Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation (Ukrainian: Зона відчуження Чорнобильської АЕС, zona vidchuzhennya Chornobyl's'koyi AES) is the officially designated exclusion area around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It is commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and also as the 30 Kilometer Zone or simply The Zone (Ukrainian: Чорнобильська зона, Chornobyl's'ka zona). Established soon after the disaster in 1986 by the USSR military it initially existed as an area of 30 kilometer radius from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant designated for evacuation and placed under military control, it now covers a much larger area and is managed by an agency of the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergencies. The power plant itself and its sarcophagus (and replacement) are administered separately.
The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 km2 in Ukraine immediately surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where radioactive contamination from fallout is highest and public access and inhabitation are restricted. The Zone borders Belarus to the north where it adjoins a separately administered area, the Polesie state radiation and ecological reserve. Other areas of compulsory resettlement and voluntary relocation which are not part of the restricted exclusion zone exist in the surrounding areas and throughout Ukraine.
The purpose of the Exclusion Zone is to restrict access to hazardous areas, reduce the spread of radiological contamination and conduct radiological and ecological monitoring activities. Today, the Exclusion Zone is one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world and draws significant scientific interest due to the high levels of radiation exposure in the environment, as well as increasing interest from tourists.
Geographically, it includes the northernmost raions (districts) of the Kiev and Zhytomyr oblasts (regions) of Ukraine.
Read more about Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: Infrastructure, Cultural References
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