The Latest Chernobyl Crisis: Instagram

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Chernobyl and its exclusion zone including the town or Pripyat has become a sort of tourist attraction. Radiation levels are low enough now, thanks to the new shelter, that the Ukrainian government had started to let people go explore. Urbex channels on youtube filled up with explorations of Pripyat and into some of the toxic sites around the old reactor. It started to become quite fashionable to go and create content at the site, especially once the popular HBO series about the nuclear accident was released. This created somewhat of a crisis. The government had to start restricitng access and allowing people to go on special tours because so many people were simply walking or driving into the exclusion zone. It is an eerie place and I get the appeal but it is still dangerous and there is no help if you should have an emergency. This is the story of how social media created a secondary crisis at the Soviet nuclear plant.