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Frozen in time: Looking inside the abandoned towns inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone

The footage was captured by Irish journalist Colm Flynn while working on his documentary Finding Banni.

Colm Flynn / YouTube

CHERNOBYL HAS MADE headlines once again in the past few days as a massive containment structure is put in place to keep the radioactive remains of the nuclear power plant secure.

The plant’s meltdown 30 years ago remains the worse civil nuclear accident in history and the effects still felt in the region.

Several Irish charities have made efforts to make life better for the children in orphanages around the exclusion zone, with many being brought to Ireland for some respite.

A RTÉ documentary this evening explores the story of one of these children. Banni arrived in Ennis, Co Clare one day to stay with the Flynn family as part of a charity exchange programme.

Banni stayed with them for longer than planned, was baptised locally and enrolled in a nearby school. The family tried to adopt the young boy, but ultimately failed. Years later, reporter Colm Flynn has travelled to Belarus in an attempt to find Banni, who would have been his adoptive brother.

The exclusive footage above, which didn’t make the final cut to the documentary, reveals what it is like in the abandoned towns and villages around Chernobyl.

Finding Banni airs today on RTÉ 2 at 9.30pm tonight

30 years on: The impact of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on Ireland >

More: Giant €2.1 billion dome edged over Chernobyl power plant as existing one crumbles >

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36 Comments
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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:03 PM

    When you see these pictures of Chernobyl, you can also see what would happen in the event of nuclear war. Except multiply it by thousands and add more destruction.
    Yet there are people who comment on the Journal’s threads in favour of nuclear war against Russia.
    This is a taste of what awaits us all if ever that happens.

    39
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:14 PM

    Yea because Nagasaki & Hiroshima are utterly uninhabitable now. Oh wait there are hundreds of thousands of people living there. Chernobyl were utterly substandard reactors with no containment, as another poster said here in the past “they might as well have built the reactors in a tent.”

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    Mute Mrs M
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:29 PM

    Totally agree thank god Clinton did not get into power or we would be looking at nuclear war between US & Russia

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    Mute fiachra29
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:35 PM

    Clinton would in her arse have begun a war with Russia, she just would’ve slapped more sanctions on them. Trump’s administration on the other hand is planning to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran, against all advice, if anything that could lead to some serious destabilisation in an already fragile Middle East.

    16
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:14 PM

    Me thinks Eircodes you are living in the Atomic bomb age…that’s sticks and stones compared to what they can do now and after a nuclear war no nation would be in a position to rebuild any city.

    11
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    Mute Alan Cooke
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    Nov 30th 2016, 9:09 PM

    @Get Lost Eircodes:
    Imagine if we could persuade billy mooney to move here. Communist nirvana. No internet. We’d be free from his socialist copy and paste rubbish. He’d be living his (wet) dream.
    Who said I was not a caring person.

    3
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 10:09 PM

    But give him a pc and a printer so he can create all the money he can :)

    2
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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Dec 1st 2016, 4:18 AM

    @Get Lost Eircodes: Or get China to build one???

    1
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:29 PM

    The pro nuclear brigade here who have absolutely no idea of the dangers and costs of such nuclear catastrophes should take note. For a tiny nation like Ireland it would be a no go exclusion zone the size of counties Dublin & Wicklow for hundreds of yeard and the end of our agricultural and tourism industries.

    24
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    Mute John B
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:48 PM

    Nuclear energy is much cleaner than fossil fuel. Technology has vastly improved. Nuclear and renewable energy are the best hope for our energy needs.

    Lots of technology is scary and failed in the past. But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve them and use them.

    22
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    Mute Qwerty
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:57 PM

    That’s true, but when something goes badly wrong, the contamination is there forever.

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    Mute Paddy Byrne
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:02 PM

    I think renewable energy is definitely the way to go. Not so sure on the nuclear energy. It wont be much longer untill we crack renewable energy to make it alot more beneficial.

    16
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    Mute Qwerty
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:04 PM

    The biggest challenge is mass energy storage for the grid.

    5
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    Mute fiachra29
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:37 PM

    There’s no comparison between Chernobyl and Western nuclear power plants, Chernobyl had no containment structure to enclose the reactor, the reactor might as well have been a tent for all the protection surrounding it. That type of nuclear power plant was never built in the West for obvious reasons, Chernobyl was criminal Soviet incompetence.

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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:11 PM

    Fiachra so explain away Windscale, Three Mile Island, Kyshtym and Fukushima not to mention the many near misses and on top of this we must factor in the billions required by the tax payers to clean up after regular power stations end their lifes, 120 billion english sterling for britain alone.

    9
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:25 PM

    Windscale & Kyshtn were both in the 1950s and involved weapons programs not civil nuclear power. Three Mile Island & Fukashima and the other two accidents killed no one directly. The billions you talk of are for older dirtier reactor. And you forget the useful life of modern stations is over half a century.

    6
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:26 PM

    @qwerty When coal goes right it kills every day.

    5
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    Mute fiachra29
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:27 PM

    Windscale: workers involved in the cleanup have exhibited no significant health problems as of 2010.

    Three Mile Island: No casualties and the vast majority of epidemiological studies show no serious long term health effects.

    Fukushima: No one actually died as a result Fukushima, the locals where evacuated in time which was particularly remarkable seeing as how it was hit by one of the largest tsunamis in Japanese history, most health problems were the result of anxiety about radiation as opposed to actual radiation.

    Kyshtym that was that wonderful Soviet incompetence again, they were in such a rush to make up their technology deficit they overlooked most safety features.

    What about the hundred of nuclear power plants functioning properly and providing clean energy for millions? Also solar power and hydro power have killed more people than nuclear power, explain that?

    6
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:39 PM

    Fiachra, many people are also born with genetic diseases and large tracts of land are contaminated for centuries. If you wish to ignore the fact that humans and nature cause accidents and always will…earthquakes, floods, terrorism, human error…then we need to look at the fact that a nuclear power station in Ireland would cost many millions to build and we have no money!….no body would want it near them, the power grid would have to be totally altered and we would still need massive back up power because you can’t afford to loose a reactor’s large output for a moment through either maintenance, or incidents, we would need to deal with nuclear waste, our green image would disappear and so would many jobs with it….

    6
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:40 PM

    Amazing that cleaning up all the UKs old nuclear plants that provided cheap power for decades is 4 times cheaper per head of population than cleaning up after Anglo!!!

    6
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:47 PM

    Smaller reactors now exist. Back up power is a 2nd reactor. A plant in Moneypoint with 2 independent reactors has all the infrastructure connwctions needed. It would also make the switch to EVs carbon free. Waste is minor issue. Green image??? That’s just bullshiit, we are the biggest polluters in Europe. Green image me hole.

    6
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 9:25 PM

    Earth to Eircodes come in…crackle crackle…can you read?…crackle crackle…so we build a string of rectors to back each other up I see…and our green image doesn’t attract millions of tourists or sell hundreds of millions worth of food for export each year and nuclear waste is ‘a minor issue’…maybe we could feed it to the cattle because no one will want to buy our beef after….crackle crackle….if you receive this message maybe you are due a nap as you sound like you are loosing your sanity…over and out.

    6
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 9:37 PM

    And countries like scotland or france that have nuclear plants have no food export businesses??? and no tourism??? Nobody outside Ireland cares if Ireland has nuclear or not. And all Frances high level waste would fit in the Savoy cinema. BTW like your thinking the use of “over & out” is not correct.

    3
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    Mute fiachra29
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    Nov 30th 2016, 9:39 PM

    @winston smith: Right Winston because no one ever buys any French/British products and certainly no one visits those countries do they? Do some objective research using scientific sources on the topic don’t use tabloids and Greenpeace websites maybe, I used to be vehemently opposed to nuclear until I researched it.

    The oil companies love this nuclear hysteria, it plays right into their hands and eliminates potentially their biggest competitor and the eco warriors fall for it hook, line and sinker.

    4
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 10:01 PM

    So we don’t promote the ‘ancient east’ and ‘wild atlantic way’ as natural unspoilt areas and we are not known worldwide as the green country, the grass from which our cattle feed. I can tell you people care very much before they invest in a holiday to a country and we are known as a peaceful friendly people who excel in music and literature and live in a largely unspoit, green, historic and unspoilt island. Relatively our output in these areas exceeds many other nations. If we don’t have a nuclear reactor we can never spoil all this while France can which is my whole point! The current government in Scotland the SNP has a ‘no new nuclear power strategy’. Most of your argument is simply to dismiss problems which you consider minor but any one of which has massive implications for many people. Over and under!

    5
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Nov 30th 2016, 10:13 PM

    Winnie watch Pandoras Promise on Netflix….BTW every time I go on hols to beautiful parts of France I always give first thought to checking out the nearest nuke station… actually I don’t… it doesn’t enter my head.

    5
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    Mute winston smith
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    Nov 30th 2016, 10:42 PM

    Eircodes after this debate it would seem there are many things which don’t enter your head…bon voyage.

    4
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    Mute Phil Hegarty
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    Dec 1st 2016, 12:17 AM

    Cleaner maybe but if the shït goes down like in Fukushima, the cons outweigh the pros. The clean up for that stands at €160 billion so far

    2
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Dec 1st 2016, 8:40 AM

    Yes because Ireland is so prone to Earthquakes & Tsunamis…

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 12:39 AM
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    Mute John Hagin Meade
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    Jan 3rd 2017, 4:00 PM

    @fiachra29: “There’s no comparison between Chernobyl and Western nuclear power plants, Chernobyl had no containment structure to enclose the reactor”

    Fukushima, a much newer set of reactors and yet 3 of them had full meltdowns. Chernobyl was smaller and only suffered a partial meltdown, yet look at the disaster it was. I believe Fukushima is a bigger disaster then Chernobyl especially as it is contaminating the Pacific ocean and fallout damage has been detected along the US and Canadian coast.

    1
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    Mute Tom Thumb
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:29 PM

    All this year’s have past by and yet still no Superheros

    19
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    Mute Christine Hanway
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    Nov 30th 2016, 11:27 PM

    Watched this doc tonight and it was so so sad to see what became of Banni, what a crying shame the family were refused adoption rights how different his life would of being and given a chance at family happiness. It was a really good watch but it was such an eye opener. The work the irish volunteers do over there is amazing and fair play to them. Another sad reality of the times were living in!

    10
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    Mute Potatoe-man
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:39 PM

    €1400 a month for a 1 bed apartment in chernobyl!

    5
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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Dec 1st 2016, 4:17 AM
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Dec 1st 2016, 8:38 AM

    Yay underground Chernobyl… how emotive…. ate the Russians building it?

    1
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