Abstract
In what is now a cold barren wasteland, lays the abandoned city of Pripyat and the lifeless Red Forest. Its silence is a deafening reminder of the tragic events of April 26, 1986. Lives were shattered and perceptions were changed forever. What was scheduled as a safety test ended up spiralling out of control, resulting in the destruction of one of the plants reactors, the death of 56 persons, the decimation of thousands of miles of land, and radiation effects on hundreds of thousands of people; effects that would carry on for generations. Public opinion, which may have been sceptic towards Nuclear Power before this event, then rallied against it in the aftermath of Chernobyl. Soviet authorities did their best to keep the situation quiet, but when this was no longer sustainable, the accident was blamed wholly on human error during the tests. However, as time passed and the era of Soviet rule came to an end, further information has been made available. The evidence now shows that the tragedy was caused by a combination of factors, all which ominously aligned on that fateful day of 26th April.
