Why would an entire town flee their homes?
This is what happened in 1986 when the
Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded,
covering the area in radioactive dust. Only
now are tourists returning to explore the
infamous ghost city of Pripyat. Wildlife is
also flourishing once more, while engineers
continue working to make the plant safe.
Chernobyl tours
Guided tours of Chernobyl are starting to bring life
back to the place, but special passes are needed to
enter the Exclusion Zone. Visitors can see the ghost
city of Pripyat where school classrooms sit eerily
empty and clocks still show the time of 11:55 – the
moment that the electricity in the city was cut off.
A model town
Imagine having a town built especially for you! That is
what it was like for workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant. Life was good for the 50,000 people living in Pripyat,
3km (1.8mi) away. Salaries were high, food shops were well
stocked and there were good schools and recreational
facilities. Children were looking forward to trying out the
Ferris wheel in the town’s newly built fairground. The
attraction was just about to open when Chernobyl’s reactor
number 4 exploded.
Danger zone
After it exploded, Chernobyl spewed out a massive
cloud of nuclear dust. The radiation meant that it
wasn’t safe to stay anywhere within a radius of 2,800
sq/km (1,700 sq/mi) of the power plant. This area
is called the Exclusion Zone. It will continue to
be too dangerous to inhabit for another 20,000
years. Experts still can’t agree on how many
people have lost their lives. Two plant workers
perished in the blast and 29 more died a few days
later in hospital from acute radiation poisoning.
No one knows how many have died or will die of
cancer caused by the radiation.
Two-week shifts
The Chernobyl power plant
is being decommissioned,
but it’s a big job to make
the ruined reactor safe. The
7,000 people who work here
are only allowed to stay in
the Exclusion Zone for two
weeks at a time. They work
five hours each day at the
plant and pass through
a special radiation
detector machine
when they leave.
The
Elephant’s
Foot
This is said to be the
single most dangerous object
on the planet. It is made out of
solidified black lava produced from
the melting core of reactor number
4. The lava lump is shaped like
an elephant foot and hides in the
base of the reactor. Minutes in its
company will cause death
a few days’ later.
Nature reserve
Several villages in the Exclusion Zone were buried because
radiation levels were so high. But mountains of new clean
soil have been dumped in the area, and flora and fauna
– free of human predators – is now thriving! Wolves, wild
boar, birds and elk share the wild nature reserve.
Deadly tomb
The original concrete casing
built over Chernobyl’s exploded
reactor to stop it leaking was
only made to last 30 years.
Now the world’s engineers
have come up with a new
one that will be good
for 100 years. Because
the reactor site is so
dangerous, they are
assembling 29,400 tonnes
(32,400 US tons) of steel and 680,000 bolts
at a distance. When the mammoth arch is
ready, it will be rolled over the old casing to
seal off the deadly reactor.