Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986 at 01:23 a.m., consisting of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area. The power plant is located near Pripyat, Ukraine, at the time part of the Soviet Union. It is regarded as the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power. A plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland and eastern North America. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. About 60 percent of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus, according to official post-Soviet data. Contamination from the Chernobyl accident was not evenly spread across the surrounding countryside, but scattered irregularly depending on weather conditions.
Related Stories
1
2
Earth & Climate News
June 2, 2026
June 2, 2026 A massive global analysis found that nitrogen pollution can either speed up or dramatically slow the natural "breathing" of forest soils, depending on the ecosystem's condition. The results reveal hidden tipping points that could affect how forests ...
June 2, 2026 Scientists are venturing into the Grand Canyon’s hidden cave networks to solve a mystery: how snowmelt travels underground to supply the park’s vital springs. Their discoveries could help protect the canyon’s water from drought, contamination, ...
June 2, 2026 A breakthrough hydrogen-production method could make clean fuel far cheaper and easier to generate. Researchers at the University of Birmingham developed a perovskite-based catalyst that splits water into hydrogen at much lower temperatures than ...
June 1, 2026 Kitchen sponges release microplastics as they wear down during everyday use, with some sponge types shedding far more than others. Researchers estimated that millions of households could collectively release hundreds of tons of microplastics ...
June 1, 2026 A world-famous conservation program that helped save Sweden’s endangered wolverines is now struggling as funding stagnates and local trust erodes. Researchers say the decline offers a cautionary lesson: protecting wildlife requires long-term ...
May 31, 2026 Scientists have developed a solar desalination system that turns seawater into drinking water without creating environmentally damaging brine. Special laser-textured metal panels use sunlight to evaporate water while automatically moving salt ...
May 31, 2026 A surprising new discovery suggests that tiny microbes living inside fish may be helping shape the chemistry of the world’s oceans. Scientists found evidence that bacteria in the guts of marine fish work alongside their hosts to produce calcium ...
May 29, 2026 A new study suggests Antarctica’s ice sheet hit a climate tipping point about one million years ago, making it far more reactive to temperature and CO2 changes. Researchers warn this surprising sensitivity could offer clues about how the continent ...
May 28, 2026 The Arctic Ocean may have crossed a dangerous tipping point. Scientists say the rapid disappearance of sea ice is triggering a hidden chemical shift that is stripping the ocean of nitrate — a nutrient essential for the tiny plankton that support ...
May 28, 2026 A casual walk through an Ithaca cemetery led to the discovery of a gigantic hidden bee population — roughly 5.5 million ground-nesting bees packed beneath the soil. Scientists believe it may be one of the largest bee aggregations ever documented ...
May 28, 2026 New research suggests Earth’s climate can swing wildly on surprisingly short timescales — even during hot, ice-free greenhouse periods. By studying ancient sediments from the Late Cretaceous, ...
May 27, 2026 Humanity may already be living far beyond what Earth can sustainably support, according to a sweeping new study analyzing more than 200 years of population and environmental data. Researchers found that while population growth once fueled innovation ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
May 28, 2026 Scientists have solved the mystery of the Seychelles’ vanished crocodiles using DNA from historic museum specimens. The reptiles were not a unique species after all, but an isolated population of ...
May 26, 2026 Scientists have created a global “treasure map” for rare earth elements by uncovering where the strange volcanic rocks that contain them are most ...
May 26, 2026 A sweeping new study of wild snakes in the southeastern US has revealed a hidden health crisis slithering beneath the surface. Researchers found that many snakes are carrying multiple infections at ...
May 23, 2026 A breakthrough lithium-extraction method could help solve one of clean energy’s dirtiest problems. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have ...
May 22, 2026 The world’s oceans are rising at an accelerating pace, and scientists now say they can fully explain what’s driving it. Warming seawater is the biggest factor, while melting glaciers and polar ...
May 21, 2026 Mysterious red auroras spotted over Japan were found reaching astonishingly high altitudes, even during space storms considered relatively mild. The ...
May 21, 2026 Jupiter’s storms aren’t just gigantic — they may unleash lightning far more powerful than anything on Earth. Using NASA’s Juno spacecraft, scientists discovered that some lightning bolts on ...
May 20, 2026 The French Riviera may look like an unlikely place for a tsunami disaster, but scientists warn the threat is far more real than most people realize. Historical events and new modeling show that ...
May 20, 2026 Scientists in Canada have discovered that ancient underground rocks are naturally producing hydrogen gas — and lots of it. Measurements from mine boreholes in Ontario show the gas can flow ...
May 20, 2026 For decades, scientists believed ancient humans avoided dense rainforests, treating them as nearly impossible environments for early survival. But a groundbreaking discovery in West Africa is ...