The USSR was gearing up for the May Day celebration and Chernobyl was all decorated, even a Farris wheel. Then Chernobyl nuke blew. Even though it was a miniscule event compared to the one in Japan, it’s a ghost town today. Has been a ghost town since April 27, 1986.
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/ghosttown.html
Lots of pages and photos of a 2008 visit: