Chornobyl 2013VictoriyaSantmatovaDSCN1440

Kopachi ( uk, Копачі, russian: Копачи) was a village near

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, just south-west of the

Pripyat River The Pripyat or Prypiat ( , uk, Прип'ять, ; be, Прыпяць, translit=Prypiać}, ; pl, Prypeć, ; russian: Припять, ) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine ag ...

Basin. After the

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...

in 1986 the village was contaminated by fallout and subsequently evacuated and is now within the

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, Belarusian: Хона адчужэння Чарнобыльскай АЭС, ''Zona adčužennia Čarnobyĺskaj AES'', russian: Зона отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС ...

; and thus has been abandoned since 1986.

History

After Kopachi village was evacuated by the authorities, all the houses were torn down and buried, as an experiment. This village was not the only village suffering this fate as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. The only traces left of the village today is a series of mounds and a small number of surviving trees which are not part of the local native flora. Each mound contains the remains of one house and is topped by a sign with the international radiation symbol. The

highly contaminated Kopachi with high-level radioactive fallout. A

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

and one other brick building are the only architectural structures that remain standing, all other buildings were bulldozed. The government did not recognize the fact that these highly-contaminated buildings and houses would seep radioactive isotopes into the water table. Burying the buildings drove radio-toxins deeper into the environment. The soil and water surrounding the former village remain contaminated with radioactive materials including

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

strontium-90 Strontium-90 () is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission, with a half-life of 28.8 years. It undergoes β− decay into yttrium-90, with a decay energy of 0.546 MeV. Strontium-90 has applications in medicine and i ...

, and

caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucl ...

. Other villages in the exclusion zone faced a similar fate, thus polluting the aquifer. Kopachi belonged to

Chernobyl Raion The Chernobyl Raion (russian: Чернобыльский район, translit=Chernobyl'skiy rayon) or Chornobyl Raion ( uk, Чорнобильський район, translit=Chornobylskyi raion) was one of 26 administrative raions (districts) o ...

from 1923. After the disaster, in 1988, the raion was dissolved and merged into the neighbouring

Ivankiv Raion Ivankiv Raion () was a raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Ivankiv. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the numbe ...

. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast to seven. The area of Ivankiv Raion was merged into

Vyshhorod Raion Vyshhorod Raion () is a raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Vyshhorod. It has a population of On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast ...

. From February to April 2022, Kopachi was

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

by Russia as a result of the 2022 invasion.

Geography

The village, located few km south of the Chernobyl Plant and close to its cooling pond, lies on the road between

Pripyat Pripyat ( ; russian: При́пять), also known as Prypiat ( uk, При́пʼять, , ), is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 19 ...

and

. Other near settlements are the villages of Leliv and Yaniv.

Gallery

References

External links

{{Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Villages in Vyshhorod Raion Ghost towns in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Populated places disestablished in 1986 1986 disestablishments in Ukraine

History

Geography

Gallery

See also

References

External links