Gomel Region

Gomel Region carries the dual burden of Belarus's industrial heart and its Chernobyl wound. The oblast produces 19% of national industrial output—highest in the country—through over 1,600 enterprises including Mozyr Oil Refinery, Belarusian Steel Mill BMZ, and the only domestic oil production in Belarus. Yet the same territory received the heaviest cesium-137 contamination from the 1986 disaster, forcing the closure of 54 agricultural and forestry enterprises.

This is hormesis economics—growth persisting despite toxic exposure. The region absorbs 13.3% of national fixed capital investment (January-May 2024), fourth among oblasts, sustaining industrial production while 12% of Belarus's total territory remains contaminated. The six state Chernobyl programs since 1990 have channeled $19.3 billion into recovery, and by 2024 contaminated territories showed positive industrial and agricultural output trends. But contamination persists: approximately 930,000 Belarusians still live in radiation zones.

Gomel's industrial dominance preceded Chernobyl and survived it. The Mozyr Oil Refinery processes crude from the Druzhba pipeline; the steel mill supplies construction across the former Soviet space. The economic organism adapted to radiation rather than succumbing—industrial activity concentrating in safer zones while agricultural use shifted away from contaminated soils. This isn't full recovery; it's metabolic reorganization around permanent damage.