Dogs near the Chernobyl site have developed a ‘super power’ after living so close to the disaster zone.

On 28 April 1986, the flawed Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine exploded, releasing at least five percent of its radioactive reactor core into the environment.

Following the disaster, dozens of people died within a few weeks of the explosion, and approximately 350,000 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the plant.

The disaster occurred in April 1986 (HONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Although the explosion happened many decades ago, it still remains relevant to this day, with the event continuing to impact those living nearby.

For example, stray dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) – which is the radioactive area surrounding the nuclear plant – may have actually adapted to the toxic environment.

A new study collected blood samples from 116 stray dogs in the area and found they had managed to not only adapt to the environment, but thrive in it too.

“Somehow, two small populations of dogs managed to survive in that highly toxic environment,’ said Norman J. Kleiman, environmental health scientist at Columbia University.

“In addition to classifying the population dynamics within these dogs… we took the first steps towards understanding how chronic exposure to multiple environmental hazards may have impacted these populations.”

The findings were published in the Canine Medicine and Genetics journal back in March 2023.

The strays are likely to be offspring from dogs left behind during the evacuation (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Scientists found that the stray dogs had a number of genomic locations – which are essentially the positions of genes within chromosomes – that varied from the rest of the genome.

Researchers said that 52 genes ‘could be associated with exposure to the contamination of the environment at the Nuclear Power Plant’.

The findings could suggest that the contamination has caused the dogs – who are likely to be offspring from dogs left behind by the evacuation – to develop mutations allowing them to adapt to their environment.

The study is just some of the research being conducted into the site and whether animals and humans could safely one day return.

The findings could suggest that the contamination has caused the dogs to develop mutations (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, scientists discovered wolves living in the zone were resilient to the radiation that causes a number of different cancers.

Meanwhile, in March, experts visited Chernobyl to investigate nematodes, which are tiny worms living in the soil.

Despite the obvious high radiation levels, the genomes of the worms were not damaged at all.

Dr Sophia Tintor, lead author of the study, said: “Chernobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still don’t have a great grasp on the effects of the disaster on local populations.

“Did the sudden environmental shift select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation?”

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is believed to contain ‘mutant wolves’ that can survive there, despite it being a ‘radioactive’ zone.

Chernobyl is known as one of ‘the world’s worst nuclear accidents’ and despite the horrific accident occurring almost 40 years ago, the effects are still long-lasting.

The deadly explosion that happened in the No. 4 reactor at Pripyat’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 saw radiation plague Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

31 people died as an immediate result of the explosion, and despite the residents of Pripyat being evacuated, it has been predicted a further 4,000 people went on to die and suffer from radiation poisoning over the following years.

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world, has been deserted ever since and only allows visitors for short periods of time due to the risk of cancerous cells being developed in the body as a result of the high radiation levels.

But it turns out the exclusion zone isn’t as deserted as we thought.

Amongst the thriving sanctuary of plants and forests are animals who’ve managed to adapt to the dangerous living conditions – including ‘mutant wolves’.

Getty Stock Image

The wolves that currently roam Chernobyl are said to be exposed to 11.28 milligrams of radiation daily for their lifespans – more than six times the legal safety limit for humans.

While it’s not completely clear why or how the wolves have managed to thrive in radiation, it’s believed that they’ve become acclimatized as their immune systems appeared different than normal wolves’ – similar to those of cancer patients going through radiation treatment.

Evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist in Shane Campbell-Staton’s lab at Princeton University, Cara Love has been studying the mutant wolves and how they manage to survive in the climate, and presented her research to the Annual Meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology in Seattle, Washington, last month were she revealed her findings.

Back in 2014, Love and her colleagues entered the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and managed to secure GPS trackers to the collars of the wolves, and also took blood from the hounds in an effort to understand their responses to the cancer-causing conditions.

FLCC

The research they’re collecting could be key to examining how gene mutations in humans could increase the odds of surviving cancer — flipping the script on many known gene mutations, like BRCA, that cause cancer.

With the fitted GPS trackers available, the scientists were able to collect data on measurements of how much radiation they can be exposed to.

It’s theorized that the Chernobyl dogs, which are descendants of former pets, may possess cancer resilience.

Russian troops pose a major risk to Chernobyl and could set off a nuclear disaster, experts have warned.

We’re now 23 days into Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation’. While shelling and warfare in cities across Ukraine continue to take the lives of civilians and troops, Russian forces are still in control of the infamous plant, ground zero of the worst accident in the history of nuclear power.

Over the past three weeks, reports have emerged of possible radiation leaks and efforts to restore power, in-turn averting ‘the risk of a possible nuclear catastrophe’ for all of Europe.

Olena Pareniuk and Kateryna Shavanova worked at Chernobyl prior to Russia’s invasion, studying microorganisms in the exclusion zone. In an interview with TIME, they discussed the plant, the fallout of any accidents and the dangers of the Russian occupation.

“The vital need is to rotate the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The staff, who are still at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, came in on February 23,” they said.

Alamy

“The enemy has not allowed any opportunity to change the staff, who are psychologically and physically exhausted due to the lack of rotation and the constant pressure caused by armed people.

“This can lead to loss of control over the safety of the facility and the inability to respond to internal and external initial events such as fire, which in turn can lead to severe radiation effects.”

Alamy

This echoes the concerns of an official in-charge of an exclusion zone around the plant, who warned staff being held hostage are on the edge of their ‘human capabilities due to physical and emotional exhaustion’, as per The Independent.

“The main risk of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is not radiation, but Russian troops,” Pareniuk and Shavanova said.

They went on to explain how a ‘complete power outage’ could result in ‘disabling the safety of important systems and equipment, in particular: ventilation, heat dissipation, technological, and radiation control systems’.

“There are long-lived radionuclides in the spent nuclear fuel storage, which in case of an accident can get into the Kakhovka Reservoir, and further along the Dnipro river into the Black Sea.

“A huge area would be contaminated by radiation for thousands of years. If there is an accident with one power unit or one container for spent fuel, depending on the direction of wind the radioactive cloud will affect Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and other border countries.”

There’s also the matter of the nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhya power plant and the city of Energoda, which are also under Russian control.

“There are seven nuclear sites at Zaporizhzhya: six nuclear power units and a spent nuclear fuel storage facility are equivalent to about 20 Chernobyls,” they said.

“This is a huge amount of nuclear material, which is now out of [Ukraine’s] control, [and] even of the International Atomic Energy Association. This is a danger not only for Ukraine, but to nearby countries.”

Pareniuk and Shavanova believe both areas are under direct threat. “Russian troops continue to grossly violate the requirements of radiation safety and security, which worsens the radiation situation and contributes to the spread of radioactive contamination outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone,” they said.

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information

Believe it or not, there’s a park in the US that residents have ‘unrestricted’ access to and parts of it are allegedly as radioactive as the infamous Chernobyl.

While Area 51 is highly guarded and ‘use of deadly force is authorized’, there is one place here in the US that poses a danger to life in a completely different way.

The connection? There is none.

Yes, there is no relation, it’s just striking how a spot that is as radioactive as Ukraine’s Chernobyl has nothing preventing anyone from strolling into the area and coming back mutated, while there is a place in the desert where we can’t take pictures.

A US Navy nuclear test (Getty Stock Image)

Anyway, let’s get into it.

If you’re from the US, you’ve probably heard of Acid Canyon in New Mexico. It’s a hiking trail near to Los Alamos, which is where the atomic bomb was developed and created.

It has been alleged that for more than 20 years, the US Government would dump radioactive waste into Acid Canyon.

The US Department of Energy said: “From 1943 to 1964, nuclear weapons research activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) produced liquid effluent wastes from general laboratory, chemistry, and radiochemistry operations.

“By 1951, a treatment plant was constructed on the south rim of Acid Canyon to remove plutonium and other radionuclides from the waste streams originating from the original main laboratory technical area (TA-1).

Rocky Mountains as seen from Los Alamos, New Mexico (Getty Stock Image)

“The treated and untreated wastes were discharged from the main acid sewer line, which terminated at the head of the south fork of Acid Canyon.”

They added: “In 1953, a new plutonium research laboratory complex began piping additional radioactive liquid wastes to the treatment plant.

“If treatment was not necessary to meet release criteria in effect at the time, the raw waste was discharged directly to Acid Canyon.

“In 1958, liquid wastes from a new radiochemistry facility were added to the treatment plant’s load. Wastes were finally redirected to a new central waste treatment plant in 1963, and the last releases to Acid Canyon occurred in June 1964.”

That is 21 years of toxic waste being dumped on the land, so obviously it has damaged the land.

Los Alamos is the birthplace of the atomic bomb (Getty Stock Image)

In July, data was collated by biochemist Michael Ketterer, a professor at Northern Arizona University.

Speaking publicly about his findings, he told the Guardian: “I’ve never seen anything quite like it in the United States. This is an unrestricted area.

“It’s just an extreme example of very high concentrations of plutonium in soils and sediments.”

He explained that the radioactive plutonium has leaked into ground water which will be absorbed by plants and will then be eaten by grazing animals, or even spread through the air as wildfires become more common due to climate change.

He added: “This is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever stumbled across in my life.”