Kerrigan, Michael 26 April 1986: Chernobyl

On 26 April 1986, the unthinkable happened near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat: two massive steam explosions ruptured No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, immediately killing 30 people and setting off the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosions were followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released huge amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere for the next nine days, spreading across the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and especially neighbouring Belarus, where around 70% of the waste landed. The following clean-up operation involved more than half a million personnel at a cost of $68 billion, and a further 4000 people were estimated to have died from disaster-related illnesses in the following 20 years. Some 350000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident (including 95 villages in Belarus), and much of the area returned to the wild, with the nearby city of Pripyat now a ghost town. "Chernobyl" provides a photographic exploration of the catastrophe and its aftermath in 180 authentic photos. See the twisted wreckage of No. 4 Reactor, the cause of the nuclear disaster; marvel at historic photos of the clean-up operation, with helicopters spraying decontamination liquid and liquidators manually clearing radioactive debris; see the huge cooling pond used to cool the reactors, and which today is home to abundant wildlife, despite the radiation; explore the ghost town of Pripyat, with its decaying apartment blocks, empty basketball courts, abandoned amusement park, wrecked schools, and deserted streets.

More than half a million people were involved in the subsequent clean-up, at a cost of around $68bn, and it is estimated that a further 4,000 people died from disaster-related illnesses over the following 20 years. Some 350000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident (including 95 villages in Belarus), and much of the area went wild, with the nearby town of Pripyat now a ghost town. The book offers a photographic exploration of the disaster and its aftermath in 180 authentic photographs. See the twisted rubble of reactor no. 4, the cause of the nuclear disaster; marvel at historic photos of the clean-up operation, where helicopters sprayed decontamination fluid and liquidators manually removed the radioactive debris; see the huge cooling pond that was used to cool the reactors and is now home to abundant wildlife despite the radiation; explore the ghost town of Pripyat with its decaying apartment blocks, empty basketball courts, abandoned amusement park, destroyed schools and deserted streets.