Anniversary of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Ukraine

On the 26th of April 1986 near the Ukrainian town Prypyat exploded the Reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. That was one of the worst nuclear accident to have ever occurred on the Earth after which 350,000 residents of Ukraine that was a part of the former USSR were evacuated, and was created the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone. The reactor of the fourth power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant exploded and spit out radioactive substances into the northern part of Ukraine, as well as Belarus, Baltic states, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and several other countries. The Soviet Union government kept the tragedy in secret and did nothing to prevent the terrible consequences of the Chornobyl.

After the explosion a power surge blew the roof off a reactor and mostly ruined it, spewing radioactive clouds. A massive engineering project 100-metre steel arch being built to contain remaining radioactive waste.

PHOTO: EBRD

Donors around the world pledged €87.5m (£68m; $99m) on Monday towards a new underground nuclear waste facility in the region.


See also: Arch being slid into place over damaged Chornobyl reactor. It is the world’s largest movable structure. Video


Ukraine will need to commit a further €10m in order to complete the new storage site. Work began in 2010 on a 25,000-tonne, €2.1bn sarcophagus to seal the uranium left in the damaged reactor, thought to be about 200 tonnes.

Inside Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant today.

30 Years After Chernobyl, Nature Is Thriving by National Geographic

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