Editing Chernobyl exclusion zone (section)

====Development and recovery projects====
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is an environmental recovery area, with efforts devoted to remediation and safeguarding of the reactor site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/chernobyl-has-the-area-recovered-since-1986s-nuclear-disaster/|title=Chernobyl: Has the area recovered since 1986's nuclear disaster?|website=BBC Science Focus Magazine|date=14 July 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/00d52aea459f6c6dad6af23ac0c03e89|title=Ukraine Tries to Restore Contaminated Land|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref> At the same time, projects for wider economic and social revival of the territories around the disaster zone have been envisioned or implemented.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/what-s-going-on-in-chernobyl-today/|title=What's going on in Chernobyl today?|website=World Economic Forum|language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>

In November 2007, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted a resolution calling for "recovery and sustainable development" of the areas affected by the Chernobyl accident. Commenting on the issue, [[UN Development Programme]] officials mentioned the plans to achieve "self-reliance" of the local population, "agriculture revival" and development of [[ecotourism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7105273.stm|title=UN plots Chernobyl zone recovery|date=21 November 2007|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=31 October 2015}}</ref>

However, it is not clear whether such plans, made by the UN and then-President [[Victor Yushchenko]], deal with the ''zone of alienation'' proper, or only with the other three zones around the disaster site where contamination is less intense and restrictions on the population are looser (such as the district of [[Narodychi]] in [[Zhytomyr Oblast]]).

Since 2011, tour operators have been bringing tourists inside the Exclusion Zone<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelsnitch.org/categories/news/chernobyls-sealed-zone-to-open-to-tourists/|title=Chernobyl's sealed zone to open to tourists {{!}} Travel Snitch|date=2013-05-01|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501114144/http://www.travelsnitch.org/categories/news/chernobyls-sealed-zone-to-open-to-tourists/|archive-date=1 May 2013}}</ref> (illegal tours may have started even before).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelsnitch.org/categories/features/tours-of-chernobyl-sealed-zone-officially-begin/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430053527/http://www.travelsnitch.org/categories/features/tours-of-chernobyl-sealed-zone-officially-begin/|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 April 2013|title=Tours of Chernobyl sealed zone officially begin {{!}} Travel Snitch|date=2013-04-30|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> Tourists are accompanied by tour guides at all times and are not able to wander too far on their own due to the presence of several radioactive "hot spots". Pripyat was deemed safe for tourists to visit for a short period of time in the late 2010s, although certain precautions must be taken.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47227767|title=Chernobyl: The end of a three-decade experiment|date=2019-02-14|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-22|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dandao/2019/06/30/how-to-visit-chernobyl-safety/|title=What To Consider If You Plan On Visiting Chernobyl—And Is It Safe?|last=Dao|first=Dan Q.|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>

In 2016, the Ukrainian government declared the part of the exclusion zone on its territory the [[Chernobyl Radiation and Environmental Biosphere Reserve]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/chernobyl-has-become-a-refuge-for-wildlife-33-years-after-the-nuclear-accident-116303|title=Chernobyl has become a refuge for wildlife 33 years after the nuclear accident|last=Orizaola|first=Germán|website=The Conversation|date=8 May 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>

It was reported in 2016 that "A heavily contaminated area within a 10-kilometer radius" of the plant would be used for the storage of [[nuclear waste]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/world/area-around-chernobyl-plant-become-nuclear-dump/|title=Area around Chernobyl plant to become a nuclear dump|date=2016-03-24|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=2020-04-22|language=en-US|issn=0447-5763}}</ref> The [[IAEA]] carried out a feasibility study in 2018 to assess the prospect of expanding the local waste management infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Mission-reviews-Chernobyl-waste-management|title=Mission reviews Chernobyl waste management : Waste & Recycling - World Nuclear News|website=www.world-nuclear-news.org|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>

In 2017, three companies were reported developing plans for [[solar farms]] within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Geuss|first1=Megan|title=Radioactive land around Chernobyl to sprout solar investments|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/radioactive-land-around-chernobyl-to-sprout-solar-investments/|access-date=28 November 2017|publisher=Ars Technica|date=28 November 2017}}</ref> The high [[feed-in tariff]]s offered, the availability of land, and easy access to transmission lines (which formerly ran to the nuclear power station) have all been noted as beneficial to siting a solar farm.<ref name="afp20180110">{{cite web|url=https://www.seeker.com/energy/chernobyl-will-soon-be-generating-solar-power|title=Chernobyl Will Soon Be Generating Solar Power:Nearly 4,000 solar panels, covering an area the size of two football fields, have been installed at the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster|access-date=16 February 2020|date=10 January 2018|quote=The new one-megawatt power plant is located just a hundred meters from the new "sarcophagus", a giant metal dome sealing the remains of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the worst nuclear disaster in the world.[...][the Ukrainian-German company Solar Chernobyl] has spent one million euros on the structure which has about 3,800 photovoltaic panels installed across an area of 1.6 hectares, about the size of two football fields, and hopes the investment will pay for itself within seven years. Eventually, the region is to produce 100 times the initial solar power, the company said. }}</ref> The solar plant began operations in October 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/three-decades-after-nuclear-disaster-chernobyl-goes-solar/|title=Three decades on, Chernobyl is creating solar power|website=World Economic Forum|language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>
[[File:Atomik apple spirit from Chernobyl - Science Museum, London.jpg|thumb|Atomik apple spirit made from apples grown in the Narodychi District of Ukraine]]
In 2019, following a three-year research project into the transfer of radioactivity to crops grown in the exclusion zone conducted by scientists from UK and Ukrainian universities, one bottle of [[vodka]] using grain from the zone was produced.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/09/vodka-made-in-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-aims-to-boost-economic-recovery|title=Vodka made in Chernobyl exclusion zone aims to boost economic recovery|date=9 August 2019|website=Euronews}}</ref> The vodka did not contain abnormal levels of radiation because of the distillation process. The researchers consider the production of vodka, and its sales profits, a means to aid economic recovery of the communities most adversely affected by the disaster.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Gill|first=Victoria|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49251471|title=Chernobyl vodka made in exclusion zone|date=2019-08-08|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-22|language=en-GB}}</ref> The project later switched to producing and exporting "Atomik" apple spirit, made from apples grown in the Narodychi District.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atomik Apple Spirit made from Chernobyl apples |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8837103/atomik-apple-spirit-made-from-chernobyl-apples-bottle |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=Science Museum Group Collection |language=en}}</ref>