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Revisiting Chernobyl: The Bitter and the Sweet - Part 1

In Russian and Ukrainian, the word From a bird's eye view the town of Pripyat, only three kilometers from the ill-fated Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, looks like a leafy green suburb of a mid-sized city. But in fact Pripyat is a The city of Pripyat, once home to 45,000 people, was completely evacuated the day after the accident. The Ferris wheel in the background is frozen in time -- part of a small amusement park scheduled to open on the first of May in 1986, but never did.Dr. Katerina Ganzha, a former resident of Pripyat, stands in the doorway of what was once her apartment. The day after the accident she, like all her neighbors, was evacuated. The residents were told to take with them their documents and money and believed they would be back soon. None of them ever returned.At the time of the accident, Dr. Katerina Ganzha was Deputy Head Doctor of the Pripyat Polyclinic and one of the first physicians to treat patients in the Pripyat hospital immediately following the nuclear power plant accident. Known as “liquidators” or clean-up workers, Dr. Ganzha and her colleagues were exposed to high radiation doses.Debris and crumbling plaster are all that remain of the ground floor of the Pripyat Polyclinic. Marauders have pillaged the furniture and equipment.The ill-fated 4th block of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine stands eerily quiet.The so- called In looking for clues about the environmental effects of the radiation fall-out, scientists use nature's Taking samples from the Pripyat River is a daily routine of the Chernobyl Ecological Center. Sampling the water helps scientists better understand the migration patterns of radionuclides in the waterways.This male mouse will be released, as well as the other mice, with a tag around his neck to trace his life history if caught again. In this way, researchers can observe the effect of high doses of radiation in mammals.Scientists Brenda E. Rogers from Texas A&M University (right) and local researcher Julia Gorjanaja in the Slavutich Radioecological Laboratory are studying mice from the heavily contaminated landscape in the vicinity of the power plant.An anonymous note, written in haste on the information board in the Pripyat polyclinic reads: 'I LOVE YOU PRIPYAT, FORGIVE ME'.
Last update: 10 September 2014

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