I would like to do this at some point in my life. I'm interested in all this Cold War era bullshit.

http://tourkiev.com/chernobyltour/

I saw a photoblog of a guy that did this. He said you couldn't walk on the grass because it trapped too much radiation. He also said a guy laid his hat down on the grass to take a picture and the tour guide wouldn't let him pick it back up.

I'm kind of surprised you would want to do this, Ed.

Yeah they said on the website that the vegetation had way higher radiation levels than the roads or paths. Even if you get contaminated they have a place where you can get deconned. I've been through it before though at the nuclear plant. Only problem is that if you get it on your skin you have to get scrubbed down with a special soap. I would wear old shoes going there though, wouldn't too bring those back....too risky for me. Luckily I have had all the safety training so I probably won't pick anything up. I was amazed that the levels have decreased so much that you don't have to wear protective equipment. It said on a few websites that you'd be picking up less than 1mrem of dose during the whole visit. In my two stints at the plant I picked up around 260 mrem, so less than one won't do any harm. Living so close to the nuclear plant all of us pick up around 1mrem of dose per year and almost all of that is natural and not even the result of being close to the nuclear plant. I forget how much dose received in a hour is fatal, I think it is around 5rem so that would be more than 5,000 times more than I would be picking up visiting the site. I think they allow you to get 100 meters away from the plant so you can get a good view. I'm just as interested to see the abandoned town as I am seeing the plant. There is also an abandoned dock that has a bunch of ships randomly sitting in the water, not tied down. That would be a cool site to see. I think the reason I want to go is because I want to see things not too many people have seen and this is something I can get to that is pretty reachable. Not like going to Antartica or something like that which would cost a fortune and is probably more dangerous.