The Chernobyl disaster was one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was located near the city of Pripyat in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. On April 26, 1986, the operators of the plant wanted to conduct an experiment in reactor number 4. The main purpose of this experiment was to determine how long the turbines would be able to provide energy in the event of a main power failure. During the experiment, an unexpected power surge was noticed. The emergency button was immediately pressed, but the steam pressure had already started to cause a series of reactions. The pressure had risen high enough to separate the reactor’s top cover, which weighs 1,000 tons. This damaged the fuel channels and caused the nuclear core in reactor 4 to melt. The fire in the reactor rose into the atmosphere at great speed with excessive steam production. Thus, a cloud of nuclear fallout spread over Pripyat, the Soviet Union, Europe, the Black Sea countries, and Turkey. Various independent studies estimate that the disaster directly or indirectly killed 200,000 people. In 2016, the nuclear plant was completely covered by a steel shield. This shield, which is expected to prevent radioactive leakage for about 100 years, costs 1.5 billion dollars. The Chernobyl disaster is considered the worst nuclear accident ever. So much so that this disaster was scaled with 7, the highest classification of INES. There are only two nuclear accidents scaled at this level. One of these is Chernobyl, and the other is Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Chernobyl shocked the world with its cost and losses. After this accident, protests against nuclear power plants began to be organized on a global scale.
