Taking Bearings

Pripyat, Ukraine — The now iconic Ferris wheel and rides at the never-used carnival built for 1986 Soviet May Day celebrations rest in the radioactively-poisoned town of Pripyat, the closest city to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant destroyed in the cataclysmic explosion in 1986.  Now a ghost town located just 3 km from the plant, the city was evacuated and subsequently abandoned Soviet clean up crews or “liquidators” — many who died or suffered deleterious health effects — briefly lived in Pripyat during early emergency containment operations at Chernobyl. (download photo essay here )