Before the Chernobyl reactor incident, the population in the town had been as high as 50,000 people. Nowadays, after the incident, there is nobody left anymore living in the town itself. The only regular residents are the animals, such as the deer and foxes that have come to live in the area of Chernobyl. The only people that live in Chernobyl are the ones that visit the site as tourists. No person would live in Chernobyl for an extended period of time because it is definitely still radioactive. And it is because of this radioactivity of the ground and area around Chernobyl that people are not allowed to live in the place. Staying in Chernobyl for an extended period of time could cause someone to develop cancerous tumors and other kinds of health problems.
The area around Chernobyl has been designated as the zone of alienation. It is located north in the country of Ukraine, in the Kiev Oblast area. Chernobyl is particularly close to the border of Belarus. The town used to be the site of a modern nuclear reactor. However, an incident caused the reactor to melt down and spread radioactive debris around its surroundings. The residents of the area were evacuated, however, the radioactive material that was spread around the town has contaminated its environment. It is expected that Prypiat and its surrounding area, will remain radioactive for hundreds of years. As it takes centuries for the radioactive material, such as cesium to fully decay.
Prypiat was a bustling town that was the place of residence for the workers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. And for a time the town prospered, as the Nuclear Power Plant supplied energy to the surrounding countries. And the incident in the Month of April 1986, was soon to change that though. A massive nuclear incident had occurred on that day, April 26th. The nuclear material that was spread from that incident threatened almost all of Europe at one point. And even until today, the Chernobyl Nuclear incident is still considered one of the worst nuclear-related accidents that have occurred so far.
Residents of Prypiat were all evacuated, but it took 3 full days to fully and permanently evacuate all of the people around Prypiat. And it was not only the town of Prypiat that was evacuated, the surrounding countryside around Prypiat was also evacuated as well. And the area around Prypiat was then called the Zone of alienation. If you visit the zone of alienation today, you would see ruins of the buildings from 1986.
Many of the residents of Prypiat died from the illnesses from the radiation that they were exposed to. And after the immediate deaths due to radiation sickness, there were also lasting effects to the people as well. Many babies were born with birth defects, due to the radiation.
If you visit Prypiat today, you would be amazed by the ruined buildings, deserted town, and the overgrown streets. Aside from the weird appearance of the town, you would also be surrounded by an invisible danger, which is radiation.