Page 70 - All About History - Issue 180-19
P. 70
Exploring the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and how the
cleanup ultimately opened up the Soviet Union to the rest of the world
Written by Susan Colbourn
n the first hours of the morning on 26 April Two days later, on the morning of 28 April, that they, too, were trying to figure out what
1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear scientists at a Swedish nuclear power plant – exactly had taken place at Chernobyl. Finally, on
en
Power Station went array and triggered a
Po at io n we n hundreds of miles away from Chernobyl and the 28 April, the Soviet government issued a brief
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massive explosion. The blast lifted the cover
ma ss iv e e p pl p ant town of Pripyat, in the Ukrainian SSR – statement acknowledging that an accident had
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off of one of the power station’s nuclear picked up unusual high readings of radioactivity. occurred at the Chernobyl power plant. It took
reactors, Reactor 4, followed by another huge Swedish officials, after some investigating, until 14 May, over two weeks after the disaster,
explosion that left the reactor’s core exposed concluded that the radioactive materials had for the General Secretary of the Communist
and spewing radioactive material. Debris originated in the Soviet Union. In subsequent Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to
from the successive blasts rained down on days, similar reports of unusually high levels of make a public statement about Chernobyl.
the plant, as a fire spread from Reactor 4 to radioactivity came from across the globe. By that point, those living around the nuclear
nearby buildings. The fire raged for days, as But Soviet officials acknowledged nothing power plant had already been evacuated. Within
firefighters tried to contain the blaze. Pilots in the first hours and days, at one point going 24 hours of the explosion, local officials in
ran thousands of flights overhead, dropping so far as to deny outright that an accident had Pripyat had received notice to prepare residents
sandbags onto the burning reactor in the hopes occurred. In part, the minimal information to evacuate the town. Some of the town’s
of putting out the fire. coming from Soviet sources reflected the fact residents had fled already on that first day.
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