Chernobyl - 35 Years On

"As I often say, my city was growing together with me. It was born almost at the same time as me. Pripyat was born in 1970, and I was born in 1973. And Pripyat was growing in front of my eyes," says Olena, who is now an adult in her 40s, and still lives in Ukraine. 

"We were provided with all the food, comforts, on a very high level.

"For example, children of the Soviet Union who did not live in...such advanced cities, I don't know when they first saw bananas and oranges. But in Pripyat we had that, and it was something regular for us. Bananas, oranges, exotic fruits. 

"The propaganda was there was no better country in the world than the Soviet Union. There was even a song popular at the time, that we were so lucky to be born in the Soviet Union.

"My father worked at the construction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. He would always reveal the true essence of the Soviet Union to me. 

"During my childhood I heard that the construction had major violations. 

"He was worried that such a high technology facility, built so fast, may lead to some consequences…"

What is propaganda?

Propaganda is information that is designed to make people think a certain way or to believe a certain thing. It often takes the form of communications like TV or radio broadcasts, books, leaflets, magazines, or what people are taught in schools and other places. The information is often political. It can be hard to tell whether the information is true or false.

Despite living less than two miles away, Olena isn't sure if she heard the explosion. But remembers her sleep being disturbed by what she thought was thunder...

"I woke up in the morning and asked my mother: 'Was there a thunderstorm at night?' She replied: 'No, look how bright the sun is. It's great weather, there was no thunderstorm.' But I clearly remember some noise, like rolling thunder.

"My mother went to market in the morning, but she came back quite soon and looked worried and upset," Olena explained. Her mother had been told there was no market that day because of the accident. 

"My father said: 'There might be an evacuation.' So then my eyes got wide, I thought, it's April, a beautiful day, birds are singing, everything is in bloom, what do you mean evacuation?" 

Footage from the aftermath of the explosion, showing the destroyed reactor (please note video plays without sound).

^{Copyright BBC}

Olena's father returned to the disaster site as a 'liquidator' - this was the name given to the workers who helped contain the explosion and exposed nuclear core.

The liquidators faced large doses of radiation to do their jobs. They included people who worked at the plant, fire fighters, and miners from nearby areas, who were brought in to help.

Scientists feared that a further explosion could occur, producing a force of three to five megatons, and exposing the whole of Europe to enormous radioactive contamination.

The work of the liquidators was vital in stopping any further explosions. As a result of their actions, many liquidators suffered health problems from the radiation.

Olena's father died six years after the Chernobyl explosion. Olena says his death was because of the radiation he was exposed to.

The exact number of people who worked as liquidators is unknown because there are no accurate records of the numbers involved in the clean-up. But estimates say more than 600,000 people took part in the work to make Chernobyl safe.

In the days after the disaster, the Soviet Union government attempted to cover up the incident, and they refused to report what had happened.

However, it wasn't long before other countries could tell something wasn't right. Monitor stations in Sweden reported abnormally high levels of radiation in the wind.

Officials pressed the Soviets for an explanation and the Soviet government eventually had to admit there had been an accident at Chernobyl.

It sparked an international outcry from countries all over the world about the dangers posed by the radioactive emissions.

When the Chernobyl power plant exploded it wasn't just the immediate surrounding area in the then Soviet Union that was affected.

The poisonous radiation that spewed into the atmosphere drifted over lots of European countries.

Many parts of the UK were affected. The government banned the sale of sheep from thousands of farms because they could have eaten radioactive material that had been absorbed by the grass they fed on.

North Wales was hardest hit, with sheep in the area failing radioactive tests 10 years after the accident.

Children in Ukraine and other nearby countries became ill. Many still face consequences today.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, scientists had to try and figure out how to contain both the heat and the radioactivity leaking from the exposed reactor core.

The reactor was covered with a giant 'sarcophagus' made from steel and concrete to stop the escape of more radiation.

The sarcophagus was built quickly to try to contain the problem straight away, and was never intended to last very long. In the following years it was deemed to be in danger of collapse, and a new solution was needed.

A sarcophagus is a type of stone coffin. They are famous for being used by the ancient Egyptians to bury their dead.

Crane operators building the sarcophagus had to work blindly from inside lead-lined cabins, following instructions over radio from people far away.

Olena would like visitors and the world to respect what happened in her hometown.

"Behave in Pripyat the way you should behave in a memorial city, not like Disneyland or a quest to post viral photos.

"It's not some historical event that happened far away, in books, in the past. It happened before our eyes.

"So when you think of Chernobyl, I hope every child will think about my father.

"Parents who were just employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who became heroes in the next moment.

"And they died for this, saving this world."

_{Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous}

_{Graphics by Ben Wild and Thomas Foster}