The cleanup of the area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is expected to continue for decades, while parts may remain uninhabitable for thousands of years.On April 25 and 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history unfolded in what is now northern Ukraine as a reactor at a nuclear power plant exploded and burned.
Photograph by Gerd Ludwig, Nat Geo Image CollectionPhotograph by Gerd Ludwig, Nat Geo Image CollectionThe Chernobyl disaster: What happened, and the long-term impacts On the 26th of April 1986 Chernobyl was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster when an explosion at a newly built nuclear power plant unleashed 200 times more radioactivity than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs and affected forever the lives of 7 million people. KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A huge forest fire in Ukraine that has been raging for more than a week is now just one kilometre from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant and poses a radiation risk, Greenpeace Russia warned on Monday, citing satellite images. Police say they have identified a 27-year old local resident who they accuse of deliberately starting the blaze. Even if no explosion occurred, the reaction would contaminate the water. HBO's miniseries Chernobyl will conclude next Monday, but the real-life disaster is far from over.
Reuters TV/via REUTERS An interior photo of a still-functioning section of the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant taken a few months after the disaster in 1986 # Laski Diffusion / Wojtek Laski / Getty
On April 4 Ukrainian authorities said the blaze covered an area of 20 hectares, but Greenpeace cited satellite images showing it was around 12,000 hectares in size at that time. Radiation levels near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster have spiked as firefighters battle to contain two forest fires in the area. On 26 April 1986, a disaster occurred at reactor no.
Video footage shot by Reuters on Sunday showed plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky and trees still ablaze, with firefighters in helicopters trying to put out the fires.
Is the Chernobyl power plant still active? More than 30 years after the No. Aerial images of the 30 km (19 mile) exclusion zone around the plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986, showed scorched, blackened earth and the charred stumps of still smouldering trees.
However, it was not shut down immediately after the explosion in nuclear reactor four. “A fire approaching a nuclear or hazardous radiation facility is always a risk,” Alimov said.
Ukraine’s Emergency Situations Service said it was still fighting the fires, but that the situation was under control. The Chernobyl Power Plant was operating until 2000. It's not just a local interest, for a small group of people, but it is still worldwide." He said the fire was rapidly expanding and had reached the abandoned city of Pripyat, two kilometers from where “the most highly active radiation waste of the whole Chernobyl zone is located”.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not in use as a power plant. THE STORY.
Chernobyl. All rights reserved
Ukrainian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those claims. 4, which has been widely regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, an area of about four square miles became known as the âRed Forestâ because so many trees turned reddish-brown and died after absorbing high levels of radiation.Today, the exclusion zone is eerily quiet, yet full of life.
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has reported that more than 6,000 children and adolescents What remains of the reactor is now inside a massive steel The city of Pripyat was built to house workers of the nuclear power plant in the 1970s. “In this case we’re hoping for rain tomorrow.” Chernobyl tour operator Yaroslav Yemelianenko, writing on Facebook, described the situation as critical.