Where is Chernobyl?

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant stands in northern Ukraine close to the Belarusian border, beside the Pripyat River. The nearest town was Pripyat, built for plant workers, where about 49,000 people lived before they were evacuated after the 1986 explosion of Reactor No. 4. A zone of about 30 km around the plant, known as the Exclusion Zone, remains largely uninhabited and covers roughly 2,600 square kilometres. The damaged reactor is covered by the New Safe Confinement, a giant steel arch slid into place in 2016. With people gone, wildlife such as wolves, elk and Przewalski’s horses has thrived in the zone.