Chernobyl is becoming a tourist attraction.
The site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, which reportedly claimed at least 31 lives and is responsible for over 5,000 cases of thyroid cancer, will be available for anyone to visit.
On Wednesday, newly elected Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that set out plans for newly designed walking trails and enhanced mobile phone reception, the BBC reports.
“Chernobyl has been a negative part of Ukraine’s brand,” Zelensky said. “The time has come to change this.”
When reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986 near the city of Pripyant, it sent a radioactive plume across Europe — with over 19 miles of land contaminated.
Even though the effects of the explosion continue to be felt to this day, it’s still of interests to many.
“We will create a green corridor for tourists,” Zelensky said. “Chernobyl is a unique place on the planet where nature [has been] reborn after a huge man-made disaster.”
“We have to show this place to the world: to scientists, ecologists, historians [and] tourists,” he added.
Even though the radiation levels are measured at higher than normal, thousands of tourists reportedly already take the trip to Chernobyl every year.
In May, HBO premiered the five part mini-series “Chernobyl.”
Plans for waterways and checkpoints in the area have been outlined in the decree, along with the lifting of restrictions at the site.
Zelensky was elected earlier this year.
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