ABC News
Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
OffOn
Nature has rebounded and it is now a home for rare species that had vanished.
• 9 min read
Chernobyl nuclear disaster: April 28, 1986
Soviet authorities say one of the atomic reactors at the nuclear power plant in Kiev was damaged.Chernobylexplorer
KYIV For the guide who sneaks people into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the crucial moment is when you cross over the barbed wire fencing that marks its edge.
“You don’t know what might happen after. The police may arrest you, so you need to be fast,” said the guide who asked to be referred to only as John to avoid trouble with authorities. “The adrenaline is at a maximum level. In one step you’re in a forbidden zone, where humans don t rule anymore.”
Alley of abandoned villages - 162 plaques with the names of permanently evacuated settlements during 1986-1991 after the Chernobyl accident. Credit: Margarita Kalinina-Pohl (2018).
This year is rich in commemorative anniversaries of natural and man-made disasters stemming from the use of nuclear energy for peaceful and military purposes. In March, we solemnly observed the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. On April 26, we marked 35 years since the largest nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. At end of August, the international nuclear nonproliferation and antinuclear movement will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site. Besides catastrophic impacts on humans and environments, these grim places have something else in common; they have emerged as nuclear tourist destinations, with the Chernobyl (Chornobyl in Ukrainian) Exclusion Zone especially popular among aficionados of “dark” tourism.
Chernobyl warns, inspires 35 years after nuclear disaster 9news.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 9news.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Yuras Karmanau
Denis Vishnevskiy, chief of the unit of the Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve, speaks during his interview with the Associated Press at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 13, 2021. This is a gigantic territory in which we keep a chronicle of nature, said Denis Vishnevskiy, 43, who has been observing nature in the reserve for the past 20 years. The exclusion zone is not a curse, but our resource. The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the worldâs worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Fact check: 5 myths about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Monday marks the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. What happened in the former Soviet Union on April 26, 1986, is no longer a secret.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is off-limits to most people
Is Chernobyl the biggest-ever nuclear disaster?
The 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine is often described as the worst nuclear accident in history. However, rarely is this sensational depiction clarified in more detail.
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) does classify nuclear events on a scale of zero to seven, breaking them down into accidents, incidents and anomalies. It was introduced in 1990 after being developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (NEA/OECD). Level seven denotes a major accident, which means ma