Former ‘liquidators’ who helped contain the Chornobyl disaster returned to the exclusion zone this week, some wearing the makeshift uniforms and protective gear they used in 1986. Around 600,000 people were mobilised to clear fallout after the reactor four explosion at 01:23 on 26 April 1986, and the one-day visit by surviving soldiers, firefighters, engineers and medics comes amid renewed debate over the human and environmental toll. Access to the zone has been restricted since Russia’s 2022 invasion, limiting research and tourist visits.
Return to the exclusion zone
A group of former cleanup workers from Ukraine’s Poltava region travelled back to the Chornobyl site for a one-day visit this week, more than four decades after they were ordered to contain the emergency. They returned wearing the hastily issued uniforms and improvised protective equipment they once used — a reminder of the conditions under which the Soviet-era response unfolded.
The area around the plant remains fenced off. The nearby city of Pripyat, which once held about 48,000 residents, still stands empty inside the exclusion zone. This zone covers thousands of square kilometres across northern Ukraine and parts of neighbouring Belarus.
Once open to visitors, the zone has been closed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, changing how the site is managed and who can reach it. That closure has also allowed natural processes to take hold in places where humans were forced out.
What the liquidators did
‘Liquidator’ applied to soldiers, firefighters, engineers, miners and medical staff mobilised by Soviet authorities to limit the disaster’s spread. Their duties included:
- Flying aircraft above the damaged reactor to drop materials intended to smother and seal the exposed core.
- Scrubbing radioactive dust from streets and buildings and burying contaminated machinery.
- Clearing affected forests and undertaking other decontamination and containment tasks, often with improvised protective equipment.
Work continued for years. Source records indicate the response stretched over about four years and involved roughly 600,000 people drawn from across the Soviet Union. Many ordered into the zone had little idea of the risks they faced; the same men and women who carried out those early tasks are now living links to the scale of the operation and its long-running human consequences.
How the disaster unfolded
The explosion in reactor four occurred during a safety test and sent a vast plume of radioactive smoke into the atmosphere, setting nuclear fuel alight. Helicopters dropped large quantities of sand, clay and lead as part of efforts to smother the blaze. Fuel continued to burn for more than 10 days while teams worked to stabilise the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency later pointed to "severe deficiencies in the design of the reactor and the shutdown system" and breaches of operating procedures as causes of the accident. Contamination affected Ukraine, neighbouring Belarus and parts of Russia, and radiation spread across Europe.
Environmental change and restricted access
With people gone, nature has reclaimed many parts of the exclusion zone. Flora and fauna have returned to abandoned streets and buildings; rare species such as Przewalski’s horses have been observed roaming in areas that were once densely populated.
That rewilding has become part of how the disaster is remembered and studied. But closure of the zone since 2022 has limited scientific and tourist access. Where the zone had been a place for guided visits and research, it is now more tightly controlled — changing how conservation, commemoration and economic use are balanced.
Political and economic implications
The anniversary has reopened debate in Ukraine and beyond about the human cost of the clean-up and the governance of contaminated landscapes.
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Helicopters dropped thousands of tonnes of sand, clay and lead while the reactor’s fuel burned for more than 10 days after the explosion at 01:23 on 26 April 1986.
This article was created with AI assistance.
