1970
Construction begins on Chernobyl
Courtesy of The Daily Mail
1970
Construction begins on Chernobyl
Courtesy of The Daily Mail
1983
Reactor 4 is completed
and the plant begins operations
Courtesy of The Daily Mail
April 25, 1986
1:00am
Engineers begin
routine safety test
Courtesy of European Bank
April 26th, 1:30am
First Explosion
Courtesy of the Atlantic
April 27, 1986, 10am
Helicopters begin dumping sand
into the core to slow radioactive emissions.
Courtesy of the Guardian
April 27, 1986
2pm
Evacuation of the people of Pripyat
Courtesy of European Bank
April 28, 1986
Swedish air monitors detect
a large amount of atmospheric
radiation, which is traced
back to the USSR.
Courtesy of
Central Intelligence Agency
April 29, 1986
Spy satellite photos provide
U.S. officials with proof
that Chernobyl exploded.
Courtesy of Nova
May 1, 1986
Soviet officials refuse
to cancel
the May Day festivities in Kiev.
Courtesy of the History Channel
May 4, 1986
Liquid nitrogen is pumped
underneath the reactor to cool it
Courtesy of the Atlantic
May 9, 1986
Workers pour a
concrete sarcophagus
under the reactor.
Courtesy of Chernobyl Gallery
May 14, 1986
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
speaks publicly for the first time,
stating on state TV,
“the worst is behind us.”
Courtesy of Britannica
August 25-29, 1986
The International
Atomic Energy Agency conference
blames the accident on
flawed design and human error.
Courtesy of IAEA
December 26th, 1991
The Soviet Union collapses
Courtesy of Rare Historical Photos
April 1996
The Proceedings of the
International Conference about Chernobyl
Courtesy of the IAEA
December 15, 2000
Chernobyl site is closed
Courtesy of the European Bank
April 2006
Gorbachev writes the Chernobyl disaster:
“Even more than my launch of perestroika,
[Chernobyl] was perhaps the real cause of
the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
Courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper
