On this day, 36 years ago, it took place at Chernobyl of Ukraine (former Soviet territory) the first major nuclear reactor explosion on European soil affecting the health of millions of people and devastating consequences for all of Europe.

The Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred on April 26, 1986, in reactor no. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and was in the order of the maximum predicted accident on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

2 of the station’s workers died on the spot from the explosion. Within four months, 28 firefighters who rushed to the accident site died from radiation and heat burns.

As a result of the accident 237 people suffered from acute radiation contamination, of which 31 died within the first three months. Most were firefighters and rescue workers, who were not fully aware of the dangers they faced.

In addition, it is estimated that the health of hundreds of thousands of people was affected due to environmental pollution.

Percentage increases in cancers were over 15% in exposed populations, with thousands of cancer and leukemia deaths linked to the accident.

The devastation caused by the accident was seen in its aftermath: the site was evacuated, there was a large radioactive leak, many people were exposed to radiation, and workers left their workplaces.

Evacuation of Pripyat and desolation of a 30 km zone

chernobyl

The nearby town of Pripyat was not immediately evacuated. The townspeople, in the early hours of the morning at 01:23 local time, went about their normal business, completely oblivious to what had just happened.

The exact number of deaths in the region is difficult to determine precisely due to the secrecy of the regime at the time, which led to incomplete recording of relevant statistics

However, within hours of the explosion, dozens of people fell ill. Later, they reported severe headaches, along with uncontrollable bouts of coughing and vomiting with the accident. By 11:00 on 27 April, buses had arrived in Pripyat to begin the evacuation, which began at 14:00.

By 15:00, 53,000 people were evacuated to various villages in the Kyiv region.

The next day, talks began to remove people from the 10km zone. Ten days after the accident, the evacuation zone was extended to 30 kilometers. A total of 135,000 people evacuated the area.

Research and tracking of individual fragments outside this zone over the next year eventually led to a total of 135,000 long-term displaced people agreeing to move.

In the years between 1986 and 2000 the total number of permanently displaced persons from the most seriously radioactive areas almost tripled to around 350,000.