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A checkpoint at an entrance to the village near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, showing a warning sign and the radioactivity symbol
Image: Viktor Drachev/TASS/imago imagesImage: Viktor Drachev/TASS/imago images

Chernobyl

Chernobyl, Ukraine, was the site of a major nuclear disaster in 1986. When a systems test in a reactor there went out of control, the ensuing meltdown sent radioactive material across Europe.

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All Content on this topic

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Inside Europe 26.04.2018

France beefs up border security after militants highlight a new migrant route. Britain's royal events have church bells and cash registers ringing. The United States moves back into an air base it left more than a decade ago. The English town of Salisbury attempts to repair its reputation after the Skripal poisoning.
PoliticsApril 26, 201854:59 min
Chernobyl site (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Zenkovich)

Inside Europe: Chernobyl, 32 years on

How is nature adapting to the barren dead zone, 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?
Nature and EnvironmentApril 26, 201805:08 min
Firebugs collected near Fukushima (Photo: Mousseau & Moller)

Nuclear mutants

Biologist Timothy Mousseau has spent years studying mutant animals in Chernobyl and Fukushima — with surprising results.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 26, 2018
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Wildlife in Chernobyl

Wildlife is moving to villages that were abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986
April 26, 201803:45 min
Baba Gania sits in her home in the village of Kupovate

Chernobyl: The people who've stayed

Those who returned: A small number of people are still living in Chernobyl's exclusion zone. A photographic portrait.
CatastropheApril 24, 201810 images
Pyeongchang 2018 Oksana Masters

From Chernobyl victim to Paralympic gold medalist

The US athlete was born with birth defects due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
SportsMarch 14, 2018
Chernobyl elks

Chernobyl goes green

A German-Ukrainian consortium sets up a solar array in the exclusion zone around the disaster site.
BusinessNovember 21, 201701:15 min
Sign indicating radioactivity

Where to store nuclear waste for good?

Nuclear power plants have been churning out radioactive waste for decades. But we still don't know how to dispose of it.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 12, 2017
Ukraine Region Tschernobyl Schild

Chernobyl hostel opens for holidaymakers

The Ukrainian government has opened a hostel within the Chernobyl contamination zone.
TravelJune 7, 2017
this 1986 photo, a Chernobyl nuclear power plant worker holding a dosimeter

Chernobyl anniversary

The leaders of Ukraine and Belarus have marked the 31st anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.
CatastropheApril 26, 2017
Bohunice Nuclear Plant

Does nuclear power have a future?

31 years after the Chenobyl disaster, is nuclear energy a thing of the past?
Nature and EnvironmentApril 26, 201712 images
Gerd Ludwig, Fotojournalist und Fotograf

WorldLink: Through Gerd Ludwig's lens

German-American photojournalist Gerd Ludwig is best known for his work in post-Soviet Russia and Chernobyl.
MediaApril 21, 201707:47 min
China Geisterstadt Rushan city 01/2014

Eerie ghost towns around the world

Ghost towns worldwide
March 18, 201710 images
BdT Wildschwein-Plage in Schleswig-Holstein

Radioactivity in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic wild boars are still affected by the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl.
ScienceMarch 16, 201705:11 min
Symbolbild - USA Waffenlobby NRA Halbautomatisches Gewehr Messe Kind

Does gun violence research save lives?

Researchers say properly funded research into gun violence could reduce the number of homicides and suicides in the US.
ScienceMarch 13, 201729:59 min
Gerd Ludwig, Fotojournalist und Fotograf

WorldLink: Gerd Ludwig

Photojournalist Gerd Ludwig talks about finding inspiration, from post Soviet Russia to Los Angeles.
CultureJanuary 6, 201712:02 min
Ukraine Tiere in Tschernobyl

Reporter sentenced for 'radioactive' milk story

A Belarus court has ruled against AP journalist who reported on milk farms near Chernobyl.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 23, 2016
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World Stories - The Week in Reports

A new shelter for the ruins of Chernobyl, Samba dances to its 100th birthday in Brasil and more.
December 3, 201612:00 min
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New protective shield for Chernobyl reactor

Chernobyl reactor receives new protective shield to contain radiation.
December 3, 201602:38 min
Ukraine Sarkophag für Tschernobyl

Through the lens

We take a look through the lens at some environmental events and moments from around the world over the past week.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 1, 2016
Ukraine Sarkophag für Tschernobyl

A new cover for Chernobyl

The construction of a new protective shell for the Chernobyl reactor ruin has taken six years.
ScienceNovember 29, 2016
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New protective shield for Chernobyl reactor

Chernobyl reactor receives new protective shield to contain radiation.
Nature and EnvironmentNovember 28, 201602:40 min
Ukraine neuer Sarkofag für den Atommeiler in Tschernobyl

Chernobyl reactor gets new cover

A giant arch to contain radioactive waste at the site of the Chernobyl disaster has begun to be moved into place.
Nature and EnvironmentNovember 14, 2016
Atomkraftwerk in Taishan, China

Nuclear energy - An error or the future?

While nuclear plants are being built all over the world, Germany is phasing out atomic energy.
BusinessMay 24, 201601:31 min
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EU still sees nuclear energy in its future

The EU Commission intends to strengthen its technological dominance in the nuclear sector.
May 17, 201601:39 min
Ukraine Region Tschernobyl Puppe

WorldLink: Exclusion zone

It’s been 30 years since the catastrophic disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Although the area is virtually uninhabitable, some people have returned to their homes and ‘Chernobyl tourism’ is also on the rise. DW takes you to the exclusion zone and introduces you to a woman, who has been taking care of Chernobyl children for more than two decades.
April 29, 201617:44 min
Anti-Atomkraft

WorldLink: Fallout

Chernobyl tourism on the rise, plus the British woman who has been taking care of Chernobyl children.
April 29, 201655:00 min
Radioactivity symbol with rust

Living Planet: Nuclear hopes and hazards

Tourists flock to Chernobyl 30 years after the nuclear disaster, controversy looms over Britain's planned nuclear project, clean energy's thirst poses risks to water resources, and Germany's brown coal gets a green makeover.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 28, 201629:59 min
Nuclear plant Isar in Germany (Picture: picture alliance/chromorange/T. Marx)

Atomic uncertainty

Few new nuclear power plants were built in Europe after Chernobyl. Despite large capacity, aging plants are risky.
April 26, 2016
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@dwnews - Tourism in Chernobyl?

April 26, 201602:15 min
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Ukraine still dealing with Chernobyl aftermath

Thirty years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine still has a major nuclear waste storage problem.
BusinessApril 26, 201601:59 min
A new protective covering in Chernobyl, Ukraine (Picture: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Stein)

Chernobyl's new protective shell

The German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has visited Chernobyl - almost 30 years after the nuclear accident.
April 26, 2016
Solar field in Urkaine

Chernobyl: 30 years on

Three decades on, Chernobyl's effects continue to be felt by humans and habitat alike.
April 26, 201610 images
Ukraine President Petro Poroschenko lays a wreath at the Chernobyl memorial

Ukraine marks Chernobyl anniversary

Donors have promised more funds to help ensure Chernobyl's safety, as the world marks 30 years since the disaster.
April 26, 2016
Ukraine Region Tschernobyl Schild

Living in the dead zone

Life in Chernobyl's exclusion zone
ScienceApril 25, 201606:37 min
Gerd Ludwig, copyright: DW/U. Sommer

Chernobyl photographer documents disaster site for 30 years

Gerd Ludwig reflects on his many visits to the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
April 25, 2016
Copyright: Gerd Ludwig, Nataional Geographic Creative

The Chernobyl photos that have shaped our memory

The nuclear disaster of Chernobyl became photographer Gerd Ludwig's life's work.
CultureApril 25, 20165 images
Tour guide Vita Polyakova stands in a derelict sports hall in Pripyat

Chernobyl 30 years on, a Soviet legacy

The survivors of Chernobyl continue to fight for recognition 30 years after the nuclear disaster.
April 25, 201612 images

Arts.21 - The Cultural Magazine | 23.04.2016

The Marrakesh Biennale, and moving pictures from the legacy of Chernobyl's nuclear disaster.
April 25, 2016
Gerd Ludwig, Fotojournalist und Fotograf

Remembering Chernobyl

Photographer Gerd Ludwig documented the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
April 25, 2016
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A new hull for Chernobyl

A huge steel construction is supposed to seal in radiation for the next 100 years.
April 22, 201600:36 min
A picture of an Italian ship trying to help migrants and refugees from a boat in the Mediterranean

Inside Europe

A roundup of topical issues which shape the European continent.
PoliticsApril 21, 201655:00 min

Inside Europe: Tourists flock to Chernobyl, 30 years on

A catastrophic disaster unfolded at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine on April 25, 1986. Around 115,000 locals were hastily evacuated from the area, never to return to their homes. What remains today is a vast expanse of contaminated land. But despite the possible risk, the area is proving popular with tourists.
April 21, 201605:47 min
Belarus Weißrussland Tschernobylzone

The children of Chernobyl

30 years after the Chernobyl disaster, cancer rates in the vicinity are still high.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 21, 201604:55 min
Ukraine Tiere in Tschernobyl

Chernobyl stubbornly blooming 30 years after disaster

Chernobyl is stubbornly blooming 30 years on
April 9, 201612 images
Yuzo Mihara looks at a neighbor's coffee shop invaded with vegetation in Namie, Fukushima (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Robichon)

Visiting Fukushima

What does the tsunami-stricken region look like, five years on?
Nature and EnvironmentMarch 10, 201618:58 min
Svetlana Alexievich at DW in Bonn, Copyright: DW/S. Englert

Nobel Prize-laureate Svetlana Alexievich in 5 questions

Svetlana Alexievich admitted she'd rather have more time to herself and explained what life is all about.
March 9, 2016
Schmetterling

Chernobyl: Wildlife overtaking the wasteland?

The radioactivity released as a result of the Chernobyl disaster 29 years ago dramatically altered life near the reactor
Nature and EnvironmentApril 24, 20158 images
Man holding girl standing in oil residue on Gulf of Mexico beach after Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

From Deepwater to Chernobyl

When environmental disasters occur, victims face an uphill battle on accountability.
April 20, 2015
The Chernobyl nuclear reactor

Chernobyl delay

The casing around the ruined nuclear reactor at Chernobyl is crumbling, causing a renewed radioactive contamination risk. A new cover for the site is under construction - but the project is running out of funding.
October 15, 2014