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Ghost town of Pripyat after Chernobyl disaster

On April 26, 1986, the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded causing the world's worst nuclear disaster

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A helicopter view of the town of Pripyat near the Chernobyl power station

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

Posters featuring portraits of the Soviet Union's Communist Party officials in an abandoned culture center in Pripyat near the Chernobyl power station

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A wall mural in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A general view of the deserted town of Pripyat

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

A ferris wheel in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A helicopter view of the abandoned town of Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

A ferris wheel in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

A former amusement park in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A graffiti in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

An abandoned building in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A graffiti on an abandoned building in Pripyat

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS/File

A former kindergarten in Pripyat

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

A radioactive waste disposal facility at the Chernobyl power station

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

A giant sheatfish seen in the former cooling pond of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

A view of the Pripyat River from a helicopter

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

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Chernobyl: Myths and facts

April 26 marks 30 years of the Chernobyl NPP disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine, caused by a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant that sent clouds of nuclear material into the atmosphere. The blast completely destroyed the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl NPP. According to experts, it was the worst nuclear power accident ever. More than 115,000 people were evacuated from the 30-km zone around the station. All 48,000 citizens of the town of Pripyat founded for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers were evacuated on April 27, 1986 due to the disaster. The town of Pripyat now standing empty within the Chernobyl exclusion zone - in this gallery by TASS

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