Workers who helped clean up contamination from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster hold flowers before placing them on a monument to their fallen comrades near the plant in Ukraine on April 21.

Volodymyr Vechirko (center), 62, one of the workers sent to clean up contamination from the Chernobyl plant, pours vodka during lunch near the plant on April 21.

Vechirko rides in a bus with fellow workers for a visit to the region ahead of the 40th anniversary of the disaster in Chernobyl on April 21.

An abandoned classroom in the village of Dronki in the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve in Gomel Region, Belarus, on April 22.

Stanislav Tolumnyi, 65, a firefighter who worked to decontaminate areas near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 disaster, poses for a photo in a nearby abandoned town, on April 21.

Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, also one of the workers, poses for a photo near the plant on April 21.

Workers who were sent to clean up contamination after the disaster pass through a radiation inspection point during a gathering on April 21.

A worker tests samples on April 22 in the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve, a radioecological reserve in Belarus' southern Gomel Region created to enclose the territory most affected by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl plant.

A radiation monitor in the reserve on April 22.

Warning signs at the entrance to the reserve on April 22.

Radioactive Contamination! No Entry!

The warning sign at the entrance to the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve in Belarus' southern Gomel Region, near the Ukrainian border, is impossible to miss.

Its bold lettering and stark trefoil radiation symbol seem to fix their gaze on every visitor, discouraging any attempt to proceed.

On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine exploded, releasing more than 8 metric tons of highly radioactive material. Over 60,000 square kilometers of land were contaminated, and more than 3.2 million people were affected to varying degrees. It remains the most severe nuclear disaster in the history of civilian nuclear energy.

Belarus, itself a former Soviet republic at the time, suffered the brunt of the nuclear fallout.

As the iron gates of the exclusion zone at the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve in Belarus creaked open, the vehicle moved slowly along a narrow village road, as if crossing a boundary between present and past.

The road was scarred by years of neglect. Fallen trees lay scattered through the forest, while nameless wildflowers bloomed quietly in the marshes. The hum of the tires felt intrusive, breaking the heavy, almost unnatural silence.

"This was a school — a place where visitors now come to take photos," said Alexey Kazakov, head of the reserve's information department. After the disaster, then-Soviet authorities evacuated all settlements within a 30-kilometer radius of the plant, including the village of Dronki, where the school once stood.

Inside the abandoned classrooms, shattered glass and crumbling plaster covered the floor. Yellowed textbooks lay open to lessons frozen in time, and dusty backpacks still waited for children who never returned. A faded slogan — "Long Live May Day!" — hung on the wall, a haunting reminder that the joy of the 1986 holiday was abruptly stolen by radiation. For residents in the contaminated zone, life was permanently divided into "before" and "after".

As the vehicle moved deeper into the exclusion zone, the radiation monitor's reading climbed, and its beeping warning grew increasingly urgent.

"There is no completely safe place here; we are always exposed to some radiation," explained Maxim Kudin, deputy director of the reserve. However, because tourist areas are grass-covered and relatively dust-free, short visits carry limited risk.

Revisiting history

To this day, what lingers most deeply from this disaster are the people who came to help back then. Four years after the disaster, 600,000 people joined the dangerous cleanup.

Helicopters hovered above the exposed radioactive core, dropping sand and other materials to smother the fire. Workers washed radioactive dust from buildings and roads, buried poisoned machinery, cleared forests and hunted animals to slow the spread of radiation.

A group of the workers who live in Ukraine's Poltava region returned ahead of the 40th anniversary of the accident for a one-day trip to Chernobyl.

Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, was sent to Chernobyl in summer 1986 to clear away topsoil, clean buildings and make the other still-functioning reactors on the site safe. He has been ill for much of his life, which he attributes to working at the disaster site, including chronic dizziness, weakness and frequent pain.

Because of his poor health, he said, he lost touch with colleagues."Being back here now, the emotions are overwhelming," he said. "It's incredibly sad to compare what this place was to what it is now."

Oleksii Harbuz, 72, a medical officer during that time, was close to the human costs of the disaster. Returning for the first time in decades, he recalled colleagues who have since died and the bonds formed among survivors.

"This 40th anniversary represents both a deep tragedy and a vital chance to reunite with my brothers-in-arms," he said. "So many of our colleagues have passed away over the years, but those of us remaining hold on."

Scientific research

Since 2018, about 5,000 people have visited the reserve. Scientists accompany visitors, helping them understand the radiation levels, risks, and the gradual recovery of the ecosystem.

Over four decades, Belarus has worked to mitigate the disaster's impact. By 2025, it had implemented multiple national programs, significantly reducing contamination; about half of the affected agricultural land had been restored.

Advances in research have also improved detection and monitoring of radioactive elements, with the reserve's laboratories ranked among the world's best in this regard.

Experimental economic activities- including horse breeding, forestry, and beekeeping — have been introduced into less-contaminated areas. Researchers study how radioactive elements transfer through ecosystems while ensuring strict safety controls. According to Kudin, it is possible to produce goods that meet national safety standards under controlled conditions. The goal is to develop models for safe economic use of affected land.

In the reserve, horses graze calmly, and apiaries produce several tons of honey each year, "just as sweet as anywhere else", a beekeeper noted.

From a fire watchtower, the distant outline of the Chernobyl plant is visible, its reactor encased beneath a gleaming arch. Around it, forests have returned to life.

Yet the scars of the disaster remain. Environmental healing could take centuries, and the question of how to harness nuclear energy safely continues to challenge humanity.