The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), a 1,000-square-mile area surrounding the nuclear plant in northern Ukraine, was abandoned after the disaster, leaving wildlife to flourish in the absence of humans.

Alla Kravchuk, the daughter of a former Chernobyl engineer, returns to her father's workplace as the huge mobile Sarcophagus built to cover the damaged reactor nears completion. Can the site of ...