Site of world's worst nuclear accident is now a booming tourism spot
The site of the world's worst nuclear plant disaster is now a popular tourist destination, thanks to HBO.
The success of the HBO Chernobyl series triggered a tourism boom. One tour agency says it has seen a 40 percent rise in bookings since the series began last month.
An English-language tours will cost you about $100. One tourist says the risk of exposure to radiation is always in the back of his mind, but he really wanted to see the site so it's a risk he's willing to take.
Eyewitness News Reporter Tom Abrahams visited the site, also known as "The Exclusion Zone" in 2006. He was there to report on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster and its connection to The Texas Medical Center.
In the years following the disaster more than 4,000 Chernobyl survivors, those displaced from their homes, moved to Houston.
Scientists and researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine kept track of more than 1,000 of them and their long-term health. The project, which has since ended, produced scientific papers on radiation exposure, long term care, and radiation protection with regard to public health.
You can learn more about the disaster, its fallout, and the registry project by watching 6abc sister station abc13's award-winning special report: No Man's Land: Chernobyl 20 Years Later.
