The Chernobyl nuclear explosion was undoubtedly one of the biggest tragedies that the Soviet Union had seen. Few in the world know that there were other major disasters in the USSR, the scale of which was just as mortifying. The Kyshtym accidentIt is also known as Chelyabinsk-40 accident. Today, this town is called Ozersk; it used to be a secret settlement during the times of the Soviet Union. It was the first man-made disaster that the USSR had seen. In 1957, an explosion of tanks with radioactive waste occurred at Mayak chemical factory. No one was injured as a result of the explosion. However, there were about 270,000 people living in the affected area. The military were evacuated first - they were attracted to liquidation works. Civilian people were evacuated two weeks later.A reserve called East-Ural Radioactive Trace was created on the site of the accident many years afterwards. The site is still closed to the public - the level of radiation there is still high.Krasnoye SormovoThe radioactive accident in Red Sormovo (Krasnoye Sormovo) occurred 16 years before the Chernobyl disaster - in 1970. The accident took place during hydraulic tests on a new nuclear submarine at the plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The reactor started up accidentally, and the Krasnoye Sormovo workshop was filled with radioactive vapors immediately. Twelve people were killed on the spot, about 200 others received a huge dose of radiation. The workshop was isolated from external environment, which made it possible to avoid the danger of radioactive contamination of the area. The work to liquidate the consequences of the accident took four months.Only 200 out of 1,000 employees of the factory had stayed alive by January 2012. All of them became first- and second-degree disabled individuals. Explosion at Baikonur CosmodromeMore than 100 people were killed as a result of the explosion that took place on Baikonur Cosmodrome in 1960.Shortly before the accident, Soviet engineers were developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile at the facility. Marshal Nedelin was supervising the tests as the chief commander of missile forces of the USSR. Many safety rules were violated as the team was in a rush to have the report ready for the anniversary of the October Revolution. At one point, the engine of the missile was launched earlier than expected, which caused fuel to explode. The information about this tragedy has long been classified.Kurenyovskaya tragedyThis tragedy took place in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1961. The causes of the accident started forming ten years earlier. The Kiev authorities decided to build a landfill of liquid waste from nearest factories and plants in Babi Yar. In 1961, the dam, which was holding the dump, burst, sending an avalanche of dirt 14 meters high and 20 meters wide. The avalanche turned as many as 81 buildings into ruins. Sixty-eight of those buildings were residential. About 1,500 people became homeless as a result of the disaster, about 200 were killed. The authorities decided not to distribute the information about the accident. The victims were buried quickly. Kiev disconnected itself from international communication the day when the tragedy occurred not to leak any information. These are just a few disasters that the USSR had seen in its history, but there were more.

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London : Pan Books Ltd : William Heinemann Ltd, 1986.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster is still having an impact on local biodiversity more than 25 years after the event, according to a new study. Researchers in France and the US suggest that rare bird species have been particularly affected by the accident and that genetic changes in plants and animals caused by radiation are being passed down the generations.

Fires in forests contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear accident could lead to areas of Europe and Russia being exposed to further radioactive fallout, new research has found. The study examined the spread of the fallout and the health effects on people and animals under three different scenarios: 10, 50 and 100% of the forests being burnt.

Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, says the operators of the stricken Japanese nuclear plants are using a “hail Mary” met

Decades after the world's two biggest previous nuclear disasters, NBC's Jeff Rossen and Michelle Kosinski look back at the impact of the meltdowns.

The dead trees, plants and leaves at Chernobyl don't decay at nearly the same rate as plants elsewhere.

A dozen homeless dogs will be the first Chernobyl puppies to seek American homes.

The compelling documentary 'Babushkas of Chernobyl' offers a haunting and beautiful picture of life in a disaster area thought lost to humanity.

The 4-acre Chernobyl solar power facility can supply enough power for a medium-sized village, or about 2,000 apartments.

When you can't harvest crops, why not harvest the sun?

A compelling account of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident . Not only did the fallout contaminate half of Europe it changed the course of history. When the nuclear reactor exploded it set off another explosion that no-one had predicted -the collapse of the Soviet Union.  

Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986.

5 May 1986: Moscow has seen many Russians arriving by train from Kiev in the disaster area

Moscow
The first real signs of alarm among the Soviet public began to emerge over the weekend as Russians arriving by train from Kiev in the Chernobyl disaster area, began saying frankly that they were worried by radiation.

In the last two days large numbers of unescorted children have been arriving here from the city by train, to be met by relatives and grandparents.

Related: From the archive, 30 April 1986: Russia admits blast as death fears rise

Related: Revisiting Chernobyl: 'It is a huge cemetery of dreams'

Forest fires are raging in the contaminated area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but officials insist there is no radiation threat.

Three new wildfires have broken out in the radiation-contaminated evacuation zone around the wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Protective gear from The Crown, The Young Pope and Vikings have also been sent to key workers

The pandemic reminds me of a different invisible enemy. Once again, coordinated action is the only effective response

Deja vu. In recent days I’ve had that sense more than once. Every time I come home, remove my mask and wash my hands, I start thinking whether it is safe to keep on wearing the clothes that I had on outside. What if they are contaminated by the virus? Well, I can change clothes, but what if the particles have already jumped somewhere else, and are now in my home? Some would call it paranoia. I call it deja vu. I recognise those thoughts and remember the feelings.

That is because I first experienced them more than 30 years ago, in May 1986, on a trip to Kyiv, then the capital of Soviet Ukraine. It was a few weeks after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, and I was in the city – about 100km from the disaster area – on a business trip. We already knew that there was radiation in the air. Water trucks were spraying the streets, foreign students were leaving the city, and overseas broadcasters like the BBC were telling us to stay inside. But our own government was sending confusing and distressing messages: there is absolutely no danger, but make sure you keep children inside, and pregnant women too. Oh, and close your windows when you are at home.

The number of wolves alone around Chernobyl is more than 7 times greater than can be found in other nature reserves.

Mushrooms and game meat in European regions where Chernobyl fallout was most intense still have excess radiation, but Burgundy truffles get the green light; foodies rejoice.

Earlier research found evidence of a wildlife wonderland at the disaster site, now the first camera study validates an abundance of wolves, boars, foxes and more.

In the 30+ years since the disaster zone was evacuated, rare and endangered animals are flourishing.

Fleabag and Chernobyl lead the nominations for the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2020, each with three nods.

Former AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko has compared the coronavirus pandemic to the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in his homeland of Ukraine in 1986. 

Ukraine's emergency services ministry scrambled 130 firefighters and two planes to tackle the blaze which ignited yesterday.

Wildfires burning through radioactive forests in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine are getting ever closer to the exploded nuclear reactor (pictured, forest fires in the famed Exclusion Zone).

MICHAEL BURLEIGH: Tehran claimed the air disaster which killed 176 was caused because of pilot error. Will this be a repeat of Chernobyl's 1986 nuclear disaster where the Soviets hid evidence?

On the 30th anniversary of the catastrophic nuclear accident in Chernobyl, one can ignore the lessons – as well as those of the Fukushima plant, only at our peril, writes Darryl D’Monte.

Hayden Library - TK1362.U38 C423 2014

HBO's historical mini-series Chernobyl has renewed interest in the Soviet-era nuclear disaster. WIRED's Emily Dreyfuss discusses the safety of US nuclear power and waste with nuclear historian Kate Brown.

Browsery TD196.R3 B785 2019

Barker Library - TK1362.U38 H54 2019