- Title: UKRAINE: Sunrise at Chernobyl 25 years after world's worst nuclear accident
- Date: 27th April 2011
- Summary: CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE (APRIL 26, 2011) (REUTERS EXTERIOR CHERNOBYL PLANT, SUNRISE MONUMENT TO CHERNOBYL HEROES VARIOUS OF 'SARCOPHAGUS' FLOWERS AT MONUMENT PLAQUE READING ' TO HEROES, PROFESSIONALS, TO THOSE WHO PROTECTED THE WORLD FROM NUCLEAR DISASTER' ELECTRIC POWER LINES RADIATION SIGN 'SARCOPHAGUS' WITH ELECTRIC POWER LINES IN FOREGROUND TRUCK WASHING ROAD POW
- Embargoed: 12th May 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine, Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,History
- Reuters ID: LVA9T2EG7B9APU8LGZG1VIDC7N7T
- Story Text: Dawn broke in a clear, still sky over Chernobyl on Tuesday (April 26), a very different scene to that 25 years ago when an accident at the Soviet nuclear power station set off the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Two explosions at Chernobyl's Reactor 4, one shortly after the other in the early hours of the morning of April 26, 1986, resulted in a massive radiation leak.
Reactor No 4 is covered with a shell of metal and concrete known as the 'sarcophagus', constructed in 1986 soon after the disaster, as rescuers battled to contain the contamination. It has stood there ever since, in the early years acting as a testament to the heroic efforts of the Soviet rescue workers, many of whom died during or after Chernobyl. A plaque to their memory was later placed at the entrance to the plant.
The official immediate death toll from Chernobyl was 31, but many more died of radiation-related sicknesses such as cancer. A prevailing southeast wind in the days after the accident carried a cloud of radioactivity over Belarus and Russia and into parts of northern Europe.
Chernobyl has remained the benchmark for nuclear accidents. On April 12 Japan raised the severity rating at its Fukushima plant to seven, the same level as that of Chernobyl.
Recently, experts have warned that the makeshift shelter is now beginning to leak radioactivity from hundreds of tonnes of radioactive material still inside. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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