Pripyat, a ghost town in Ukraine near Chernobyl.

[rashka]

On 26 April 1986, at 1:23 in the morning, reactor number four of the Lenin nuclear power plant in Chernobyl exploded: it was the world’s largest nuclear disaster, classified a level 7 on a scale of 7. The explosion projected radioactive dust into the air, as did the ensuing fire, which lasted several weeks. The cloud travelled over a large part of Europe and passed over France.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster


Pripyat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Pryp’yat’; Russian: При́пять, Pripyat’) is a ghost town near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, part of Kiev Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus.

[RussiaPrussia]

never forget the liquidators who sacrificed their lifes to save their country and the world. It were 240,000 or so, now compare that to japan only 50.

[RussiaPrussia]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidator_(Chernobyl)

[rashka]

Liquidators (Russian: ликвида́торы), or "clean-up workers", is the generic name given in the former Soviet Union to civil and military personnel who were called upon to deal with consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster on the site of the event. Most Soviet-time liquidators were coerced to work (for a certain medically-reasonable time) by means of direct order, motivation and withholding information on the operation's occupational hazard. However, thousands of liquidators (mostly military officers and skilled professionals) volunteered to participate or to extend their work beyond the initial compulsory term. All liquidators now qualify for significant social benefits (i.e. honored as veterans) - something that was not even mentioned at the time of the disaster management.

According to the WHO, 240,000 recovery workers were called upon in 1986 and 1987 alone. Altogether, special certificates were issued for 600,000 people recognizing them as liquidators. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled to have their participation officially recognized for years.

[rashka]

How many people died in that disaster? Figures vary greatly.
One source says:
534,000 from the explosion
3.5 million from radiation over the course of 15 years

By January 3, 2000, roughly 7.6 million deaths were reported due to radiation poisoning caused by the disaster.


A sad legacy
There are many lasting legacies of Chernobyl that have had repercussions around the world but this part of the Ukraine has had to live with them for the past twenty five years.

The death toll is argued over constantly and it is sad that this figure alone should be debated in such a way. The only thing that is certain is that there has been great human suffering as a direct result of Chernobyl and it is a lesson that the world will never forget.


Interesting article:

Worst Nuclear Disaster in History
On April 26, 1986 the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe happened in the Ukraine. A nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded. The radiation that escaped in Chernobyl was four hundred times the amount that was released by the atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima at the end of World War II. About 100,000 people had to leave their homes immediately after the explosion.

Neighboring villages had to be evacuated and up to today nobody has been allowed to live within 30 km of the plant. Pripyat , founded in 1970 to house the workers of the power plant , has become a ghost town. Before the disaster 50,000 people lived in modern apartment buildings. Today it is completely deserted with cars still parked on the streets. Radiation levels are still so high that nobody will be able to live here for the next one to two hundred years.

An area of about 150000 square kilometers was contaminated by radioactive cesium, which has a half life of 30 years. Most of the nuclear fallout came down on Bellarus, Russia and the Ukraine itself.

Even though Chernobyl does not produce electricity anymore about 4,000 workers still work at the nuclear power plant. They can only stay for two weeks at a time because of the high radiation.

25 years after the disaster the cleanup of Chernobyl is still going on. There is still almost 200 tons of radioactive material stored in the sarcophagus, which was built in only six months after the explosion in 1986. Today it is slowly breaking apart and cracks are letting radioactive material escape.

The Ukrainian government has promised to build a new shelter that will replace the old sarcophagus. This cover is expected to last for over a century but it is still not clear where the Ukrainians will get 800 million Euros to finance such a huge dome.

Debate is still continuing on how many people died in the Chernobyl disaster. 31 people were killed as a direct result of the accident. 30 more died of radiation sicknessdue to the blast. Thousands of cases of cancer have been detected in people who were children at that time.

The population in the area is still in danger. Greenpeace claims that thousands of Ukrainians are eating food that is contaminated by the nuclear blast although Ukrainian food ministry officials say that food is regularly checked. The environmental organization says milk, mushrooms and berries in the whole region will stay polluted for many decades to come.

Today, more and more tourists are coming to northern Ukraine. Tour guides in Pripyat show westerners the homes that they lived in before the explosion. Buses take them to the nuclear power station but stop a few hundred yards from the disaster site where they can spend 15 minutes on taking pictures.