
The now famous Ferris wheel of Pripyat amusement was opened just a few days before the disaster
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The world's worst nuclear disaster took place on 26 April 1986, when nuclear reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The explosion released radioactive clouds that spread across Europe. An Exclusion Zone in a 30km radius around the disaster zone was evacuated and will remain uninhabitable for the next 22,000 years. Estimates of long-term fatalities run into the tens of thousands.
The nearby city of Pripyat was built in 1970 to house nuclear scientists and power plant workers in a futuristic model of Soviet of sophistication. Around 49,000 people were provided with luxurious apartments, an amusement park, swimming pool, restaurants, a cultural centre, cinema and a stadium. Today, a ghost town remains just as it was left behind by the people who were evacuated from there in 1986.


The sarcophagus covering reactor No. 4 is visible from the roofs of the apartment blocks in Pripyat

Thousands of discarded gas masks


Luxurious housing facilities included a swimming pool, basketball court and plenty of play grounds


160 apartment blocks were built to house the workers of the power plant and their families

The exclusion zone has become a wildlife haven, and is now home to bears, wolves, foxes, boars and deer

The mythological figure of Prometheus was the symbol of young Pripyat

The last remaining Lenin statue in Ukraine

School books and toys are still lying as they were left behind during the evacuation



The Duga radar station was part of the Soviet missile defense system and remained in use until 1989