The Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred on April 26, 1986, at the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station of the Soviet Union, which is currently in Ukraine’s territory.
- The accident was classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Two very serious 7 accidents have occurred: the nuclear disaster at a Fukushima plant in 2011 and the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
- This accident severely disturbed the economic and social conditions in the surrounding areas and had a significant impact on the environment and health.
- Some station workers and firefighters who rushed to the accident area died on the scene. In addition, it is estimated that the health of hundreds of thousands of people has been affected by the radioactive exposure of the environment. Increased occurrences in cancers were significant in the exposed populations, with thousands of deaths from cancer and leukemia being associated with the accident.
- The Chernobyl accident occurred during a test in the No. 4 reactor designed to simulate the failure of the power supply and in which the safety devices were deliberately switched off.
- The explosion resulted from a series of unforeseen actions and errors, largely due to design deficiencies of the RBMK-1000 reactor used in the plant.