The city has a special status within the Kiev Oblast, being the city of
oblast-level subordination (see Administrative divisions of Ukraine),
although it is located within the limits of Ivankiv Raion. The city also
is being supervised by the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine as part
of the Zone of Alienation jurisdiction.
Pripyat was founded in 1970
to house workers for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was
officially proclaimed a city in 1979 but was abandoned in 1986 following
the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union at the time and its population
was around 50,000 before the accident.
The annual rate of natural
increase for the city's population was estimated at around 800 persons,
plus over 500 newcomers from all corners of the Soviet Union each year;
Pripyat's population had been expected to rise to 78,000. The Yanov
railroad station (part of Chernigov-Ovruch railroad link) was less than 1
km away from the city, and the navigable Pripyat River flows nearby
