Today in History: The Chernobyl Disaster

By Idy Perl

On April 26 in 1986 the Chernobyl Disaster, an explosion on a nuclear plant, occurred in the Ukrainian SSR.

The incident happened during a routine test in which a malfunction led to a steam explosion that destroyed the containment building. This caused a fire that lasted until May 4th of that year, during which airborne radioactive contaminants were spread throughout the USSR and Europe. 

Two engineers got killed in the explosion and another two were injured. During the operation to put out the fires, an additional 237 workers were hospitalized, of which 28 died within the following three months. 

To this day, no visitors are allowed in Chernobyl due to the lingering presence of nuclear contamination in the air.

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