What is Chernobyl and Pripyat like today?

Thirty years on from the dreaded time when a blast pulverized reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl's Nuclear Power Station in the previous Soviet Union, Chernobyl today is only a shadow of its former self. Today in Chernobyl and in the surrounding areas, five million individuals live on intensely defiled grounds and a huge number of individuals have suffered or are still enduring the loss of Chernobyl.

The aggregate loss of life from diseases from the disaster is anticipated to achieve 4,000 for individuals presented to high measurements of radiation, and another 5,000 passing among the individuals who had less radiation exposure, as indicated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Even today in Chernobyl, many associations say there is no confirmation of higher rates of death or diseases for the 5 million individuals living on tainted terrains in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

A few specialists, researchers and health laborers who live and work in the area predict the loss of life will be far higher, up to 1 million under a most dire outcome imaginable according to a study distributed by the New York Academy of Sciences in 2011. They understand that it's hard to separate common rates of cancer with that suffered from the radiation of Chernobyl. However, on the basis of clinical confirmation, it is predicted that Chernobyl and its nearby cities will continue to suffer.

How dangerous is Chernobyl today?

The reports in Ukraine suggest that the radiation issue of Chernobyl is solidly in the past and that the main suffering for the population is over. The Ukrainian government also predicts that the situation in Chernobyl today is ever improving. But according to Liudmyla Zakrevska, president of Children of Chernobyl, in actuality this issue is not dispersing any time soon and more and people might continue to be hit hard.

Chernobyl and Pripyat today still has problems in terms of families settling there and couple’s reproducing. The horror of 1986 is still in the minds of the public. Though some families came back to settle in their homes after the explosion but the majority is still unwilling to come back. The government and health authorities still fear that any families settling in Chernobyl and Pripyat will have problems in eating radiated food, producing deformed babies and in contracting health diseases. Villagers known as Babushka (women in scarfs) have come back to their beloved towns but that does not give the place the same old feeling.

What Chernobyl and Pripyat looks like today?

The city of Chernobyl and the town of Pripyat do not hold the same life as a normal Ukrainian city would. The Ukrainian government is trying their best to breathe new life into the place by promoting tourism but there is still a long way to go before normality can resume. To this date, food consumed within the limits of the 30km Chernobyl exclusion zone comes from the outside territories. The food is specially sealed and delivered to the contaminated areas in order to keep is radiation free. The animals and birds in the region are scarce and the ones that are available cannot be slaughtered for food as there is a hint of radiation in their meat. The plants today also do not give a better picture as the consumable plants are strictly off limits by the authorities for the danger of containing radiation particles.

As far as the tourism is concerned, there are many touring companies taking tourists to the Chernobyl area. They are taken around the emptied buildings and localities. There are a few hotels as well that encourage tourists in spending a day or two there but the authorities are still skeptical of anyone staying there for a longer period of time. The city still does not allow anyone to keep their windows open because of the radiation particles. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, the radiation waves have decimated to a large extent but the rebirth of the city is still a tall order.

Pripyat town is the same abandoned place as it has been for the past thirty years. This place gives a deserted look. Building and houses still have clothes, broken furniture, rotten walls and old appliances still there as if someone just left the place yesterday. The belongings of the people are still there but in a very poor condition. The schools still have chairs, writing boards, damaged books, etc. but no one to use them or replace them. The parks still have eroded and rusted swings and benches. The place has not been cleaned or renovated in any way by the authorities because of the fear that those building still contain gasses from the radiation of Chernobyl. The place has now become a sightseeing spot rather than a residential unit that it once was.

Ukraine's Ministry of Health also said many parts of the nation outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, approximately 20-mile span from the power plant, shows lower levels of unsafe radioactive components, for example, cesium-137 and strontium-90.

Chernobyl power plant today

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is under strict surveillance at all times. There are scientists and healthcare workers working day and night to keep the reactor no.4 under watch and to monitor the state of the sarcophagus. Due to the New Safe Confinement being built, there is a large contingent of experts continuously overlooking the construction and any new activity within the reactor. French consortium working on the NSC has had scientists and construction labor settled in the area but there are still hard thought measures in place to protect everyone such as workers are asked to wear special clothing all the time and their food is transferred into Chernobyl from the outside.

But as far as the reactor no.4 and its sarcophagus is concerned, it is very much under control now. The workers have witnessed birds going in and out of the 60 holes of the sarcophagus, which were made to examine the inside condition of the shelter. The movement of birds indicate that the radiation levels have lessened and not as lethal as before. Secondly, the heavy investment done on the new shelter by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has also given the place a safer outlook.