Chernobyl
Mid-2000s snapshot. About 18 years after the accident, the effects were still being felt. The disaster occurred at 1:23 am on April 26, 1986, when a safety test of reactor N°4 went horribly wrong. Two explosions blew the top off the reactor, and radiation at least 100 times that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs combined was released; in time it spread over the whole Northern Hemisphere.
Belarus, only 12km north of Chernobyl, was worst hit. But in Ukraine 35,000 km2 of forest, or 40% of the country’s total forest area, was contaminated by fallout. At the time, by the guide’s estimate, six per cent of Ukraine’s overall territory remained contaminated. Of the then state budget, 5% still dealt with the consequences of Chernobyl. By 2015, it was said that the disaster would cost the Ukrainian economy $201 billion. Of the 800,000 ‘liquidators’ brought in to clean up, it was reported that anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 had by then died due to radiation exposure. Thyroid and breast cancer had increased dramatically in contaminated areas. Although Kyiv is only 130km south of Chernobyl, the capital was considered completely safe. The Chernobyl Museum was regarded as an excellent place to learn more about this tragedy, while for the extreme tourist guided day trips to Chernobyl itself were offered.