Description
Named after the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970, as the ninth nuclear city (a type of closed city) in the Soviet Union, to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and had grown to a population of 50 000 by the time it was evacuated, on the afternoon of April 27, 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster.
30 years after, it has become a haven for wildlife - a nature reserve in all but name.
The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power station is teeming with life.