This Day in
History: Nuclear
Disaster at Chernobyl April 26, 1986 The disaster at Chernobyl, located
about 65 miles from Kiev in the
former Soviet Union, is the worst
nuclear power plant accident to date. 50 tons of radioactive material was
released into the atmosphere after
an explosion of the Number 4 reactor,
caused by an engineering experiment. The 30,000 residents of
the nearby community of
Pripyat were evacuated the next day. The Soviet government
attempted a cover-up. But two days after the disaster,
radiation levels 800 miles away
in Sweden were detected at
40% higher than the normal level. 32 people were initially
killed in the Chernobyl plant.
5,000 Soviets eventually died
from radiation-induced illnesses. Millions of acres of forest
and farmland across Northern
and Eastern Europe were contaminated. The former residents
of Pripyat have
never returned.