Fotoesej AP-a: 40 godina posle Černobilja — tišina, žrtve i priroda koja opstaje

Efrem Lukatsky, fotograf agencije Associated Press iz Kijeva, bio je u gradu 26. aprila 1986. godine kada je eksplodirao reaktor u Černobilju. Decenijama je dokumentovao zonu isključenja i posledice koje su i danas prisutne.

Svedočenje iz prve ruke

Sve je počelo šaptom na poslu: nije bilo zvaničnog obaveštenja prve noći, samo fragmenti informacija među kolegama. Lukatsky, tada specijalizovani zavarivač pod vodom, priseća se metalnog ukusa u ustima, suvog grla i rastuće napetosti dok su ljudi pokušavali da razumeju šta se dogodilo. Dva dana kasnije stigla je kratka, zvanična potvrda o nesreći — ništa više.

Kontrola informacija i tihi otpor

U uslovima stroge cenzure stanovništvo je tražilo informacije preko zapadnih emisija. Stručnjaci su savetovali zatvaranje prozora, maske i davanje joda deci; mnogi su poslušali. Istovremeno su u Kijev stizali konvoji evakuisanih iz Pripjata, ljudi koji su ostavljali domove misleći da će se brzo vratiti.

Ljudi na prvoj liniji

Najtragičnija sećanja Lukatskog vezana su za vatrogasce, „likvidatore“ i rudare koji su ušli u zaraženo područje da obuzdaju katastrofu. Vatrogasci su pokušavali da ugase požar, radnici su prekrivali reaktor betonom, a rudari su kopali tunele kako bi sprečili prodor radijacije u podzemne vode — većina bez adekvatne zaštite.

Opasne posledice

Od akutnog radijacionog sindroma odmah je preminulo 30 radnika i vatrogasaca; kasnije su hiljade ljudi obolele od bolesti povezanih sa zračenjem. Među poginulima su i medijski radnici: šest fotografa i snimatelja koji su bili u zoni u prvim danima kasnije je umrlo od posledica izlaganja.

Pripjat i zona isključenja

Grad Pripjat ostao je zamrznut u vremenu: prazne zgrade, školske dvorane, bazeni i igraonice koje podsećaju na trenutak kada su ljudi jednostavno otišli. Zona isključenja (oko 2.600 km²) postala je mesto mašina i vozila koja su ostavljena jer su bila previše zagađena za ponovnu upotrebu.

Fotografija kao svedočanstvo i pokretač promena

Fotografije su morale biti predavane i kontrolisane, ali snimci su ipak stizali u inostranstvo i podstakli proteste i javni pritisak koji su doprineli promenama u sovjetskom društvu. Lukatskyjevo fotografisanje postalo je početak njegove novinarske karijere, a njegova radna veza s AP počinje 1989. godine.

Nova zaštita i nove pretnje

Godine 2019. izgrađeno je novo ograđeno sklonište (New Safe Confinement) preko reaktora, ali invazija Rusije 2022. i vojne aktivnosti u zoni ponovo su alarmirale stručnjake: rovovi i položaji u kontaminisanom tlu, kao i udar drona koji je oštetio zaštitnu konstrukciju, podsetili su na trajnu ranjivost lokacije.

Neočekivani povratak prirode

Bez stalnog ljudskog prisustva, priroda se delimično oporavila: šume su se proširile, a divlje životinje — od retkih do uobičajenih vrsta — vratile su se u pejzaž. Pripjat više nije potpuno prazan: životinje privremeno odzračuju ulice i zgrade.

„Posle 40 godina, možda najjasnija istina je ovo: životi su preokrenuti i dugo su podaci skrivani. Ali kada se ostavi na miru, priroda opstaje — čak i u Černobilju.“

Ovo je dokumentarna fotoreportaža uređena od strane AP foto urednika. Tekst sadrži svedočanstva, istorijske činjenice i autorske fotografije koje beleže trajnu cenu nuklearne katastrofe i nesigurnu budućnost zaraženog područja.

FILE - Remains of the collapsed roof at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, damaged in the separate 1991 fire in a turbine hall for Reactor No. 2, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Oct. 13, 1991. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Efrem Lukatsky, now an Associated Press photographer, wears protective clothes outside the sarcophagus that covers destroyed Reactor No. 4 in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in this undated photo taken several years after the explosion. (AP Photo, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Soldiers taking part in cleanup operations following the Chernobyl power plant explosion rest in a tent camp inside the "exclusion zone" in the autumn of 1986, in Chernobyl, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A security officer gestures to a photographer outside the gates of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in this 1989 photo, in Chernobyl, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

People hold signs reading "Down with the Chernobyl mysteries!" and "Who is responsible for Chernobyl?" during a protest rally demanding the truth about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident at a stadium in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 26, 1989, on the third anniversary of the disaster. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - About 1,350 Soviet military helicopters, buses, bulldozers, tankers, transporters, fire engines and ambulances, all highly contaminated with radiation, sit abandoned in a junkyard, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Nov. 10, 2000, after being used in cleanup operations following the 1986 explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File )(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Beds sit in a room of an abandoned kindergarten in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, Nov. 27, 2012, which housed Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers and their families. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Ivan Kalenda turns away to wipe his tears as he visits his 3-year-old grandson Vitya, right, in the children's cancer hospital ward in Gomel, Belarus, March 19, 1996, nearly a decade after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that sent radioactive clouds through Ukraine, Belarus and other parts of Europe. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Alec Zhloba sits in a children's cancer ward with markings made by doctors on his head following chemotherapy in Gomel, Belarus, March 19, 1996, nearly 10 years after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant sent radioactive clouds through Ukraine, Belarus and other parts of Europe. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A medical worker attends to a 17-year-old girl recovering from surgery to remove her cancerous thyroid at the intensive therapy unit of the Endocrynology Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 30, 2000, nearly 15 years after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Alehandra Lihova, sister of a worker who died following cleanup operations from the 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, wipes away tears at a wreath-laying ceremony at a monument to victims in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 26, 2004. The monument depicts the plant and its inscription reads "Near the grave, near the Chernobyl nuclear power station, near the dead Prypiat, a tree is the cross." (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Portraits of Soviet officials covered by radioactive dust sit in a city club in Pripyat, Ukraine, April 10, 2006, where Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers lived and were evacuated after the deadly explosion and fire. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - An investigator points toward damaged Reactor No. 4 inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Nov. 10, 2000. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A worker checks radiation levels after leaving a nuclear waste storage site at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, March 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A broken clock hangs on a wall in a school in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017, once home to people whose lives were connected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) away. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A pommel horse sits in a school gymnasium in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 5, 2017, once home to people whose lives were connected to the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Bumper cars sit in a playground in the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, Nov. 27, 2012, once home to people whose lives were connected to the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Praskoviya Nezhyvova places a photo of her son, Viktor, who died following cleanup operations from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, at a monument to the victims in Kyiv, April 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A dome-shaped shelter covering the damaged reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant is seen on the horizon, April 15, 2021, from the abandoned town of Pripyat, Ukraine, once home to some 50,000 people whose lives were connected to the plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Workers examine the damage to the roof of the New Safe Confinement structure, which was built to contain the radioactive remains of Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, following what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian drone attack in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A radiation sign stands near the remains of a vehicle belonging to the Russian military near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - An abandoned Ferris wheel stands in a city park, April 15, 2021, in the abandoned town of Pripyat, Ukraine, once home to workers and their families whose lives were connected to the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)