Editing Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (section)

=== 1986 reactor #4 catastrophe (Chernobyl disaster) ===
{{Main article|Chernobyl disaster}}
On 26 April 1986, reactor No. 4 suffered catastrophic [[Nuclear meltdown|meltdown]] resulting in a core explosion and open-air fires. This caused large quantities of radioactive materials to be dispersed in the atmosphere and surrounding land. The disaster is regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cardis |first1=E. |last2=Hatch |first2=M. |title=The Chernobyl Accident — An Epidemiological Perspective |journal=Clinical Oncology |date=May 2011 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=251–260 |doi=10.1016/j.clon.2011.01.510 |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3107017/ |access-date=21 April 2025|pmc=3107017 }}</ref>

The destroyed reactor was encased in [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus|a concrete and lead sarcophagus]], followed more recently by [[Chernobyl New Safe Confinement|a large steel confinement shelter]] to prevent further escape of radioactivity. The radioactive cloud spread as far away as Norway.<ref name="MedvedevZ">{{Cite book|last=Medvedev|first=Zhores A.|title=The Legacy of Chernobyl|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=1990|isbn=978-0-393-30814-3|edition=Paperback. First American edition published in 1990|author-link=Zhores A. Medvedev}}</ref>