Archive - From the Archive: Chernobyl
Magnum Photographers
On the evening of April 25-26 1986, an explosion occurred in one of four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. The resulting fire burned for nine days and released considerable amounts of radioactive materials into the atmosphere which air currents spread west, throughout Europe. Though the leak from the reactor was contained by May 4th, a tremendous amount of damage had been done - though official sources claimed that 24 people had died during the immediate period, the figure was closer to 50 and did not account for dozens of others who succumbed to radiation...