Northern Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a critical meltdown more than 30 years ago. Human error compounded by poor nuclear reactor design and poor safety protocol lead to the explosion of the Chernobyl’s fourth reactor. It has been estimated that Chernobyl’s reactor core released approximately five percent of its deadly radioactive material into the atmosphere. And Chernobyl’s core released radioactive smoke over Europe for 10 days, mainly contaminating areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Ukraine’s Minister of Power and Electrification Vitali Sklyarov tells Soviet Life reporter that the odds of a meltdown at Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant are “one in 10,000 years” in February 1986.
Chernobyl’s unit 4 reactor was to be shut down for routine maintenance at 1.06am on April 25, 1986.
Fifty-six seconds later, pressure builds in the reactor No. 4 in the form of steam.
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The resulting explosion lifts a 1,000-ton lid coveing volatile fuel elements, immediately releasing radiation into the air.
As oxygen pours into the reactor, a graphite fire begins.
A chemical reaction causes a second explosion, and burning debris lands on the roof of reactor No. 3.
The engineer responsible for the night shift, Alexander Akinhov, is still unaware of the damage to the reactor’s core.
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He said: “The reactor is OK, we have no problems.” He subsequently dies from radiation illness.
At 1.45am firefighters, who know nothing about radiation and aren’t wearing any protective clothing, arrive.
At 5am reactor No. 3 is shut down. Reactors No. 1 and 2 are only stopped 24 hours later.
April 27 sees more emergency response teams arrive and evacuations begin in a radius of 6 miles around the plant.
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The Soviet Union publicly admits for the first time that an accident happened but gives few details on April 28.
An alarm is activated at a Swedish nuclear plant after shoes worn by a nuclear safety engineer there test positive for radioactivity, which is traced back to Chernobyl.
May Day parades to celebrate workers proceed as planned in Kiev and Minsk despite huge amounts of radiation continuing to be released, in an ill-advised attempt to prevent widespread panic.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev mobilises hundreds of thousands of people to help in the cleanup, many of whom will subsequently die from radiation-related illness.
Mr Gorbachev, in a 2006 memoir, says Chernobyl “was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
