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Chernobyl disaster
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
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The abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, showing the damaged reactor building and rusting structures surrounded by power lines and overgrown vegetation. Map showing the Chernobyl nuclear accident exclusion zone in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus. The initial 30-kilometer radius exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is marked with a red circle, while the present-day exclusion zone is shaded in orange, covering a larger, irregular area that includes the towns of Prypyat and Chernobyl. An inset map highlights the affected region within Ukraine and Belarus. helicopter inspection of the Chernobyl nuclear power station destroyed reactor Unit 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station
What really happened in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?
Long, decaying hallway of an abandoned school in Pripyat, with peeling blue paint, broken windows, and debris scattered across the floor. monument to emergency workers who responded to Chernobyl disaster Pryp'yat, Ukraine
A journey through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
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Chernobyl accident summary
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Chernobyl disaster: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Zhores A. Medvedev, The Legacy of Chernobyl (1990); Grigori Medvedev, The Truth About Chernobyl (1991); Piers Paul Read, Ablaze: The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl (1993); Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, trans. by Keith Gessen (2005); Serhii Plokhy, Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe (2018).

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Sep 18, 2026
Anniversary information added. Apr 27, 2026
Revised the Top Questions section. Apr 21, 2026
Timeline added. Mar 26, 2026
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Long‐Term Consequences of the Chernobyl Radioactive Fallout: An Exploration of the Aggregate Data. Sep 17, 2025
Add new Web site: The Ohio State University Pressbooks - Environmental ScienceBites - The Lingering Effects of the Chernobyl Disaster. Jul 31, 2025
Add new Web site: JMU Scholarly Commons - The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and How it Contributed to the Collapse of the U.S.S.R.Collapse of the U.S.S.R (PDF). Jun 20, 2025
Questions and answers added. Mar 17, 2025
Add new Web site: CORE - The Chernobyl Disaster in Ukraine. Experience in Overcoming the Consequences of Accident and ?Shelter? Object Transformation to Safe System. Oct 28, 2024
Add new Web site: Live Science - Chernobyl: Facts and history of the world's worst nuclear disaster. Dec 31, 2023
Add new Web site: BBC - Future - The true toll of the Chernobyl disaster. Nov 15, 2023
Add new Web site: World Nuclear Association - Chernobyl Accident 1986. Jan 02, 2023
Updated to mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Feb 24, 2022
Add new Web site: The Balance - Chernobyl Disaster Facts. Jan 22, 2021
Changed “Kiev” to “Kyiv.” Nov 23, 2020
Corrected display issue. Apr 18, 2019
Media added. Mar 21, 2018
Added a map of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Mar 13, 2018
Changed number of killed as a result of the initial explosions from 32 to between two and 50; described the geographic extent of the exclusion zone around the plant. Feb 06, 2018
Media added. Apr 14, 2017
Add new Web site: World Nuclear Association - The Chernobyl Site and Plant. Feb 11, 2016
Add new Web site: United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Feb 11, 2016
Add new Web site: International Radiation Protection Association - Chernobyl Accident: Exposures and Effects. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: World Nuclear Association - Chernobyl Accident 1986. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: Greenpeace International - What happened in Chernobyl? Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: The United National and Chernobyl - Chernobyl Disaster. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: Nuclear Energy Institute - Chernobyl Accident And Its Consequences. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission - Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation - Assessments of the radiation effects from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. Aug 27, 2015
Add new Web site: Nuclear Information and Resource Service - Chernobyl: chronology of a disaster. Aug 27, 2015
Media added. Apr 14, 2015
Added video. Dec 08, 2014
Changed title. Dec 17, 2013
Added photographs. Nov 03, 2011
Media added. Nov 20, 2007
Media added. Feb 09, 2007
Added new Web site: PBS Online - Nuclear Reaction: Why Do Americans Fear Nuclear Power? Jul 20, 2006
Article revised. Feb 18, 2005
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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