Photos from Chernobyl after the explosion mutant animals. The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: photos and memories of the liquidators

"Post from the past": Today, April 26, marks 26 years since the Chernobyl disaster. In 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl reactor No. 4, and several hundred workers and firefighters tried to put out the fire, which had been burning for 10 days. The world was enveloped in a cloud of radiation, it was the worst nuclear disaster in the world. Then about 50 employees of the station died and hundreds of rescuers were injured. It is still difficult to determine the scale of the disaster and its impact on people's health - only from 4 to 200 thousand people died from cancer that developed as a result of the received dose of radiation. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian government announced that it was going to narrow the radius to which tourists can approach the territory. Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In the meantime, the 20,000-ton steel hull, called the New Safe Confinement, is expected to be completed by 2013.

(Total 39 photos)

1. A military helicopter conducts decontamination and degassing over the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a few days after the explosion at reactor No. 4. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)

2. Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where the largest man-made disaster of the 20th century occurred, in April 1986. In front of the pipe is the destroyed fourth reactor. Behind the pipe and very close to the 4th reactor was the third reactor, which ceased operation on December 6, 2000. (AP Photo)

3. Repairs at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine on October 1, 1986 after the largest explosion in April, due to which 3,235,984 Ukrainians were injured, and radioactive clouds enveloped most Europe. (ZUFAROV/AFP/Getty Images)

4. Part of the collapsed roof at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after a fire on October 13, 1991. (AP Photo/Efrm Lucasky)

5. Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Telyatnikov, head of the Pripyat fire brigade that fought the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, points to a photograph of the fourth reactor after the April 26, 1986 explosion. After that, the reactor was filled with cement. Telyatnikov, 36, was hospitalized for two months with acute radiation sickness. He was twice awarded for courage, received the title of Hero of the USSR. (Reuters)

7. Worker of the Institute of Atomic Energy. Kurchatov in the rays of the sun streaming into the cement-filled room of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the explosion of the reactor on September 15, 1989, three years after the disaster. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

8. A worker at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant checks the level of radiation in the engine compartment of the first and second power units on June 5, 1986. (Reuters)

9. Cemetery of irradiated equipment near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on November 10, 2000. About 1350 Soviet military helicopters, buses, bulldozers, tanks, transporters, fire trucks and ambulances were used to deal with the consequences of the man-made disaster at Chernobyl. All of them were irradiated during the cleaning work. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

10. Worker of the Institute of Atomic Energy. Kurchatov in the mechanic's room in Unit 4 on September 15, 1989. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

11. A Warsaw hospital nurse tries to drip a three-year-old girl with an iodine solution in May 1986. After the Chernobyl disaster, various measures were taken in many neighboring countries against possible radiation damage. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

12. Concrete mixers at a construction site where concrete sarcophagi are made, at the fourth reactor in October 1986. (Reuters)

13. Representative of the Ukrainian Academy of Science Vyacheslav Konovalov with a stuffed mutated foal in Zhytomyr on March 11, 1996. Konovalov studied biological mutations after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The stallion was nicknamed "Gorbachev" after Konovalov brought a photo of the poor animal to full height to the Supreme Soviet in 1988 to show Mikhail Gorbachev the consequences of the disaster. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

14. Statue of Vladimir Lenin in small park in the port of Chernobyl, near the frozen Pripyat River on January 29, 2006. The port of Chernobyl was abandoned shortly after the 1986 disaster. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

16. The screen of the control unit of the first power room at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which shows the process of unloading the last batch of nuclear fuel from the reactor on November 30, 2006. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

17. Raven on the sign "Radiation Hazard" in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, near the village of Babchin, December 23, 2009. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

18. Ukrainian schoolchildren put on masks during an exercise at a school near the restricted area on April 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

20. Ferris wheel in the ghost town of Pripyat, which was evacuated after the explosion. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

21. Cradles in a hospital in the abandoned city of Pripyat, in the restricted area around the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, April 2, 2006. The city of Pripyat, with a population of 47,000, was completely evacuated within days of the incident. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

23. A guide with a dosimeter, at which the radiation level is 12 times higher than normal. The girl behind photographs the concrete sarcophagi of the destroyed fourth block of the nuclear power plant. Every year, thousands of people come to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where in April 1986 the largest man-made disaster of the century occurred. (GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

24. Crying 67-year-old Nastasia Vasilyeva at her house in the disaster-affected village of Radnya in the restricted area, 45 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Dozens of towns and villages in the infected zone were empty, and their residents were evacuated. However, despite warnings about radiation, many residents returned to their homes, as they could not settle down elsewhere. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

25. A Ukrainian with a dog on the street of a ghost town in Chernobyl on April 13, 2006. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

26. An abandoned house in the deserted village of Redkovka, 35 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on March 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

27. A wolf in a field in the restricted area around the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, near the village of Babchin. Wild animals in the restricted area have been breeding despite the radiation since humans have fled the area. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

28. A man lights a candle at the monument to the victims of Chernobyl in Slavutych, 50 km from the disaster site, where most of the station workers used to live. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

29. Photos of the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the military and firefighters who worked immediately after the explosion in 1986, in a museum in Kyiv. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

30. Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On the left is the Chernobyl monument erected in 2006. Photo taken May 10, 2007. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky)

31. A worker with a drilling machine checks the sarcophagi in the reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Reuters)

32. Main control room (block control panel) of the 4th power unit. Geiger counters registered about 80 thousand micro-roentgens per hour, which is 4 thousand times higher than the safe level. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, file)

33. An employee of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the control room of the reactor number 4 on February 24, 2011 on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the largest man-made disaster. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

34. Graffiti on the wall of one of the buildings in the ghost town of Pripyat on February 22, 2011. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

35. One of the buildings inside in the abandoned city of Pripyat. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

36. A man in his former home in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, in the village of Lomysh, southeast of Minsk, March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

37. Nine-year-old Anya Savenok, who was born disabled due to exposure, in her house in the village of Strakholesye, just outside the restricted area on April 1, 2006. (Reuters/Damir Sagolj)

38. Girls walk past a sign at a fire station depicting time, temperature and background radiation in Vladivostok on March 16, 2011. (Reuters/Yuri Maltsev)

39. Eight-year-old Ukrainian Vika Chervinska, suffering from cancer, with her mother in a hospital in Kyiv on April 18, 2006. In a 2006 report, Greenpeace noted that more than 90,000 people are likely to die from cancer resulting from radiation exposure following the Chernobyl disaster. Although previous UN reports have reported that the death rate for this cause will not exceed 4 thousand people. The differing conclusions highlight the ongoing uncertainty about the sequencing of the world's largest man-made disaster on human health. April 26 this year will be exactly 25 years since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Now when on nuclear power plant"Fukushima Daiichi" reactor rods melt, and radiation leaks, the whole world remembers the Chernobyl disaster and the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, despite the fact that the disaster in Japan is following a scenario that no one could ever even predict . The Chernobyl accident occurred - the destruction on April 26, 1986 of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). The destruction was explosive, the reactor was completely destroyed, and a large amount of radioactive substances. The accident is regarded as the largest of its kind in history. nuclear power, both in terms of the estimated number of people killed and affected by its consequences, and in terms of economic damage. At the time of the accident, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the most powerful in the USSR.

1. This 1986 aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, shows the destruction from the explosion and fire of Reactor 4 on April 26, 1986. The explosion and fire that followed resulted in the release of huge amount radioactive substances into the atmosphere. Ten years after the world's largest nuclear disaster the power plant continued to operate due to an acute shortage of electricity in Ukraine. The final stop of the power plant occurred only in 2000. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik)

2. On October 11, 1991, while reducing the speed of turbine generator No. 4 of the second power unit for its subsequent shutdown and putting the separator-superheater SPP-44 into repair, an accident and a fire occurred. This photograph, taken during a press visit to the station on October 13, 1991, shows part of the collapsed roof of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, destroyed by fire. (AP Photo/Efrm Lucasky)

3. Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the largest nuclear disaster in human history. The picture was taken three days after the explosion at the nuclear power plant in 1986. In front of the chimney is the destroyed 4th reactor. (AP Photo)

4. Photo from the February issue of the magazine " Soviet life": the main hall of the 1st power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 29, 1986 in Chernobyl (Ukraine). Soviet Union acknowledged that there had been an accident at the power plant, but did not provide further information. (AP Photo)

5. A Swedish farmer removes straw contaminated through precipitation several months after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in June 1986. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)

6. Soviet medical worker examines an unknown child who was evacuated from the nuclear disaster zone to the Kopelovo state farm near Kyiv on May 11, 1986. The picture was taken during a trip organized by Soviet authorities to show how they deal with the accident. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)

7. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and his wife Raisa Gorbacheva during a conversation with the management of the nuclear power plant on February 23, 1989. This was the first visit by a Soviet leader to the station since the April 1986 accident. (AFP PHOTO/TASS)

8. Kievans stand in line for forms before checking for radiation contamination after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Kyiv on May 9, 1986. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)

9. A boy reads an ad on a closed playground gate in Wiesbaden on May 5, 1986, which says: "This playground is temporarily closed." One week after the explosion nuclear reactor in Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, the municipal council of Wiesbaden closed all playgrounds after detecting levels of radioactivity between 124 and 280 becquerels. (AP Photo/Frank Rumpenhorst)

10. One of the engineers who worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is passing medical checkup in the Lesnaya Polyana sanatorium on May 15, 1986, a few weeks after the explosion. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)

11. Advocacy activists environment railroad cars are marked with dried serum contaminated with radiation. Photo taken in Bremen, northern Germany on February 6, 1987. The serum, which was brought to Bremen for further transport to Egypt, was produced after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and was contaminated fallout. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer)

12. An abattoir worker puts suitability stamps on cow carcasses in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, on May 12, 1986. According to the decision of the Minister for social issues federal state of Hesse, after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, all meat began to be subjected to radiation control. (AP Photo/Kurt Strumpf/stf)

13. Archive photo dated April 14, 1998. Workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant pass by the control panel of the destroyed 4th power unit of the station. On April 26, 2006, Ukraine marked the 20th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which affected the fate of millions of people, requiring astronomical costs from international funds and has become an ominous symbol of the dangers of atomic energy. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV)

14. In the picture, which was taken on April 14, 1998, you can see the control panel of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV)

15. Workers who took part in the construction of a cement sarcophagus that closes the Chernobyl reactor, in a memorable photo in 1986 next to an unfinished construction site. According to the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, thousands of people who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster died from the consequences of radiation contamination, which they suffered during work. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik)

16. High-voltage towers near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant June 20, 2000 in Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

17. Operator on duty nuclear reactor records control readings at the site of the only operating reactor No. 3, on Tuesday, June 20, 2000. Andrey Shauman pointed angrily at a switch hidden under a sealed metal cover on the control panel of the reactor at Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant whose name has become synonymous with nuclear catastrophe. “This is the same switch that can be used to turn off the reactor. For $2,000, I'll let anyone push that button when the time comes," Shauman, acting chief engineer, said at the time. When that time came on December 15, 2000, environmental activists, governments and simple people around the world breathed a sigh of relief. However, for the 5,800 Chernobyl workers, it was a day of mourning. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

18. 17-year-old Oksana Gaibon (right) and 15-year-old Alla Kozimerka, victims of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, are being treated with infrared rays at the Tarara Children's Hospital in the Cuban capital. Oksana and Alla, like hundreds of other Russian and Ukrainian teenagers who received a dose of radiation, were treated for free in Cuba as part of a humanitarian project. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP)

19. Photo dated April 18, 2006. A child during treatment at the Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, which was built in Minsk after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, representatives of the Red Cross reported that they were faced with a lack of funds to further help the victims of the Chernobyl accident. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images)

20. View of the city of Pripyat and the fourth reactor of Chernobyl on December 15, 2000 on the day of the complete shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Photo by Yuri Kozyrev/Newsmakers)

21. Ferris wheel and carousel in the deserted amusement park of the ghost town of Pripyat, next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant May 26, 2003. The population of Pripyat, which in 1986 was 45,000 people, was completely evacuated within the first three days after the explosion of the 4th reactor No. 4. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred at 1:23 am on April 26, 1986. The resulting radioactive cloud damaged much of Europe. According to various estimates, from 15 to 30 thousand people subsequently died as a result of exposure to radiation. Over 2.5 million people in Ukraine suffer from diseases acquired as a result of exposure, and about 80,000 of them receive benefits. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY)

22. Pictured on May 26, 2003: an abandoned amusement park in the city of Pripyat, which is located next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY)

23. Pictured May 26, 2003: gas masks on the floor of a classroom in a school in the ghost town of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY)

24. In the photo dated May 26, 2003: a TV case in a hotel room in the city of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY)

25. View of the ghost town of Pripyat next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY)

26. Pictured January 25, 2006: an abandoned classroom in a school in the deserted city of Pripyat near Chernobyl, Ukraine. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will be unsafe for people to live for several more centuries. According to scientists, the complete decomposition of the most dangerous radioactive elements will take about 900 years. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

27. Textbooks and notebooks on the floor of a school in the ghost town of Pripyat January 25, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

28. Toys and a gas mask in the dust in the former primary school abandoned city of Pripyat on January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

29. In the photo on January 25, 2006: an abandoned sports hall of one of the schools in the deserted city of Pripyat. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

30. What is left of the school gym in the abandoned city of Pripyat. January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

31. A resident of the Belarusian village of Novoselki, located just outside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in a picture dated April 7, 2006. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV)

32. A woman with piglets in the deserted Belarusian village of Tulgovichi, 370 km southeast of Minsk, on April 7, 2006. This village is located within the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV)

33. On April 6, 2006, an employee of the Belarusian radiation-ecological reserve measures the level of radiation in the Belarusian village of Vorotets, which is located within the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images)

34. Residents of the village of Ilintsy in the closed area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about 100 km from Kyiv, pass by the rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine, who are rehearsing before a concert on April 5, 2006. Rescuers organized an amateur concert dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for more than three hundred people (mostly elderly people) who returned to live illegally in villages located in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

35. The remaining residents of the abandoned Belarusian village of Tulgovichi, located in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, celebrate on April 7, 2006 Orthodox holiday Blessings of the Virgin. Before the accident, about 2,000 people lived in the village, and now only eight remain. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV)

36. An employee of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant measures the level of radiation using a stationary radiation monitoring system at the exit from the power plant building after a working day on April 12, 2006. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV)

37. A construction team in masks and special protective suits on April 12, 2006 during work to strengthen the sarcophagus covering the destroyed 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO / GENIA SAVILOV)

38. On April 12, 2006, workers sweep away radioactive dust in front of a sarcophagus covering the damaged 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. because of high level radiation crews work for only a few minutes. (GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

In August 2017, one of my favorite photographers named Sean Gallup visited the Chernobyl zone, who brought many unique photographs from the ChEZ, including those taken from a quadrocopter. I myself was in Chernobyl this summer and filmed the Chernobyl zone from a drone, which I talked about in a photo essay about, but in general I shot in other places than Sean.

And in this post you will read about one interesting project, associated with the dogs of Chernobyl - which, according to scientists, about 900 individuals live there. Go under the cut, it's interesting there)

02. central part of the city of Pripyat, in the foreground you can see a two-story department store building, which also (on the right) housed a restaurant. Perhaps the most famous residential buildings of Pripyat are visible in the background - two sixteen-story buildings, one with the coat of arms of the Ukrainian SSR, the second with the coat of arms of the USSR. I talked about what is happening now inside one of these sixteen-story buildings.

03. The roof of a sixteen-story building. Pay attention to the relatively good condition of the roofing.

04. Another photograph of the central part of Pripyat, it clearly shows how the city is overgrown - the buildings are practically invisible due to the forest (with tiers and ecosystem) that has already fully formed on the territory of the city. On the balconies of Pripyat apartments, swallows are very fond of nesting, and I once found one nest directly.

05. The roof of the Energetik House of Culture, which at one time was a very futuristic building - huge windows with aluminum frames, a bright foyer trimmed with tuff that was fashionable at that time, full-wall socialist realist frescoes. The frames from all the windows have long been removed and taken away "for non-ferrous metal", the building is gradually falling into disrepair.

06. Photo "Energetika", taken from the lobby of the hotel "Polesie", which is also located on the central square of the city. Photographers love this foyer because of the huge wall-to-ceiling panoramic windows.

07. Ferris wheel in the amusement park in Pripyat. This wheel is associated with another "Chernobyl myth" and a journalistic stamp, which I did not mention in the post about - supposedly this wheel was never turned on, since its launch was scheduled for May 1, 1986, and on April 27 the whole city was evacuated. This is not entirely true - on May 1, the official opening of the entire amusement park was planned, but the wheel was built a relatively long time ago and repeatedly made "test runs", rolling everyone - this can also be seen in pre-accident photographs from Pripyat.

08. And these are the famous cooling towers of the Third stage, which are located right on the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The "third stage" refers to two unfinished power units of the station, which were supposed to be put into operation in the late 1980s, after which the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was supposed to become the largest nuclear power plant in the USSR.

09. Unfinished cooling tower of Unit 5 close-up. Why was such a design necessary? First you need to say a few words about the design of a nuclear power plant - the reactor can be imagined as a huge boiler that heats water and produces steam that rotates generator turbines. After passing through the turbine hall with steam generators, the water needs to be cooled somehow - while there were only 4 power units at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, an artificial reservoir - the so-called cooling pond - successfully coped with this. For the Fifth and Sixth power units, the pond would no longer be enough, and therefore cooling towers were planned.

The cooling tower is something like a hollow concrete pipe in the shape of a truncated cone with sloping sides. Hot water falls under this "pipe", after which it begins to evaporate. Condensation forms on the walls of the cooling tower, which falls down in the form of drops - before the drops reach the surface of the water, they have time to cool - that's why the cooling towers are built so high.

10. A very good photograph with the cooling towers and the new Fourth Block sarcophagus in the background. Pay attention to what a huge territory the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occupies - power transmission towers in a haze near the horizon line also belong to the station.

11. Photographed Sean and the dogs that are in in large numbers are found at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Pripyat and the surrounding area. They say that these dogs are direct descendants of domestic animals left by the inhabitants of Pripyat in April 1986.

12. Chernobyl dogs right next to the Fourth power unit:

14. The uncle aims at the dog from the pneumatic tube. Do not be alarmed, this is not a dog hunter at all - this is a scientist and a participant in the "Dogs of Chernobyl" program, he shoots a dog with a special sedative.

15. This is what a syringe with a tranquilizer looks like, which is shot at a dog. What is it for? Firstly, in this way, the participants of the "Chernbyl Dogs" program help sick and wounded animals - they are examined by a verinar and, if necessary, perform various operations.

16. Secondly, scientists are studying the effects of radiation on dogs and on living tissues. Sleeping dogs are placed under devices that very accurately record the radiation contamination of tissues, as well as produce a spectral analysis of this contamination - thanks to this, it is possible to determine which radioactive elements are involved in the contamination of certain tissues.

17. Does radiation affect the life of dogs? Yes and no. On the one hand, cesium and strontium do accumulate in the body of a dog, but over a short period of its life (no more than 7-10 years in wild nature) simply do not have time to do any business.

18. So, in general, dogs in Chernobyl live pretty well)

Well, the traditional question - would you go on an excursion to the Chernobyl zone? If not, why not?

Tell me, it's interesting.

30 years ago, on April 26, 1986, one of the biggest man-made disasters in history - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. An explosion at one of the power units led to the release of an unprecedented amount of radioactive substances into the atmosphere. 115 thousand people were evacuated from the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, several million people in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus received various doses of radiation, tens of thousands of them became seriously ill and died. In the active phase of the liquidation of the accident in 1986-1987, 240 thousand people took part, for all the time - more than 600 thousand. Among the liquidators are firefighters, military personnel, builders (they built a concrete sarcophagus around the destroyed power unit), miners (they dug a 136-meter tunnel under the reactor). Dozens of tons of a special mixture were dropped from helicopters to the site of the explosion, a protective wall up to 30 meters deep was built in the ground around the station, and dams were built on the Pripyat River. After the accident, Slavutych, the youngest city in Ukraine, was founded for the Chernobyl workers, their families and liquidators. The last power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was only stopped only in 2000, now a new sarcophagus is being built there, the completion of work is scheduled for 2018.


Recording of the first conversations of the Chernobyl dispatcher

Petr Kotenko, 53 years old - liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 7, 2016, Kyiv. He was engaged in repair work at the station, after the accident he worked there for about a year. He says that he was given a protective suit to enter areas with a particularly high level of radiation, in other cases he went in ordinary clothes. "I didn't think about it, I just worked," he says. Subsequently, his health deteriorated, and he prefers not to talk about his symptoms. He complains that the authorities today do not pay enough attention to the liquidators.

Elimination of the consequences of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, August 5, 1986. The accident led to the fact that the territories of the USSR, where millions of people lived, were exposed to radioactive contamination. Radioactive substances, having entered the atmosphere, spread to the territory of many other European countries.

Vasily Markin, 68 years old - liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 8, 2016, Slavutich. He worked at the station even before the explosion, was engaged in the loading of fuel elements at the first and second power units. During the accident itself, he was in Pripyat - he and a friend were sitting on the balcony and drinking beer. I heard an explosion, and then I saw a mushroom cloud rise over the station. The next day, when he took over the shift, he took part in the work to stop the first power unit. Later, he participated in the search for his colleague Valery Khodemchuk, who disappeared in the fourth power unit, because of this he was in areas with high levels of radiation. The missing worker was never found, he is listed among the dead. In total, 31 people died in the accident and from exposure during the first three months.

Frame from documentary film"Chernobyl. Chronicle of difficult weeks ”(director Vladimir Shevchenko).

Anatoly Kolyadi n, 66 years old - liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 7, 2016, Kyiv. He was an engineer at the fourth power unit, on April 26, 1986, he arrived at his shift at 6 am - a few hours after the explosion. He recalls the consequences of the explosion - shifted ceilings, fragments of pipes and broken cables. His first task was to localize the fire at the fourth power unit so that it would not spread to the third. “I thought this would be the last shift of my life,” he says. “But who should do it if not us?” After Chernobyl, his health deteriorated, diseases appeared, which he associates with radiation. He notes that the authorities did not quickly evacuate the population from the danger zone and carried out iodine prophylaxis in order to stop the accumulation of radioactive iodine in the human body.

Ludmila Verpovskaya, 74 years old - liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 8, 2016, Slavutich. Before the accident, she worked in the construction department, lived in Pripyat, during the explosion she was in a village near the station. Two days after the explosion, she returned to Pripyat, where the station staff and their families lived. He remembers how people were taken out on buses. “It's like the war started and they became refugees,” she says. Lyudmila helped evacuate people, compiled lists and prepared reports for the authorities. Later she participated in the repair work at the station. Despite the fact that she was exposed to radiation, she does not complain about her health - she sees God's help in this.

Servicemen of the Leningrad Military District participate in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident, June 1, 1986.

Vladimir Barabanov, 64 years old - liquidator of the Chernobyl accident (on the screen - his archival photo, where he was filmed with other liquidators near the third power unit), April 2, 2016, Minsk. He worked at the station a year after the explosion, spent a month and a half there. His duties included replacing dosimeters for servicemen who took part in the aftermath of the accident. He was also engaged in decontamination work at the third power unit. He says that he participated in the aftermath of the accident voluntarily and that "work is work."

The construction of the "sarcophagus" over the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, October 29, 1986. The Shelter object was built of concrete and metal in 1986. Later, in the mid-2000s, the construction of a new, improved sarcophagus began. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2017.

Viliya Prokopov- 76 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 8, 2016, Slavutich. He has worked at the station as an engineer since 1976. His shift began a few hours after the accident. He recalls the walls destroyed by the explosion and the reactor, which inside "shone like the sun." After the explosion, he was assigned to take part in pumping out radioactive water from a room located under the reactor. According to him, he was exposed to large doses of radiation, received a burn of the throat, because of which he has been speaking only in a low voice since then. He worked in shifts for two weeks, after which he rested for two weeks. Later he settled in Slavutich - a city built for the inhabitants of the evacuated Pripyat. Today he has two children and three grandchildren - they all work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The so-called "elephant leg" is located in the room under the reactor. It is a mass of nuclear fuel and melted concrete. According to the early 2010s, the radiation level near it was about 300 roentgens per hour - enough to cause acute radiation sickness.

Anatoly Gubarev- 56 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, March 31, 2016, Kharkiv. During the explosion, he worked at a plant in Kharkov, after the emergency he underwent urgent training and was sent to Chernobyl as a firefighter. He helped to localize the fire in the fourth power unit - he extended fire hoses in the corridors, where the radiation level reached 600 roentgens. He and his colleagues worked in turns, they were not in areas with high radiation for more than five minutes. In the early 1990s, he was treated for cancer.

The consequences of the accident at the second power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred in 1991. Then a fire broke out at the second power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the roof of the turbine hall collapsed. After that, the Ukrainian authorities planned to stop the station, but later, in 1993, it was decided that it would continue to work.

Valery Zaitsev- 64 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 6, 2016, Gomel. During the emergency, he served in the army, a month after the explosion he was sent to the exclusion zone. Participated in decontamination procedures - including the disposal of radioactive equipment and clothing. In total, he spent more than six months there. After Chernobyl, his health deteriorated and he suffered a heart attack. In 2007, after the Belarusian authorities cut benefits for Chernobyl victims, he organized an association to help the liquidators of the accident and participated in lawsuits to protect their rights.

Taron Tunyan- 50 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, March 31, 2016, Kharkiv. He served in the chemical troops, arrived in Chernobyl the day after the explosion. He recalls how helicopters dropped a mixture of sand, lead and other materials onto a burning reactor (in total, the pilots made more than one and a half thousand sorties, the amount of the mixture dropped on the reactor amounted to thousands of tons). According to official data, while participating in liquidation work, he received a dose of 25 roentgens, but he believes that in reality the level of exposure was higher. After Chernobyl, he was noted to have increased intracranial pressure, which resulted in headaches.

Evacuation and examination of people after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Alexander Malish- 59 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, March 31, 2016, Kharkiv. I stayed in Chernobyl and the exclusion zone for about four and a half months. Participated in decontamination works. AT official documents it was indicated that he received a small dose of radiation, but Malish himself believes that he was exposed to more serious exposure. He says that the level of his exposure was measured by dosimeters, but he did not see their testimony. His daughter was born with Williams Syndrome, which is associated with genetic disorders and manifests itself in mental retardation.

Altered chromosomes in the liquidator of the Chernobyl accident. The results of a survey conducted by the diagnostic and treatment center in Bryansk. In territories exposed to radioactive contamination, out of a hundred surveyed, such changes were found in ten people.

Ivan Vlasenko- 85 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 7, 2016, Kyiv. He helped equip shower facilities for decontamination, as well as dispose of radioactively contaminated clothing of the liquidators working at the scene of the accident. He is being treated for myeloplastic syndrome, a disease characterized by disorders in the blood and bone marrow and caused, among other things, by radiation.

Cemetery of radioactive equipment, which was used during the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Gennady Shiryaev- 54 years old, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, April 7, 2016, Kyiv. During the explosion, he was a builder in Pripyat, where the station employees and their families lived. After the emergency, he worked at the station and in the exclusion zone as a dosimetrist, helped to map places with a high level of radioactive contamination. He remembers how he ran into places with high levels of radiation, took readings, and then quickly returned back. In other cases, he measured radiation with a dosimeter attached to a long stick (for example, when it was necessary to check the garbage removed from the fourth power unit). According to official figures, he received a total dose of 50 roentgens, although he believes that in reality the exposure was much higher. After Chernobyl, he complained of ailments associated with the cardiovascular system.

Medal of the liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Pripyat, September 30, 2015. Before the accident, more than 40 thousand people lived in Pripyat, which became a "ghost town".

The residents of Pripyat were promised that they would be temporarily evacuated for 2-3 days. During this time, they were going to decontaminate the city from radiation and return it to its inhabitants. At this time, the property left by the inhabitants in the city was guarded from marauders.

April 26 is the Day of Remembrance for those killed in radiation accidents and catastrophes. This year marks 32 years since the Chernobyl disaster - the largest in the history of nuclear energy in the world. A whole generation has already grown up that did not experience this terrible tragedy, but on this day we traditionally remember Chernobyl. After all, only by remembering the mistakes of the past can we hope not to repeat them in the future.

In 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl reactor No. 4, and several hundred workers and firefighters tried to put out the fire, which had been burning for 10 days. The world was enveloped in a cloud of radiation. Then about 50 employees of the station were killed and hundreds of rescuers were injured. It is still difficult to determine the scale of the disaster and its impact on people's health - only from 4 to 200 thousand people died from cancer that developed as a result of the received dose of radiation. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will be unsafe for people to live for several more centuries.

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1. This 1986 aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, shows the destruction from the explosion and fire of Reactor 4 on April 26, 1986. As a result of the explosion and the fire that followed it, a huge amount of radioactive substances was released into the atmosphere. Ten years after the world's largest nuclear disaster, the power plant continued to operate due to an acute shortage of electricity in Ukraine. The final stop of the power plant occurred only in 2000. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik)
2. On October 11, 1991, while reducing the speed of turbine generator No. 4 of the second power unit for its subsequent shutdown and putting the separator-superheater SPP-44 into repair, an accident and a fire occurred. This photograph, taken during a press visit to the station on October 13, 1991, shows part of the collapsed roof of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, destroyed by fire. (AP Photo/Efrm Lucasky)
3. Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the largest nuclear disaster in human history. The picture was taken three days after the explosion at the nuclear power plant in 1986. In front of the chimney is the destroyed 4th reactor. (AP Photo)
4. Photo from the February issue of the Soviet Life magazine: the main hall of the 1st power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 29, 1986 in Chernobyl (Ukraine). The Soviet Union admitted that there had been an accident at the power plant, but provided no further information. (AP Photo)
5. A Swedish farmer removes straw contaminated through precipitation several months after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in June 1986. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)
6. A Soviet medical worker examines an unknown child who was evacuated from the nuclear disaster zone to the Kopelovo state farm near Kyiv on May 11, 1986. The picture was taken during a trip organized by the Soviet authorities to show how they deal with the accident. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)
7. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and his wife Raisa Gorbacheva during a conversation with the management of the nuclear power plant on February 23, 1989. This was the first visit by a Soviet leader to the station since the April 1986 accident. (AFP PHOTO/TASS)
8. Kievans stand in line for forms before checking for radiation contamination after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Kyiv on May 9, 1986. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)
9. A boy reads an ad on a closed playground gate in Wiesbaden on May 5, 1986, which says: "This playground is temporarily closed." A week after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion on 26 April 1986, the Wiesbaden municipal council closed all playgrounds after detecting levels of radioactivity between 124 and 280 becquerels. (AP Photo/Frank Rumpenhorst)
10. One of the engineers who worked at the Chernobyl NPP undergoes a medical examination at the Lesnaya Polyana sanatorium on May 15, 1986, a few weeks after the explosion. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)
11. Activists of the organization for the protection of the environment mark the railroad cars, which are infected with radiation dry whey. Photo taken in Bremen, northern Germany on February 6, 1987. The serum, which was brought to Bremen for further transport to Egypt, was produced after the Chernobyl accident and was contaminated with radioactive fallout. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer)
12. An abattoir worker puts suitability stamps on cow carcasses in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, on May 12, 1986. According to the decision of the Minister of Social Affairs of the federal state of Hesse, after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, all meat began to be subjected to radiation control. (AP Photo/Kurt Strumpf/stf)
13. Archival photo dated April 14, 1998. Workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant pass by the control panel of the destroyed 4th power unit of the station. On April 26, 2006, Ukraine marked the 20th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which affected the fate of millions of people, required astronomical costs from international funds and became an ominous symbol of the dangers of nuclear energy. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV)
14. In the picture, which was taken on April 14, 1998, you can see the control panel of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ GENIA SAVILOV)
15. Workers who took part in the construction of a cement sarcophagus that closes the Chernobyl reactor, in a memorable photo in 1986 next to an unfinished construction site. According to the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, thousands of people who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster died from the consequences of radiation contamination, which they suffered during work. (AP Photo/ Volodymyr Repik)
16. High-voltage towers near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant June 20, 2000 in Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

17. The duty operator of a nuclear reactor records control readings at the site of the only operating reactor No. 3, on Tuesday, June 20, 2000. Andrey Shauman pointed angrily at a switch hidden under a sealed metal cover on the control panel of the reactor at Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant whose name has become synonymous with nuclear catastrophe. “This is the same switch that can be used to turn off the reactor. For $2,000, I'll let anyone push that button when the time comes," Shauman, acting chief engineer, said at the time. When that time arrived on December 15, 2000, environmental activists, governments, and ordinary people around the world breathed a sigh of relief. However, for the 5,800 Chernobyl workers, it was a day of mourning. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

18. 17-year-old Oksana Gaibon (right) and 15-year-old Alla Kozimerka, victims of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, are being treated with infrared rays at the Tarara Children's Hospital in the Cuban capital. Oksana and Alla, like hundreds of other Russian and Ukrainian teenagers who received a dose of radiation, were treated for free in Cuba as part of a humanitarian project. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP)