What does stalkers mean in Chernobyl?

Existing in the shadows of this highly commodified industry is the secretive subculture of the “stalkers”: mostly young Ukrainian men who sneak into the Zone illegally to explore the vast wilderness on their own terms. The name originates from the 1972 Russian science fiction novel Roadside Picnic.

What are people who explore Chernobyl called?

Stepan (who, for privacy, prefers not to use his full name) is one of a growing number of young Ukrainians who visit the Chernobyl Zone illegally. Many call themselves “stalkers.” On his trips, Stepan carries food and water, a first-aid kit, and a cheap radiation meter he purchased online.

Is Pripyat illegal?

The purpose of the campaign, as a rule, is an illegal visit to Pripyat and Chernobyl-2 (ZGRLS Duga), which is 30 km on foot in a straight line in one direction and 30 km back, not by asphalt and smooth road.

Why is Pripyat forbidden?

In less than three hours the city was empty, and it will remain empty forever. During the evacuation, the people of Pripyat were not allowed to take pets or cattle with them, due to the fact that these animals would have been contaminated with radioactive dust, carrying it in their fur and from grazing on the land.

Is Pripyat inhabited?

Left: The town of Pripyat was built for those who worked at the nuclear power plant. Its 50,000 inhabitants began evacuating 36 hours after the accident. Right: Pripyat remains a ghost town to this day, still full of tiny, everyday details, like these mail boxes in an abandoned apartment building.

Who are the stalkers of Chernobyl?

We do not recommend you to repeat this! This group refers to itself as Stalkers of Chernobyl . Along with them, often intersecting and intertwining, there are diggers, explorers of underground objects: rivers, metro tunnels and Metrostroi, hidden in collectors, and abandoned mines.

What happened to the Chernobyl zone?

Nearly three decades later, the Zone remains among the most contaminated places on Earth, and at its center is the ongoing hazard of Reactor No. 4, with 200 tons of lavalike nuclear material underneath. Just 3 kilometers from the reactor is the plant’s company town, called Pripyat.

What does the stalker want in Roadside Picnic?

What the artifact-gathering stalker in Roadside Picnic truly wants is meaning and hope, represented by the wish-granting “Golden Sphere” that rests at the center of the Zone. Eight years after the release of the book, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky adapted it into the now-classic film Stalker.

What happened to Pripyat after the Chernobyl disaster?

The latter visited Pripyat and nearby settlements much earlier, they were not stopped by the radiation level still held high in the late 80-s and early 90-s, nothing human: all the valuables left by people in their apartments and houses during the evacuation period were removed and sold in the dirtiest way.