The Chernobyl disaster occurred on 26 April 1986 at a nuclear power station near the town of Pripyat, in what is now Ukraine, when a combination of design flaws and human error during a safety test caused the explosion of Reactor 4. The massive release of radioactive material contaminated vast areas of Ukraine, Belarus and other parts of Europe, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and making Chernobyl the worst nuclear accident in history. The event had serious environmental, health and economic consequences and led to profound changes in safety standards across the global nuclear industry.

@pedro_nuno_pinto Yes! My dad was one of the disaster liquidators and worked at Reactor 4 itself. He was exposed to radiation around 100,000 times above the safe limit. But unfortunately, not many people commemorate this event, let alone governments 😣

I do

@austbaumer Your father is a true hero. It’s hard to imagine the courage it took to work at Reactor 4 under those conditions. The sacrifices made by the liquidators are too often overlooked, but their actions protected millions of people. Thank you for keeping his story alive.

@pedro_nuno_pinto thank you, he is alive and sound 🙏

Ukrainian here, we talk a lot about the Chernobyl disaster.

Yes, I remember it happening - I was living in Germany at the time and young, but old enough to appreciate the anxiety of the situation. I was lucky enough to visit the site in 2017 and had a tour of the remaining plant (it was still being decommissioned) - it was surreal seeing the control room, the golden corridors, and everything in that very 1980s style. Everything so familiar from documentaries and films etc. I also got to ride the commuter train with the workers through Belarus, and some of the young guys working in the confinement structure showed us photographs from inside there which was unreal. I can't imagine such an experience will be possible again so I'm massively grateful. And of course the exclusion zone and Pripyat are haunting and emotional. I had such an unforgettable time there, and in Kyiv.

@ronika that is really reassuring to hear, honestly! My dad would be happy to know that, as nobody from official bodies has congratulated him for almost a decade now, even though there are not that many liquidators still alive.

@justben such an unforgettable experience. Personally, I wouldn’t dare to go there. It’s definitely not for my hypersensitive mind 😅

Now you have asked, those who don’t know, they can always google it or, like genZ does, search on TikTok

I’m old enough to remember the news stories

@blu.tone wonder how you/your family reacted back then

@austbaumer that’s a good question. I was a kid… I think my family reacted with a kind of detached concern? If I had to guess… the finer details escape me tbh