Faces of Chernobyl: Surviving the fallout 30 years on from the disaster

On 26 April it will be 30 years since reactor No4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the then Soviet Union exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history when vast amounts of radioactive material was leaked into the atmosphere.

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A blighted future?

Three decades later the effects of the catastrophe are still felt in the surrounding region. The once-thriving Soviet town of Pripyat, just 3km from the power station, remains abandoned, a ghost town filled with desolate streets, derelict homes and empty swimming pools. The town falls in a 30km exclusion zone surrounding the destroyed reactor, which still emits more than 25 times normal ambient radiation.

The World Health Organisation reports a large increase in the numbers suffering from thyroid cancer, leukemia and other forms of cancer for young children and adolescents at the time of the accident. It is expected that the increased incidence of cancer from Chernobyl will continue for many years, although the long-term magnitude of the risk is difficult to quantify.

In the second part of a special three-part documentary on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, IBTimes UK spoke with local residents, nuclear scientists and Chernobyl liquidators about how 30 years on people are still suffering from the effects of the disaster.