Chernobyl Five Years Later

IN DESPERATE need of hard currency and seized by a new spirit of entrepreneurialism, Soviet citizens have been busy thinking up ideas on how to generate dollars. One widely reported idea, which sounds like a joke but apparently isn’t, is to promote quick tourist trips to Chernobyl. Emphasis on the word “quick.” No sense asking Western tourists to be brave for too long.

Moscow should be informed that there is a better way to earn foreign exchange. The Ukrainians who live near the edge of the Thirty-Kilometer Forbidden Zone that is centered on the carcass of Chernobyl Reactor Number Four have got it all figured out:

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Leonard Reiffel

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IN DESPERATE need of hard currency and seized by a new spirit of entrepreneurialism, Soviet citizens have been busy thinking up ideas on how to generate dollars. One widely reported idea, which sounds like a joke but apparently isn’t, is to promote quick tourist trips to Chernobyl. Emphasis on the word “quick.” No sense asking Western tourists to be brave for too long.

Moscow should be informed that there is a better way to earn foreign exchange. The Ukrainians who live near the edge of the Thirty-Kilometer Forbidden Zone that is centered on the carcass of Chernobyl Reactor Number Four have got it all figured out: