- Title: 'Chernobyl' TV series attracts tourists, re-opens old wounds in Lithuania
- Date: 2nd August 2019
- Summary: VISAGINAS, LITHUANIA (JULY 24, 2019) (REUTERS) TOUR GROUP IN WHITE SUITS AND HARD HATS WALKING ONTO REACTOR IN IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WHICH WAS A FILMING LOCATION FOR HBO'S "CHERNOBYL" SERIES PLATES ON TOP OF REACTOR TOUR GROUP STANDING ON TOP OF REACTOR TOUR GUIDE TALKING TO PARTICIPANTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 32-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM LONDON AND FAN OF HBO'S "CHERNOBYL", TOM SLAYTOR, SAYING: "Yeah when we walked on it (the nuclear reactor) and then she explained what we were actually standing on (I got) a little bit of an uncomfortable feeling, yeah." TOUR GROUP STANDING ON TOP OF REACTOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM LITHUANIA, JUSTINA JANUSAITE, SAYING: "I'm really scared actually, I'm against nuclear power plants and I'm for green energy, but what can I do?" VARIOUS OF TOUR GROUP WALKING IN CORRIDORS TOUR GROUP ENTERING POWER PLANT CONTROL ROOM NUMBERS ON SCREEN TOUR GUIDE SHOWING DIALS ON WALL TO TOUR PARTICIPANT VARIOUS OF DIALS ON WALL TOUR PARTICIPANTS LISTENING TO TOUR GUIDE EXTERIOR OF POWER PLANT CHIMNEY OF POWER PLANT (SOUNDBITE) (Lithuanian) COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST AT IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, JURGITA NORVAISIENE, SAYING: "There is higher interest and more inquiries now since we became more visible in the whole world after the TV series "Chernobyl", so the inquiries to visit the controlled zone, because I have seen the series, are coming from everywhere, that is Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain, Czech Republic, France, various countries." EXTERIOR OF POWER PLANT ENTRANCE VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (JULY 23, 2019) (REUTERS) APARTMENT BLOCKS IN VILNIUS NEIGHBOURHOOD OF FABIJONISKES, WHICH WAS USED AS A STAND IN FOR SCENES OF PRIPYAT, TOWN WITHIN CHERNOBYL'S EXCLUSION ZONE WHICH WAS LATER EVACUATED WOMEN SITTING AND TALKING TOUR GUIDE WALKING WITH TOURISTS NUMBER "92" ON APARTMENT BLOCK TOUR GUIDE TALKING TO TOURISTS
- Embargoed: 16th August 2019 09:21
- Keywords: Ignalina Power Plant HBO show Chernobyl Lithuania Chernobyl nuclear disaster increasing tourism filming locations
- Location: VISAGINAS, VILNIUS AND PRIENAI, LITHUANIA / ASTRAVETS, BELARUS
- City: VISAGINAS, VILNIUS AND PRIENAI, LITHUANIA / ASTRAVETS, BELARUS
- Country: Lithuania
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Television
- Reuters ID: LVA001AQIZ7TL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Walking on top of the reactor at Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant is an "uncomfortable feeling", according to British tourist and fan of HBO's 'Chernobyl' series Tom Slaytor.
Ignalina was shut down in 2009, but the reactor's core remains highly radioactive.
Slaytor was among a group of tourists visiting the plant and its reactor room, where scenes set in the plant at Chernobyl were shot and which was among a number of Lithuanian film locations for the series.
The Baltic country is now hoping to see a spike in tourism from fans of the show, which is based on the events of the world's worst nuclear accident and which has been nominated for 19 Emmy awards.
Jurgita Norvaisiene, a communications specialist at the plant, said she and her colleagues were fielding more and more enquiries by people hoping to visit from across Europe and beyond.
Tours are also taking place in Fabijoniskes, a district of Vilnius where scenes portraying the town of Pripyat within Chernobyl's exclusion zone were filmed.
Aside from hopes of increasing tourist numbers, the series has re-opened old wounds suffered during Lithuania's time as part of the Soviet Union.
In the wake of the disaster at Chernobyl, the Soviet leadership sent an estimated 7,000 Lithuanians to take part in the clean-up effort.
The surviving workers, many of whom suffer from illnesses linked to the clean-up, say their case still needs to be addressed by Lithuania's government.
Sixty-one-year old Kestutis Kazlauskas was 28 when he spent 105 days in a camp 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Chernobyl building a dam to filter out radiation from a river.
He said some of the health problems he has suffered since include thyroid problems, high blood pressure, and his teeth falling out. "I could take them out myself, no doctor needed" he said.
Kazlauskas established an organisation of Lithuanians who worked at Chernobyl to lobby for support from Lithuania's government, such as allowing them to retire early and to offer them health benefits.
But the government is preoccupied with another nuclear worry - that of a plant with two reactors under construction in Astravets in Belarus, not far from the countries' shared border.
The plant, which is being built by Russia's Atomstroyexport and financed with a $10 billion loan from Moscow, has long been viewed by Lithuania as a threat to its safety and national security.
Belarus has denied Lithuanian allegations that the plant is not being built to the highest safety standards. Lithuania's foreign minister says Vilnius has not been convinced.
Back at Ignalina, young Lithuanians also voiced their concerns about the potential downsides of nuclear power.
"I'm really scared actually, I'm against nuclear power plants and I'm for green energy, but what can I do?" said visitor Justina Janusaite.
(Production: Eugenijus Kryzanovskis, Lewis Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None