While ironically conducting tests to make the plant safer, workers set off a chain reaction that resulted in a fireball which blew the 1,000 ton steel cover off the top of the reactor and released an enormous amount of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
The Chernobyl accident killed 31 people almost immediately. There have been serious health side effects for the population living in the effected region in the ensuing years including: an increase in thyroid cancer, leukaemia, breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and genetic defects in children.
"; Chernobyl_anniversary_042106[i++] = new Array("","Timeline","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Interactives/News/International/Europe/zFlash_assets/Chernobyl_toxic_cloud.gif","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "203", "330", "", "", "", "", ""); Chernobyl_anniversary_042106[i-1].body = "April 26, 1986: In the early hours of the morning, a test of the cooling system begins in reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Within seconds of activating the shutdown system, there is a power surge and reactor 4 explodes.
April 26-May 4, 1986: Radioactivity pours into the atmosphere. Most of it is released in the first 10 days after the initial explosion and spreads throughout the region via winds blowing to the north and south and rain showers.
April 27, 1986: Residents of Pripvat, a town of about 45,000 people built for power plant workers, are evacuated.
April 28, 1986: The Soviet Union acknowledges that there has been an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. The report, from the official Soviet news agency, Itar-Tass, announces casualties, but gives no specific details on numbers.
By May 5, 1986: All those living within an 18 mile radius of the plant – about 116,000 people – are evacuated. Radiation drifts across Europe where experts detect a sharp rise in radioactivity. In addition to the reactor’s immediate surroundings, contamination spreads over large parts of the Soviet Union – the nations that are now Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
May 6, 1986: The release of radiation stopped. "; Chernobyl_anniversary_042106[i++] = new Array("","Aftermath","Children's toys and gas masks, covered by radioactive dust are seen on bed frameworks in an abandoned kindergarten in the ghost town of Pripyat on March 10, 2006, in Ukraine. Pripyat, built nearly a mile from the plant to house the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's workers, was evacuated within hours after the April 26, 1986 explosion. ","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Interactives/News/International/Europe/zFlash_assets/UKRAINE-CHERNOBYL.jpg","","Children's toys and gas masks, covered by radioactive dust are seen on bed frameworks in an abandoned kindergarten in the ghost town of Pripyat on March 10, 2006, in Ukraine. Pripyat, built nearly a mile from the plant to house the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's workers, was evacuated within hours after the April 26, 1986 explosion. ", "", "", "", "", "right", "Efrem Lukatsky", "AP", "238", "330", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Chernobyl_anniversary_042106[i-1].body = "Dead: 31 killed immediately after the explosion. The number of people who have died as a direct result of radiation exposure is still debated. A 2005 U.N. report attributed 56 deaths to the explosion and estimated that as many as 4,000 people may ultimately die from long term accident-related illnesses.
Exposed: More than 8 million exposed to radiation in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia
Resettled: More than 400,000 people relocated after the explosion, but millions continue to live in area where residual radiation exposure has negative health effects.
Effects: An increase in thyroid cancer, leukemia, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, bone and muscle disorders, birth defects, and genetic mutations among residents of the affected area.
Extent of exposure: Experts estimate that the amount of radioactivity released by the explosion was 100 times the amount released by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An estimated 520 dangerous radionuclides were released into the atmosphere. Experts estimated that between 3.8 and 20 percent of the 200 tons of uranium in the reactor at the time of the explosion was released in to the atmosphere.
Facility shut, eventually: The Chernobyl facility continued to produce electricity for 14 years after the disaster, until international pressure forced its closure in 2000. A “Black Zone” or official exclusion zone still exists within an 18-mile radius of the plant and it is still considered one of the most radioactive spots on Earth."; // END editorial data