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 4,000 people were estimated to have died from disaster-related illnesses in the following 20 years. Some 350,000 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.
Publisher: Amber Books LtdISBN: 9781838862121Number of pages: 224Weight: 915 gDimensions: 250 x 192 x 22 mm
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