Chernobyl: The explosion that reverberated around the world and spreads fear 38 years later

Chernobyl, a small town in northern Ukraine (then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), specifically the town of Pripyat located 15 km away, was chosen in 1972 to host the Soviet Union’s first nuclear power plant.

The “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” nuclear power plant, also known as “Chernobyl”, became operational in 1977, however, a few years later it was to become synonymous with fear and destruction as the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred there.

Hiroshima is pale

There were four RBMK nuclear reactors on the plant premises. On the night of Saturday April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 exploded, releasing massive amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

The two consecutive explosions were caused during a test carried out that fateful night by the operators of the nuclear reactor to check whether the cooling system would work in the event of a forced power cut.

The accident ranks at the top of the International Nuclear Event Scale, as the amount of radioactivity released is estimated to have been nearly 200 times greater than the radioactivity released by the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

On the morning of April 28, sensors at the Forsmark nuclear power plant in Sweden, located more than 1,000 km away from the Chernobyl plant, recorded levels of radioactivity that alerted plant staff. Employees at Forsmark reported the incident to the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, which determined that the radiation came from a source outside the country.

On the same day, the Swedish government contacted the Soviet government, which denied that anything had happened, and only when the Swedish government indicated that it was going to file a formal warning with the International Atomic Energy Agency, did it admit that an accident had taken place at Chernobyl.

Radioactive cloud

A radioactive cloud “covered” neighboring countries and spread over almost the entire European continent. Radioactive rain reached as far as Ireland, while Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were the worst affected countries, having absorbed 63% of the pollution from the accident.

The nearest town of Pripyat was evacuated two days after the disaster, with its residents already exposed to very high levels of radiation.

The next day, at 11 a.m., buses arrived in Pripyat to take people away. The evacuation began at 14:00.

Here is a translated excerpt of the evacuation announcement:

“Attention residents of Pripyat! The Municipal Council informs you that due to the accident at the Chernobyl Power Station in the city of Pripyat, the radioactivity conditions in the area are worsening. The Communist Party, its officials and the armed forces are taking the necessary measures to deal with the situation.

However, in order to keep people as safe and healthy as possible, with children being the first priority, we must temporarily evacuate citizens to the nearest cities in the Kyiv region. For these reasons, from April 27, 1986, and at 2 p.m., each apartment building will have a bus at its disposal, under the supervision of the police and the city authorities.

It is recommended to carry your documents, some vital personal items and a certain amount of food, just in case.

Senior officials of the city’s public and industrial facilities have decided on the list of workers who need to remain in Pripyat to keep the (nuclear) facilities in good working order. All homes will be guarded by police during the evacuation period.

Comrades, as you temporarily leave your homes, make sure you turn off the lights, electrical appliances and water and close the windows. Please maintain calm and order in the process of this coordinated evacuation.”

The deaths

In terms of immediate deaths attributable to the accident, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster proved to be anything but an extremely destructive force. While the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused almost 200,000 direct casualties (over 100,000 dead and as many injured) the Chernobyl explosion caused two direct deaths and 29 deaths from acute radiation exposure over the next three months.

In total, 237 people were transported from Chernobyl to Moscow and treated in a special clinic. Of these, 134 showed symptoms of acute radiation syndrome. A total of 50 people died from acute radiation syndrome, and an estimated 4,000 more may die in the future from causes related to radiation exposure.

The final death toll at Chernobyl, while difficult to estimate, may turn out to be significantly higher. Current estimates place it between 4,000 deaths (United Nations, 2005) and 90,000 (Greenpeace International).

In Ukraine, in the first five years after the disaster, cancer cases in children increased by more than 90%. During the first twenty years after the accident. About 5,000 cases of thyroid cancer were recorded in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in people who were younger than 18 on the day of the nuclear explosion. The World Health Organization estimates that around 5,000 cancer deaths are related to the Chernobyl accident but this figure is often disputed by independent experts.

In Ukraine in 2005, 19,000 families received state assistance due to the loss of a family member whose death was related to the Chernobyl accident. The disaster caused genetic damage even to people born after the explosion. Scientists are particularly concerned about cases of Microsatellite Instability (MSI), a condition that affects the ability of DNA to copy and repair itself, which has been detected in children whose parents were exposed to radiation after the accident.

The “haunted” exclusion zone

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one could visit the city of Pripyat, which had been turned into an open-air museum. Travel agencies organized day trips to the city that was once home to 49,000 residents. The remnants of human presence remain as a grim reminder of the tragedy that took place there.

The nuclear plant facilities

Reactor #4 was covered with bags containing sand, lead and boric acid. Helicopters dropped material totaling 5,000 tons in the week after the accident. By December 1986, a large concrete sarcophagus was built to seal the reactor.

The nuclear plant continued to operate until the first months of the Russian invasion in February 2022, despite the bombing. Its operation was finally suspended in September 2023.