Inside Chornobyl, 40 years after the world's worst nuclear disaster

[0:00] Three years ago this Sunday, the world's worst nuclear power disaster exploded into history [0:05] at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear plant, north of Kiev in what's now independent Ukraine. [0:11] The ensuing Soviet cover-up and then clean-up operation made Chernobyl a byword for dereliction [0:18] and mismanagement. But decades later, a global energy shock and Russia's war on Ukraine, [0:24] which has exposed the West's reliance on Russian oil, are changing attitudes towards nuclear energy [0:29] again. From the exclusion zone of Chernobyl, seen here with the Ukrainian spelling, [0:35] Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky and cinematographer Amanda Bailey filed this report. [0:41] Nikolai Pobedin arrived at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine one year after the disaster [0:47] that made this facility infamous 40 years ago. Almost every year since, he's manned this desk [0:55] at the plant, managing a critical department that prevents Chernobyl's still radioactive waste [1:01] from melting down. It's a demanding job, but in 2022, it got even harder. That's when invading [1:10] Russian soldiers took over the site. [1:15] They used us like a shield to store their weapons and equipment. After all, no one would attack a nuclear [1:22] power plant. Were you hostage? Yes, of course. [1:28] As Pobedin and his colleagues continued to manage the old radioactive debris, they also knew they were [1:34] confronting a new potential nightmare, since Russian troops had turned this place into a military target. [1:40] But his critical duties prevented him from ever thinking of leaving. [1:44] Sometimes people ask me, why didn't you run away? Even if we had a place to run, [1:49] how could we leave our workstations unattended? We'd come to Chernobyl, just 70 miles north of [1:55] Kyiv, to see for ourselves what this power plant looked like 40 years after the worst nuclear disaster [2:01] in history, which sent radiation billowing across Europe. [2:07] To get inside today, the first step is to measure your current radiation reading for comparison later. [2:14] We changed into a special set of protective clothing to avoid bringing radioactive particles home. [2:21] Then, our guide, Arturo Vsepien, took us inside. [2:26] So how many people work at the plant now? [2:29] At one time, we have around 600 workers. [2:32] Got it. So there's 600 people here every day? [2:35] Yes. [2:36] Two of Chernobyl's reactors remained functional into the late 1990s, but Unit 4, where the disaster occurred, [2:43] still requires monitoring and cleanup of the radiation, an effort that's slated to go on until 2064. [2:51] And that's the reactor we were taken to see. [2:54] Don't lean on anything. Don't drop anything. [2:57] If you drop something, we need to call a dosimetrist, and he will check if it's contaminated. [3:04] OK. We're just going to follow your lead. [3:07] Oh, wow. OK. So this is the control room of the ill-fated reactor number four. [3:13] It's so spooky in here. What an eerie, eerie room. [3:27] This is the control room of Chernobyl reactor number four. [3:31] The decisions that led to the worst nuclear accident in history were made in this room. [3:37] It was a flaw in the Soviet-designed reactor that caused it to overheat and blow up, [3:42] just as its operators were trying to shut it down, sending clouds of radiation into the sky, [3:48] and showering the area with chunks of radioactive debris. [3:53] Anyone within a nearly 20-mile radius of the plant suddenly found themselves under evacuation orders. [3:59] With the Soviet Union offering few explanations and downplaying the scale of the event, [4:05] here's how the NewsHour covered the incident two days later. [4:09] The Soviets today reported an accident at a nuclear plant which damaged a reactor and caused some injuries. [4:15] The Soviet news agency TASS said the accident happened at the Chernobyl plant north of Kiev in the Ukraine. [4:22] It gave no more details than to say that measures are being undertaken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. [4:28] Aid is being given to those who have suffered injury. [4:31] Those measures would end up being much more expansive than first reported, [4:36] with thousands of Soviet soldiers being exposed to radiation as they returned contaminated debris to the damaged reactor before encasing it. [4:46] In 2016, this new structure was completed to prevent radiation from leaking out, and it's designed to last 100 years. [4:55] It's over 330 feet tall, making it the largest movable structure in the world. [5:00] It was assembled next to the damaged structure on rails, and moved over to protect it. [5:07] I don't think I've ever been in an enclosure this big in my life. [5:12] But what we're actually looking at is two enclosures. [5:16] The cement blocks around reactor number four, those were put there in the years immediately after the accident by the Soviet Union, [5:25] at a great cost to human life. [5:27] And then, many years later, the European Union funded this new enclosure that we're standing underneath right now. [5:36] That came at a cost of $2.5 billion. [5:40] But in 2025, less than a month after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, Russia struck this containment dome with a Shahid-type drone. [5:49] And although the outer shell was quickly patched, the damage compromised the structure's integrity. [5:56] This simulation shows how a fire spread inside its inner layers, burning up a membrane meant to seal in radiation. [6:03] So, the drone cost more than 300 holes, which we couldn't fix. [6:10] And before, this was all completely sealed. Nothing came in, nothing went out. [6:14] No, no. [6:15] Unbelievable that Russia would do this so close to its own border. [6:20] Yes, yes, exactly. [6:22] I mean, we're very close to the border of Belarus, and Russia isn't much further away. [6:28] And yet, they would send a drone to strike this dangerous contaminated site. [6:34] Yes, for sure. Russia does, like, nuclear terrorism. [6:39] And the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is the first power plant in the world which was under occupation. [6:45] The next one is the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. [6:48] Which is still under occupation. [6:49] Yes, yes. [6:50] The fate of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, remains in limbo after Russia captured it in 2022. [6:57] Their terror has no limits. [7:02] The attack has put cleanup efforts behind schedule, and it's estimated it will cost another half a billion to repair the damage, [7:10] money that will come from an international fund, not Russia. [7:17] When we get ready to leave, we tested again for radiation. [7:20] Four, three, two, one, thank you very much. [7:25] No contamination. [7:26] That's a relief. [7:28] Just outside the plant is the abandoned town of Prypitz, where 50,000 people once lived before the explosion. [7:37] Forty years later, it's been reclaimed by the forest. [7:41] For decades, this ghostly landscape stoked fears around nuclear energy. [7:47] Despite that, Russia went on to become the world's largest exporter of reactor fuel. [7:52] But the invasion of Ukraine cost it billions in uranium supply contracts with the West, prompting Europe [8:00] and the U.S. to reinvest in their own nuclear power industry. [8:04] Volodymyr Kudrytsky is the former head of Ukraine's national energy company. [8:09] He says not enough has been done globally to break from Russian energy. [8:13] I think that not many countries in the world really realize how dangerous it is to depend on Russian energy in any form. [8:22] Gas, be it gas, oil, oil products or uranium. [8:27] Russia weaponizes energy. [8:31] It did it with Europe. [8:33] It can do this with any other big customer like the United States. [8:39] Kudrytsky says Russia's targeting of Ukraine's energy sector makes the case for building many smaller energy facilities, including nuclear, [8:47] and shifting away from centralized, large sites that can more easily be destroyed in a conflict. [8:52] We experienced thousands of attacks on our large power objects and, of course, these power objects are very vulnerable to those attacks because of their scale. [9:05] The only answer to this can be decentralization. [9:09] This is what they do on the front line. [9:11] You do not group 1,000 people in one spot, right? [9:14] You disseminate people over a certain area. [9:17] The same principle with energy. [9:20] Forty years after the disaster of Chernobyl, the war with Russia has forced Ukraine to rely heavily on nuclear power, [9:29] as its grid has come under relentless attack. [9:31] After nearly four decades at the plant, Nikolai Pobedin understands the risks of nuclear energy as well as anyone. [9:40] So I asked him if he thought we should continue to develop it. [9:44] I think this is the energy of the future. [9:46] But to get to that future, Ukraine must still survive an uncertain present. [9:51] For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Simon Ostrovsky in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.