Published TUESDAY, April 30, 2023: 'Chernobyl: Frozen In Time' Pictures by ZUMA Press award winning photographer Gabriel Romero: On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear disaster occurred in reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. The fallout and subsequent meltdown released radioactive contamination across Ukraine, Russia and Europe. Officially, 31 people died directly from the disaster, unofficially the long-term effects of radiation poisoning have led to the deaths of thousands. Over the course of the last 38 years, nature has begun to reclaim that which was built by man. The legacy of Chernobyl is a lesson to the world on the responsibility of nuclear power. Welcome to 'Chernobyl: Frozen In Time'
© zReportage.com Issue #937 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY, April 30, 2023: 'Chernobyl: Frozen In Time' Pictures by ZUMA Press award winning photographer Gabriel Romero: On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear disaster occurred in reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. The fallout and subsequent meltdown released radioactive contamination across Ukraine, Russia and Europe. Officially, 31 people died directly from the disaster, unofficially the long-term effects of radiation poisoning have led to the deaths of thousands. Over the course of the last 38 years, nature has begun to reclaim that which was built by man. The legacy of Chernobyl is a lesson to the world on the responsibility of nuclear power. Welcome to 'Chernobyl: Frozen In Time'

A statue of Prometheus reaches into a cloud filled sky outside of reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a figure who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was punished by Zeus.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

Nature overtakes an abandoned apartment building in Pripyat. Officially proclaimed a city in 1979, Pripyat had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A classroom in elementary school number 3 acts as a time capsule from 1986. Student's projects and papers still lie on their desks after all these years. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

An aging mural on the wall of the post office in Pripyat featuring a Soviet era Cosmonaut. Years of humidity and freezing winter temperatures have added to its decline.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The decaying basketball court inside the Palace of Culture in Pripyat in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A single red chair sits among the detritus of a crumbling house in Pripyat. Pripyat is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded 1970 as the ninth 'atomgrad' (Soviet closed town) to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in the adjacent ghost city of Chernobyl.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The bumper car attraction at the Pripyat Amusement Park. The park was set to open on May 1, 1986; however, those plans were cancelled on April 26 when the Chernobyl disaster occurred a few kilometers away.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The Ferris wheel at the Pripyat Amusement Park. The attraction only operated for one day as local authorities attempted to use the ride as a distraction from the danger the population now faced.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A stained-glass window inside the post office in Pripyat. Nuclear power stations were presented as achievements of Soviet engineering, harnessing nuclear power for peaceful projects. The slogan 'peaceful atom' was popular during those times.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A cash register and Soviet era gas mask at the cafeteria inside of elementary school number 3.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Complex consists of four separate reactors. However, it was the number 4 reactor that suffered a meltdown on April 26, 1986, in what would become the world's worst nuclear accident. Reactor number 4 is now encased in a concrete and steel sarcophagus to contain the radioactive contamination. A monument to the men that risked their lives to build the first sarcophagus stands in front of the reactor.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The now empty Azure Swimming Pool and diving platforms inside the Palace Of Culture Sports Complex which was completed in the 1970's in Pripyat.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A Geiger Counter in one of the more contaminated areas of the town of Pripyat shows a reading of 15.58 Micro Sieverts per hour (uSv/h). This level of radiation is considered less than a human would receive from a chest X-Ray.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

The remains of the Duga Radar Station now lie rusting deep in the radioactive forest a few kilometers from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Duga Radar was an over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system used in the Soviet Union as part of its early-warning radar network for missile defense.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A weather worn, radiation warning sign on the side of a vehicle that was used during the clean-up (liquidation) of the site during the early days of the disaster in 1986. The Chernobyl disaster began on 26 April 1986 with the explosion of the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at seven, the maximum severity, on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being Fukushima in 2011.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

Hundreds of Soviet era gas masks lie in a pile inside of elementary school number 3. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A park bench outside of a decaying apartment complex in Pripyat. Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the entire population of Pripyat was moved to the purpose-built city of Slavutych.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A hallway inside of elementary school number 3 and student's textbooks strewn atop a table with one of them open to a portrait of the Mona Lisa.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A male Orange-Tip Butterfly (Anthocharis Cardamines) in the abandoned city of Pripyat. Despite the radiation, wildlife has returned to the area over the course of the last 38 years.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire

A lone house lies abandoned near the city of Pripyat ever since the meltdown at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986. The city of Pripyat is in northern Ukraine approximately twelve kilometers from the Belarusian border. The population of Pripyat was relocated to the newly built city of Slavutych, and most have never returned.
© Gabriel Romero/ZUMA Press Wire