Chernobyl

Chernobyl A Ukrainian town near Kiev, which was the site of the world's worst peacetime nuclear disaster. On 26 April 1986, inadequately prepared tests in block 4 of the graphite-moderated nuclear power station led to the outbreak of fire in the reactor. The fire was not completely put out for weeks. The rogue generator itself was buried in concrete, while other parts of the nuclear power station continued to function. The catastrophe resulted in thirty-one immediate deaths. One year into Gorbachev's leadership, the disaster was dealt with in the usual Soviet manner, and thus epitomized how entrenched old traditions were, and just how far reform would have to go to effect real change. The catastrophe was long denied, with traditional May Day parades in Kiev and elsewhere suggesting business as usual. The accident itself was met with typical bureaucratic incompetence, whilst provisions to prevent contamination were virtually non-existent. Once Western scientists had produced inescapable evidence of the disaster, it was admitted. An evacuation of around 135,000 people living in a radius of 30 km took place. Altogether an estimated 600,000 people have suffered from the effects of the radiation, while agricultural produce in large parts of Finland, Scandinavia, Poland, and Romania, and to a lesser extent Germany and Britain, was also contaminated.