The official death toll from the Chernobyl disaster is 4,000, but the true toll could reach tens or even hundreds of thousands. More than 25,000 emergency workers known as “liquidators” from then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have died.
“There are still more than two million people suffering from harmful effects of radiation exposure, of whom 498,000 are children.”
The dead reactor is still a threat because the concrete cover hastily laid over some 200 tonnes of spilled radioactive material is cracking.