RADIOACTIVE RAILROAD
plant was decommissioned in 2000, and with it, many from Slavutych were out of jobs. Although the workforce was more than halved, the decommissioned plant still needs workers to care for the spent nuclear fuel on site. The cooling pond presents its own issues; although no longer needed, the water level must be maintained due to the fact that there is radioactively contaminated sediment at the bottom. In addition, a workforce is needed to build the New Safe Confine- ment arch that will eventually cover the aging sarcophagus over the destroyed fourth reactor. This arch will be com- pleted alongside the reactor, and once finished will be rolled into place on spe- cial tracks.
SLAVUTYCH TRAINS IN THE EXCLUSION ZONE The Chornobyl plant is crisscrossed
by railroad tracks — active, but rarely used — and several bridges carry the tracks over the cooling pond. Shipments for the plant’s New Safe Confinement are occasionally brought by rail and are carried along these tracks. At least one diesel locomotive is stationed in the zone for any movements that are required for the plant. Just east of Yaniv, and before the “Bridge of Death” (where, according to popular lore, people from Pripyat city gathered after the nuclear plant explo- sion to get a better view of the plant and received extremely high doses of radia- tion; some claim this is purely a myth, or at least exaggerated), the plant’s net-
work of rails connects to what was the main line near Yaniv. This active loco- motive is often stored here, a stark con- trast to the rusted out hulks that make up the remainder of this mostly aban- doned railyard.
A PERSONAL JOURNEY The only appropriate word one can use
to describe boarding a train at Cherni- hiv and journeying in the direction of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is “sur- real.” I share the ride with no one spe- cific passenger. There’s an elderly man with a bicycle, a mother and her young son. There are young women that kissed their boyfriends goodbye on the platform at Chernihiv, and the stereotypical el- derly babushkas feeding the birds. The old coaches are banked in groups
of six, three seats facing three on both sides of the aisle. Window panes are caked in dirt, and the glass is slightly warped, distorting the view outside the train. Rain begins to fall, pattering on the window glass, and distorting the view further. A woman seen through the window continues to till her field, unhindered by the rain or anything else perhaps more sinister in the soil. I see trees whose top halves are red and bare, where the bark refuses to grow, and I wonder idly if this is a side effect of ra- diation. The train makes several stops, and at most of them I don’t see a station name or even a platform. Before too long, the train arrives at Slavutych, the resettled home of many displaced from Pripyat. Besides Cherni- hiv, it is the only real station on the line. Most people get off here, and a man
ABOVE LEFT: The ticket counters and waiting area in the Slavutych train station. The interior is functional, typical of 1980s Soviet designs. BELOW LEFT: Slavutych station as seen from the street. The station was built new, along with the rest of the city, and opened in 1988. BELOW: This digital sign at the main entrance displays the ambient background radiation levels, measured in microsieverts.
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