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Explosion
01:24 a.m. Reactor number 4 explodes at the Lenin nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. A part of the reactor heart is destroyed -
Evacuation
The authorities evacuate the military manu and at full speed the 44 thousand inhabitants of the city of Prípiat
Sweden raises the international alarm.
The radioactive cloud begins to spread throughout Europe. -
Put out the fire
A flotilla of military helicopters drops 5,000 tons of materials - sand, lead, liquid nitrogen, dolomite
It is estimated that the amount of becquerels expelled by the reactor into the atmosphere is 30 thousand times higher than that emitted in a year by all the nuclear power plants in the world. -
Evacuation
Progressive evacuation of 140 thousand inhabitants from the areas most affected by radiation. A 30-kilometer diameter "exclusion zone" is created around the plant.That area can never be inhabited again. It is contaminated by radioactive isotopes with a decay period of 24 thousand years. -
Recognition
For the first time Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, recognizes the seriousness and scope of the catastrophe. -
The damages
Construction of a concrete sarcophagus and iron armor to confine the reactor. The work requires more than 7 thousand tons of iron and 410 thousand cubic meters of concrete. Thousands of soldiers and construction workers exposed to very high pollution are working on it. -
Suicide
Valeri Legasov, a scientist who headed the commission investigating the accident, commits suicide.Pravda publishes Legasov's scientific "testament". -
Directors
Expedited closed-door trial of the top six Chernobyl managers. According to their rank, they receive sentences of two to 10 years in prison. Everyone will benefit from a sentence reduction. They are the scapegoats of the catastrophe. -
The consequences
They all suffer from high levels of radiation. 200 thousand of them are already dead. The rest suffer - mostly - all kinds of pathologies. Very common is the degradation of the immune system. There is talk of "Chernobyl AIDS". -
Closing
Definitive closure of the Chernobyl plant.
