Three and a half decades after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, Ukrainian officials are transforming the abandoned Chernobyl Exclusion Zone into a memorial that educates and warns tourists about the consequences of human error.

On the night of April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded and caught fire, sending radioactive material into the air just 65 miles north of the capital, Kiev. Despite the health risks of the explosion, Soviet leaders tried to keep the accident quiet. according to the AP.

Radiation from the explosion immediately killed 31 factory workers and firefighters, and later thousands more from radiation-related diseases such as cancer. The Guardian reported. Eventually tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the surrounding areas.

“This is a place of tragedy and memory, but it is also a place to see how a person can overcome the consequences of a global disaster,” said Bohdan Borukhovskyi, Ukraine’s deputy environment minister, according to the AP. “We want a new narrative to appear – it was not a zone of exclusion, but a zone of development and revival.”

Ukrainian officials hope to include Chernobyl as part of the plan to remodel Chernobyl’s gritty narrative as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “We believe that adding Chernobyl to the UNESCO World Heritage List is a first and important step in creating this great place as a unique travel destination for all of humanity,” Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said, according to The Guardian. “The importance of the Chernobyl zone extends well beyond the borders of Ukraine … It’s not just about commemoration, but also about history and people’s rights,” he added.

Officials have taken initial steps to make the site a memorial in hopes of attracting more tourists and funds, the AP reported.

Other initiatives include the use of part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as a storage facility for the country’s nuclear waste for the next 100 years. Ukraine is currently transporting its nuclear waste to Russia, so the new Chernobyl repository will save the government up to US $ 200 million a year. the AP reported.

Ukrainian officials also hope to turn Chernobyl into a tourist attraction. Attendance doubled in 2019 following the release of the critically acclaimed HBO Miniseries about the disaster, Euronews reported. Although pandemic restrictions stopped travel in 2020, officials hope the site will eventually make more money for future restorations.

“Our tourism is unique; it is not a classic concept of tourism,” said Borukhovskyi, according to Euronews. “This is an area of ​​meditation and reflection, an area where you can see the effects of human error, however [where] You can also see human heroism correcting it. ”

Nowadays, thanks to the low levels of radiation, it is relatively safe to visit certain parts of the exclusion zone with an experienced guide. Despite higher levels of radiation in other areas, the zone thrives with bears, bison, wolves, lynx and dozens of species of birds, the AP reported. Biologists also use the site to study how animals adapt to radiation and find that they are surprisingly resistant to exposure.

The title of UNESCO World Heritage Site could mean additional protection and more visitors for Chernobyl, but Tkachenko warns that “Chernobyl shouldn’t become a wild playground for adventure hunters,” according to the AP. “People should leave the exclusion zone with the awareness of the historical memory of this place and its importance for all of humanity.”

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