Chernobyl exclusion zone in the context of "Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant"

On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at the maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The response involved more than 500,000 personnel and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles (about $84.5 billion USD in 2025). It remains the worst nuclear disaster and the most expensive disaster in history, with an estimated cost ofUS$700 billion.

The disaster occurred while running a test to simulate cooling the reactor during an accident in blackout conditions. The operators carried out the test despite an accidental drop in reactor power, and due to a design issue, attempting to shut down the reactor in those conditions resulted in a dramatic power surge. The reactor components ruptured and lost coolant, and the resulting steam explosions and meltdown destroyed the reactor building. This was followed by a reactor core fire that spread radioactive contaminants across the Soviet Union and Europe. A 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) exclusion zone was established 36 hours after the accident, initially evacuating around 49,000 people. The exclusion zone was later expanded to 30 kilometres (19 mi), resulting in the evacuation of approximately 68,000 more people.

Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth atomgrad ('atom city', a type of closed city in the Soviet Union that served the purpose of housing nuclear workers near a plant), catering the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located north of the abandoned city of Chernobyl, after which it is named. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had ballooned to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.

Although it is located in Vyshhorod Raion, the abandoned municipality is administered directly from the capital of Kyiv. Pripyat is supervised by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine which manages activities for the entire Chernobyl exclusion zone. Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the entire population of Pripyat was moved to the purpose-built city of Slavutych.

Chernobyl, also known as Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, 90 kilometres (60 mi) to the north of Kyiv and 160 kilometres (100 mi) to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. Prior to being evacuated in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, it was home to approximately 14,000 residents—considerably less than adjacent Pripyat, which was completely abandoned following the incident. Since then, although living anywhere within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is technically illegal, Ukrainian authorities have tolerated those who have taken up living in some of the city's less irradiated areas; Chernobyl's 2020 population estimate was 150 people.

First mentioned as a ducal hunting lodge in Kievan Rus' in 1193, the city has changed hands multiple times over the course of its history. In the 16th century, Jews began moving into Chernobyl, and at the end of the 18th century, it had become a major centre of Hasidic Judaism under the Twersky dynasty. During the early 20th century, pogroms and associated emigration caused the local Jewish community to dwindle significantly. By World War II, all remaining Jews in the city were murdered by Nazi Germany as part of the Holocaust.

The Teteriv (Ukrainian: Тетерiв) is a right tributary of the Dnieper River in Ukraine. It has a length of 365 kilometres (227 mi) and a drainage basin of 15,300 square kilometres (5,900 sq mi).

The Teteriv flows generally in northeastern direction through geographic regions of Podolian Upland, Dnieper Upland, and Polesia. The river starts near a populated place of Nosivky (previously Nosivka) near administrative border with Vinnytsia Oblast at 299 m (981 ft) over the sea level. Flowing through Podolian Upland in some areas it has characteristics of mountainous stream. In the underflow the valley of the Teteriv in Polissia on up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), the width of the river widens up to 40-90 meter, before it flows into the Dnieper. The midstream of Teteriv from Zhytomyr to Radomyshl has predominantly rocky banks. Few kilometers east of Radomyshl turns into fully flatland river within Kyiv Oblast. Further east of Ivankiv turns into a swampy wetland. The river drains into the Dnieper in the Kyiv Reservoir just south of the Prypiat river estuary and the Chernobyl exclusion zone.