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Remembering Chernobyl, 20 Years Later Twenty years ago this month, a routine maintenance test at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in northern Ukraine veered wildly out of control. It resulted in the world's worst nuclear accident. NPR marks the anniversary with a look at Chernobyl, then and now.
Special Series

Remembering Chernobyl, 20 Years Later

NPR marks the anniversary of the worst nuclear accident with a look at Chernobyl, then and now.

'Voices From Chernobyl': Survivors' Stories

The memories of those who survived Chernobyl were collected in the book Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of the Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich. We hear some of their stories.

'Voices From Chernobyl': Survivors' Stories

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Chernobyl Copes with Fallout, 20 Years Later

The residents of Pripyat were evacuated after the catastropic accident at Chernobyl. Officially, they are banned from living in the exclusion zone around the plant. But some residents snuck back into the ghost town and have resisted pressure to leave ever since.

Chernobyl Copes with Fallout, 20 Years Later

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Opinion

At Chernobyl, Building a Shelter for a Shelter

The ruined Chernobyl nuclear facility still contains some 200 tons of radioactive fuel. A "sarcophagus" -- a steel and concrete shell built soon after the disaster to contain the radiation is increasingly unstable. Engineers plan to slide an enormous Quonset hut-shaped cover over a breached reactor.

At Chernobyl, Building a Shelter for a Shelter

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Covering the Chernobyl Crisis

At 1:23 in the morning of April 26, 1986, there was a disastrous chain reaction in the core of Chernobyl reactor number four. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Serge Schmemann, who was a New York Times reporter in Moscow when the accident occurred.

Covering the Chernobyl Crisis

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Debate Rages About Impact of Chernobyl Disaster

Twenty years after the world's worst nuclear accident, more countries are beginning to discuss nuclear power as part of the answer to global energy demands. But a rancorous debate about the Chernobyl disaster's impact still rages, and the reactor continues to pose a serious safety threat.

Debate Rages About Impact of Chernobyl Disaster

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Chernobyl, Nuclear Power's Dark Side

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine. Hundreds attended a ceremony at Chernobyl to commemorate the somber anniversary. Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko told the crowd that Chernobyl must not be a mournig place, but a place of hope.

Chernobyl, Nuclear Power's Dark Side

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Opinion

Letters: Hybrid Cars, Obituaries, and Chernobyl

Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read from listeners' letters and emails. Among the topics this week, our interview with Jamie Kittman of Automobile magazine about hybrid cars, Walter Cronkite's piece on the art of crafting an obituary, and our segment on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Letters: Hybrid Cars, Obituaries, and Chernobyl

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