In memory of the Chernobyl disaster (38 photos). Mystical Chernobyl terrifying photos

Now, when reactor rods are melting at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and radiation is leaking, the whole world is remembering 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 have predicted. 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 was released into the environment. The accident is regarded as the largest of its kind in the history of 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. 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 capital of Cuba. 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 elementary school of the 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 a 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on April 7, 2006 celebrate the Orthodox holiday of the Annunciation 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 the high levels of radiation, crews only work for a few minutes. (GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

The tragedy has forever left a mark on our lives.

You can close your eyes and erase it from your memory, or you can take the bitter experience with you forward, into life without terrible mistakes.

Bridge of Death

After the explosion, people converged on the bridge, which is located outside the city, in order to have a good view of the reactor and understand what happened. They were told that the level of radiation was low, and no one then knew how dangerous it was. It was on this bridge that the wind drove a huge cloud of radiation. Everyone who was on it and saw how the graphite base burned with a rainbow high flame is now dead, as they received a portion of radiation of 500 roentgens.

Schools

Abandoned high school near Chernobyl.

Each school had about 1,000 children. Schools were not badly damaged, the looters were not interested in stealing books.

The school will never see the children again.

Gym

Kindergarten

You can't take your child to a kindergarten like this anymore.

A children's room that would look like a horror movie.

Children's toy. Note that her numbers say 1984. This is the year of manufacture. The toy was only 2 years old at the time of the disaster.

Everyone's favorite kind illustrations ...

This toy will never make children laugh again.

Another shot for a horror movie...

Amusement park in Pripyat

The Ferris wheel is one of the most exposed places in Pripyat. To this day, this place is dangerous.

This attraction was open even 5 days after the disaster.

This is a ticket point. Most likely, the toy did not appear here by chance. Someone must have put it here to take an impressive photo.

Hospital

Hospital corridor.

This hospital treated the first victims of the accident.

Swimming pool

This pool is really huge and Olympic athletes trained in it. It was the best pool in the area.

Other buildings

Pripyat is an abandoned city where nature is already taking back its territory. The photo was taken from the tallest building in the city.

April 26 is the Day of Remembrance for those killed in radiation accidents and catastrophes. This year marks 27 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.

This 1986 aerial view of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, shows the damage caused by 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)

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)

Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the largest nuclear disaster in the history of mankind. 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)

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)

A Swedish farmer cleans up straw contaminated by fallout months after the Chernobyl explosion in June 1986. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)

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)

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)

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

A boy reads a notice on a closed playground gate in Wiesbaden on May 5, 1986, which reads: "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)

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

Activists from an environmental organization flag railroad cars containing dried whey 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 with radioactive fallout. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer)

A slaughterhouse worker stamps suitability 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)

File 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)

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)

Workers who took part in the construction of the cement sarcophagus that covers the Chernobyl reactor, in a memorable photo from 1986 next to the 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)

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

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)

17-year-old Oksana Gaibon (right) and 15-year-old Alla Kozimerka, victims of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, 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)

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)

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)

A Ferris wheel and carousel in a deserted amusement park in the ghost town of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on 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)

On the photo dated 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)

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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

A woman with piglets in the deserted Belarusian village of Tulgovichi, 370 kilometers 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)

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

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)

Residents of the village of Ilintsy in the closed area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about 100 km from Kyiv, walk past rescuers from the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations, 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)

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

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)

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)

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

The well-known international journalist Gerd Ludwig has been filming the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster for many years. In 1986, a series of errors at a nuclear power plant led to an explosion that forced about a quarter of a million people to leave their homes forever to escape radiation and fallout.

Ludwig, on assignment from National Geographic Magazine, traveled to the site and surrounding regions several times in 1993, 2005 and 2011 and documented how people and places were irreversibly changed as a result of the tragedy.

In 2011, his trip was partially funded by Kickstarter. Ludwig has now released an iPad app with over 150 photos, videos and interactive panoramas. Below is a small selection of the photographer's work over the years of the ongoing tragedy.

1. On April 26, 1986, the operators of this engine room of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, during a scheduled repair, made a series of fatal mistakes that led to the destruction of the reactor and to the most serious accident in the history of world nuclear energy. Today, the turbine hall of the fourth power unit is still abandoned, there is still a very high level of radiation here.

2. Workers in respirators and plastic protective suits stopped for a short rest. They are drilling holes to install additional piles inside the sarcophagus. This is a dangerous job: the radiation levels here are so high that they have to constantly monitor the readings of Geiger counters and dosimeters, and the allowed hours of work here are limited to 15 minutes a day.

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

4. Previously, in order to get to the area below the molten core of the reactor, workers were forced to climb dangerous stairs, although the extremely high level of radiation allows them to stay in this area for only a few minutes. In order to speed up the descent, a gentle corridor was built, the so-called inclined staircase.

5. Workers who build a new Shelter, costing about $2.2. billion, receive dangerous doses of radiation, being close to the sarcophagus. The new structure in the form of an arch weighing 29,000 tons, 105 meters high and 257 meters wide will cover the existing sarcophagus and allow the dismantling of the outdated shelter. To create the most solid foundation for the new structure, 396 huge metal pipes will be driven into the ground to a depth of 25 m.

6. From the rooftop of the Polesye Hotel in the center of Pripyat, you can see 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 inform 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 pack up. The Soviet Union officially announced the disaster only three days after the explosion, when a radioactive cloud reached Sweden and Swedish scientists in the laboratory found radioactive contamination on their shoes.

9. Nineteen years after the disaster, empty schools and kindergartens in Pripyat - once the largest exclusion zone city of 50,000 - 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 played quietly in a 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. Wind walks 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 away, 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. Since then, 25 years have passed, and the dilapidated park has become a symbol of an abandoned city. Now it is one of the attractions for tourists who have flooded Pripyat recently.

13. In 2011, the government of Ukraine officially allowed tourist trips to the exclusion zone. In the photo: tourists wander through the corridors littered with garbage and empty classrooms of one of the schools in Pripyat. 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 radius of 30 km were forced to flee their homes in a hurry. Now almost all wooden huts in the villages that have fallen into the exclusion zone are abandoned, and nature is gradually taking over these remnants of civilization.

15. Haritina Decha, 92, 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 it is abandoned and forgotten by everyone.

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

17. Oleg Shapiro (54) and Dima Bogdanovich (13) are being treated for thyroid cancer at a Minsk hospital. Here such operations are performed daily.

Oleg is a liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, he received a very large dose of radiation. This is 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 instructed to play down the dangers of radiation.

18. Sixteen-year-old Dima Pyko is being treated for lymphoma at the Children's Cancer Center (Center of Oncology and Hematology) near Minsk in the village. Forest. The center was built with serious financial support from Austria after the number of children's oncology diseases sharply increased in those regions of Belarus where 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 another 150 disabled children, lives in a specialized orphanage.

This is just one of such institutions in southern Belarus, which is supported by the international charitable organization "Children of Chernobyl". It was created by Hedi Rocher in 1991 to help children - victims of the worst nuclear disaster in the world.

20. Veronica Chechet is only five years old. She suffers from leukemia and is being treated at the Radiation Medicine Center 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 diseases 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 has fallen, more children are born with various malformations and mental disabilities. This belief is shared by many - but not all - in the scientific community. International charitable organizations established 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 Monument to the firefighters 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 - 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 evacuations.

Translation from English by Olga Antonova

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 related to the dogs of Chernobyl - which, according to scientists, about 900 individuals live there. Go under the cut, it's interesting there)

02. The 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" cultural center, 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. Another "Chernobyl myth" and a journalistic cliché is associated with this wheel, 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. Close-up of the unfinished cooling tower of Unit 5. 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 enters 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 dogs, which are found in large numbers 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 the wild) they simply do not have time to do anything.

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.