on 26 April 1986 an experiment went horribly wrong in Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and a massive explosion blew the top off the building. The world's worst nuclear accident unfolded, spewing radioactive material across much of Europe, including the UK. Twenty years on, millions of square kilometres of land are still badly contaminated and radioactive particles are still making their way into food. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state, but it's still coping with the Chernobyl legacy. Reactor 4 I'm travelling with Marc again and we check into the gruesome but affordable Hotel Rus in central Kiev. I immediately want to leave the country. People are rude and unpleasant here, the place is harsh and unwelcoming and everyone looks depressed. It's as though the city is enveloped in a cloud of misery and pain. I meet up with Helen, who works for the BBC in Kiev. She's actively scared of radiation (which seems strange for someone who has chosen to live three hours from Chernobyl): she keeps a Geiger counter on all the time in her apartment, and refuses to go anywhere near the Chernobyl plant.
