The most terrible technological accident in human history is well known: Chernobyl, once an unknown place in the rich farmland of Ukraine. It is now a single chilling word that still casts a dark shadow of death and contamination. Twenty years after the disaster the tragedy continues. Many people live in villages close to the nuclear plant in conditions on the edge of human survival. The damage is still very much in evidence. Everywhere, in an area called THE ZONE, there is the dark heritage of disaster and everything is still covered by silence. It is impossible to know how many people have died as a result of the Chernobyl accident, and its long-term effects on civilians are still controversial. More than 300,000 people were resettled because of the accident but millions continue to live in the contaminated area. Most of those affected received relatively low doses of radiation with little evidence of increased cancers or birth defects.