Slavutich was born from the radioactive hell of the Chernobyl disaster. The town was designed to house power plant personnel and their families, including evacuees from the stricken city of Pripyat.
Construction was rushed in less than a year, in the heart of a forest 50 km away from the site of the catastrophe. Eight republics of the former Soviet Union – Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – took part, giving every block of the town the traditional architecture of the republic that built it.
Slavutich’s new citizens were young, well-educated, ambitious engineers, specialists in atomic energy gathered from the best Russian universities. Work at the power plant offered a chance of a comfortable life, good salary, extensive social benefits for the whole family and an early retirement.
The motto of those of who designed Slavutich was: “From the ashes of the old, we will build a new world.” June 2, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the town’s founding. But a quarter of a century later, Slavutich’s future is far from certain.
Until 2001, some 6,000 people (half the adult population of Slavutich) worked at the stricken plant. That year saw the final shutdown of Chernobyl, and the workforce dwindled by half, leaving most of those 3,000 on maintenance and monitoring work.
Now, the children of those engineers who arrived to build new lives in Slavutich are in their 20s and have their own families to support with little reason for optimism. Despite the town being designated a Special Economic Zone, and government retraining programs for the unemployed, around 2,000 people have left Slavutich and more are following. In 2015, the new sarcophagus over the infamous reactor No. 4 will be finished, further slashing jobs in the exclusion zone. Is Slavutich set to be the final victim of Chernobyl?
Slavutich
People stand in front of the railway station in Slavutich. The digital display shows the current radiation level in the city. 
Engineers talk in the main control room at the Chernobyl power plant.
Office workers walk down the hall of Chernobyl nuclear power plant building.
View of the reactor no. 3 hall at Chernobyl nuclear power plant through the safety glass window of the operating room.
Employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant travel back to Slavutich after their shifts. Most of them play cards during this 40 minute ride. 
Nikolay and Nataly Semina sit in the kitchen of their house in Slavutich. They used to live in the city of Pripyat before the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant. Nikolay used to work at the power plant and Nataly worked at the swimming pool in Pripyat. Both of them are now retired.
Alexandr Berezin shares memories of his youth during an interview in his house in Slavutich. Alexandr used to live in Pripyat and was working at the Chernobyl power plant on the night of the explosion. 
A view from the window of a train, which take commuters from Slavutich to jobs within Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
A worker at the museum of Slavutich gives a city tour referencing a miniature model version of the town. 
A man walks down the street in Tbilisi block in Slavutich.
Wedding guests toss rose petals at a newlywed couple as they leave the municipal building in Slavutich.
Bridesmaid Irina Nowikowa sets up a pose during a photo shoot by Mykola Savenko before a wedding ceremony in Slavutich's municipal building. 
People smoke outside the municipal building on the central place in Slavutich.
Anna leaves the city center for her wedding reception after the ceremony, which was held in the municipal building in Slavutich.
Michail Remezenko looks out of the window of his home in Chernobyl.
Snow covers the abandoned city of Pripyat.
Siergiej Akulinin walks through his former apartment in the abandoned city of Pripyat. Akulinin used to work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He now lives in Slavutich, where he operates a travel agency and a furniture factory.
Volodya drives through the abandoned city of Pripyat. He used to live here before the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant. He now lives in Slavutich but still works at the plant as a driver.
A lady pushes a baby stroller through the market in Slavutich. The city has one of the highest birthrates in the Ukraine and the lowest average age in the country. A third of its population is under 14 years old. 
A young dancer practices with his teacher during a dance tournament in Slavutich. Each district of Slavutich has its own sport center that specializes in different disciplines.
Employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant ride on the train to work from Slavutich. There are three trains a day that take the employees between Slavutich and the power plant. All trains cross the border with Belarus twice during this trip.
Employees of the Chernobyl power plant walk down the platform in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Office workers talk at the reception area of the municipal building in Slavutich.
City officials wait for the arrival of the governor of Kiev in central Slavutich. The governor is coming to visit the city a day before the 26th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a few weeks before the city marks its 25th anniversary.
Policemen fire a salvo in honor of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster in Slavutich.
Anatoly Prysyazhnyuk, governor of the Kiev region, walks through the central place of Slavutich with a group of Chernobyl liquidators to lay flowers at a monument to victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. 
A woman cries in front of a memorial dedicated to the heroes of Chernobyl in Slavutich. Each year on the night of April 25th, inhabitants get together in front of the memorial in the city center to honor the firefighters and workers of the power plant who died during the disaster on April 26, 1986.
People stand in front of a memorial dedicated to the heroes of Chernobyl in Slavutich.
Irina Nowikowa walks through the Baku quarter of Slavutich. Nowikowa is a young mother who is trying to get back to work after caring for her child full time. 
Students attend their chemistry lesson in the elementary school in Slavutich.
Anatoly Prysyazhnyuk, the governor of Kiev region, and Tatiana Nechai, a school director, leave the stage after a speech at High School No. 1 in Slavutich.
An official delegation boards a bus after visiting a high school in Slavutich. 
Irina Novikowa and Mariya Filatenko walk through the central square of Slavutich with their children. Slavutich has one of the highest birthrates in the Ukraine and the lowest average age in the country. A third of its population is under 14 years old. 
Young people sit in front of the supermarket in Slavutich. Everyday, young mothers, fathers and friends meet here, on the border of Tbilisi and Baku block, after they pick up their children from kindergarten to talk over a beer. 
Young people talk over a beer in front of the supermarket in Slavutich. 
Anna Tkachenko dances at a wedding party in Slavutich. Tkachenko was born in Slavutich but now studies in Kiev. She still visits her parents who live in the town and work in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
A view of Baku quarter in Slavutich. 
Artiom and his wife, Irina Nowikowa, talk in their apartment in Slavutich. The couple is about to leave for the evening celebration of the 26th anniversary of the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant. 
Olga Gross and Juliya Homenko smoke cigarettes in the Manhattan pub in Slavutich.