Chernobyl plant was closed 14 years after nuclear disaster

On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine. Over 50 tons of radioactive material were released into the atmosphere, eventually killing thousands of Soviet citizens from cancer and other radiation-induced illnesses. It was only in 2000 that the last working reactors were shut down and the plant was officially closed.