"What is the exclusion zone, and what is it like?" - The question is undoubtedly interesting. Many mistakenly believe that this awesome name is assigned only to the territory contaminated with radioactive waste in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. However, the concept applies to any environment exposed to chemical, radioactive and other pollution. The exclusion zone is the place where the disaster occurred, due to which the earth, air or water, due to contamination with harmful substances, became dangerous to human life.
Undoubtedly, the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a vivid example of an environmental disaster. And, therefore, what is the exclusion zone. Therefore, we will dwell on it.
Emergency evacuation
On April 27, 1986, a day after the accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the state commission decided to “temporarily” evacuate citizens to nearby settlements of the Kiev region. All residents left the city in just six hours - such a quick operation was considered one of the most successful in the USSR in terms of logistics and organization.
Help to fellow citizens
All Ukraine learned about the exclusion zone and how dangerous it is. To provide temporary housing for the victims, the government turned to residents of the Kiev region for help. Many families responded to the request and sheltered everyone who did not have a roof over their heads. Just a month later, the government identified measures to provide housing for each family from the Chernobyl exclusion zone. In total, about 21,000 apartments were built, mainly in Kiev and Chernigov.
Tragedy for Europe
The Chernobyl tragedy of thirty years ago is still the largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind. Due to the dense concentration of the radioactive cloud and the direction of the wind, the consequences of the accident left a black mark on the territory of 17 European countries. Belarus received a high dose of contamination with radionuclides, especially the Gomel region, located near the Ukrainian border.
Below is a table of the total radionuclide contamination of European countries from the Chernobyl accident.
| A country | Territories with pollution over 1 CI / km2 | % of total fallout in Europe |
| Austria | 11.08 | 2.5 |
| Belarus | 43.50 | 23.4 |
| Great Britain | 0.16 | 0.8 |
| Germany | 0.32 | 1.9 |
| Greece | 1.24 | 1.1 |
| Italy | 1.35 | 0.9 |
| Norway | 7.18 | 3.1 |
| Poland | 0.52 | 0.6 |
| Russia | 59.30 | 29.7 |
| Romania | 1.20 | 2.3 |
| Slovakia | 0.02 | 0.3 |
| Slovenia | 0.61 | 0.5 |
| Ukraine | 37.63 | 18.8 |
| Finland | 19.00 | 4.8 |
| Czech | 0.21 | 0.5 |
| Switzerland | 0.73 | 0.4 |
| Sweden | 23.44 | 4.5 |
Dangerous area for health
The Chernobyl zone is unsuitable for life because of the long half-life of radioactive substances deposited in the soil. The half-life of the initial number of radio atoms is understood to be its twofold decrease (halving). The most "tenacious" and dangerous in the Chernobyl zone are the following radioactive substances:
- strontium-90 (subsection 29 years) - settles in bone tissue, destroying its structure;
- cesium-137 (n / a 30 years) - causes mutations and damage at the cellular level, a harbinger of cancerous tumors;
- plutonium-238 (86 years old) - one of the most dangerous chemicals, if ingested, leads to pulmonary edema and death;
- plutonium-239 (subsection 24.5 thousand years) - suppresses the immune system, leading to cirrhosis.
Based on such a "hellish mixture", it becomes obvious: living in Chernobyl is still dangerous.
When wondering what the exclusion zone in Chernobyl is and how large its territory is, do not forget the main thing: not only the city of Pripyat received a dose of chemical radiation, but also many nearby cities and towns, which means that they are also unsuitable for human life .
Below is a list of exclusion zones of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant marked on the map.
Exclusion Zone Today
A few years after the accident, the marauders carried out everything that was in the homes of civilians, because from the cozy apartments in the past there were only walls and memories. Shops and schools have turned into ruins, and fear and horror are blowing from former playgrounds. The Chernobyl tragedy showed an example of what will happen to our planet if all people disappear at once.
It seems that to find a person in such an area is not an easy task. But this is not so. Entire families live in the contaminated territory, however, most of them are elderly people. The Ukrainian authorities did not prevent those who wanted to return to their historical homeland, and even began to issue special passes. Residents of the restricted area receive humanitarian aid and farm: grow vegetables and keep livestock. Surprisingly, the small population practically does not complain about the state of health.
In addition to dumpers (as the inhabitants of Pripyat and its environs are called), about 3 thousand people work in Chernobyl, who serve the exclusion zone. The workers even have an administration, which is located very close to the nuclear BSEC.
There is another category of people whom you can increasingly meet in Chernobyl. For fans of extreme sports, the government provided the opportunity to conduct excursions. Chernobyl tourists are desperate people who live by the principle of "who does not risk, he does not drink champagne."