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In some ways, the mental effects for those in or near the exclusion zone can be more damaging than the actual radiation. A sense of fatalism and hopelessness associated with being doomed by the radiation is believed to contribute to the higher rates of smoking and alcoholism in the area, according to a BBC report. The fact that so many had to relocate, the loss of employment and community and the reliance on government compensation has also negatively affected people’s lives.

Professor Jim Smith, a scientist conducting research in the area, said: “It was a terrible thing that happened here. But that tends to dominate people’s lives. “Somehow – and it’s very, very difficult – we’ve got to move towards a situation where people can go back to living their lives without this fear, this radiation blight.” His colleague, Gennady Laptev, said he is surprised the people of Narodichi – a town of 2,500 in the ‘outer exclusion zone’ – are afraid of the radiation. He said: “It’s a very big factor affecting their lives, more than 30 years after the accident. This is really something that surprised me.” READ MORE: Chernobyl: How engineer warned of more nuclear accidents

Geiger counter in Narodichi district; A Chernobyl worker plant drinks vodka in memory of his friends

Belarus policemen and former rescue team members drink vodka as they pay respects

The radiation level in Narodichi, which is about 90km west of Chernobyl, is around 0.12 microsieverts per hour. This is around a tenth of what could be detected on an international flight. Professor Smith explained that radiation levels in much of the exclusion zone are not out of the ordinary. He said: “It comes from the Sun’s rays, from the food we eat, from the Earth.

“Yes, the exclusion zone is contaminated, but if we put it on a map of radiation dose worldwide only the small ‘hotspots’ would stand out. “Natural radioactivity is all around us – it varies from country to country, from place to place. “Most of the area of the exclusion zone gives rise to lower radiation dose rates than many areas of natural radioactivity worldwide.” In this way, fear of radiation could be doing the people here more harm than the actual radiation.

The New Safe Confinement over Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

The exclusion zone is now open for tours

Strict rules govern the officially contaminated area – it cannot be developed and food cannot be cultivated, holding it back economically. What’s more, the population shrunk massively due to the initial evacuation after the disaster and is growing back very gradually. Tatiana Kravchenko, a kindergarten manager in Narodichi, said: “The children were evacuated together with teachers to ‘clean zones’. “In three months we were sent back, and we had only 25 children. “Eventually, people have come back, new children have been born and gradually the kindergarten started filling up again. Now we have 130 children here.”