Twenty five years have now gone by since the major accident at the Cheronbyl nuclear power station.
The thing that I have found most striking is the scenes in the evacuated zones around the power plant where nature has been able to start reclaiming the built up areas. Pictures from the BBC and the Kid of speed website really show how striking an empty city can look. The area has now been opened up to controlled tourism as many of the radioactive materials released are reaching their half-life meaning that the radiation levels are declining. Although the plutonium released means that there will be a very prolonged legacy of radiation in the area.
These scenes really remind me of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, even though that film was made seven years before the accident at Chernobyl.
One of the most important things is to learn from the mistakes made in clearing up after the accident as well as the flaws in the design of the power station. Particularly as nuclear energy seems set to have a major role in future electricity generation as fossil fuels become more expensive and renewable sources still need more effective ways of collecting and converting energy.
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