CHERNOBYL TOUR Educational Programs
Chernobyl, Ukraine – a unique place to learn. Site of the world’s largest radiation and nuclear industry accident, and the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Now a vast and vibrant nature reserve, and a frozen-in-time "museum” of Soviet life and Cold War secrets.
We offer engaging study tours and field courses for educational and scientific visitors, organized in cooperation with leading world universities and Ukrainian Chernobyl research centers. Our programs are designed to enhance existing university courses, and can be organized as stand-alone study tours.Our standard programs embrace a large range of formats:
- 1-day introductory/sightseeing, or narrow thematic visits;
- 2- to 5-day field trips and on-site courses;
- 7+-day research expeditions and trainings;
- And even more, depending on participant goals, interests, and training level.
Visits can be organized to:
- Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the "Arch” Safe Confinement over exploded unit #4, the largest mobile structure on earth;
- Facilities for decontamination and mitigation of the radiation accident;
- Abandoned villages and towns (Pripyat, Chernobyl) in the Exclusion Zone;
- Chernobyl Biosphere Reserve (Ukraine), one of the world’s largest nature reserves (226,000+ hectares / 560,000+ acres), with overnight stay in the town of Chernobyl;
- Polesye State Radiation-Ecological Reserve (Chernobyl Zone in Belarus);
- Slavutych, the last Soviet-built city (since the Chernobyl accident it has housed the nuclear power plant workers);
- Chernobyl research centers in Kyiv and Slavutych (nuclear power plant town);
- Important World War II and Cold War sites throughout Ukraine;
- Other important historical and cultural sites.
Programs are for:
- Undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students;
- Faculty, scientists, and researchers;
- Journalists, photojournalists, bloggers;
- Hobbyists, enthusiasts, and private individuals.
Our large network of experts can address a variety of disciplines, such as:
- biology, ecology, environmental sciences and policy;
- nuclear physics, energy (nuclear, alternative, solar, etc.);
- engineering (nuclear and other fields);
- radiation studies, radiobiology, radioecology, agricultural radiology;
- health sciences;
- emergency management, disaster studies;
- sociology, history, anthropology, psychology, trauma studies;
- Cold War studies, Soviet studies, military history, security studies;
- Jewish studies (Chernobyl town was important center of Jewish life for many centuries).
Nuclear Power, Nature, and the Individual is conducted directly in the Chernobyl Zone with Sergii Mirnyi, M.Sc., Chernobyl expert and veteran radiation reconnaissance officer, and guides trained by him. It provides a holistic look at the Chernobyl accident, its causes and consequences, and at nuclear energy, radiation, and their effect on nature, society, and the individual.
Nuclear Industrial Tour
At the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and NPP shows both technological facilities of normal NPP operation and technology of large-scale mitigation process
of a nuclear accident. One or two days, plus optional one day tour to leading research institution of nuclear energy and radiation safety in Kyiv.
Social and Natural Resilience in the Chernobyl Region explores the flourishing wildlife in the Chernobyl Reserves of Ukraine and Belarus, and the human communities in and around the Chernobyl Zone. Learn from eyewitnesses, survivors, samosely ("self-settlers” who returned to live in the Chernobyl Zone), Nuclear Power Plant workers at the time of the accident and today, and top Chernobyl researchers and scholars.
From World War to Cold War examines World War II and the Cold War, directly at historical sites, including nuclearization, the arms race, and the Chernobyl accident, which effectively ended the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Ukraine was on the front lines of WWI, WWII, and the Cold War; many Soviet secrets are revealed only here. Locations include:
- Sites and museums of the world’s largest assault river crossing and one of the largest operations in World War II – the Battle of the Dnieper, which included the Battle for Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital on the bank of the Dnieper River
- U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) Station 559 at Poltava airfield, one of only three U.S. airbases in the Soviet Union, used during "Operation Frantic” in 1944
- WWII bunkers (including those in the "Kyiv fortified area”) and battle sites
- Babi Yar – Holocaust mass grave site and memorial to the victims of one of the largest massacres of the Holocaust; Jewish cemetery and Holocaust mass grave in Chernobyl
- Abandoned and eliminated villages in the Chernobyl Zone, where often the only remaining structure is the WWII monument commemorating its residents and liberators, killed in combat during the "Great Patriotic War” of 1941-1945
- Chernobyl-2 and Duga (aka "Russian Woodpecker"), Soviet top-secret military base and over-the-horizon radar for tracking U.S. intercontinental missile launches
- Former Soviet intercontinental nuclear missile launch site (you can press the button which once could have eliminated one-third of the United States!)
- Underground bomb shelters for Kyiv residents and clandestine Cold War-era tunnels under the Dnieper River
- Pripyat, the "ideal” Soviet city, frozen in time – a Pompeii of the Cold War; built for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers and abandoned in 1986
- Firing range, where one can shoot with famous Soviet small firearms, such as Kalashnikov assault rifle AK-47, Dragunov sniper rifle SVD, and Makarov pistol PM
Chernobyl is waiting for you!
We can customize a wide range of thematic tours. Let’s discuss what we can do for you!
Chernobyl is closer than you probably think!
The Chernobyl Zone is about 110 km (70 miles) north of Kyiv, which is a short direct flight from many European cities, including:
- 1.5 – 2.5 hours from Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Rome, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Istanbul, Moscow;
- 3 hours from London and Paris.
For visitors:
- Safe programs with access to restricted sites
- Highly qualified professional guides
- Flexible tour scenarios (educational, scientific, photography, etc.)
- Meeting eyewitnesses, survivors, nuclear power plant workers, self-settlers, top Chernobyl researchers and scholars
- Experiencing first-hand the "frozen-in-time" history of Soviet towns, abandoned for over 30 years
- Customized 1- to 7-day programs
For universities:
- Licensed Chernobyl Zone tour operator with over 10 years' experience
- Travel and accommodation services in Ukraine
- Unique educational opportunities available only in Chernobyl and Ukraine
- Support from leading Chernobyl research institutions and State Chernobyl Zone Authority
Our Team
Sergii Mirnyi is a veteran Chernobyl radiation reconnaissance officer, internationally-recognized Chernobyl expert, environmentalist, and writer.
Ann Merrill has over 25 years’ experience in international education and international development, and has been involved with Chernobyl-related programs since 2005.
Pus a dozen knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides
"This was definitely an educational
opportunity that I don’t think I could have gotten just in a classroom. I would
recommend this to anyone.”
-Nuclear engineering student, Purdue
University (USA)
"Learning about Chernobyl is a very good
contribution to our bachelor program.”
-Student, Wageningen University &
Research (The Netherlands)
"We gained critical perspectives on the
mitigation of Chernobyl.”
-Student, Humboldt University (Germany)
"I can’t wait to visit the Chernobyl Zone
again and see even more of what it has to offer!”
-Ph.D. student, Colorado State University
(USA)
"The instructor and guides were very
experienced and professional, very informative; answered all questions.”
-Student, European University Viadrina
(Germany)