Exploring Ghostly Radioactive Chernobyl: Philip Grossman

After the catastrophic disaster at the Chernobyl  Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine in 1986, around 50,000 people were evacuated from the nearby city of Pripyat. The residents were told to take just the clothes they were wearing along with their passports, and reassured they would be allowed to return soon after. However as radiation levels were so high, the decision was made to create a 30km 'exclusion zone' around the Chernobyl power station and for the past 35 years the city of Pripyat has become a ghost town, frozen in time in Soviet 1986, and now giving way to nature. 

Philip Grossman is a scientist, engineer and filmmaker, who has visited the city of Pripyat and the Chernobyl exclusion zone 14 times. He explored the abandoned buildings which are still highly radioactive in parts still today. 

Colm Flynn talks to Philip Grossman about his experiences exploring the exclusion zone, as well some of the misconceptions around the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. They also talk about the overall safety of nuclear energy today. 

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