Life at Chernobyl 35 years later
This article is an adaptation of our weekly History newsletter that was originally sent out on April 26, 2021. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.
By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor
Although mass evacuations were ordered following the world’s worst nuclear power plant disaster, Chernobyl never fully emptied of people. More than 7,000 people currently live and work in and around the plant where, at 1:24 a.m. on April 26, 1986, an explosion ripped through Reactor Number Four, killing 31 people (according to the official Soviet death toll) and turning more than 100 Ukrainian villages into ghost towns.
Despite the risks, some stayed to work; others opted to return. NatGeo contributor Jennifer Kingsley, along with images captured by photographer Pierpaolo Mittica, paints a vivid portrait of life 35 years after the catastrophe.
“Even here, so close to the epicenter of the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history, there is a sense of community, even a sense of home,” Kingsley writes.
(At top, radioactive particles can be sandblasted from the surface of metal to decontaminate it and prepare it for resale. Below, a safe containment unit with a rounded roof, in background, covers the remains of Reactor Number Four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.)
Among the residents near Chernobyl are people like Elena Buntova (below, at center), a doctor of biology who came after the accident to study the effects of radiation on wildlife. She never left.
For scientists, Buntova says, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Chernobyl is also where she met her husband Sergei Lapiha (below right), who grew up there and has no plans to leave even now that he is retired. Instead, he helps maintain a local Orthodox church that each April 25 celebrates an evening Mass to commemorate the disaster.
“After the service, participants walk outside and ring the bell of memory, which hangs from its own arch in the corner of the churchyard,” writes Kingsley. “They ring it once for each year since the accident, so this year it will toll 35 times.”
Below, in Chernobyl, a man waits at the House of Culture for the show to begin. Concerts, recitals, and conferences help to keep the tiny population entertained.
Below, on the anniversary of the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history, people gather in the center of the town of Chernobyl to commemorate the event and those who lost their lives.
Related: Children born to Chernobyl survivors don’t carry more genetic mutations
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LAST GLIMPSE
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This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, and Jen Tse has selected the photos. Nancy San Martin contributed to today’s report. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading, and happy trails.
