KIEV, April 25 (Xinhua) -- "Get ready! Now, you will see the real life inside the Chernobyl power station," Anton Povar, a tour guide of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), told reporters at the entrance of the plant.
The Chernobyl NPP, some 110 km north of Kiev, witnessed one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986. Thirty-two years on, the plant has officially opened its doors for tourists.
Xinhua reporters were among the first journalists visiting the destroyed plant during a press tour, which mirrors the tourist route.
The journey around the plant started with a thorough preparation process. All journalists had to undergo radiation checks and put on protective masks, gloves and clothes fully covering their body.
The tour guide warned that the radiation on certain areas inside the plant is still at dangerous levels.
The central control room was the first stop on the tourist route and the only operating facility at the nuclear power plant.
"It still performs its functions, but do not generate electricity any more. We just transfer the electricity," Povar said.
He explained that the Chernobyl plant stopped generating electricity in December 2000 for security concerns. Currently, electricity for the needs of the NPP is supplied by the unified energy system of Ukraine. The plant just redirects power from other Ukrainian NPPs for the needs of Kiev and the surrounding area.
After visiting the central control room, the reporters moved to the so-called "Golden Corridor", the 800-meter-long tube-shaped structure, which connects all four units of the plant.
Since the accident, the access to the destroyed unit No.4 is completely forbidden. The corridor ends at the control room of unit No.3.
The room is exactly the same as the control room of the reactor No.4. Inside, the tourists could see the analogue of the AZ-5 button, pressing of which, according to some assumptions, had caused the Chernobyl disaster.
"There is a version that the AZ-5 button was the main cause of the accident. It injected the rods into the active zone of the reactor, which led to a slight increase in reactivity. Since the unit's core was unstable, even a slight increase in reactivity led to its dispersal and failure," Povar said.
At the end of the "Golden Corridor", there is a wall, which protects unit No.4.
A memorial plaque to Valery Khodemchuk, the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster, is hanging on the wall.
Khodemchuk, the senior operator of the main circulation pumps, was buried under the debris of the reactor after the blast. His colleagues received lethal doses of radiation while searching him for several hours.
"Despite the efforts, his whereabouts were not established and his body was never found," Povar said.
Near unit No.4, there is no place that is not contaminated with radiation. Journalists were prohibited from touching any items or put their things on the floor.
The device to measure radiation levels showed 11 microsieverts per hour, which is more than 40 times higher than the boundary radiation level of 0.25 microsieverts per hour.
The radiation is even higher in the neighboring room with water pumps, where the group of reporters stopped only for a while.
"Tourists are allowed to spend no more than 15 minutes here," the tour guide emphasized.
Before exiting the plant, the journalists were checked for radioactive contamination again. Despite fears, no one from the group got the radiation dose that exceeded the norm.
The launch of the official tours to the Chernobyl plant is expected to further boost tourism to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which was opened to visitors in 2010.
In 2017, the number of tourists visiting the 30-km area around the plant nearly doubled to 60,000 people.
At the press conference following the tour around the plant, increased tourism was named one of the major achievements in reviving Chernobyl zone in the past year.
Among other achievements, authorities of the plant listed the hermetic sealing of the new protective confinement over reactor No.4, the start of construction of a facility for nuclear waste near the plant, and the beginning of a project to build a solar farm in the Chernobyl area.
