KIEV, Ukraine—Ukraine's government wants to turn Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, into a tourism hotspot.
Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday it is working on a plan to open the area around the defunct plant—where a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spreading radiation across the then-Soviet states of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia—to visitors starting next month.
The ministry said radiation levels in certain parts of the so-called exclusion zone, which stretches 30 kilometers (19 miles) around the exploded reactor, were now returning to normal levels. Visitors will be able to take in views of the nuclear plant, as well as towns and villages that were abandoned in the disaster's aftermath.
New official tour operators would have to meet strict criteria to be allowed to operate, said Yulia Yurshova, a spokesperson for the Emergency Situations Ministry, as straying from the route can be dangerous because of the threat of collapsing buildings and varying radiation levels.
"The Chernobyl zone isn't as scary as the whole world thinks," said Ms. Yurshova. "We want to work with big tour operators and attract Western tourists, from whom there's great demand."
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the exclusion zone following the accident and access to the area was restricted. Several hundred have since returned and some 2,500 workers still maintain the plant, which is now closed, entering the restricted area from a nearby town.
Tours to Chernobyl and the sealed area around the plant—many of which are run illegally, according to Ms. Yurshova—currently attract an estimated 6,000 visitors per year and cost around $150 for a daytrip.
Ms. Yurshova said official tours would begin in January. She said more details on how tour operators would be chosen would be announced next week.
Helen Clark, who heads the United Nations Development Program and visited the Chernobyl plant on Sunday with Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Baloha, said she supported the plan.
"There is an opportunity to tell a story here and of course the process of telling a story, even a sad story, is something that is positive in economic terms and positive in conveying very important messages," she said through a press officer.
Chernobyl is reachable on a day-trip from Kiev, which is adding new hotels ahead of the European soccer championship in 2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with neighbor Poland. The government has an eye on the thousands of visitors expected to flood the country for that event.
Work on a new sarcophagus to seal the exploded reactor is expected to be completed by 2015, the ministry also announced on Monday. The huge shield, made of metal and concrete, will cost $1.2 billion and will be financed by Ukraine and international donors.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703727804576017720342095028.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday it is working on a plan to open the area around the defunct plant—where a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spreading radiation across the then-Soviet states of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia—to visitors starting next month.
The ministry said radiation levels in certain parts of the so-called exclusion zone, which stretches 30 kilometers (19 miles) around the exploded reactor, were now returning to normal levels. Visitors will be able to take in views of the nuclear plant, as well as towns and villages that were abandoned in the disaster's aftermath.
New official tour operators would have to meet strict criteria to be allowed to operate, said Yulia Yurshova, a spokesperson for the Emergency Situations Ministry, as straying from the route can be dangerous because of the threat of collapsing buildings and varying radiation levels.
"The Chernobyl zone isn't as scary as the whole world thinks," said Ms. Yurshova. "We want to work with big tour operators and attract Western tourists, from whom there's great demand."
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the exclusion zone following the accident and access to the area was restricted. Several hundred have since returned and some 2,500 workers still maintain the plant, which is now closed, entering the restricted area from a nearby town.
Tours to Chernobyl and the sealed area around the plant—many of which are run illegally, according to Ms. Yurshova—currently attract an estimated 6,000 visitors per year and cost around $150 for a daytrip.
Ms. Yurshova said official tours would begin in January. She said more details on how tour operators would be chosen would be announced next week.
Helen Clark, who heads the United Nations Development Program and visited the Chernobyl plant on Sunday with Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Baloha, said she supported the plan.
"There is an opportunity to tell a story here and of course the process of telling a story, even a sad story, is something that is positive in economic terms and positive in conveying very important messages," she said through a press officer.
Chernobyl is reachable on a day-trip from Kiev, which is adding new hotels ahead of the European soccer championship in 2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with neighbor Poland. The government has an eye on the thousands of visitors expected to flood the country for that event.
Work on a new sarcophagus to seal the exploded reactor is expected to be completed by 2015, the ministry also announced on Monday. The huge shield, made of metal and concrete, will cost $1.2 billion and will be financed by Ukraine and international donors.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703727804576017720342095028.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
