Wednesday, December 15, 2021
On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded, spreading radioactive fallout across Europe and forcing the evacuation of an entire city.
On this day in 1986, a botched safety test at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine caused a reactor to explode, blowing the roof off the building and throwing radioactive material into the air. The fire burned for days, and the fallout drifted across much of Europe before the wider world even knew what had happened.
The most dangerous failure was not technical but human. Officials delayed the warning, and the nearby city of Pripyat was not evacuated until more than a day had passed, so tens of thousands of people spent that time breathing contaminated air with no idea. When the order finally came, residents left believing they would return in a few days and never did.
The lesson is that in a radiological or chemical event, information and time are everything. Knowing that shelter means getting inside and sealing up, keeping a way to receive alerts, and being ready to leave quickly are the defenses ordinary people have against this kind of man made disaster.
