Radioactive Contamination! No Entry!

The warning sign at the entrance to the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve in Belarus' southern Gomel Region, near the Ukrainian border, is impossible to miss.

Its bold lettering and stark trefoil radiation symbol seem to fix their gaze on every visitor, discouraging any attempt to proceed.

On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine exploded, releasing more than 8 metric tons of highly radioactive material. Over 60,000 square kilometers of land were contaminated, and more than 3.2 million people were affected to varying degrees. It remains the most severe nuclear disaster in the history of civilian nuclear energy.

Belarus, itself a former Soviet republic at the time, suffered the brunt of the nuclear fallout.