On April 26, 1986, an accident in a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant led to the worst nuclear disaster in history. The radioactive fallout covered not only parts of Ukraine but also areas of Belarus and Russia — more than 90,000 square miles — in an area that was quickly labeled an exclusion zone because it was too dangerous to inhabit. Radioactive isotopes caused by the explosion of the fourth reactor started in the sky and settled into the ground, lodging into the organs of people and animals alike.
Although the international community only officially attributes 31 deaths to the crisis, other experts project that thousands of people were directly or indirectly harmed by the radiation. The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 people died from radiation exposure; millions of others were put at risk. While the aftermath from the incident is still felt in 2022, the international community has at least felt relief that the worst from Chernobyl is over.
