Chornobyl, 30 years later: A 360 tour of a ghost town

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The explosion at Chornobyl in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.

Thirty-one people died directly in the accident, while millions more were affected by the resulting release of radioactive material. The explosion at the plant, located in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, was more radioactive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Thirty years later, Pripyat is part of a large forested area called the "zone of alienation," as trees have taken root around the desolate schools and hospitals. Wildlife also has been spotted in the zone

Pripyat was a model Soviet city constructed in the 1970s to house the Chornobyl plant's workers and their families.

On the day of the explosion, many residents gathered on a pedestrian overpass to watch firefighters battle the blaze at ChornobylReactor 4. In thetradition of Soviet-era secrecy, they were not told of dangerous radiation levels and toxic dust spreading over the town.

It was 36 hours before the town was evacuated. Residents of the region continue to suffer health effects, including birth defects and terminal cancers caused by radiation.

• Touring Chornobyl
• Chornobyl widows mourn as bell tolls 25 times

Today, the haunted ghost town that remains takes tourists, though, to stop the spread of radiation,there are strict rules against leaving with souvenirs.

At the same time, workers travel in and out of the zone to build the "New Safe Confinement," an arch more than 100 metres high and 150 metres long that will encase the reactor itself.

The concrete sarcophagus built hastily around Chornobyl Reactor 4 in 1986 to contain radiation is unstable, and a section of the roof over the turbine building collapsed in 2013. French company Novarka is leading the construction project that will see the New Safe Confinement slid over the entire Chornobyl complex, a project now scheduled for completion in 2017.