Thirty-five years after reactor no. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded and contaminated parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia with radioactive fallout, Ukrainian authorities are looking to cultivate the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone into a preserved monument in remembrance of the world's worst nuclear accident.
Ukrainian authorities want the zone to be considered for UNESCO World Heritage status, especially after a 2019 HBO dramatization bought the 1986 disaster back into modern focus and increased tourism to the area.
See how the site looks today.
19 photos
1/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
An abandoned carousel in the park is seen the ghost town of Pripyat close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
2/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A view of the ghost town of Pripyat with a shelter covering the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the background, Ukraine, April 15, 2021. The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income.
3/19
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
An abandoned village house and outbuildings are seen at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, April 13, 2021. The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes.
4/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
The rusty emblem of the Soviet Union is seen over Pripyat close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
5/19
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Abandoned country houses are seen at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, April 13, 2021. The Ukrainian authorities are calling for the exclusion zone of objects to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
6/19
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Denis Vishnevskiy, chief of the Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve, and his colleagues carry a box with a beaver preparing to release it into a forest at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, April 13, 2021. To the surprise of many who expected the area might be a dead zone for centuries, wildlife is thriving: bears, bison, wolves, lynx, wild horses and dozens of bird species.
7/19
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Deer are seen in a forest at the Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve exclusion zone, Ukraine, April 13, 2021. Wildlife is thriving in the exclusion zone, to the surprise of researchers and scientists.
8/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A man walks past a shelter covering the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
9/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Workers walk past the covered exploded reactor inside a shelter construction at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
10/19
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Yevgeny Markevich, a 85-year-old former teacher, leaves his house at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, April 14, 2021. Markevich said “It’s a great happiness to live at home, but it’s sad that it’s not as it used to be.”
11/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
The rusty emblem of the Soviet Union is seen over Pripyat close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
12/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A former supermarket in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, Feb. 4, 2020. Once home to some 50,000 people whose lives were connected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Pripyat was hastily evacuated one day after a plant reactor exploded on April 26, 1986.
13/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
People visit an abandoned amusement park in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine, Feb. 4, 2020.
14/19
Nicole Evatt/AP
A bumper car ride succumbs to decay and vegetation in an abandoned amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine, Sept. 20, 2017.
15/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A bulletin board with pictures of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin hangs on a wall in a school in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017.
16/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Small trees grow on a balcony in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017.
17/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
An edition of the newspaper Sovetsky Patriot, dated three days before the nuclear explosion, is attached to a bulletin board in a house of culture in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017.
18/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A decrepit piano stands in a school in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017. Once home to some 50,000 people whose lives were connected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Pripyat was hastily evacuated one day after a reactor at the plant two miles away exploded on April 26, 1986. The explosion and the subsequent fire spewed a radioactive plume over much of northern Europe.
19/19
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A gymnasium in a school as seen in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017.
