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The Documentary: Alive In Chernobyl

The Documentary: Alive In Chernobyl: Episode 1

Episode 1

Alive In Chernobyl

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Alive In Chernobyl, Episode 1

Olga Betko finds people who have returned to live in a nuclear "dead zone"

On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Olga Betko finds people who have returned to live in a nuclear "dead zone".

On the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history, Olga Betko travelled to Chernobyl - in her native Ukraine - to find the people who are living in the "dead zone". 

In the last week of April 1986, when the nuclear reactor exploded, showering deadly radiation over the surrounding area, thousands of power station workers and their families were evacuated.

Later, other local residents who also lived nearby, were also evacuated. 

By then many had been contaminated. 

Life in the cities did not suit this group of people with its strong and ancient ties to the land. 

Many suffered from depression and also prejudice, having fled the contaminated area. 

Over the years a number of small groups of elderly rural people have defied the radiation and returned to live in their abandoned villages and are working the land they love. 

Olga Betko, visited these tiny remote communities to see how they are surviving against the odds and how, in isolation, they are trying to recover a poisoned homeland.

BBC World Service

On the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history, Olga Betko travelled to Chernobyl - in her native Ukraine - to find the people who are living in the "dead zone".

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