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LiveScience
LiveScience
Tia Ghose

Science history: Chernobyl nuclear power plant melts down, bringing the world to the brink of disaster — April 26, 1986

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Cancer
An aerial photo of a nuclear power plant with a red and white striped tower.
QUICK FACTS

Milestone: Chernobyl partially melts down

Date: April 26, 1986

Where: Chernobyl, Ukraine

On April 26, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant were running a test to see what would happen to its nuclear reactors in a power outage — and they triggered the worst nuclear accident in human history.

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