The city of Chernobyl, what happened to the city. Accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

This past year marks 30 years since that April day when the Chernobyl disaster occurred. The explosion at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which occurred at two o'clock in the morning on April 26, 1986, destroyed the reactor core. Experts say that the radioactivity that the fallout subsequently brought was 400 times greater than the impact of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The leadership of the USSR and union republics immediately strictly classified information about what happened. Many scientists believe that the true scale of that tragedy has still not been said.

Cars failed - people walked

It is believed that the radioactive contamination zone (over 200 thousand km²) was mainly in the north of Ukraine and part of Belarus. Hundreds of Soviet “bi-robot” liquidators worked in the area of ​​the reactor, which burned for 10 days - they worked where the equipment failed. Dozens of people died from a lethal dose of radiation almost immediately, and hundreds received cancer as a result of radiation sickness.

According to the most approximate estimates (since Soviet Union collapsed, it is difficult to give an exact figure) about 30 thousand people died from the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and over 70 thousand more became disabled.

Gorbachev remained silent for more than two weeks

The documents relating to the Chernobyl disaster were immediately classified by the CPSU Central Committee. To this day it is not clear exactly what really happened there.

The criminal indifference of the authorities to the people was boundless: when Ukraine was covered with a radioactive cloud, a May Day demonstration took place in the capital of the republic. Thousands of people walked along the Kyiv streets, while the radiation level in Kyiv had already risen from 50 microroentgens to 30 thousand per hour.

The first 15 days after April 28 were marked by the most intense release of radionuclides. However, the leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, made an appeal about the accident only on May 13. He had nothing to brag about: the state, in fact, turned out to be unprepared to promptly eliminate the consequences of an emergency situation - most dosimeters did not work, there were no basic potassium iodide tablets, military special forces, thrown into the fight against large-scale radiation, were formed “on wheels” when thunder has already struck.

The disaster taught me nothing

For what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the former director of the nuclear power plant, Viktor Bryukhanov, served 5 years out of 10, measured by the court verdict. Several years ago he told reporters about some important details regarding that nuclear disaster.

An explosion at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred during its testing. According to many modern scientists, the cause of the accident lies in defects in the design of the reactor and non-compliance with safety rules by nuclear power plant employees. But all this was hidden so as not to jeopardize the USSR nuclear industry.

According to Bryukhanov, today, not only in the post-Soviet space, but also abroad, the true causes of accidents at nuclear power plants are hidden - emergencies of this kind, but on a smaller scale, periodically occur in many countries where nuclear energy is used. The latest accident occurred recently in Japan, where a powerful earthquake on November 22 damaged the cooling system of the third power unit of the Fukushima-2 nuclear power plant.

Secret truth

Along with information about the Chernobyl accident itself, the results of medical examinations of the victims and information about the degree of radioactive contamination of the territories were also classified. Western media told the whole world about the tragedy on the evening of April 26, but in the USSR the official authorities remained deathly silent on this matter for a long time.

Radioactive clouds covered ever larger areas, which was widely trumpeted in the West, and in the Soviet Union, only on April 29, the press casually reported a “minor leak of radioactive substances” at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Some Western media believe that it was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that served as one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR - a system built on lies and unquestioning submission to the CPSU Central Committee could not last long, since over time the consequences of the nuclear disaster were felt by hundreds of thousands of residents of the republics of the “union” indestructible."

The man-made disaster that occurred in the spring of 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant changed humanity’s attitude towards the peaceful atom once and for all. Huge masses of radioactive isotopes released into the atmosphere contaminated thousands of hectares of land adjacent to the station and claimed a huge number of innocent people's lives. You can read about the events leading up to the disaster and what actually happened at Chernobyl below.

Causes of the Chernobyl accident

The cause of the disaster is known: conducting experiments, the meaning of which boiled down to one thing - to be able to generate electricity for the needs of the station itself, provided that the main operating cycle of the reactor, in one way or another, is stopped (using the inertial rotation of the generator rotors).

A number of factors that led to the accident:

• Rush. The experiment had to be carried out before May 1, and the results had to be presented to management by the May holidays.
• Negligence. Seeing that the experiment was being carried out at non-standard power levels, not a single one of the station workers began to contradict the chief operating engineer. This promised the loss of his job and transfer to another, less prestigious position.
• Reactor design. Already at the beginning of 1992, the newly created commission, including foreign specialists, called main reason no accident human factor, but the imperfection of the design of the reactor itself.

After a series of studies by the international agency INSAG, many of those responsible for the accident were released from prison. Reactors of the RBMK-1000 type, installed at three more nuclear power plants (Leningrad, Kursk and Smolensk), have been modernized and are under special control.

In this video, historian Vladimir Porkhanov will talk about the chronology of events and the consequences of the terrible accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant:

The Chernobyl accident in numbers

From the very first days after the accident, the country's leadership kept silent about the true scale of the disaster. Only after the collapse of the USSR, all materials related to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were completely declassified:

• The entire population of Pripyat, which is 47,683 people, was completely evacuated within 31 hours. In total, 116,000 people were evicted from the exclusion zone.
• The contaminated area is more than 200,000 square meters. km. The BSSR (Belarus) suffered the most - 65% of the jet cloud moved there.
• In the first three months after the disaster, 211 units were involved in the liquidation Soviet Army(about 345,000 military personnel).

Immediately after the explosion, construction began on the sarcophagus, which at the end of the same year completely “covered” the reactor.

What are stalkers doing in Chernobyl?

Stalkers are people who like to visit places abandoned by man. These can be empty houses, small villages and even cities.

This is precisely what attracts them to the Chernobyl exclusion zone:

• Enthusiasts. They get by with an official excursion, which includes visits to: the city of Chernobyl, the sarcophagus shelter of the destroyed reactor, the empty city of Pripyat.
• Ideological. A regular tour, where steps away from the usual route are controlled by guides, does not suit them. This category enters the exclusion zone without permission, wanders through abandoned places, and takes photographs.
• Gamers. Fans of the popular shooter “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl” visit real locations depicted in the game.
• Marauders. We thought for a long time whether to classify this guy as a stalker? Everything is clear from the name - looters bring all kinds of things to the “pure land” for subsequent sale.

For inexperienced tourists It’s still not worth visiting the exclusion zone without permission. In addition to a strong dose of training, which will lead to serious changes in the body, there is a high chance of stumbling upon a security patrol.

What did Chernobyl researchers find?

Chernobyl zone alienation attracts scientists from all over the world. We present to your attention list of unusual facts, which hardly anyone has heard of:

• « Red forest » . The plant area located directly next to the reactor was the first to bear the brunt of radiation. Dead tree trunks of a reddish hue under normal conditions would have rotted long ago. Conclusion: radiation affects bacteria responsible for the decomposition of organic material.
• Animal world. Mutations in animals appeared immediately after the disaster. Now the animals in the exclusion zone live comfortably: wild boars, wolves, foxes, moose, lynxes and even the Przewalski’s horse, brought here for the sake of experiment, feel great.
• Radiation. Despite the fact that the last radioactive isotopes contaminating the area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (cesium and strontium) will decay by 2050, the area will be completely “cleaned up” by 3500.

The last block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was shut down in December 2000. But the misfortune of the largest man-made disaster will be felt by more than one generation of people.

What's happening in Chernobyl now?

Currently, about 4,000 people live in the exclusion zone, mostly personnel who monitor safety in the territory: firefighters, security guards and builders working on the construction of the new sarcophagus.

Despite the bans, about 450 people returned to their homes - these are elderly residents rural areas who, despite everything, continue to raise livestock, plant vegetable gardens, and pick mushrooms.

Regarding the sarcophagus, the construction of “Shelter-2” was completed in November 2016. After test work and sealing of the structure, the world's largest movable structure will be put into operation. The safety guarantee is 100 years, and by then, we hope, humanity will solve the problem of complete isolation of the reactor.

Did you know that:

• About 600 thousand people participated in the liquidation of the accident, and a total of about 8.4 million people received negative radiation.
• In the period from May 5 to May 8, 1986, mobilized workers of the Donetsk mines, mostly drillers, built a series of tunnels under the 4th power unit to supply liquid nitrogen into it. The created temperature environment of -120 ˚C allowed the boiling reactor to be completely cooled within two days.
• On May 2, 1986, Dynamo Kiev took the Cup Winners' Cup final. Having defeated Atlético Madrid with a score of 3-0, the team's players became victims of unusual bullying from foreign media: supposedly the radiation received the day before helped the Soviet athletes win.

Having collected indisputable facts about the man-made cataclysm, one can easily explain what happened in Chernobyl: the incompetence of the officials who supervised the experiments at the nuclear power plant units, the imperfect design of the nuclear reactor and a number of unfortunate circumstances led to the world's worst nuclear disaster.

The disaster forced a review of the safety of nuclear power plants around the world, and thanks to the terrible Chernobyl accident, similar human-caused incidents may no longer occur.

Video: Chernobyl disaster in 1986 - how it happened

This short film fully reproduces all the events of that ill-fated day before the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as it all happened:

Women and children were the first to be evacuated. There was a shortage of buses in this corner of the former Soviet Union. To take 50 thousand people out of the city, buses from other regions of the country came here. The length of the bus column was 20 kilometers, which meant that when the first bus left Pripyat, the last one could no longer see the pipes of the power plant. In less than three hours, the city was completely empty. He will remain this way forever. At the beginning of May, the evacuation of people living in the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone around Chernobyl was organized. Disinfection work was carried out in 1840 populated areas. However, the Chernobyl exclusion zone was not developed until 1994, when the last residents of the villages in its western part were moved to new apartments in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions.

Today Pripyat is a city of ghosts. Despite the fact that no one lives there, the city has its own grace and atmosphere. It did not cease to exist, unlike neighboring villages, which were buried in the ground by excavators. They are only indicated on road signs and village maps. Pripyat, as well as the entire 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, is guarded by police and patrol services. Despite their constant vigil, the city was repeatedly subjected to robbery and looting. The entire city was plundered. There is not a single apartment left where the thieves have not visited and taken all the jewelry. In 1987, residents had the opportunity to return to collect a small portion of their belongings. The Jupiter military plant operated until 1997; The famous Lazurny swimming pool operated until 1998. At the moment, they have been looted and destroyed even more than apartments and schools in the city combined. There are three other parts of the city that are still in use: a laundry (for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant), garages for trucks, and a deep well with a pumping station that supplies water to the power plant.

The city is full of 1980s graffiti, signs, books and images, mostly related to Lenin. His slogans and portraits are everywhere - in the palace of culture, hotel, hospital, police station, as well as in schools and kindergartens. Walking around the city is like going back in time, the only difference is that there is no one here, not even birds in the sky. You can only imagine the picture of the era when the city flourished, during the tour we will show you historical photos. To give you a vivid impression of the times of the Soviet Union, we offer Soviet uniform, a retro walk in our RETRO TOUR. Everything was built from concrete. All buildings are of the same type, as in other cities built under the Soviet Union. Some houses were overgrown with trees, so that they were barely visible from the road, and some buildings were so worn out that they collapsed from the large amount of snow that had fallen. Chernobyl is life example how Mother Nature takes its toll on the efforts of many people. In a few decades, only ruins will remain of the city. There is no corner like this in the world.

Swedish scientists have concluded that a weak nuclear explosion occurred during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Experts analyzed the most likely course of nuclear reactions in the reactor and simulated the meteorological conditions for the distribution of decay products. talks about an article by researchers published in the journal Nuclear Technology.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986. The disaster threatened the development of nuclear energy throughout the world. A 30-kilometer exclusion zone was created around the station. Radioactive fallout even occurred in the Leningrad region, and cesium isotopes were found in elevated concentrations in lichen and deer meat in the Arctic regions of Russia.

There are different versions of the causes of the disaster. Most often, they point to the incorrect actions of the Chernobyl NPP personnel, which resulted in the ignition of hydrogen and the destruction of the reactor. However, some scientists believe that a real nuclear explosion occurred.

Boiling Hell

A nuclear reactor maintains a nuclear chain reaction. The nucleus of a heavy atom, for example, uranium, collides with a neutron, becomes unstable and disintegrates into two smaller nuclei - decay products. The fission process releases energy and two or three fast free neutrons, which in turn cause the decay of other uranium nuclei in the nuclear fuel. The number of decays thus increases exponentially, but the chain reaction inside the reactor is controlled, preventing a nuclear explosion.

In thermal nuclear reactors, fast neutrons are not suitable for exciting heavy atoms, so their kinetic energy is reduced using a moderator. Slow neutrons, called thermal neutrons, are more likely to cause the decay of uranium-235 atoms used as fuel. In such cases, they speak of a high cross section for the interaction of uranium nuclei with neutrons. Thermal neutrons themselves are so called because they are in thermodynamic equilibrium with the environment.

The heart of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the RBMK-1000 reactor (a high-power channel reactor with a capacity of 1000 megawatts). Essentially, it is a graphite cylinder with many holes (channels). Graphite acts as a moderator, and nuclear fuel is loaded into fuel elements (fuel elements) through technological channels. Fuel rods are made of zirconium, a metal with a very small neutron capture cross section. They allow neutrons and heat to pass through, which heats the coolant, preventing the leakage of decay products. Fuel rods can be combined into fuel assemblies (FA). Fuel elements are typical for heterogeneous nuclear reactors, in which the moderator is separated from the fuel.

RBMK is a single-circuit reactor. Water is used as a coolant, which is partially converted into steam. The steam-water mixture enters separators, where steam is separated from water and sent to turbogenerators. The exhaust steam condenses and re-enters the reactor.

There was a flaw in the RBMK design that played a fatal role in the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The fact is that the distance between the channels was too large and too many fast neutrons were slowed down by graphite, turning into thermal neutrons. They are well absorbed by water, but steam bubbles constantly form there, which reduces the absorption characteristics of the coolant. As a result, reactivity increases and the water heats up even more. That is, the RBMK is characterized by a fairly high vapor coefficient of reactivity, which makes it difficult to control the progress of a nuclear reaction. The reactor must be equipped with additional safety systems, and only highly qualified personnel should work on it.

They broke the wood

On April 25, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was scheduled to shut down the fourth power unit for scheduled repairs and an experiment. Specialists from the Hydroproject Research Institute have proposed a method for emergency power supply to the station pumps using kinetic energy a turbogenerator rotating by inertia. This would allow, even during a power outage, to maintain coolant circulation in the circuit until the backup power turns on.

According to the plan, the experiment was to begin when the thermal power of the reactor dropped to 700 megawatts. The power was reduced by 50 percent (1,600 megawatts), and the process of shutting down the reactor was delayed by about nine hours at the request of Kyiv. As soon as the power reduction resumed, it unexpectedly dropped to almost zero due to erroneous actions of nuclear power plant personnel and xenon poisoning of the reactor - the accumulation of the xenon-135 isotope, which reduces reactivity. To cope with the sudden problem, emergency neutron-absorbing rods were removed from the RBMK, but the power did not rise above 200 megawatts. Despite the unstable operation of the reactor, the experiment began at 01:23:04.

The introduction of additional pumps increased the load on the run-down turbogenerator, which reduced the volume of water entering the reactor core. Together with the high steam coefficient of reactivity, this quickly increased the power of the reactor. The attempt to introduce absorber rods due to their poor design only worsened the situation. Just 43 seconds after the start of the experiment, the reactor collapsed as a result of one or two powerful explosions.

Ends in the water

Eyewitnesses claim that the fourth power unit of the nuclear power plant was destroyed by two explosions: the second, the most powerful, occurred a few seconds after the first. It is believed that emergency occurred due to rupture of pipes in the cooling system caused by rapid evaporation of water. Water or steam reacted with the zirconium in the fuel elements, resulting in the formation of large amounts of hydrogen and its explosion.

Swedish scientists believe that two different mechanisms led to the explosions, one of which was nuclear. Firstly, the high vapor coefficient of reactivity contributed to an increase in volume superheated steam inside the reactor. As a result, the reactor burst, and its 2000-ton top cover flew up several tens of meters. Since fuel elements were attached to it, a primary leak of nuclear fuel occurred.

Secondly, the emergency lowering of the absorbing rods led to the so-called “end effect”. At the Chernobyl RBMK-1000, the rods consisted of two parts - a neutron absorber and a graphite water displacer. When the rod is introduced into the reactor core, graphite replaces neutron-absorbing water in the lower part of the channels, which only enhances the vapor coefficient of reactivity. The number of thermal neutrons increases and the chain reaction becomes uncontrollable. A small nuclear explosion occurs. Flows of nuclear fission products penetrated into the hall even before the destruction of the reactor, and then - through the thin roof of the power unit - into the atmosphere.

Experts first spoke about the nuclear nature of the explosion back in 1986. Then scientists from the Khlopin Radium Institute analyzed fractions of noble gases obtained at the Cherepovets factory, where liquid nitrogen and oxygen were produced. Cherepovets is located a thousand kilometers north of Chernobyl, and the radioactive cloud passed over the city on April 29. Soviet researchers found that the ratio of the activities of the isotopes 133 Xe and 133m Xe was 44.5 ± 5.5. These isotopes are short-lived products of nuclear fission, indicating a weak nuclear explosion.

Swedish scientists calculated how much xenon was formed in the reactor before the explosion, during the explosion, and how the ratios of radioactive isotopes changed until they fell out in Cherepovets. It turned out that the reactivity ratio observed at the plant could arise in the event nuclear explosion with a capacity of 75 tons of TNT. According to an analysis of meteorological conditions for the period April 25 - May 5, 1986, xenon isotopes rose to a height of up to three kilometers, which prevented its mixing with the xenon that was formed in the reactor before the accident.

The famous international journalist Gerd Ludwig spent many years filming the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 1986, a series of mistakes at a nuclear power plant led to an explosion that forced about a quarter of a million people to flee their homes forever to escape radiation and fallout.

Ludwig, commissioned by National Geographic Magazine, traveled to the site and surrounding areas several times in 1993, 2005 and 2011 and documented how people and places were irrevocably changed by the tragedy.

In 2011, his trip was partially funded by Kickstarter. Now Ludwig has released an application for iPad, which features more than 150 photos, videos and interactive panoramic footage. Below is a small selection of the photographer's work made during the years of the ongoing tragedy.

1. On April 26, 1986, the operators of this turbine room of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, while carrying out routine maintenance, made a series of fatal errors that led to the destruction of the reactor and the most serious accident in world history. nuclear energy. Today the turbine hall of the fourth power unit is still abandoned, it is still very high level radiation.

2. Workers wearing respirators and plastic protective suits stopped briefly to rest. They are drilling holes to install additional piles inside the sarcophagus. It's a dangerous job: radiation levels are so high that they have to constantly monitor Geiger counters and dosimeters, and the permitted work time is limited to 15 minutes a day.

3. Over the years, desperate attempts have been made to strengthen the roof of the Shelter and prevent it from collapsing. Inside the sarcophagus, dimly lit tunnels lead to gloomy rooms littered with wires, pieces of twisted metal and other debris. Due to the collapse of the walls, everything around is covered with radioactive dust. Work to stabilize the sarcophagus has been completed, and today the radioactive insides of the reactor are waiting to be dismantled.

4. Previously, workers had to climb dangerous stairs to reach the area below the reactor's molten core, although the extremely high levels of radiation allow only a few minutes in this area. In order to speed up the descent, a gentle corridor was built, the so-called inclined staircase.

5. Workers who are building a new Shelter, costing about $2.2. billion, receive dangerous doses of radiation while near the sarcophagus. The new arch-shaped structure, weighing 29,000 tons, 105 m high and 257 m wide, will cover the existing sarcophagus and allow the dismantling of the outdated shelter. To create the strongest possible foundation for the new structure, 396 huge metal pipes will be driven into the ground to a depth of 25 m.

6. From the roof of the Polesie hotel in the center of Pripyat there is a view of the ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Previously, 50,000 people lived in Pripyat; now it is a ghost town, gradually overgrown with weeds.

7. Pripyat is located less than three kilometers from the reactor. The city was built in the 1970s. for nuclear scientists and employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Once the population of Pripyat was almost 50,000 people, life was in full swing here. The authorities did not immediately notify the population about the accident; the evacuation began only 36 hours after the explosion.

Abandoned school in Pripyat. Ukraine, 2005. Photo: Gerd Ludwig/INSTITUTE

8. When the authorities of the Soviet Union eventually announced the evacuation, many simply did not have time to gather. The Soviet Union officially declared the disaster only three days after the explosion, when the radioactive cloud reached Sweden and Swedish scientists in the laboratory discovered radioactive contamination on their shoes.

9. Nineteen years after the disaster, empty schools and kindergartens in Pripyat - once the largest city in the exclusion zone, with a population of 50,000 people - remain a silent reminder of the tragic events. Part of the abandoned school building has since collapsed.

10. On the day of the disaster, unsuspecting children were calmly playing kindergarten in Pripyat, a satellite city of the nuclear power plant. The next day they were evacuated. They had to leave everything, even their favorite dolls and toys.

11. The wind is blowing in an abandoned city. On April 26, 1986, the amusement park was preparing for the May Day holidays. At this time, less than three kilometers from here, the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.

12. When the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, this amusement park in Pripyat with a race track and a Ferris wheel was preparing for the May 1 celebration. 25 years have passed since then, and the dilapidated park has become a symbol of the abandoned city. Now it is one of the attractions for tourists who have flooded Pripyat recently.

13. In 2011, the Ukrainian government officially allowed tourist travel to the exclusion zone. In the photo: tourists wander through the garbage-strewn corridors and empty classrooms of one of the Pripyat schools. The dining room floor is littered with hundreds of discarded gas masks. One of the tourists brought his own - not for protection from radiation, but for the sake of a funny photo.

14. The nuclear disaster led to radioactive contamination of tens of thousands of square kilometers. 150,000 people within a 30 km radius were forced to flee their homes in a hurry. Now almost all wooden huts in the villages that fell into the exclusion zone stand abandoned, and nature is gradually taking over these remnants of civilization.

15. 92-year-old Kharitina Decha is one of several hundred elderly people who have returned to their villages in the exclusion zone. It is important for her to die on her own land, even if abandoned and forgotten by everyone.

16. In the sink are tomatoes from the garden of an elderly couple, Ivan Martynenko (he’s 77) and Gapa Semenenko (she’s 82). They are both deaf. After being evacuated, several hundred elderly people returned to their home. These people live mainly on what they can grow in contaminated soil.

17. Oleg Shapiro (54 years old) and Dima Bogdanovich (13 years old) are being treated for thyroid cancer at the Minsk hospital. Here similar operations are performed every day.

Oleg is a liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant; he received a very large dose of radiation. This is already his third operation.

Dima’s mother is sure that her son got cancer due to radioactive fallout, but his doctors take a more cautious point of view. Officials are often ordered to downplay the dangers of radiation.

18. Sixteen-year-old Dima Pyko is being treated for lymphoma at the Children's Oncology Center (Oncology and Hematology Center) near Minsk in the village. Lesnoye. The center was built with serious financial support from Austria after the number of childhood cancers sharply increased in those regions of Belarus where there was a lot of radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl disaster.

19. Five-year-old Igor was born with serious mental and physical defects. His parents abandoned him, and now he, along with 150 other disabled children, lives in a specialized orphanage.

This is just one of similar institutions in southern Belarus that is supported by the international charity organization “Children of Chernobyl”. It was created by Edie Roche in 1991 to help child victims of the worst nuclear disaster in the world.

20. Veronica Chechet is only five years old. She suffers from leukemia and is undergoing treatment at the Center for Radiation Medicine in Kyiv. Her mother, Elena Medvedeva (29 years old), was born four years before the Chernobyl disaster near Chernigov - after the explosion a lot of radioactive fallout fell on the city. According to doctors, the illnesses of many patients are directly related to the release of radiation as a result of the accident.

21. A mentally retarded boy smells a tulip in one of the orphanages in Belarus.

It is believed that in regions where radioactive fallout occurred, more children are born with various developmental defects and mental disabilities. This belief is shared by many—but not all—in the scientific community. International charities created after the disaster continue to help families in need of support and orphanages where children affected by radioactive fallout live.

22. Every year on the anniversary of the accident - April 26 - a nightly memorial service is held at the Firefighters Monument in memory of all those who died as a result of this disaster. Two people died directly during the explosion, another 28 firefighters and nuclear power plant employees died shortly after the disaster, having received a lethal dose of radiation. Since then, many thousands more have died from cancer and social upheaval due to mass evacuation.

Translation from English by Olga Antonova