Just seven years after Pennsylvania experienced the partial nuclear meltdown at TMI, an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine became the worst nuclear accident to date.
According to history.com, experts believe thousands of people died as a result and as many as 70,000 were poisoned. And, the land around it will not be livable for 150 years.
An aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, is seen in April 1986, made two to three days after the explosion in Chernobyl, Ukraine. In front of the chimney is the destroyed fourth reactor. (AP Photo)AP
“The 18-mile radius around Chernobyl was home to almost 150,000 people who had to be permanently relocated,” according to history.com.
It was determined after the accident on April 26, 1986, that workers had been performing tests on the system. In order to that, they had shut down the emergency safety and cooling systems. When signs of overheating began to appear, the workers did not stop the tests. A buildup of xenon gasses caused an explosion at 1:23 a.m. Two more explosions resulted in the 1,000-ton steel top of the reactor being blown off.
A girl plays next to a memorial to Chernobyl victims in Kiev, on April 26, 2018, during a ceremony marking the 32d anniversary of the Chernobyl world's worst nuclear disaster. - The accident spread radioactive fallout across Europe in 1986, particularly contaminating Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. About 600,000 Soviet citizens who became known as "liquidators" -- mostly emergency workers and state employees -- were dispatched with little or no protective gear to help clean up and build a concrete sarcophagus over the damaged reactor. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)AFP/Getty Images
“A huge fireball erupted into the sky. Flames shot 1,000 feet into the air for two days, as the entire reactor began to melt down. Radioactive material was thrown into the air like fireworks. Although firefighting was futile, Pripyat’s 40,000 people were not evacuated until 36 hours after the explosion. Potentially lethal rain fell as the fires continued for eight days,” according to history.com.
These are the front pages of four British morning newspapers reflecting the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, Soviet Union. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Almost two weeks after the accident, the reactor was encased in concrete. It was later confirmed that 200 people were directly exposed at the plant and 31 of those had died immediately.
“The clean-up effort and the general radioactive exposure in the region, however, would prove to be even more deadly. Some reports estimate that as many as 4,000 clean-up workers died from radiation poisoning. Birth defects among people living in the area have increased dramatically. Thyroid cancer has increased tenfold in Ukraine since the accident,” according to history.com.
A man light candles amid flowers at the monument to Chernobyl victims in Slavutich, the city of the power station's personnel live, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the accident site, during a memorial ceremony early on April 26, 2018. - Ukraine on April 26, 2018 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster which was the world's worst nuclear accident. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images)AFP/Getty Images