Cooling Pond in Chernobyl

Cooling pond of the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant.

This artificial reservoir was created in 1976 to cool the Chernobyl NPP power units. Its area is 22.9 sq km (8.8 sq mi). In the first 10 years of its existence, it became a favorite fishing place for locals and station workers. It is known that on the night of the explosion there were fishermen here. Some of them subsequently died from radiation sickness.

In the direction of the third stage is an experimental fishery – it was abandoned in 2008. They were studying the effect of radiation on fish here. Unfortunately, after several years, almost all the exhibits left by scientists during the conservation of the station were destroyed by unknown vandals. The different types of fish and other aquatic creatures that were preserved in alcohol have been destroyed. There is a fairly high level of radiation in the vicinity of the former fish farm. From here begins a spit more than 5 km (3 mi) long, dividing the pond into two parts for water circulation. North of the fish farm is the cemetery of the former village of Nahiry, which was flooded during the pond’s creation.

This article was published in the book Interesting Chernobyl.
You could download this book in PDF file for free here.

© Sky Horse Publishing House (Kyiv) / Nahs Haus, 2019
Copying and publication of this article is possible only with the written permission of the publishing house.
Official website of the Awesome Heritage series: awesomeheritage.com

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