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Chernobyl's Cancerous Shadow

Photo: Chernobyl victims after thyroid surgery

More than 20 years later, the catastrophe of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion isn’t over for Oleg, 54, and Dima, 13. The two are recovering from thyroid surgery at a medical facility in Belarus. Since the world's largest nuclear disaster in 1986, cases of thyroid cancer have exploded as well, afflicting thousands who could not afford to relocate. The United Nations estimates that seven million people still live on radioactive land contaminated by the explosion.

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig