AboutDaniel Reynolds Riveiro Expertise I can answer questions about Ukrainian places of interests and activities, including extreme sports like climbing, skiing and multi-sport racing (yes, they have them in Ukraine). I can also answer questions about Ukrainian culture, customs, language, politics and dating.
Experience I am a Peace Corps Volunteer currently living in Ukraine
Answer A wikipedia.org search will give you a more detailed answer but, in brief: Soviet engineers were testing the Chernobyl reactor systems and disabled some of the safety devices to do it. The reactor went critical and exploded, spewing up radioactive material. Prevailing winds carried most of it into southern Belarus, although much of northern Ukraine was affected. The Soviets conscripted workers to toss shovelfuls of dirt onto the burning nuclear reactor until finally the flames were extinguished. Many of these workers went onto suffer radiation-linked illness and many died because of it. After the flames were put out the smoldering reactor was surrounded with concrete. The other reactors of Chernobyl continued to operate until recently. The concrete around the still-smoldering reactor is showing signs of damage, but construction of a new one has been delayed due to problems with assigning the contract. Because the Soviets kept the explosion covered up despite the risk to the millions of people living in the fallout radius, and because of the callous regard for the lives of the workers, many see the Chernobyl disaster as the nail in the Soviet coffin. Tired of living under a government that seemed not to care about them, Soviet countries soon began voting for independence and the Union soon collapsed.
