NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 25 and 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union.

Detailed explanation-2: -However, the releases affected large areas of Europe to some degree. Over 200 000 km2, of which 71% are in the three most affected countries (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine) were contaminated with caesium-137, which has a 30-year half-life.

Detailed explanation-3: -How large an area was affected by the radioactive fallout? Some 150, 000 square kilometres in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are contaminated and stretch northward of the plant site as far as 500 kilometres. An area spanning 30 kilometres around the plant is considered the “exclusion zone” and is essentially uninhabited.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Chernobyl site and plant. The Chernobyl Power Complex, lying about 130 km north of Kiev, Ukraine, and about 20 km south of the border with Belarus, consisted of four nuclear reactors of the RBMK-1000 design (see information page on RBMK Reactors).