Together with our colleagues in UK and Ukraine, we have published a letter in Nature asking for support in rebuilding scientific collaborations, labs, and infrastructures in Chornobyl after the russian invasion.
The 1986 accident at the nuclear power plant near Chernobyl in what is now Ukraine caused the largest release of radioactivity in human history. When invading Russian troops took control of the surrounding area in the province of Kyiv Oblast in February, they destroyed important research laboratories in the partially abandoned city of Chernobyl before retreating a month later.
International and Ukrainian researchers working at those labs had been studying radioecology, rewilding processes and nature conservation (N. A. Beresford et al. J. Environ. Radioact. 211, 105893; 2020). The area inside the exclusion zone represents one of the world’s best examples of rewilding (A. Perino et al. Science 364, eaav5570; 2019). It now hosts brown bears, wolves, lynx, bison and Przewalski’s horses, among other endangered species (G. Orizaola Metode Sci. Stud. J. 10, 193–199; 2020).
The restoration of Chernobyl’s status as a peaceful and globally important natural laboratory, and the rebuilding of research facilities and infrastructure must be a priority.
Read more here:
Nature 605, 225 (2022)