Ukraine Chernobyl Photographerís Story

FILE – In this photo taken May 1, 1986 in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, people rally to celebrate the May Day a few days after the deadly explosion on the 4th unit in Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Nobody cancelled a May Day parade in Kiev when thousands of people walked in columns along the streets, with songs, flowers and Soviet leaders portraits, covered with invisible clouds of fatal radiation. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion was only about 60 miles from photographer Efrem Lukatsky’s home, but he didn’t learn about it until the next morning from a neighbor. Only a few photographers were allowed to cover the destroyed reactor and desperate cleanup efforts, and all of them paid for it with their health. I went a few months later, and have returned dozens of times. (AP Photo)