Everything You Need To Know About Chernobyl Disaster, World's Worst Nuclear Disaster

The worst disaster in the history of nuclear power occurred in Ukraine in the year 1986 known to the world as the Chernobyl disaster.

The Chernobyl power station was situated at the Prypyat settlement 16 kilometres and 10 miles northwest of the Chernobyl city in Ukraine and situated 65 miles north of the country's capital Kyiv.

The power station where a fire broke out had 4 reactors with the capability of producing a thousand megawatts of electric power.

The night of 26 April 1986 is still regarded as the darkest night of history that resulted in a massive nuclear explosion.

A poorly designed experiment by the technicians at reactor Unit 4 resulted in a massive fire disaster on 25 April 1986 that continued till 26 April which made the situation even worse.

What happened next is even worse...

Workers at the plant closed the power regulating system of the reactor along with the emergency system and withdrew the control rods from the core enabling the reactor to operate at 7% power.

The water cooling system in the plant was not working and a lava-like substance melted via various barriers and dropped the core of the reactor into the pool due to no cooling.

The chain reaction in the core went extreme as it was then unable to control at 01:23 PM on 26 April and numerous explosions triggered big fireballs and blew off the heavy steel and reactor's solid lid.

This resulted in releasing huge amounts of radioactive material into the air and was taken to long distances by the air currents. Between 50 and 180 million curies of radioactive forms of chemical elements got mixed into the atmosphere.

The effects of atomic reaction from the explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear plant had been experienced by people for a long time as it caused lifelong diseases resulting in death.

At least 30, 000 inhabitants of the Prypat city were shifted to different regions on 27 April as the explosions resulted in high risk associated with the site and its nearby places.

Dozens of people contracted serious radiation diseases like cancer and it was reported that more than 50 people lost their lives. Several farmlands and forest areas were contaminated due to the radioactivity released into the atmosphere.

The recent shelling attack by Russian forces on Europe's biggest nuclear power Zaporizhzhya located in Ukraine's Enerhodar roused global concern as it is feared that this might result in a bigger explosion similar to the Chernobyl disaster.

Also read: Europe's Largest Nuclear Power Plant On Fire - Here's What Can Be The Potential Consequences

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