Chernobyl Reactor 4 Explodes: Nuclear Disaster Unleashed
Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded during a safety test at 1:23 AM on April 26, 1986, releasing 400 times more radiation than the Hiroshima bomb. The explosion blew the 1,000-ton reactor lid off and ignited the graphite moderator, sending a radioactive plume across Europe that was first detected by Swedish monitoring stations two days later. Soviet authorities initially denied the accident. Two plant workers died in the explosion, and 28 emergency responders died of acute radiation syndrome within months. The evacuation of Pripyat, a city of 49,000 built to house plant workers, began 36 hours after the explosion. The exclusion zone remains uninhabitable. Over 350,000 people were permanently resettled.
April 26, 1986
40 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on April 26
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English colonists made their first landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia, on April 26, 1607, before proceeding up the James River to establish Jamestown on May 14. T…
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