*City of north central Ukraine near border of Belarus (part of USSR at the time of explosion)*
*Major nuclear power plant accident took place here*
*Accident occured April 26, 1986*
*It was evacuated and still remains uninhabitated*
*Test of turbine generator went wrong*
*Improper withdrawl of contral rods and the inactivation of important safety systems caused the accident*
*Made the reactors overheat, explode, and catch fire*
*Facility lacked adequate containment structure*
*Damage to reactor core and control building allowed large quantities of radiation and millions of curies of krypton-85, xenon-133, iodine-131, tellurium-132, strontium-89, strontium-90, plutonium-240, and other radionuclides from the reactor core to be released during the ensuing ten days*
*Evacuate tens of thousands of people and farm animals from surrounding area and resulting in radiation sickness and burns in more than two hundred emergency personnel and firefighters*
*31 people fatally injured*
Chernobyl reactor 4 after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall and turbine building
A monument to victims of Chernobyl disaster in Luhansk, Ukraine
A photograph of one of the lava-flows formed by corium Fuel containing mass in the basement of the Chernobyl plant. 1 is the lava flow, 2 is concrete, 3 is a steam pipe and 4 is some electrical equipment