Pripyat - A peaceful atom in every home

This is Pripyat. The town was built in the 70s and offered a high standard of living for the families of the workers at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. It was built with an idea of a strong future and comfortable lifestyle. On the horizon we can see the giant sarcophagi built around the 4th reactor after the disaster, and to the left the other reactors. The pic is taken from the roof of one of the 16th storey buildings in the Pripyat city. 

The buildings look like any Stockholm suburb built in the 60s and 70s. We were of course not allowed to enter the buildings... 

However, we did. We walked around the city of Pripyat for hours to be able to catch the full atmosphere of the ghost city it is today. We entered the hospital, a school, a kindergarten and apartments. Pripyat was the home to 50 000 people, who were all evacuated on in April 27th 1986, the day after the explosion in reactor four. Since the radiation and its danger wasn't visible to the eye, people only reluctantly left their homes.

Waiting room in the hospital.

The room for newborn babies.

The operation halls look like if they were just left in the middle of a surgery, however many doctor's and nurses got fatally affected of the extremely strong radiation after treating firemen and people who got injured in the explosion. 

Tiles chosen with care.

The grocery store. 

The telephone booth.

And one of the many kindergartens.

The hallway in the 16 storey building.

The canteen at one of the schools.

Science classroom.

The school library.

Walking through Pripyat is like going through a frozen image of people's everyday life that one day were just abandoned. The life people had set out for themselves was forever changed and couldn't ever continue in the same direction. Pripyat is the city of broken dreams and lost hope. The nuclear power plant was regarded as a very safe way of producing electricity, why most people weren't prepared for this disatser, nor the risks with radiation. On one of the buildings one can read the big letters with the slogan of the town; A peaceful atom in every home.