Police thoroughly examine your special permit as you cross the border into the 20-mile forbidden zone around Chernobyl, the site of the greatest nuclear accident in history. All cars from the outside are left here to avoid radioactive contamination: Arriving from Kiev, Ukraine's capital 65 miles from Chernobyl, you must change vehicles. Since the blast occurred April 26, 1986, only "dirty" cars operate inside the zone, and they will never leave.

One of them, a ZIL, a black limo, formerly belonged to Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Soviet prime minister who came to oversee the Chernobyl cleanup. The prime minister's status demanded this very special car, once the pride of the Soviet auto industry. Now old and shaky, it still retains some of its chic, and visitors with hard currency may rent this historic limo, along with a driver and interpreter. In a former government canteen, you may also get a decent meal, and whoever's not afraid of ghosts may stay in a special hotel. This unforgettable trip, the ZIL service included, may cost as little as $150. For people with strong nerves, no fear of radiation and a vivid imagination, Chernobyl may surpass all their former experiences.

I paid my first visit to Chernobyl with a group of journalists on March 1. We also stayed several hours in the new city of Slavutich, built after the explosion, where 25,000 power plant workers and engineers live. At the Slavutich Cultural Center, a concert, press conference and a lavish dinner were served up with the new propaganda message: It's OK here.

But several days later, when Anthony Brooks from National Public Radio and I visited Chernobyl again--this time just two of us--we were met by no cheerleaders. Two leading nuclear physicists, Alexander Borovoi of Moscow and Edward Pazukhin of St. Petersburg, disclosed in explicit terms Chernobyl's present dangers, including the possibility of a new blast.

I could not but admire their integrity, courage and sense of humor. After two weeks in the radioactive zone, they travel home for a two-week rest. They get some extra financial rewards too, a trifle compared to the risks they take.

Two Chernobyl reactors are still working. The notorious reactor No. 4 was completely ruined in 1986 while reactor No. 2 was closed after a fire in 1991. The two remaining blocks produce 5% of all electric energy consumed by Ukraine, and both provoke valid concerns. Instead of a full containment structure with solid concrete roof and walls, the Chernobyl blocks are covered only by glass walls.