Pripyat: 21 years after Chernobyl
By Quintin Lake
5 Nov 2009
When reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded in 1986 the result was the worst nuclear accident in history. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were severely contaminated, requiring the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people.
Pripyat, 1km from the reactor, was designed as an exemplar of Soviet planning for the 50,000 people who worked at the power plant. A funfair, with bumper cars and Ferris wheel, was due to open two days after the reactor exploded.
These photographs, inspired by Robert Polidori's earlier images of Chernobyl, were shot in 2007 over 5 hours, apparently the safe period of exposure. Although a Geiger counter was carried in case of localised high emissions, certain areas of vegetation which attract a higher concentration of radiation were avoided. Trees have grown through cracks in the streets and around all the buildings, diffusing the light and giving the objects inside a eerie studio lit appearance.
The physical devastation stems from looting and gradual building collapse, not from the explosion. Over the last ten years people have intruded regularly into the military exclusion zone, stealing everything from irradiated toilet seats to the marble cladding from hotel walls. Photographs of the town capture a memory of three traumas: the invisible radiation, the visible looting and the gradual collapse of a ghost town.
5 responses
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Kevin Stokes gave props (5 Nov 2009):
Awesome essay, great work.
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i.m. xssiv gave props (5 Nov 2009):
Outstanding
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Kristin Mitchell said (5 Nov 2009):
really interesting story, worthy of publication. x
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Sande Barrett gave props (5 Nov 2009):
Eerie yet touching
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David McKenzie gave props (5 Nov 2009):
Wow. Amazing. Thank you for bringing these photos.
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