Shocking Images From Chernobyl 32 Years Later

In the dawn of 26 April 1986, the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor's explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant caused what we know today as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It was an event that shocked the entire world, and even today, 32 years later, the town of Pripyat in Ukraine is still a nuclear wasteland.

Ironically, the accident happened during an experiment that was scheduled to test how viable a potential emergency core cooling feature would be. That required a normal reactor shutdown procedure. When the explosion took place, 200 workers were inside the nuclear power station.

During the accident, steam-blast effects led to two deaths within the facility. The one occurred immediately after the explosion, and the second was worsened as it combined with a lethal dose of radiation. In the coming weeks, 134 servicemen were sent to the hospital with acute radiation symptoms. Also, an excess of 15 childhood thyroid cancer deaths was documented among the wider population.

Scroll down below to see pictures of the teratogenesis caused by Chernobyl's horrific accident as well as photos of the isolated, ghost-city Pripyat today, 32 years later.