What Happened at Pripyat, Ukraine?

On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (near Pripyat) suffered a catastrophic reactor explosion during a safety test. Flawed design and poor safety culture caused massive radioactive release. Pripyat (population ~50,000) was evacuated within 36 hours. Fallout contaminated large areas of Europe and the USSR. Long-term health effects include increased cancers, thyroid disease, birth defects. The exclusion zone remains largely uninhabited but has become a dark-tourism destination.