![]() ![]() People I have spent time with during my Ph.D. "Today, the zone hosts a growing habitat for populations of elk, wolves and even an endangered species of wild horse, which were almost driven to extinction in 20th century. Around 350,000 people were forced to abandon their homes when the exclusion zone was created in the years following the 1986 nuclear accident, and since then nature has slowly begun to recover. "Despite its reputation as a wasteland, Chernobyl has become a site of high biodiversity. "The environment of Chernobyl is a paradox," Davies said. "Thus, our findings are very preliminary at this stage."Īlthough it is largely abandoned, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become a haven for wildlife over the years. "But, because of a heightened military presence and increased security in the region, we have not been able to conduct the large-scale surveys that are needed," he said. So far, there has not been any long-term effects on radiation distribution detected, Mousseau said. Russian troops occupied the area for a while last February and March. "There is a heightened concern of a possible new invasion in the air," Tim Mousseau, professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, told Newsweek. The monitoring was made difficult last February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops invaded Ukraine. The zone remains in place, although the area is under constant supervision by scientists. After Putin invaded Ukraine, however, everything changed." Where is Chernobyl?įollowing the disaster, the Soviet Union isolated the area in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast-a piece of land measuring 1,040 square miles-and declared it to be the exclusion zone, considered the most severely affected area following the disaster. "You could buy a day pass and go on a 'toxic tour' of the abandoned site. ![]() "Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there used to be a thriving tourism industry in Chernobyl," said Davies, a toxic geography expert. But since February 2022, that has not been possible because of the Russian invasion. As many as 100,000 people per year visited the abandoned area. Pe3check/Gettyĭespite the radioactivity, it used to be possible for tourists to visit the zone. But that does not mean the land is completely empty.Ī Ferris wheel at an abandoned amusement park in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. Buildings are decaying and crumbling as people are not allowed to live there. The Chernboyl Exclusion Zone looks like a ghost town today. What's certain, however, is that the nuclear legacies of this site continue to this day." "We'll never know exactly how many people were killed by the 1986 Chornobyl disaster-and estimates range from a few thousand to almost a million. "It's no exaggeration to say that it contains some of the most polluted territory on Earth," Thom Davies, an associate professor of Geography at the School of Geography at the University Nottingham, told Newsweek. The area is still highly radioactive today. The meltdown caused two devastating explosions, which saw radioactive debris and fuel pour out into the surrounding environment. On April 26, 1986, a meltdown of a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant caused the world's worst nuclear disaster. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine remains one of the most radioactive areas of the world. ![]()
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