Welcome to the Exclusion Zone

On April 26, 1986, Reactor Number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded during a safety test gone catastrophically wrong. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history — releasing 400 times more radiation than the Hiroshima bomb.

The nearby city of Pripyat, built in 1970 specifically to house the plant's workers and their families, was home to 49,000 people. Within 36 hours of the explosion, every single resident was evacuated. They were told to pack for three days. They never came back.

Today the Exclusion Zone — a 30-kilometer radius around the reactor — is one of the most extraordinary places on Earth. Abandoned buildings crumble under forests of birch and pine, wolves roam empty streets, and the massive New Safe Confinement arch seals the destroyed reactor. Let's explore.