This Day in History: 1986-04-26

Chernobyl disaster takes place on this day in 1986 as a nuclear power reactor melts down in what is now the central Ukraine. The event is one of two level-7 nuclear disasters — so far. The other was the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan, March 11, 2011. Estimates about the number of deaths, cancers and other injuries are hotly debated. At least 237 people had accute radiation sickness immediately after the accident, and about 350,000 people were permanently evacuated from the area around the reactor. One estimate of 4,000 early deaths among 5 million people in the area may be too low, according to some scientists. The disaster was a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union into pre-1917 national boundaries.