On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:44 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, near Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR, exploded. Nearly thirty to forty times more fallout was released than had been by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That resulted in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people... It is difficult to accurately tell the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite "radiation" on death certificates.
The Chernobyl station is located near the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, 18 km northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 km (10 mi) from the border of Ukraine and Belarus, and about 110 km (68 mi) north of Kiev.
Some areas in the closed zones are so heavily contaminated that they will have to remain closed off for up to 900 years.
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