Pripyat

"50,000 people used to live here. Now it's a ghost town, I've never seen anything like it."

- MacMillan

Pripyat, or Prypiat, is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident. The evacuated workers and their families were moved to a town called Slavutych, which was built to house the evacuees. A train line was also built to take the nuclear plant's workers into the zone of alienation.

The city was built in 1970 in Ukrainian SSR, Kiev Oblast. The Soviet Union was about to build a new nuclear power plant near Chernobyl. Originally the city and the power plant were going to be built 25 kilometres from Kiev. But incase of a nuclear disaster the city was moved a hundred kilometres away from Kiev. This was a wise decision as it prevented a huge catastrophe. - In April 26th 1986 the city was evacuated, due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Disaster


On April 26th 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The first explosion contained within the reactor blew apart 50 control and fuel rods. Steam pressure that had built up within the reactor prior to the explosion could no longer be contained. A further explosion moments later blew the 500 ton safety cap off.

700 tons of highly radioactive graphite was blown around the plant. The inhabitants of Chernobyl were exposed to amounts of radiation several times that of normal level. Emergency personnel and workers trying to control the situation, unaware of the danger they were in, entered areas of radiation as high as 5.6 röntgen per second. This is the equivalent of 20,000 röntgen per hour, or in other words a lethal dose. These lethal doses were obtained within minutes of the body entering these areas. Personnel described a strange metallic like taste in their mouths, this was in fact the radiation.

By morning the radiation levels continued to rise. In the event of high levels of radiation all windows and doors plus any other openings such as vents should be sealed shut. Then Iodine tablets should be taken to help counter the effects of radiation and if possible a mask with the correct filter should be worn. However the public have still not been informed of the situation. 38 hours later the evacuation finally begins. The evacuation does however go well. 48,000 people are taken to safe locations.

By this time the whole world knows what is happening at Chernobyl. Pilots are rushed from the Afghan front to drop sand and lead into the reactor in the hope of containing the radiation. However below the reactor the reaction continues. If the reaction manages to break through a concrete slab at the base of the reactor, then it would mix with water left over from the firefighters causing a catastrophic explosion. A mine is dug under the reactor and then a room is dug in which a cooling device is to be placed. This however never happened. Instead of the cooling device, the room is filled with concrete to help support the first concrete slab.

Contaminated people were taken to Moscow’s Hospital 6, the only hospital in Russia to specialize in Acute Radiation Sickness. Doctors and Nurses described how the burns didn’t show themselves at first, but instead came out during treatment. The skin of patents was so badly damaged by radiation that it peeled off like powder. Treatment consisted of bone marrow transplants, tissue transplants, blood transfusions and iodine.

Once the reactor was under control, the job of sealing it began. The area around the reactor was to be cleaned and a coffin placed over the reactor to contain the radiation. Workers involved in this cleanup operation became known as Liquidators. Contaminated earth was bulldozed into ditches and sealed up using cement. Areas around the reactor building itself were still highly radioactive. Personnel can only stay there for a few minutes at a time before receiving a fatal dose. Robots are used to clean up the highly radioactive rubble but the electronic systems within them can’t cope with the radiation. They break down and so humans must take their place. Russian soldiers nicknamed Bio-Robots are sent in. They are covered with handmade lead suits. But even these lead suits didn’t stop the radiation. They were working around lumps of graphite that could kill a man within an hour.

In Call of Duty
In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Prypiat is home to the levels All Ghillied Up and its sequel One Shot, One Kill. In both these levels, the ghost city is portrayed as a gloomy, dark, lonely and scary place with gray skies and long, unkempt grass. In these two missions the player plays as Captain Price, then Leftenant Price, in a flashback. He is under the command of Captain MacMillan and the player must sneak past Ultranationalist forces in a ghillie suit, hence the name, All Ghillied Up. In the next mission, the player must try to assassinate Imran Zakhaev, who is the main antagonist in the game. When the character manages to shoot his arm off with a Barrett M82 SASR .50 caliber rifle, a helicopter spots them and they must escape the hotel from which they assassinate him. While escaping, MacMillan is injured and must be carried by the player to the extraction point which is at the ever-famous Pripyat ferris wheel.

See the main articles for the two missions, All Ghillied Up and One Shot, One Kill for more information.

It appears in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Special Ops mission Hidden.

All Ghillied Up is briefly mentioned in Modern Warfare 2, at the start of Contingency, where Price says the "Russian Dogs are pussycats compared to the ones in Pripyat."

Multiplayer
The multiplayer Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer map Bloc is set in Prypiat. It consists of two large apartment blocks and the "Azure" swimming pool, which is largely overlooked and only really plays a part in headquarters game mode. The ferris wheel is also visible, although in a different position. It was most likely moved for map size and so that the player would recognize it and know where they are (Prypiat). It is also noteworthy that it is snowing in the level.

Trivia

 * Prypiat, as we see it in the two single player levels looks like it does in real life, which makes these levels even more depressing. This can also be said for the multiplayer level Bloc.
 * Buildings worth mentioning include the hotel 'Polissya', which is the building you assassinate Zakaev from, the centre 'Energetik', the large art studio near the end of All Ghillied Up, the 'Azure' swimming pool, and the Prypiat ferris wheel and bumper car ride which were due to open on May 1st, 1986, but never did.
 * Just before you enter the large building at the end of All Ghillied Up, you might hear children laughing and playing. You can hear a similar thing on Aftermath. This could also be a reference to the real life account of tourists, former residents, and military/police patrols who have reported seeing and hearing the residents who died during the disasters, including children.
 * When you use the cheat 'super contrast' on All Ghillied Up, the level appears to be under the sun, brightening up the level, but this negates the whole purpose of the dark skies, which is to give you that impression of loneliness and 'gloominess'. This also works on One Shot, One Kill.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the map Wasteland features a Chernobyl style landscape with a ruined church and small shacks similar to those found in the singleplayer level of CoD4 "All Ghillied Up". In the distance of the map the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant can clearly be seen. There is also a glitch at the very start of the SpecOps mission Hidden where you can 'glitch out' of the map and go a round the outside of the containers and walk through a section of Pripyat which Lt. Price and Cpt. MacMillan walked through to get to their sniper position in All Ghillied Up. However if you walk around the "invisible wall" in the square at the Polyssia Hotel, watch out as the ground isn't solid in some places and you will fall through the 'Blackness'. If you're careful you can actually make it right up to the old Power Plant. It is quite interesting but there is little if no detail.