Today marks 38 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – this is what the power plant looks like now – gallery

The Chernobyl nuclear reactor, located in the former Soviet Union and present-day Ukraine, exploded on April 26, 1986, during a test involving a power outage, after test personnel completely disregarded safety regulations. In one of the world’s largest and most serious nuclear disasters to date, the RBMK type reactor was damaged, the reactor hall and the turbine hall, as well as part of the reactor’s fuel contents were released into nature.

The 2,600 square kilometer area most contaminated by the radioactive fallout after the disaster was named the “zone”. In this region the radioactive materials leaving the reactor are still radiating today, so the area is deserted and under military custody. The area of ​​the zone mainly cesium, strontium, plutonium and americium contaminated with its isotopes.

However, this did not deter the disaster tourists, who have been targeting the area since the 1986 reactor accident. Recently, the number of tourists venturing into the dangerous area jumped due to the HBO mini-series that was a great success, but there were agencies that specialized in offering legally organized tours to the curious to the Chernobyl area. In recent years, the number of visitors has fallen due to the Covid epidemic, and then the Russian-Ukrainian war, which continues to this day.

In 24 thousand years, the area will be clean again

Although the radiation has already dropped to normal levels in some parts, values ​​above the health limit can still be measured in many places. Despite this, and despite the health and political situation, there are still people who venture into the zone without caring about the closure. Of course it will take hundreds of years for the radioactive material that fell into the area to decay, to eliminate the radiation hazard. And 40 percent of the sealed zone of the zone will remain radioactive forever, as plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years.

Our newspaper also previously entered the zone affected by the nuclear disaster. You can access our gallery compiled from the recordings made there by clicking on the picture!