There are currently enough beds for 50 people in the former Soviet dormitory, located about 15 kilometres from the site of the 1986 reactor meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. "We plan an expansion to accommodate 102 people," administrator Svetlana Grishchenko told.

The first guests at the hostel included foreigners from the United States, New Zealand and Denmark. And no trip would be complete without one of the guided tours of the ill-fated power plant.

The Ukrainian government allows tourists into the contamination zone for brief visits with special permission. The area is still considered uninhabitable.

An explosion at the nuclear plant spewed out a cloud of radioactive dust that spread across much of Eastern Europe. A concrete sarcophagus was hastily erected over the facility to prevent further contamination. The sarcophagus last year was reinforced with a steel dome.

is/at (dpa)

