History UsefulNotes / Chernobyl

* Referenced several times as a recurring theme in relation to John's psychological state in the ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' fanfiction story, [[https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/23227983?show_comments=true Radioactive Trees In A Red Forest]].

** Information on Soviet nuclear reactors was regarded as classified military technology. Legasov's frank report to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna caused him to be ostracized and denied official recognition for his efforts, even though he'd helped the Soviet Union regain some of the credibility they'd lost by initially suppressing news on the disaster, and had kept quite about the faults of the reactor.
** Doctors were forbidden to list radiation as a cause of death, making it impossible even now to establish the number of people who died as a result. Except for laudatory tales of the heroic liquidators, the Soviet media was pressured not to print stories on the environmental consequences--this included a report by a journalist that a town was being built ''inside'' the exclusion zone. The Soviet authorities were eventually forced to give way, partially due to glastnost but also because environmentalism had finally become an issue that effected even the Party elite due to the wide spread of radiation and the rift between Communist Party officials in Moscow and the Ukraine (who were stuck cleaning up the mess).

** The concrete room beneath the reactor, where the Elephant's Foot is located. The thing is a mass of corium ('nuclear lava' if you will) which has flowed and (not quite) solidified down there after eating the reactor's floor. It is so radioactive that it makes this room one of the most dangerous environments on Earth, people actually can't stand nearby too long without dying. Back in the first months and years after the disaster, it could kill a grown man in mere ''minutes''. [[note]]Mere days after the accident when it was glowing red hot, it would've killed you [[YouAreAlreadyDead in an instant]].[[/note]] Nowadays it still takes several hours of being exposed to it.

** Contrary to popular Western belief, [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated all three men survived and continued to work in the industry]]. Ananenko and Bezpalov were alive in 2018, Baranov died of a heart attack in 2004. All three were awarded the [[https://for-ua.com/article/1153439 Order for Courage in the Third Degree]] in 2018 (Baranov posthumously). Post-Rock band We Lost the Sea themselves (having written a song about the three men called "Bogatyri") admitted they believed these rumors as well and [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BxyDBBQpeKb/ acknowledged the mistake]].

* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Reactor meltdown about to happen in your story? Use "X" Chernobyls to describe how bad it's going to get. Within the TV Series ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', The Hiroshima bomb is used as a unit by Legasov to hammer home just how bad the situation is: "The fire we're watching with our own eyes is giving off nearly twice the radiation released by the bomb in Hiroshima. And that's ''every single hour''. Hour after hour, 20 hours since the explosion, so 40 bombs worth by now. Forty-eight more tomorrow. And it ''will not stop''. Not in a week, not in a month. It will burn and spread its poison until '''the entire continent is dead!'''".
* {{Irony}}: The purpose of the test on Unit 4 was to try and improve reactor safety in the event of an attack. The [[TemptingFate end result however...]]
* NuclearNasty: As a place of radioactive contamination, many stories portray the area as a source of these. While radioactivity has [[https://www.livescience.com/65563-chernobyl-radiation-effects-body.html nasty effects on living bodies]], monstruously mutated organisms are mostly Main/{{averted}} in real life. Local animals are mostly not affected by the radiation heavily (not living long enough - due to their normal, short lifespan - to see effects) and some even adapt to the radioactive environment.

** The reactor's power output right before the explosion is known to have been at least 30,000 MW -- however, there's a very good chance it was even higher than that, because that value was as much as the instruments at the plant were designed to read. Many estimates have put it at around 300,000 MW at the moment of the explosion, and some even as high as ''1,000,000'' MW.
** This was also part of the reason why so many workers were exposed to a lethal radiation dose in the immediate aftermath of the explosion -- the only two radiation counters that were capable of registering readings as high as the radiation levels around the reactor were destroyed in the explosion, and the surviving ones could only register readings that were ''one five-thousandth'' of the actual radiation level. Worse still, by the time someone bought in a counter that could correctly read the radiation levels, the people in charge thought it was broken and that there was no way the levels could be so high (though given how many people had already been fatally exposed, it would have made little difference if they had believed it).
* ReclaimedByNature: It only took a few years for vegetation to take over the city of Pripyat itself. More than 30 years later, the background radiation is still too high for humans to inhabit the area, though you can safely travel through the countrysides just fine, as you wouldn't begin to feel any effects of the radiation for close to two weeks. Scientific studies of various flora and fauna have shown that they adapted to the radiation (various birds have increased levels of antioxidants to counter the free radicals), and are thriving just fine, albeit with a shorter-than-average lifespan.

Due to being home to ghost towns, the impossibility of detecting radiation without proper tools until it's too late, the abandoned plant itself being ''incredibly'' ominous and foreboding and giving off a very unsettling feeling, Chernobyl and its surrounding area lends itself well to horror and [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalypse]] settings. You can actually wander the area yourself without leaving your home as the city is recorded in "Streetview" mode on various popular map programs.

* AbandonedArea: An unfortunate result of the catastrophe. Families were told to pack only essential items with the implication that they would return (obviously, they never did), Pripyat and as a result, there are still family pictures, furniture, and other assorted items you'd find around the house still lying around relatively untouched, with the exception of most valuables and useful items--either the families took them with them, or they were looted in the years since the accident.

%%* ApocalypseHow: ApocalypseHow/{{Class 0}}--regional catastrophe.

On February 24, 2022, the first day of that year's invasion of Ukraine by Russia, elements of the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] captured the Chernobyl exclusion zone and nuclear power plant, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. The Russians would occupy the area for about a month. Against the warnings of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff, Russian forces took to using the Red Forest -- still one of the most contaminated areas in the exclusion zone -- as a route for convoys involved in the offensive against Kyiv. The resulting foot and vehicle traffic, as well as the digging of trenches, churned up large amounts of radioactive dust that gave a number of Russian soldiers radiation sickness. Russian forces began to withdraw from the Kyiv area after failing to take the capital and amidst the recapturing of territory by the Ukrainian army; Russian troops were reported to have left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by April 1. The threat of another nuclear disaster has since been looming at another plant, that of Zaporizhzhia, in and around which Russians occupiers have installed weaponry.

The Soviets also had to contend with the plant remains, given that there was (and will be for the next several thousand years) enough plutonium inside Reactor #4 to potentially poison one hundred million people. Their initial response was to haphazardly have hundreds of thousands of men wearing lead suits each take a turn briefly push some of the debris on the top of the reactor building down into the reactor for three minutes each, since the radiation levels were so high that doing it any longer would be extremely dangerous, even in the best radiation protection suits available. Once this was done, they hastily built a temporary containment structure (the "Sarcophagus") around what was left of Reactor #4. The plant remained operational until they could safely decommission each of the other reactors, with the plant finally closing down in the year 2000. Since the containment structure was meant to only be a short-term solution, a giant moving arch structure called the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement was built next to the plant. After several delays, the arch was moved into place in November 2016, and the end wall was completed in late 2018.

Containment cost the Soviet Union 18 billion rubles,[[note]]The Soviet ruble was on a 1:1 exchange rate with the United States dollar at the time; adjusted for inflation, this would be roughly USD $39 billion in 2015[[/note]] and has cost hundreds of billions of dollars in containment and treatment since. The disaster was also a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 -- the immense cost of cleanup[[note]]not to mention the Afghanistan War was still going on at the time and was itself a huge drain and cost for the Soviet government[[/note]], the fact that attempting to cover up the incident only made it worse, Valery Legasov's testimony and his tapes coming to light after his suicide, the human toll of the disaster and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's push for more openness to the world (his ''glastnost'' policy) all cascaded and led to the superpower dissolving five years after the incident. The Chernobyl disaster led to 31 immediate deaths, with cancer deaths in Soviet Union estimated to be in the ''thousands'', and estimations vary ''wildly'' on the effects and number of deaths the radioactive cloud caused throughout Europe (via thyroid cancers most notably). Cow milk in some parts of Ukraine still has ''five times'' the safe level of radiations as of 2019.

* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Reactor meltdown about to happen in your story? Use "X" Chernobyls to describe how bad it's going to get.

* AbandonedPlayground: The amusement park in Pripyat, with its Ferris wheel, Dodgem cars and Chair Swing ride. It was scheduled to open shortly after when the disaster ended up occurring, and became one of the most famously photographed places of the ruins. There are also more conventional abandoned playgrounds in the area.

* AbandonedPlayground: The theme park in Pripyat with its Ferris wheel. It was scheduled to open shortly after the disaster. There are also more conventional abandoned playgrounds in the area.

On February 24, 2022, the first day of that year's invasion of Ukraine by Russia, elements of the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] captured the Chernobyl exclusion zone and nuclear power plant, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. The Russians would occupy the area for about a month. Against the warnings of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff, Russian forces took to using the Red Forest--still one of the most contaminated areas in the exclusion zone--as a route for convoys involved in the offensive against Kyiv. The resulting foot and vehicle traffic, as well as the digging of trenches, churned up large amounts of radioactive dust that gave a number of Russian soldiers radiation sickness. Russian forces began to withdraw from the Kyiv area after failing to take the capital and amidst the recapturing of territory by the Ukrainian army; Russian troops were reported to have left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by April 1. The threat of another nuclear disaster has since been looming at another plant, that of Zaporizhzhia, in and around which Russians occupiers have installed weaponry.

On February 24, 2022, the first day of that year's invasion of Ukraine by Russia, elements of the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] captured the Chernobyl exclusion zone and nuclear power plant, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. The Russians would occupy the area for about a month. Against the warnings of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff, Russian forces took to using the Red Forest--still one of the most contaminated areas in the exclusion zone--as a route for convoys involved in the offensive against Kyiv. The resulting foot and vehicle traffic, as well as the digging of trenches, churned up large amounts of radioactive dust that gave a number of Russian soldiers radiation sickness. Russian forces began to withdraw from the Kyiv area after failing to take the capital and amidst the recapturing of territory by the Ukrainian army; Russian troops were reported to have left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by April 1.

* ''Literature/OurDumbWorld'' portrays the entirety of Belarus as being contaminated by radiation (truth in television, though it's turned UpToEleven and pretty much the only thing mentioned about the country here).

** The concrete room beneath the reactor, where the Elephant's Foot is located. The thing is a mass of corium ('nuclear lava' if you will) which has flowed and (not quite) solidified down there after eating the reactor's floor. It is so radioactive that it makes this room one of the most dangerous environments on Earth, people actually can't stand nearby too long without dying. Back in the first months and years after the disaster, it could kill a grown man in mere ''minutes''. [[note]]Mere days after the accident when it was glowing red hot, it would've killed you [[YouAreAlreadyDead in an instant]][[/note]] Nowadays it still takes several hours of being exposed to it.

* ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare]]'' has two levels that take place here. Told in flashback not long after the meltdown, it involves sneaking through the containment and hot zones lovingly crafted and recreated to the smallest detail from the real place.

* ''[[Videogame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl]]'' takes place in a world where a second explosion occurs at the power plant and results in the Zone (as the game calls the area) becoming a bizarre place of anomalies and mutants. Taken further with the sequel having the subtitle "Call of Pripyat". The scary thing being that a second explosion was a real threat during the initial containment of the disaster, the molten "corium", responsible for formations like the Elephant's Foot, could've hit cooling water in the basement and triggered an even bigger flash-steam explosion if not for a few brave workers that swam around said water in the dark in order to drain it.

* [[VideoGame/{{SWANChernobylUnexplored}} S.W.A.N.: Chernobyl Unexplored]]

-->-- '''Captain [=MacMillan=]''' on Pripyat, ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''

Chernobyl was occupied for over a month by elements the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. They withdrew due to the failure of the Kyiv offensive, the Ukrainian army retaking the surroundings of Kyiv and "acute radiation sickness" -- reportedly they had unwisely set up positions in the Red Forest, which remains one of the most contaminated areas, where they churned up large amounts of radioactive dust by walking and digging trenches and bunkers against the advices of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff.

Chernobyl was occupied for over a month by elements the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. They withdrew due to the failure of the Kyiv offensive, the Ukrainian advance retaking the surroundings of Kyiv and "acute radiation sickness" -- reportedly they had unwisely set up positions in the Red Forest, which remains one of the most contaminated areas, where they churned up large amounts of radioactive dust by walking and digging trenches and bunkers against the advices of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff.

Chernobyl was occupied for over a month by elements the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, disturbing the rotation of the staff working on the decommissioning. They withdrew due to the failure of the Kyiv offensive, the Ukrainian advance retaking the surroundings of Kyiv and "acute radiation sickness." -- reportedly they had unwisely set up positions in the Red Forest, which remains one of the most contaminated areas, where they churned up large amounts of radioactive dust by walking and digging trenches and bunkers against the advice of the Chernobyl decommissioning staff.

Chernobyl was occupied for over a month by elements the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. They withdrew due to both the Ukrainian advance retaking the surroundings of Kyiv and "acute radiation sickness." Reportedly they had unwisely set up positions in the Red Forest, which remains one of the most contaminated areas, where they churned up large amounts of radioactive dust by digging trenches and bunkers against the advice of Chernobyl staff.

The Soviets also had to contend with the plant remains, given that there was (and will be for the next several thousand years) enough plutonium inside Reactor #4 to potentially poison one hundred million people. Their initial response was to haphazardly have hundreds of thousands of men wearing lead suits briefly push some of the debris on the top of the reactor building down into the reactor for three minutes each, since the radiation levels were so high that doing it any longer would be extremely dangerous, even in the best radiation protection suits available. Once this was done, they hastily built a temporary containment structure (the "Sarcophagus") around what was left of Reactor #4. The plant remained operational until they could safely decommission each of the other reactors, with the plant finally closing down in the year 2000. Since the containment structure was meant to only be a short-term solution, a giant moving arch structure called the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement was built next to the plant. After several delays, the arch was moved into place in November 2016, and the end wall was completed in late 2018.

Chernobyl was occupied for over a month by elements the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. They withdrew due to both the Ukrainian advance retaking the surroundings of Kyiv and "acute radiation sickness" due to having moved radioactive dust in the Red Forest, which remains one of the most contaminated areas.

The disaster, which happened on April 26, 1986 at 01:23 am Moscow time, was the result of [[DisasterDominoes several factors]]. The RBMK reactor designs used in Soviet plants were inherently flawed in that they could heat up very quickly and had an (unknown to its designers and operators) tendency to surge power levels when a SCRAM (AZ-5) button was pressed to stop the reaction. Reactor #4 (the newest of Chernobyl's reactors and the one in which the accident occurred) had a strong containment structure on the side, but not on its roof. The plant personnel were also carrying out a dangerous test with Reactor #4 for power outage protocols at night (since they didn't want to interfere with citizens' electricity usage) with inexperienced workers. [[note]]The test was originally scheduled for earlier in the day, but Kiev's power grid controller asked for a delay due to end of month power requirements requiring the plant remain at 1600MW power for longer than it was supposed to, which led to a build up of xenon in the reactor that did not go away when the test got underway 11 hours later. By then, a shift change had occurred, and the experienced reactor operators were relieved by less experienced personnel not familiar with the test protocols.[[/note]] As they tried to maintain a delicate balance between cooling the reactor and powering it, things slowly got more and more out of hand. Then, [[FromBadToWorse communication between both sides got cut off]]. The person overseeing the test, Anatoly Dyatlov, insisted the test be done even as the reactor's power dropped to 200MW due to reactor poisoning (the test conditions were that it be done at a reactor core power of 700MW, as operating at 200MW was well below safety limits, and xenon-135 released as a fission byproduct caused the power to continue dropping). The explosion occurred when after several desperate corrections, the side controlling the graphite-tipped control rods (which had already taken out a dangerously large number of them to begin with) noticed that things were going wrong, and put too many back into the reactor all at once, triggering the disaster. The explosion wasn't like, say, a nuclear bomb explosion (where the relatively small bomb reaches millions of degrees), but more comparable to a boiler explosion (where the

In February 2022, Chernobyl was conquered by the [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian army]] during its invasion of Ukraine.

* ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' is a 2019 miniseries that covers the events that occurred before, during, and after the disaster. Creator/JaredHarris plays Valery Legasov, the scientist put in charge of putting out the fire and mitigating the fallout.

* ''Film/ChernobylDiaries'' is a horror film following a group of American tourists who visit the Exclusion Zone. The trip goes downhill very quickly and ends with [[spoiler:an accidental visit to the inside of the reactor itself and massacre by [[NuclearNasty mutated humanoid zombies]].]]

In February 2022, Chernobyl was captured by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine.

In February 2022, Chernobyl was conquered by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine.

Due to being home to ghost towns, the impossibility of detecting radiation without proper tools until it's too late, the abandoned plant itself being ''incredibly'' ominous and foreboding and giving off a very unsettling feeling, Chernobyl and its surrounding area lends itself well to horror and [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalypse]] settings.

* In the ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' episode, "Maranatha", it featured a VillainOfTheWeek who was [[HistoricalRapsheet actually responsible for the Chernobyl disaster]], as he was a religious psychotic who wanted to start the Apocalypse by creating wormwood.