I thought Chernobyl has been cleaned up decades ago ...
It has never been cleaned up, it has just been contained.
The whole area around it is contaminated, and will be for centuries.
“I thought Chernobyl has been cleaned up decades ago ...”
Decontamination is not reclamation. As an example the firefighters who gave their lives to stop the radiation from escaping - all their equipment, PPE etc... has been put in the cellar of one of the reactor buildings and it is one of the highest radiation areas on the entire complex.
It has never been cleaned up, but there are swaths of areas that are safe to travel through, even on foot.
Tourist companies could take you through to literally visit the area, safely.
Wildlife runs wild and is growing. There are a few people who still live there and farm the land in safe zones.
It is pretty crazy, but there are a few YouTube documentaries available about life after.
However, the surrounding area, the "exclusion zone" is still contaminated. I think they hauled away some of the worst, but within the exclusion zone there is still contamination.
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2021/radioactive-contamination-still-detected-in-chernobyl-crops/
Interestingly, Strontium-90 is in the local environment. It can be inhaled or ingested through food/water. We know the Russians are foraging for supplies. They might have been stupid/desperate enough to eat something they found in the area, or use wood for cook fires or heat... Strontium-90 is bad stuff once it gets into you.
Don’t you know. Radiation is good for you. Just ask most of the people here. In another 100,000 years it will probably be safe to live there.
Cleaned up? Is that a joke? You don’t clean up nuclear disasters. You poor cement over them and try to forget for a million years.
Largest Movable Building In The World, Chernobyl Arch On Project Impossible
“I thought Chernobyl has been cleaned up decades ago ...”
I do seems to recall Reagan offering US help to clean it up and Russia refusing any help.