30 years after Cheobyl, drones take you on a VR tour of the silent city - CNET

The project began as the team set out to take viewers to an interesting place they could never visit in real life. "At first it was play -- how fun it would be to go to Cheobyl?" Pazdur told CNET's Ian Sherr. "But then we went to Ukraine and talked to people...I started to understand this is serious. It's important to bring the world's attention to the disaster."

Up to 60 percent of the proceeds from the project, which launches in June, will go to charities supporting victims of the disaster.

Among the people most affected were the "liquidators" who worked to contain the disaster, including firefighters, medical personnel, soldiers and local people. Radioactive levels were so high that liquidators clearing the rooftops of surrounding buildings could only work for 40 seconds at a time.

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"They didn't have proper protective suits," said Pazdur. "We heard from one man they had better suits but didn't wear them to avoid scaring the other workers." Liquidators were exposed to horrific levels of radiation, many without knowing how dangerous the situation was.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, 237 people showed signs of acute radiation sickness. Within 3 months, 31 were dead. In the 30 years since, the disaster has contributed to serious illness and birth defects for people in large parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

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The city of Pripyat was evacuated the following day, and today it stands empty, abandoned and ruined. Even now, the silent city is a dangerous one. "You have to be all day on your feet -- if you sit you may get [radioactive] dust on you," Pazdur said of the precautions his team had to take when photographing and scanning the area. "You have to watch out because you can't walk into the bushes. You cannot touch anything. You cannot eat. You can drink but you have to spit first.