BBC visits Chernobyl ghost city 40 years after world’s worst nuclear accident

BBC visits Chernobyl ghost city 40 years after world's worst nuclear accident
April 26, 2026

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BBC visits Chernobyl ghost city 40 years after world’s worst nuclear accident

On Sunday, Ukraine marks the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Reactor number 4 at the plant exploded on 26 April 1986, spewing out radioactive material that would spread across swathes of Europe.

The official death toll from the incident in Chornobyl – as it is known in Ukrainian – is 31, but the wider impact of the accident remains contested and difficult to determine.

In 2005, a study by several UN agencies concluded 4,000 people could die as a result of the accident. Other estimates suggest the number could be higher.

The BBC’s Jessica Parker visited the nearby city of Pripyat where Chernobyl’s workers lived, but was abandoned shortly after the disaster.

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