CHERNOBYL’S ATOMIC LEGACY 25 YEARS AFTER DISASTER
CHERNOBYL’S ATOMIC LEGACY 25 YEARS AFTER DISASTER
A Book By: Daniel Barter Contributors: James Charlick Katie Grayson Jason Green Dawid Jagusiak Andrew Leatherbarrow Pär Louko Simon Proffitt Book Design: Offset Media Copyright © 2012 Daniel Barter. All rights reserved.
Introduction On 26 April 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The accident released at least 100 times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, and is considered to be the worst nuclear accident in the history of humanity. It is classified as a level 7 incident, the highest level on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The only other incident to be categorized at this level is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011. In the days, months and years that followed, over half a million civilians and military personnel (“liquidators”) were involved in the decontamination process to avert a potential second catastrophe. The whole operation was estimated by the then Soviet government to cost 18 billion roubles. The subsequent radioactive fallout affected most of Europe but could be detected as far away as Hiroshima. And food restrictions are still in place throughout contaminated areas of Europe. The Exclusion Zone was established soon after the disaster in order to aid evacuation and to prevent access to the more contaminated areas. Twenty-five years on from the accident, the 30 km zone is still in place. And because of this the 187 small communities remain virtually abandoned to this day. A few small groups of people have managed to return to their homes but the majority of evacuees now live in towns such as Slavutich, which was constructed to replace the workers’ town of Pripyat. Despite the contamination, wildlife has thrived in the zone. Lynx, eagle owls, wolves and wild boars have all been spotted and seem to suffer no obvious ill effects. Pripyat was home to a population of 49,000 and today it stands abandoned, overgrown by vegetation, subjected to looting and vandalism, as a monument to the lives lost and the memories of those evacuated.
� (This Page) Mural at entrance to cultural centre, Pripyat. Photographer: Dawid Jagusiak
� (Previous Page) Monument at the front entrance to reactor 4. Photographer: Dawid Jagusiak
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Lecture hall, cultural centre, Pripyat. Photographer: Daniel Barter
↑ (This Page) Boxing hall, cultural centre, Pripyat. Photographer: Andrew Leatherbarrow
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Books scattered from the library, cultural centre, Pripyat. Photographer: Daniel Barter
↑ (This Page) Stage construction, cultural centre, Pripyat. Photographer: Dawid Jagusiak
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Gymnasium, cultural centre, Pripyat. Reads: strong, bold, brave
Performance hall, music school, Pripyat.
Photographer: Pär Louko
Photographer: Andrew Leatherbarrow
← (This Page) Basketball court, swimming pool, Pripyat. Photographer: James Charlick
← (Previous Page) Swimming pool, Pripyat. Photographer: James Charlick
↑ (This Page) Shoe moulds, Yubileyny Services, Pripyat. Photographer: Simon Proffitt
� (Opposite Page) Mural outside the music school, Pripyat. Photographer: James Charlick
↑ (This Page) Bumper cars, amusement park, Pripyat. Photographer: James Charlick