Adam Parker - Photographer

Personal Projects: Chernobyl 2016

This was my second visit to the Chernobyl Exclusion zone 5 years after the first and 30 years after the disaster. 

New areas had become accessable and some sites I'd visited before were now no-go areas. I was amazed how nature had reclaimed the land in such a short space of time, for example, Pripyat football pitch has become a forest. Its easy to imagine how time can render whole civilizations into archaeology.  

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  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Duga 1 was a major part of the Soviet early warning radar designed to detect nuclear attack from the West. Its intricate antenna juts out from the forest measuring 150x500 metres. Despite being in Ukraine, it was  refered to in the west as the 'Russian Woodpecker' because of the strange stocatto taps that it created in short wave radio bands around the world. Situated inside what is now the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it is eerie to see the illustrations of NATO warheads in what was a hotlink to the Soviet nuclear command.
  • Kindergarten 1
  • Kindergarten 2
  • Kindergarten 3
  • Many pockets of high level radioactivity remain all over Chernobyl exclusion zone. Some are marked as can be seen here but most are not. The most dangerous elements include caesium and strontium which are present in the soil. Scientists were expecting a reduction in radioactivity that mysteriously has not happened yet. Some of the less common particles like plutonium may remain active for many thousands of years.
  • This would have been a nice cafe on the waterfront with vibrant stained glass windows. Despite its tragic fate, Pripyat was a utopian new town designed to house the skilled workers and scientists at the power plant. It had excellent leisure and cultural facilities and was set in an area of natural beauty. You can imagine that the people living here would have been happy.
  • This would have been a nice cafe on the waterfront with vibrant stained glass windows. Despite its tragic fate, Pripyat was a utopian new town designed to house the skilled workers and scientists at the power plant. It had excellent leisure and cultural facilities and was set in an area of natural beauty. You can imagine that the people living here would have been happy.
  • This would have been a nice cafe on the waterfront with vibrant stained glass windows. Despite its tragic fate, Pripyat was a utopian new town designed to house the skilled workers and scientists at the power plant. It had excellent leisure and cultural facilities and was set in an area of natural beauty. You can imagine that the people living here would have been happy.
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  • The now forrested pitch sums up 30 years of natural growth.
  • Solidly built flats and main streets will one day succumb to the forest.
  • Solidly built flats and main streets will one day succumb to the forest.
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