Chernobyl plant & Exclusion Zone

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a restricted area in northern Ukraine around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where a serious accident happened in 1986. Soviet authorities first drew a 30-kilometre circle around the plant, and people were evacuated.

Today the zone covers about 2,600 square kilometres in Ukraine and is still managed to limit radiation risks. Visitors are tightly controlled, and since the 2022 Russian invasion the area has been closed to tourists. It also draws scientific interest, because researchers can study how nature recovers when people leave. Some other areas of resettlement lie beyond the zone, across Ukraine. A Ukrainian state agency manages the zone today.

What happened here?

Before 1986 the region, part of the Polesia woodland and marshland, was home to around 120,000 people living in the towns of Chernobyl and Pripyat and in 187 smaller communities. After the accident, the area was evacuated and put under military control.

Public access is restricted to keep people away from dangerous spots, stop contamination spreading, and allow scientists to monitor radiation and ecology.

Why is there so much wildlife?

With almost no people since 1986, nature has taken over. The zone has become a sanctuary with diverse plants and animals and some of the thickest forests in Ukraine.

Wolves, elk and the rare Przewalski's horse are among the animals reported there. Scientists are interested in how living things cope with the radiation, although the zone remains one of the most contaminated places on Earth.

On the globe

Find it on the globe in northern Ukraine near the Belarus border and zoom in to open its card.