Pripyat, Ukraine: the eerie photos of an abandoned city
- From: news.com.au
- August 05, 2014
ON APRIL 26, 1986 the worst nuclear power disaster in history occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Station in the Ukraine.
During a test to see how much power was needed to keep the number four reactor operating in the event of a blackout, the station exploded releasing devastatingly dangerous amounts of radioactive chemicals into the air.
Millions of square miles in dozens of surrounding European nations were contaminated as firefighters worked to contain the blaze that burned for 10 days raising concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry and nuclear power in general.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that approximately 30 people were killed by the explosion and related radiation exposure, with several thousand more deaths possible due to a higher cancer incidence over the long term.
Pripyat, a city of 50,000 people founded in 1970 to house workers from Chernobyl, was the closest to the number four reactor and the most seriously affected. The entire city was forced to evacuate and nearly 30 years later it sits frozen in time, a haunting reminder of the devastation that occurred.
Crumbling apartment blocks, swimming pools, hospitals, playgrounds and schools sit dilapidated, the victim of looters and graffiti.
The clocks are frozen in time when the power first went out and children’s toys, furniture, books and clothing lay strewn about the site.
Today construction is underway on the “New Safe Confinement”, a huge arch shaped building designed to entomb the radioactive remains of the reactor. At 110 metres high and 275 metres wide, it weighs around 32,000 tonnes and is one of the most complicated engineering feats of all time.
Designed to last 100 years for when clean up of the site is expected to finish, it is years behind schedule with construction only beginning in 2010 and completion pushed back to 2017.
The $2.2 billion project is funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development however with Ukraine’s current economic crisis and political instability with Russia the eventual completion of the project is in doubt.
For many Ukrainians, the Chernobyl disaster is a painful reminder of an era of mistrust and secrecy from the government with the wider impact of radiation exposure still unknown.
Some estimates put the number of people affected as high as a million across Europe, others tens of thousands. And the rise of fatal cancers and birth defects among children in the area has raised ongoing questions of the effects of exposure. These are the haunting photos.