The Chernobyl disaster is known worldwide. It is the largest nuclear catastrophe in human history. In the early hours of April 26, 1986, the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was completely destroyed. The destruction was explosive in nature, causing the reactor to collapse and releasing a large amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

1. Construction of the first phase of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began in 1970, and the nearby city of Pripyat was built for the servicing staff.

2. On September 9, 1982, the first accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred. During a test run of the first reactor, one of the reactor’s technological channels collapsed, deforming the graphite lining of the active zone. There were no casualties, and it took about three months to eliminate the consequences of the accident.

3. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant resulted in a radioactivity release of approximately 50 million curies, which is equivalent to the explosion of 500 atomic bombs, like those dropped on Japan. Modern nuclear weapons, of course, are more powerful.

4. A grove of trees located two kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became known as the “Red Forest“ due to the brown-red color of the trees, which was acquired as a result of the trees absorbing a high dose of radiation in the first days after the accident.

5. The evacuation of the city of Pripyat, located three kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, began 36 hours after the catastrophe.

6. The name of the city comes from the plant called “chernobyl“ in Russian, which belongs to the Artemisia family.

7. The average age of the residents of the city of Pripyat at the time of the evacuation was 26 years.

8. The city itself is 12 kilometers away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

9. Despite the catastrophic consequences of the Chernobyl accident at the nuclear power plant, the three surviving reactors continued to operate and were fully shut down only many years later.

10. The most contaminated areas were the northern regions of the Ukrainian SSR, the Gomel region of the Belarusian SSR, and the Bryansk region of the RSFSR.

11. Formally, neither Chernobyl nor Pripyat lost their city status after the accident at the nuclear power plant and the subsequent evacuation of the population.

12. The distribution of highly concentrated radioactive iodine throughout Belarus in the first days after the accident was so extensive that the radiation exposure to millions of people became known as the “iodine strike.“

13. Officially, the city of Pripyat is now a huge open-air museum, but it is closed for independent visits.

14. The last block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant finally ceased operation on December 15, 2000, at 13:17.

15. In 2017, a group of Poles launched a Ferris wheel in Pripyat, which had been stopped since the day of the accident.

16. “The scariest place in Pripyat was and remains the basement of the MSCh-126 hospital, where firefighters and power plant workers were taken in the first hours after the accident. In the basement of the hospital, the firefighters’ clothing and equipment, which absorbed cesium, strontium, plutonium, and americium from the nuclear fire, were removed.“

17. In 2016, another structure called “Shelter-2“ was built over the sarcophagus covering the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which protects the environment from radioactive particles. The old structure, built in 1986, was designed to last for 20-40 years, but due to the high risk of collapse, a new one was constructed above it.

18. The fire that broke out after the accident at the fourth reactor of the nuclear power plant could not be extinguished for two weeks.

19. Since the residents of Chernobyl and Pripyat were only informed about the accident half a day after its start, many people received high doses of radiation that could have been avoided if the evacuation had been faster. But they simply did not know about the disaster at that time.

20. Despite the fact that Chernobyl is located on the territory of modern Ukraine, about 70% of the radioactive release was distributed to Belarus.

21. Approximately 600,000 people were involved in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident in Chernobyl by the Soviet authorities.

22. The complete decay of the last radioactive element on contaminated territories (plutonium-239) into natural material will occur in the year 26486 (24500 years after the accident).

23. The famous rock band Pink Floyd shot a music video in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, in the city of Pripyat, in 2014.

24. Around 180 residents have returned to their rural homes, despite warnings from Ukrainian authorities. They have now been officially allowed to return to their native homes to peacefully spend their old age.

25. About 5,000 people still work in the Exclusion Zone, mainly as field patrols, firefighters, and infrastructure workers, who protect the area from forest fires. Like the hotel staff, they work two weeks on and two weeks off.

26. Of all the people who worked in the emergency block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant during the first day, 134 people were found to have radiation sickness, and 28 of them died within the first month after the accident. Due to the high level of radiation, all the deceased were buried in lead coffins.