Monday, March 14, 2011

A Trip To Chernobyl, 25 Years Later

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Henry Shukman recently visited Chernobyl, Ukraine — site of the world’s worst nuclear accident. Shukman tells us about the area, 25 years after the disaster: It’s one of the most toxic sites on earth and is teeming with wildlife. He writes in Outside Magazine about the people and wildlife living within Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone.

Other stories from Monday's show

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Kenny

    I took the Chernobyl/Pripyat tour in December 2008. I have many of the same photographs, except with the area covered in snow. Shukman is completely right, there’s a very strange feeling as you walk through this area where 50,000+ people used to live.

    He talked about the people (especially elderly) that still live around the area, but didn’t mention that many workers from Ukraine and Belarus come to work for a couple weeks at a time and live in old apartment buildings. There’s a train that runs between Chernobyl/Pripyat town and Slavutych that carries Ukrainian and Belarusian workers.

  • Private Sector Frog

    The Genetic changes. So we seem to be so afraid of our biotech industry…genetically modified seeds, etc. Here we have a continuous stream of genetically modified creatures and plants being created and joining the environment. Are these mutations effecting and propagating in the surrounding non-radiated flora and fauna? The report seems to indicate the mutations are limited to the effected area. I guess we need more studies.

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