HISTORY: Next year will be the 40th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The disaster at the Number 4 reactor forced everyone within 1,017 square miles to be evacuated. The exclusion zone was later expanded to 1,600 square miles to include heavily radiated areas outside the initial zone.

It remains the worst nuclear disaster in history, and the costliest, estimated at $700 billion.

The radioactive materials released spread throughout the northern hemisphere to some extent.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has a website about the disaster, its cause and its impacts.

Now, decades later, life has returned to the region.

‘Mutations did occur in plants and animals after the plant explosion. Leaves changed shape and some animals were born with physical deformities. Despite the increased radiation levels, rare species are now returning in large numbers to the area. These animals include beavers, moose, wolves and wild boar, plus species of birds.’

It’s safe to visit now.

And some people have returned to live in the exclusion zone, which isn’t exactly safe, but it’s safer than it used to be.

‘Although some of the radioactive isotopes released into the atmosphere still linger (such as Strontium-90 and Caesium-137), they are at tolerable exposure levels for limited periods of time,’ the website noted.

‘Some residents of the exclusion zone have returned to their homes at their own free will, and they live in areas with higher than normal environmental radiation levels. However, these levels are not fatal. Exposure to low but unusual levels of radiation over a period of time is less dangerous than exposure to a huge amount at once, and studies have been unable to link any direct increase in cancer risks to chronic low-level exposure.’

That’s a hard pass from us. Yikes.