At 1:23 a.m. on 26 April 1986, a series of explosions tore through reactor four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, releasing a massive radioactive cloud across much of Europe in the worst civilian nuclear accident in history.
Soviet authorities suppressed news of the catastrophe for days, even though the plant sat fewer than 100 kilometers from Kiev and near the Dniepr River, a major water source. Ultimately, some 350,000 people were evacuated from contaminated areas, and nearly 784,000 hectares of farmland and 700,000 hectares of forest were rendered unusable.
About 600,000 firefighters, soldiers, and civilians helped seal the stricken reactor inside a concrete sarcophagus. That structure is now cracked and deteriorating. Twenty-eight countries have pledged more than 750 million dollars toward a new steel containment shell estimated to cost between one and two billion dollars, with completion targeted for 2012.
A United Nations report compiled by roughly 100 scientists projected up to 4,000 eventual deaths from radiation exposure, beyond the nearly 60 already recorded. Environmental groups disputed those figures sharply, estimating tens of thousands of fatalities. Psychological damage has also been extensive, with two-thirds of more than 2,000 workers studied showing mental health disorders.
The plant's last operating reactor was finally shut down in 2000, but scientists warn that genetic effects from radiation exposure may surface decades into the future.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in April 2006, in its own words.