On April 26, 1986, at 1:23 am, reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the former Soviet Union and now in Ukraine, exploded during a poorly managed safety test. In just a few seconds, what is still considered the most serious civil nuclear accident in history took place.
Forty years later, Chernobyl is still an open wound. Environmental, health and politics. It’s a reminder of what happens when human errors, technological limitations and institutional secrecy add up in devastating ways.
That night the RBMK reactor released enormous quantities of radioactive material into the atmosphere: iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90 and other dangerous isotopes dispersed far beyond the Ukrainian borders. An immense radioactive cloud that reached Belarus, Russia, Scandinavia, central and southern Europe, also reaching Italy. Those who are older can still remember the controls on milk, on leafy vegetables and the fears linked to contaminated rain.
That disaster revealed an uncomfortable truth to everyone: a nuclear accident can never remain confined within the gates of a power plant. The consequences cross borders, governments and generations.
The delays and silence that made everything worse
One of the most serious aspects of the affair was the initial management of the Soviet authorities. The explosion occurred on the night of April 26, but the population of Pripyat, the city built to house the plant’s workers, was evacuated only the following day, when thousands of people had already been exposed to radiation.
The world learned of the accident not because of transparent communication, but because a Swedish nuclear power plant detected anomalous levels of radioactivity. Only then was Moscow forced to admit what had happened. And that delay cost dearly. The lack of timely information prevented many people from protecting themselves and fueled mistrust, fear and misinformation.
In the short term, workers and firefighters who intervened without adequate protection died. Many of them were affected by acute radiation syndrome. Then came the hardest part to measure: the effects over time. Thousands of cases of thyroid cancer, especially among those exposed to radioactive iodine as children, have been linked to the accident. Estimates of overall victims still vary today, because radiation damage often occurs over years and is intertwined with other health and social factors. But one thing is certain: Chernobyl left a long trail of physical and psychological suffering.
The sarcophagus
After the explosion, the destroyed reactor was quickly covered with a first “sarcophagus” of concrete and steel. In the following years that structure showed limitations and fragility, which is why the New Safe Confinementthe enormous metal arch completed in the 21st century to contain the remaining radioactive material and allow for future dismantling operations.
But total cleanup is a very long, complex and expensive process. Even after forty years, Chernobyl is not a closed chapter.
The Greenpeace report
According to a report commissioned by Greenpeace UK, the February 14, 2025 attack with a Russian drone damaged the New Safe Confinement. The impact would have opened a gash of approximately 15 square metres, compromising the structure and increasing the risk of the old sarcophagus collapsing. Highly radioactive materials still remain under the dome.
Key concerns include increased indoor humidity, steel corrosion, increased risks to workers and new delays in site cleanup. To secure the area again, around 500 million euros would be needed, but the war in Ukraine makes international interventions complex.
The 1986 accident profoundly changed the public perception of nuclear energy in Europe and around the world. In many countries, counter movements grew and debates began on security, transparency and emergency management. In Italy the trauma contributed decisively to the referendum that led to the stop of national nuclear power.
Reason? Chernobyl was not only a technical accident, but also and above all a cultural and political watershed that we now tend to forget: Ukraine is still a theater of war and the nuclear issue is dramatically current. What is also worrying is the Zaporizhzhia power plant, currently the largest nuclear plant in Europe, indirectly involved several times in the conflict between bombings, electricity outages and military tensions.
Even without an explosion similar to the one in 1986, an accident caused by war would have very serious consequences. The mere fact that a nuclear power plant can be in a combat zone demonstrates how fragile the line between safety and catastrophe is.
Chernobyl today
A vast exclusion zone of around 30 kilometers still exists around the power plant. In some areas human presence remains limited or impossible. Forests, soils, rivers and fauna have coexisted with contamination for decades. Some isotopes have very long decay times, meaning that part of the problem will continue for generations.
Paradoxically, the almost total absence of man has favored the return of many animal species. But this is not a simple and romantic “natural rebirth”: it is an ecosystem still marked by radioactivity and studied with extreme caution.
Exactly 40 years later, Chernobyl continues to remind us of three essential things:
Today that lesson weighs even more heavily. Because the memory of Chernobyl is not just about the past: it is about energy choices, risk management and the peace of the present.
