Nuclear Disasters, Chernobyl
1986 • Ukraine
"The explosion of the reactor core at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986 occurred because operators making tests while shutting down the reactor for maintenance erred in shutting off safety mechanisms, one after another…Thus human error was at fault. The explosion injected 50 tons of nuclear fuel into the atmosphere as dispersed particles, in addition to 70 tons of other fuel and 700 tons of radioactive graphite that settled nearer to the site of the accident."
Hughes, J. Donald. "An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life." London: Routledge, 2009. 206. Print.
Courtesy of IAEA Imagebank, Photo by USFCRFC, <https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/albums/72157626482583410>
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