Nearly 20 years after the initial events of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 26 1986, the story is still unfolding. This month’s National Geographic Magazine tells of the “long shadow of Chernobyl” — grown children of the disaster now fear having their own children while some elderly residents return to their old homes inside the 1,000 square mile, still contaminated “exclusion zone.” The print article seemed to offer hope, noting that even the pines of the “red forest” — so called because they received so much radiation that it bleached the chlorophyl from them, and some say the trees actually glowed — are beginning to grow back now. But the multimedia companion materials tell a somewhat more morose tale.
Posted March 26, 2006 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Politics & Controversy. Tags: 1986, 20 years, 26 April, 26 April 1986, abandoned, abandoned city, april, catastrophe, chernobyl, chernobyl nuclear explosion, chernobyl tour, chernobyl-4, chnpp, chornobyl, disaster, ghost town, history, nuclear catastrophe, nuclear disaster, nuclear explosion, nuclear power, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactor, pripjat, pripyat, pripyat river, radiation, reactor fire, russia, soviet, soviet union, tchernobyl, ukrain, ussr. 8 Comments.