For a segment on 60 Minutes which aired last week, Cooke traveled with the 60 Minutes crew to the Ukraine to explore the abandoned area, which scientists say will not be fit for re-settlement for 20,000 years. Cooke attached a camera and a GoPro to a DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter on his own time to obtain additional footage. According to his writings about the visit, he was deeply moved by what he found: It caused so much distress hundreds of miles away, so I can’t imagine how terrifying it would have been for the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens who were forced to evacuate.”
Short visits to the area are allowed, and most visitors, according to the 60 Minutes segment, simply presume it is safe to visit since there are guides assigned as escorts. But the lasting effects are unknown: it is estimated that the fallout is weaved into the DNA of those in the vicinity, and the evacuation did not occur until days after the most catastrophic nuclear disaster in history as Soviet officials attempted to cover up the event.
