This following text is adapted from the New York Times: Explosion at Chern On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident happened at the Chernobyl plant near
Pripyat, Ukraine, in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent
radioactivity into the atmosphere.
Debris from the explosion set out a number of fires around the Chernobyl plant. It released
radioactive smoke into the atmosphere that spread over the western Soviet Union and Europe.
The radioactive release has been estimated at 400 times the size of the atomic bomb dropped
on Hiroshima. The disaster could have been worse if not for the actions of firefighters who
were able to put out the fires before they caused explosions in the other three reactors.
The number of deaths directly caused by the Chernobyl disaster is usually estimated to be
between 31 and 56, but the long-term effects of the disaster have impacted a much larger
number of people. Various international organizations have reported on the thousands of
people in the Chernobyl area who have died from radiation-induced cancers. Many children
contracted thyroid cancer after drinking milk from cows in the area of Chernobyl...