Revival

Abstract

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) disaster is considered as the world’s worst nuclear disaster, it is classified on the International Nuclear Event Scale as level 7 along with only one other incident, the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster (Huang et al. 2017). The disaster turned the area within a 30km radius into a wasteland expelling all human life. In contrary to popular belief this area is safer than many think; the current day exclusion zone is thriving with nature and wildlife, and has been reborn into the largest wildlife sanctuary in Europe (Mycio, 2005). This place has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. Sitting on the border of Ukraine and Belarus, the exclusion zone has become a transient world with many things here that are ever-changing in nature. The inhabitants here cannot stay long term, workers are on a rational period while tourists come and go, some come for a day trip while others stay for a few nights. Nature is constantly changing, in the present no one is here to maintain it, wildlife has returned to roam the lands, plants have been free to grow and spread for the past 30 years taking back the city of Pripyat and many smaller settlements. The changing seasons completely alter the atmosphere and experience of the zone. The goal of this thesis is to dismiss the some of the negative views and misconceptions surrounding the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone through the attempted revival of the area using tourism. As the area is not being safe for permanent inhabitation for the foreseeable future leads to the possibility of only two groups of people that are able to occupy the area, workers and tourists. There will be a strong focus on developing the tourist experience in the area due as numbers continue to rise.