Generation of Reactors with your own eyes with our exclusive Chernobyl tours.

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