Chernobyl 35 years after

CHERNOBYL 30 YEARS AFTER

(Ukraine 2014-2019)

On April 26, 1986 at 1:24 a.m. a disastrous event occurred, the worst technological catastrophe of the modern age, which blighted the lives of millions of people. That night reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded. The explosion unleashed tons of radioactive dust into the air, where, transported by winds it contaminated both hemispheres of our planet, settling wherever it rained. Almost the whole of Europe was fouled: 65 million people were contaminated. Belarus was the worst hit, with 30% of its territory rendered useless and it will take millennia to recover. It is estimated that the most contaminated areas stretching over 260.000 square kilometers of land, (almost as large as Italy) will return to normal radioactive levels in about one hundred thousand years time. Almost 30 years have gone by, so we have another ninety – nine thousand, nine hundred and seventy to go …
At the present time nine million people in Belarus, the Ukraine and western Russia continue living in areas with very high levels of radioactivity, consuming contaminated food and water. Eighty percent of the population of Belarus, Western Russia and North Ukraine suffers from various pathologies. After the Chernobyl disaster, in the contaminated areas there has been a huge increase in radiation-related tumours, malformations and various pathologies,
And there will be still more effects to come from the women who at the time of the disaster were under the age of six and are now starting to have children. Only now will we begin to understand the effects of genetic mutation on future generations.

After the Chernobyl nuclear accident an exclusion zone was created around the nuclear power plant, 30 kilometers radius. All the inhabitants of the area were evacuated. But the area that was supposed to be an exclusion zone has never been. There is life in the zone and today more than 8000 people are part of the community of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
4,000 people live in Chernobyl city. They are security officers of the zone and of the reactors still not decommissioned. They do shift working of 15 days in the area and then15 days of “decontamination” in their homes out of the exclusion zone. But they are not the only ones. Chernobyl looks like a normal town with the main services such as shops, cafes, a hotel for tourists, some canteens and a church with the priest celebrating the Mass.
To these 4,000 workers and inhabitants of Chernobyl, other 2,000 have been added in recent years. they are the workers involved in the construction of the new sarcophagus that was completed in November 2016. Other 2,000 workers arrive each day from the nearby town of Slavutich, a service city of the exclusion zone, built after the Chernobyl accident.

But today, after 30 years which is the situation of the most dangerous nuclear reactors in the planet?

The sarcophagus of reactor number 4 is collapsing, so a new confinement is under construction. 2,000 workers are building the new sarcophagus to bury the reactor number 4. The company is a International - Ukrainian joint venture, and the new safe confinement is 110 meters high, 164 meters large and 257 meters long. It will be completed in November 2017 and will cost 1,5 billion euro. It is building close to reactor number four and the new confinement, after its completion, will be moved on rail tracks over the old sarcophagus and sealed. its duration is expected for a hundred years.
The reactors 1-2-3 continued to work till 2000 when they were shut down and 2,000 workers are involved in the safety of those reactors, until they can be dismantled. This will only be in 2065 when the levels of radioactivity in the core will be decreased and it will be possible to start the decommissioning works.
Today, after 30 years the condition of working are still very hard, because the levels of radiation, outside the reactors and also inside the buildings, are very high and pose serious health risks for the workers.

But other people are still living inside the zone, and from the beginning. At the time of the explosion, the inhabitants of the area were evacuated and transferred to the outskirts of Kiev. But some of them, about 1,200 people, decided that city life was not for them, too difficult to live in a big city with a meager pension and without the products of the land. And it was too strong the bond with their land.
After few months they returned to live in their homes, defying the ban of the Soviet government. They resisted and the government had to recognize them as residents of the exclusion zone. They had become what we now call the resettlers.
For 30 years they have resisted the government and radiation, because before they had weathered the second world war and hunger. They have decided to live in their homes, their land, to not forget their origins. They are the latest example of a peaceful resilience.
The last survivors are now octogenarians. Today there are only a few dozen, time and radiation took them away. With the last will end a culture, the culture of survival to Chernobyl. The few inhabited villages of the exclusion zone will disappear definitively and their homes and personal belongings that accompanied them throughout life will be swallowed up by vegetation and destroyed by time.

And which is the situation around the Chernobyl exclusion zone?
Radinka is an highly contaminated village located 300 meters from the border of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. 30 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Radinka is an example of what's around the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a highly contaminated area and inhabited, totally forgotten.
Today the population around the exclusion zone lives and dies with the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but nonone is interested in them.
Professor Bandazhevsky, the last four years has been studying the impact of the internal contamination on children living in Radinka and in the province of Ivankov.
The 80% of 3700 children examined, and who live in these lands bordering the exclusion zone, have heart rhythm disorders, directly related to the amount of cesium incorporated in their body. Besides, 30% of them have an internal contamination by cesium 137 over 50 Bq / kg, level in which they could develop any kind of disease.

Chernobyl, after 30 years, is only at the beginning of its story.

A worker inside the damaged control room of reactor number 4. Here everything began. The control room number four now is buried in a small sarcophagus of concrete and the access is limited to workers only.

The forest burns behind the ghost city of Pripyat. One of the greatest dangers existing in the exclusion zone are fires. Fire burns trees raising radioactive ash that is spread in the air, causing a new nuclear fallout.

Olia, 14 years old is affected by an osteosarcoma. Here she is filming her friend Ania playing guitar. Ania suffers from a thyroid and ovaius cancer. family home, Kiev.

The ferris wheel submerged by nature, Pripyat. After 30 years of abandonment, nature has taken possession of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Scrap metal sandblasting. The recycling process consists first of all in a strong blasting of the scrap metals which actually reduces the contamination of the scrap metal surface to zero. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

A fox in the main square of Pripyat. Wild animals, thanks to the absence humans, have taken possession of the environment. In the zone now is plenty of wild animals like foxes, wolves, boars and bears. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Anna, 6 months, she suffers from hydrocefalus, one of the most common pathologies caused by accumulation of radioactive particles in the foetus. Here before the surgery to reduce the liquor on her brain in the Pediatric Clinic in Kiev.

The kindergarten "Zolotoj Kluchik", the golden key, Pripyat, Chernobyl exclusion zone. The excluson zone is 30 km radius from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is considered the most radioactive spot on the planet and it will remain for millennia.

Sunk ships in the Chernobyl river port. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Volodimir 55 years former firefighter, lives in Terenzi, a village within the exclusion zone. Volodimir is one of the few firefighters who survived that tragic night of April 26, 1986. Terenzi, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Inside reactor number 3 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Ivan Ilchinko and a smoked fish as a winter stock pile. Ivan died on 2019. Kupovate, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The hangar where the scrap metals are cleaned from radioactive particles and recycled. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Professor Bandazhevsky, the last four years has been studying the impact of thie internal contamination on children living in Radinka and on the province of Ivankov.

Fresh painted radiation warning signs ready to be put around the zone, Pripyat city. In the ghost town of Pripyat, inside Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, there is a factory where workers paint the radiation warning signs worn by time and weather.

Vladik and Igor in the garden of their house, waiting to go to school. Vladik, 7 years old and Igor, 6 years old, live in Radinka, one of the most contaminated village around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Abandoned cranes in the Chernobyl river port. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The abandoned part of the village of Radinka. Radinka is a village of 1200 inhabitants located near the exclusion zone. Here the border is only 300 meters away. The village is highly contaminated and for this reason part of the population has left it.

Hanna with Maria and her sister Sofia in her house preparing the mushrooms for lunch, Kupovate village. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Workers inside control room of reactor number 2. Despite the reactors were shut down in 2000, all staff must continue working until 2065, date of reactors decomissioning, to maintain reactors safety.

Reactors number 5 and 6 close to them there is the hangar where the scrap metals are cleaned from radioactive particles and recycled. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Children while waiting to be checked for internal contamination by Professor Bandazhevsky's team at the Ivankiv hospital. Ivankiv.

Inside the kindergarten "Zolotoj Kluchik", the golden key, Pripyat, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Viktor 12 years old while being examined by Professor Bandazhevsky's team in the Ivankiv hospital. Ivankiv.

Igor is checked with the spectrophotometer for internal contamination in the local hospital in Ivankov. The province of Ivankov, on the border of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, is very high contaminated.

The Hangar where the contaminated scrap metals are recycled. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant with the old sarcophagus, two months prior to the installation of the new safe confinement. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Pasha while repairing an engine that is used to force ventilation in the radioactive scrap metal recycling facilities. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The fence with the barber wire of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Children while taking a souvenir photo in front of the Ukrainian flag during the local Ivankiv fair. Ivankiv.

Vitali, 7 years old, he suffers from a congenital malformation called craniostenosis. Her mother is showing the mold of Vitali’s skull that is used to build the titanium plate, to develop the growth of Vitali. Pediatric clinic of neurosurgery, Kiev.

The entrance to the bus station in Chernobyl town. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Check point of the ghost town of Pripyat: Victor is 7 years that is working as guardian of the ghost town of Pripyat. Here is in the check point. his main job is to check that unauthorized person could enter without permission in Pripyat.

Vladik, 3, is one of the many "sons" of Chernobyl. He lives in Ivankiv, one of the most contaminated areas of Ukraine due to Chernobyl fallout and has a sad consequence: a blastoma in the lumbar spine. Vladik cannot walk and is incontinent.

A firefighter inspect a vehicle at the fire station situated in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Chernobyl town. Workers return to their accomodation after their shift. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The military antenna Duga 3 is a huge radar antenna 150 meters high for 500 meters in length with buildings appurtenances and was part of the anti-missile defense system that would intercept any missiles from the USA. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Dimitri 60 years with his nephew Vlada 7 years, in his home in the village of Marianovka. Vlada lives in Kiev but sometimes her grandfather Dimitri brings her illegally in his house inside the zone to stay with him some days. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Workers involved in the construction of the new confinement. 2,000 workers are building the new sarcophagus to bury the reactor number 4. The new safe confinement is 110 meters high, 164 meters large and 257 meters long.

A child while waiting to be visited for internal contamination at the Ivankiv hospital. Ivankiv.

Workers in search of radioactive scrap metal to be recycled. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Nikita, 9 years old, bone cancer, rehabilitation center of the Kiev cancer hospital.

A worker inside the golden corridor, between the reactor number 2 and 3. This corridor was nicknamed the golden corridor for the coating that was done after the incident. In fact after the accident this corridor was severely contaminated.

Victor with his family at home in the contaminated village of Kovalinka, situated just 5 kilometers from the border of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The town of Pripyat is located three kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear plant. 50 thousand people lived there, and were evacuated two days after the explosion. The people were forced to leave behind everything except for their documents.

Igor with his father Sasha in their home in the contaminated village of Radinka.

Vladik while sleeping at his home in the contaminated village of Radinka.

Maria Shovkuta, 89 years old, in the garden of her house, Opachici Village. Maria is showing her garden, where she used to grow vegetables for her needs, but now she is becoming older and for her is becoming very difficult to grow vegetable.

A stray dog in Chernobyl town. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Valeri, 16 years old and her sister Victoria, 3 years old, live in Kovalivka, a contaminated village situated 5 km from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Abandoned villages inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The guardian of the ghost town of Pripyat. Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Maria Semenyuk, 78 years old, in her home waiting for her husband Ivan. On May, 17th 2016 Maria has died after living all her life in her home. She was buried in Paryshev cemetery. Paryshev, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The cemetery inside the exclusion zone where many resettlers who passed away were buried in those years.many resettlers who passed away in the last years decided to be buried in the exclusion zone, in the villages where they born and lived the whole life.