40 years on from the disaster, why there are foxes, bears and bison again around Chernobyl

LANCASTER (UK): (Apr 23) In the novel When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift, the Chernobyl disaster and its legacy is extrapolated to a near future where natural habitats are depleted and precarious.

This work of eco-fiction deftly explores issues of possible paths to a future where animals return to a nature depleted area. In the real world, a parallel version of this story has been unfolding as nature is thriving around former nuclear power plants.

This is especially evident at the former Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, where the absence of human activity has enabled wildlife to flourish despite continuing radiation, 40 years after the nuclear disaster there.