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Prypiat: Russia's Secret Radioactive Wonderland

From Outside's visit to the site of the Chernobyl meltdown to Vanity Fair's inquiry into Mel Gibson's troubled private life, The Daily Beast picks our favorite longform journalism from around the Web this week.

Published Feb. 24 2011 7:18PM EST

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---chernobyl_disew2 — Viktor Pobedinsky / AP Photo

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---chernobyl_kemxuh — The area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine—the site of the biggest nuclear disaster in history—has been forbidden to humans for 25 years. The ruins are now overgrown and teeming with wildlife—deer, elk, wolves, foxes, birds—thriving at unprecedented levels.
Viktor Pobedinsky / AP Photo

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---caldwell_tkug0e — A room containing Soviet placards in the abandoned city of Prypiat, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on February 22, 2011.
Gleb Garanich / Reuters

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---armstrong_cg4vuc — A room containing appliances in the abandoned city of Prypiat, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on February 22, 2011.
Gleb Garanich / Reuters

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---gibson_dcvnxn — A Geiger counter reading of the radioactive level at the Chernobyl power plant, in 2003.
Elena Filatova

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---human-origins_xjljxt — A deserted hotel in Prypiat
Viktor Pobedinsky / AP Photo

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---prypiat---writing_jjnhhz — Writing on a deserted apartment building quotes the Soviet Union's national anthem: "Lenin's Party, people's power/ Leads us to triumph of Communism."
Viktor Pobedinsky / AP Photo

galleries/2011/02/25/prypiat-russia-s-secret-radioactive-wonderland/longreads-224---the-information_fno74d — Keith Adams

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