The lasting effects of radiation on Cher**byl's wildlife, 30 years later
The largest nuclear disaster in history occurred 30 years ago at the Cher**byl Nuclear Power Plant in what was then the Soviet Union. The meltdown, explosions and nuclear fire that burned for 10 days injected e**rmous quantities of radioactivity into the atmosphere and contaminated vast areas of Europe and Eurasia. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Cher**byl released 400 times more radioactivity into the atmosphere than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Radioactive cesium from Cher**byl can still be detected in some food products today. And in parts of central, eastern and **rthern Europe many animals, plants and mushrooms still contain so much radioactivity that they are unsafe for human consumption. Read more...