Above: A ferris wheel on the outskirts of Chernobyl remains untouched
for over twenty years.
While we are all certainly thankful for the technology in our lives, we often forget the dangers posed by the world around us. Some of the readers of this blog may be too young to remember the terror inspired by the events at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the late 80s, while to many others the name "Chernobyl" conjures up nightmares of nuclear disaster.
For those unfamiliar with the horrific events of 1986, the events that unraveled at Chernobyl have forever changed the area of its impact into a barren wasteland. The failure of a nuclear reactor in late April of that year led to scores of people dying and to the radiation poisoning of several hundred thousand Ukrainians. To this day, much of the countryside remains deserted and infant mortality rates due to radiation are still high. More can be read here.
Above: An image from the abandoned neighboring city of Pripyat
For those unfamiliar with the horrific events of 1986, the events that unraveled at Chernobyl have forever changed the area of its impact into a barren wasteland. The failure of a nuclear reactor in late April of that year led to scores of people dying and to the radiation poisoning of several hundred thousand Ukrainians. To this day, much of the countryside remains deserted and infant mortality rates due to radiation are still high. More can be read here.
Above: An image from the abandoned neighboring city of Pripyat
An article posted Sunday on Yahoo! news chronicles the start of new construction Chernobyl. According to the article, titled "Doomed Chernobyl reactor to be buried in new coffin," states that a $505 million project maned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has gone underway. The project aims to build a new shelter over the preexisting one encasing the reactor. The current shelter has been leaking radiation out for several years now and it is hoped that this new shelter will stop the issue of leakage once and for all.
It's important that people know about the horrors of Chernobyl. There are several websites which chronicle the event, but there is also a Discovery Channel documentary on the 1986 disaster. Hosted on YouTube.com, the documentary can be seen here.
It's important that people know about the horrors of Chernobyl. There are several websites which chronicle the event, but there is also a Discovery Channel documentary on the 1986 disaster. Hosted on YouTube.com, the documentary can be seen here.
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