The Chernobyl disaster took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the town of Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR. It was a result of a flawed reactor design, combined with serious mistakes made by the plant operators during a late-night safety test. On April 26, 1986, during the test, there was a power surge in Reactor No. 4, leading to a series of explosions that ruptured the reactor core and released a significant amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The explosion was so powerful that it blew off the heavy steel and concrete lid of the reactor, resulting in a catastrophic fire which spewed radiation into the air for several days.In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, emergency responders and plant workers attempted to control the situation, but many were exposed to deadly levels of radiation. The nearby city of Pripyat, home to more than 49,000 people, was not evacuated until 36 hours after the explosion, leading to further exposure. Fallout from the disaster spread across Europe, affecting countries as far away as Sweden and Finland. A massive Soviet-led recovery operation ensued, involving hundreds of thousands of workers, known as 'liquidators', who faced significant health risks while attempting to contain the disaster's effects.The aftermath saw the establishment of an exclusion zone around the plant, which remains largely uninhabited to this day. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called it the worst nuclear accident in history, leading to a reevaluation of nuclear safety protocols worldwide. Additionally, the disaster had profound social and political implications, influencing public perception of nuclear energy and hastening discussions about the need for stringent safety measures across the globe.