The Pripyat River (Ukrainian: Прип'ять, Prýp"yat'; Belarusian: Прыпяць, Prýpyats'; Polish Prypeć) is a river in Eastern Europe, of approximately 710 km (440 mi.) length. It flows west through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine again, draining into the Dnieper.

The Pripyat passes through the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl reactor, where the catastrophic nuclear accident happened. Therefore it transported and still transports radionuclides downstream. The concentration of caesium-137 is still increasing in dredges and has not been reduced in the river sediments.

The city of Pripyat, Ukraine (population 45,000) was completely evacuated after the Chernobyl accident.

External link

• Pripyat: Radioactive pollution, 2003