Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Зона відчуження Чорнобильської АЕС (Ukrainian) Zone of Alienation, 30-kilometre Zone | |
---|---|
The entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone at Checkpoint "Dytiatky" | |
Etymology: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the disaster | |
![]() Chernobyl zonal boundaries (red) | |
Location of the exclusion zone in Kyiv Oblast Location of the exclusion zone in Ukraine | |
Coordinates: 51°18′00″N 30°00′18″E / 51.3°N 30.005°E | |
Country | ![]() |
Oblasts | Kyiv Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast (de jure)[1] |
Raion | Vyshhorod Raion |
Founded | 27 April 1986 | (current borders established circa 1997)
Area | |
• Total | 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi) |
Population (2016) | |
• Total | 180 samosely[2] For others the Exclusion Zone is an "Area of Absolute (Mandatory) Resettlement". Employees of state agencies are resident in the Zone on a temporary basis.[3][4] |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Website | dazv.gov.ua |
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation[a] is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.[5]: p.4–5 : p.49f.3 It is also commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the 30-Kilometre Zone, or simply The Zone.[5]: p.2–5 [b]
Established soon after the 1986 disaster, it initially existed as an area of 30 km (19 mi) radius from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant designated for evacuation and placed under military control.[6][7] Its borders have since been altered to cover a larger area of Ukraine. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone borders a separately administered area, the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, to the north in Belarus. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is managed by an agency of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, while the power plant and its sarcophagus (and replacement) are administered separately.
The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi)[8] in Ukraine immediately surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant where radioactive contamination is highest and public access and habitation are restricted. Other areas of compulsory resettlement and voluntary relocation not part of the restricted Exclusion Zone exist in the surrounding areas and throughout Ukraine.[9] In February 2019 it was revealed that talks were underway to redraw the boundaries of the Exclusion Zone to reflect the declining radioactivity of the Zone's outer areas.[10]
The Exclusion Zone's purpose is to restrict access to hazardous areas, reduce the spread of radiological contamination, and conduct radiological and ecological monitoring activities.[11] Today, the Exclusion Zone is one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world and draws significant scientific interest for the high levels of radiation exposure in the environment, as well as increasing interest from tourists.[12][13] The zone has become a thriving sanctuary with natural flora and fauna with some of the highest biodiversity and thickest forests in all of Ukraine. This is due to the lack of human activity in the Exclusion Zone and is despite the radiation.[14]
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was the site of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces during the capture of Chernobyl on 24 February 2022, and during its eventual liberation during a Ukrainian counterattack two months later, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[15] The exclusion zone remains closed to tourists pending the eventual cessation of hostilities in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Geographically, it includes the northernmost part of Vyshhorod Raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast (region).
Oskolkovetal
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).DohertySaric
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search