It has been over thirty years since Reaccto Four in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant overheated and exploded on April 26, 1986. The city is still dealing with the ramifications of the disaster. The nearby city of Pripyat was evacuated and many were left dead or seriously ill. It’s still highly dangerous to be in Chernobyl and the city is still uninhabited.
These photographers were able to go to Chernobyl for a short time to capture on film what’s left of this ghost town.
Soviet Doctors Overreacted Because They Were Afraid
It’s been widely publicized that the Soviet Union severely under-reacted when news of the disaster first broke. While this is true, they swung in the opposite direction later on when it came to health concerns.
Doctors feared that the radiation could have disastrous effects on Chernobyl’s population. Some doctors even forced women to have abortions because they were afraid that their babies would have severe birth defects. They thought that a generation of people with birth defects would leave a lasting impression of the Soviets as failures.