Overview

Footage filmed between 2010 and 2026. On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in Soviet Ukraine, exploded, resulting in a Level 7 nuclear disaster, one of the most catastrophic nuclear accidents in human history. The fire burned for ten days. Carried by atmospheric currents, clouds of radioactive fallout spread across much of Europe, affecting nearly five million people. To this day, nearly 6,300 square kilometers across Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus remain uninhabitable exclusion zones. The Chernobyl disaster placed enormous strain on the Soviet economy and severely undermined public confidence in its political system. It is widely regarded as one of the final blows that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.