The recent dangers brought on by damage to the nuclear reactor at Fukushima have brought back memories of Chernobyl—in fact, these are the only two nuclear disasters to have earned a rating of seven on the international scale used to determine the severity of such accidents (though this time only one-tenth the radiation has been released). The anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is approaching on April 26.
Paris-based photojournalist Emmanuel Fradin has taken some photographs of this abandoned Ukrainian city, stark reminders of a disaster that is not truly over.
The New York Times has returned to the scene, and shares this story of the continued attempts to contain the effects of the Chernobyl disaster:
Twelve times a month — the maximum number of shifts the doctors will allow — Sergei A. Krasikov takes a train across the no man’s land and reports for work at a structure enclosing Reactor No. 4 known as “the sarcophagus.”
Among his tasks is to pump out radioactive liquid that has collected inside the burned-out reactor. This happens whenever it rains. The sarcophagus was built 25 years ago in a panic, as radiation streamed into populated areas after an explosion at the reactor, and now it is riddled with cracks.
Water cannot be allowed to touch the thing that is deep inside the reactor: about 200 tons of melted nuclear fuel and debris, which burned through the floor and hardened, in one spot, into the shape of an elephant’s foot. This mass remains so highly radioactive that scientists cannot approach it. But years ago, when they managed to place measurement instruments nearby, they got readings of 10,000 rem per hour, which is 2,000 times the yearly limit recommended for workers in the nuclear industry.
Read the full story to learn more about the similarities with Japan (and visit Emmanuel’s site for more images). A few brave workers have stayed at the Fukushima site, attempting to cool down the reactor and prevent the radiation from spreading. You have to wonder what the pictures will look like in 20 years.