It's undisputed that two people were killed by the initial explosions and 28 firemen died within the first three months because of exposure to supra-lethal doses of radiation. Another 70 perhaps died later of radiation poisoning. Then, depending on whose figures you believe, anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 of the 600,000 'liquidators' later mopping up the toxic mess died from diseases attributable to radiation.

The health of millions might have been affected by the Chernobyl disaster, but the biggest agreed effect has been an increase in thyroid cancer in those who were children, or in their mother's womb, at the time of the accident. In the most contaminated areas - in the neighbouring country of Belarus - the incidence of the disease is now 90 times the normal limit. For more information, see www.chernobyl.info

After Chernobyl reactor No 4 in northern Ukraine exploded on 26 April 1986, the surrounding 30 kilometres were declared too contaminated for human habitation. While it sometimes looks like benign wilderness, actually the area has been abandoned, homes lie bulldozed into the poisoned soil and radioactive moss sprouts in crevices. Now this empty landscape, with its occasional eerie ghost town and frozen-in-time buildings, has become Ukraine's most talked-about tourist attraction. With radiation levels having decreased, limited guided tours were begun in 2002. Last year, one leather-clad Ukrainian female motorcyclist's sensationalised online accounts of her experiences here (see www.kiddofspeed.com) and made the tours famous and the zone has since lured more visitors.

Observer 23rd October 2005