Forty years after the catastrophic explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, the surviving 'liquidators'—the soldiers, firefighters, engineers, miners, and medics who risked their lives to contain the disaster—are returning to the site. Approximately 600,000 workers were deployed to clean up the radioactive fallout in the weeks and months following the 1986 accident.
'We knew the risks,' says Ivan Petrov, a former engineer who spent months at the plant. 'But someone had to do it.'
Today, many of these liquidators are elderly and suffer from long-term health effects linked to radiation exposure. Their return marks a somber anniversary and a chance to reflect on the immense sacrifice made by those who sought to prevent an even greater catastrophe.