In April 1986  the deadliest accident in the history of commercial atomic power occurred when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, sending radiation that killed at least 30 and affected thousands more across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The explosion happened after a loss of coolant water to fuel rods in the reactor's core triggered a series of reactions leading to a meltdown and a blast that ripped through the roof of the building. 

The wind and heavy rain that followed the accident deposited fallout, across Gomel and Mogilev in nearby Belarus that was over 300% higher than that in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two.  

The people of Belarus are now experiencing suffering and medical problems. There has been an increase of cancer in children living near the reactor, many of whom were not alive at the time of the accident, Thyroid cancer has risen 3,000%. 

Some 70% of the fall out from Chernobyl fell on Belarus, which is just 15 kilometres from the plant.  It will be another 24,000 years before the land is safe and the children no longer suffer.

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