Governor Deval Patrick is calling for the closure of Plymouth’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station because it does not adequately comply with applicable health, safety and environmental regulations. According to the State House News Service via WBUR, the plant lacks a “viable evacuation plan.”

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster reminds us exactly why this type of hazard should not be toyed with.

Fast Company highlighted a series of photographs Thursday of what’s left of Ukraine’s infamous failed reactor, as well as the since-abandoned surrounding cities, to convey the sheer scope of the catastrophe.

Writes Fast Company: “several countries, particularly in Europe, have scaled back their nuclear building plans. In light of Fukushima, Chernobyl, which is in Ukraine, doesn’t seem like an aberration of a dying regime, so much as something that can happen anywhere to anyone.”

Neil Sheehan, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told State House News that any faults that may have occurred, or are occurring at Pilgrim, “have not risen above very low safety significance in recent years” blatantly failing to deny that any wrongdoings have taken place at all.

Governor Patrick has since written a letter to the NRC, calling for them to decommission Pilgrim before any devastating incidents take place.

Pilgrim’s rating was downgraded in 2013 because of four recent unplanned shutdowns, two of which, writes the State House News, were deemed “complicated.”

It’s unclear what other measures Governor Patrick will take to make Pilgrim safer in the community. But, if something isn’t done, a Chernobyl-type meltdown isn’t out of the question.

Gerd Ludwig, photographer of the snapshots seen in the above video, while narrating, mentions, “a dramatic rise in cancers and abnormalities has been observed downwind from the failed reactor. Mothers are giving birth to unhealthy babies and the emotional stress and the memory of the tragedy weighs heavy on those lucky enough to survive.”

[image via Gerd Ludwig/Fast Company]