Russian troops have been engaged in fighting near Pripyat, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the site has been taken by Russian forces. The invasion has raised questions about Chernobyl, infamous for the worst nuclear disaster in history. 
On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl’s Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Station was destroyed by an explosion. The resulting environmental disaster has rendered the area surrounding the power station uninhabitable for potentially thousands of years. 
The explosion at Chernobyl sent radiation as far away as the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union’s delayed response to the events is considered by some to be a contributing factor to the fall of the Soviet Union. 
Chernobyl reactor 4 is no longer burning. The reactor was originally covered after the disaster, but it resulted in a leak of nuclear waste and needed to be replaced. The systems for a new cover for the reactor were being tested in 2020 and is sometimes referred to as a “sarcophagus.”
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Yes, the area surrounding Chernobyl remains radioactive. Referred to as the “exclusion zone,” this 20-mile radius around the plant has largely been evacuated and is closed to human habitation.
Despite government prohibitions, some residents have returned their homes. Outside of the exclusion zone, 5 million people still live on heavily contaminated lands and hundreds of thousands of people are sick or suffering.
Chernobyl is located less than 100 miles north of Kyiv, which is the capitol of Ukraine. 
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At least 28 people were killed by the disaster, but thousands more have died from cancer as a result of radiation that spread after the explosion and fire. The effects of radiation on the environment and humans is still being studied.
The plant’s third and final functioning reactor was shut off in 2000. A tourist industry has sprung up to provide tours of Pripyat, the abandoned town adjacent to the plant. 
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard

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