The story of the Golden Corridor

Besides the legendary Monolith, there’s another urban legend around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The story of the Golden Corridor.

It’s a beautiful name, but don’t be fooled. Before the accident, it was just a regular service passageway between the power units. Staff used it to get to the control rooms, reactor buildings, and turbine halls. But on the morning after the explosion, two shifts were already passing each other there: one rushing to help at Unit 4, the other returning from there, covered in radioactive debris.

Steam post imageLater, they tried to clean the corridor, but they never quite managed to do so completely. That’s why the walls and ceiling were covered with golden metal panels to at least slightly reduce the background radiation. That’s where the name comes from. No luxury but ordinary protection against what can no longer be cleaned away.

Steam post imageI don’t know if anyone has walked through it since the Second Incident. Rumors, of course, have circulated, but in the Zone, every other rumor is a lie, and every third is a myth. After all, Chornobyl is the heart of the Zone, so few are willing to find the truth. But to see that corridor with my own eyes… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to.

In short, in the Zone, gold isn’t just for the show. Here, it’s used to cover up mistakes of the past.

Although who knows what kind of joke the Zone might play. Maybe the corridor really is made of pure gold.