The BBC's Jessica Parker visits Pripyat, which was abandoned in 1986 after an explosion at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

"Relative abundances of elk, roe deer, red deer, and wild boar within the Chernobyl exclusion zone are similar to those in four (uncontaminated) nature reserves in the region," writes a team led by wildlife ecologist Tatiana Deryabina of the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve.

The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant is one of the most radioactive sites in the world. Yet scientists regularly carry out research there to analyse the fallout from the 26 April, 1986 disaster.

A group of former cleanup workers who returned to Chernobyl ahead of the 40th anniversary of the 1986 nuclear disaster, revisited a nearby site where they once worked to help contain the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Nikolay Solovyov was on shift the night of April 26, 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Instead of fleeing, he chose to fight his "first war" against radiation. Four decades later,

Can we ever really understand Chernobyl? These five shows and videogames give a pretty good glimpse of what the disaster entailed.

On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine exploded during a botched safety test, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe and sparking global panic. Around 30 people died in the immediate blast,