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The Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine suffered a major nuclear disaster in the wee morning hours of April 26, 1986. A failed safety test coupled with human error and nuclear reactor design flaws triggered two violent eruptions that tore apart Chornobyl’s Reactor Four. The nuclear disaster instantly killed one power plant worker and another died shortly after being taken to hospital. Another 28 people died from radiation exposure up to four months later and various health groups estimate at least 4,000 people suffered radiation-related thyroid cancer in the years that followed.

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