1986 the chernobyl nuclear power plant pictured near chernobyl 04 26
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1986 40 years ago Selected Events April 26 5 sources

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (pictured) near Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, suffered a steam explosion, resulting in a fire, a nuclear meltdown, and the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people around Europe.

On April 26, in the year 1986, The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (pictured) near Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, suffered a steam explosion, resulting in a fire, a nuclear meltdown, and the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people around Europe. This event is recorded as a Selected Events event in the history of April 26, one of 377 recorded events on this date across all of history.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, 16.5 kilometres (10 mi) northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 kilometres (10 mi) from the Belarus–Ukraine border, and about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Kyiv. The plant was cooled by an engineered pond, fed by the Pripyat River about 5 kilometres (3 mi) northwest from its juncture with the Dnieper River.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on April 26, 1986 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Selected Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 5 Wikipedia articles.
  • The event is associated with a specific geographical location (see map below).
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 23 April 2026.

On This Date in History 377

Type Year Date Event
Historical Events 2025 Apr 26 A car ramming attack at a Lapu-Lapu Day festival kills 11 people and injures at least 30 in Vancouver, Canada
Notable Deaths 2023 Apr 26 Jerry Apodaca, American politician, 24th Governor of New Mexico (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2023 Apr 26 Tangaraju Suppiah, Singaporean drug trafficker (born 1977)
Notable Deaths 2022 Apr 26 Klaus Schulze, German composer and musician (born 1947)
Notable Deaths 2017 Apr 26 Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (born 1944)
Selected Events 2017 Apr 26 The Shandong was launched for the People's Liberation Army Navy, China's first domestically built aircraft carrier
Notable Deaths 2016 Apr 26 Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (born 1937)
Historical Events 2015 Apr 26 Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97
Notable Deaths 2015 Apr 26 Jayne Meadows, American actress (born 1919)
Notable Deaths 2015 Apr 26 Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2014 Apr 26 Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2014 Apr 26 Paul Robeson, Jr
Notable Deaths 2014 Apr 26 DJ Rashad, American electronic musician, producer and DJ (born 1979)
Notable Deaths 2013 Apr 26 Jacqueline Brookes, American actress and educator (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2013 Apr 26 George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1931)
Notable Deaths 2013 Apr 26 Earl Silverman, Canadian men's rights advocate (born 1948)
Notable Deaths 2012 Apr 26 Terence Spinks, English boxer and trainer (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2011 Apr 26 Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)
Notable Deaths 2010 Apr 26 Mariam A
Notable Deaths 2010 Apr 26 Urs Felber, Swiss engineer and businessman (born 1942)
Notable Deaths 2009 Apr 26 Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (born 1920)
Notable Deaths 2008 Apr 26 Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2007 Apr 26 Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (born 1921)
Selected Events 2007 Apr 26 Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet Red Army World War II memorial in Tall
Historical Events 2005 Apr 26 Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebano
Notable Births 2005 Apr 26 Alex Sarr, French basketball player
Notable Deaths 2005 Apr 26 Mason Adams, American actor (born 1919)
Notable Deaths 2005 Apr 26 Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2005 Apr 26 Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2005 Apr 26 Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2004 Apr 26 Hubert Selby, Jr
Notable Deaths 2003 Apr 26 Rosemary Brown, Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2003 Apr 26 Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (born 1984)
Notable Deaths 2003 Apr 26 Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (born 1904)
Historical Events 2002 Apr 26 Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany, before committing suicide
Selected Events 2002 Apr 26 An expelled student murdered sixteen people and wounded seven others before committing suicide at the Gutenberg-Gymnasiu
Notable Births 2001 Apr 26 Thiago Almada, Argentine footballer
Historical Events 1999 Apr 26 Outbreak of CIH computer virus
Notable Deaths 1999 Apr 26 Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1957)
Notable Deaths 1999 Apr 26 Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (born 1961)
Selected Events 1999 Apr 26 The CIH virus activated widely, damaging hundreds of thousands of computers and causing hundreds of millions of dollars
Notable Births 1997 Apr 26 Kirill Kaprizov, Russian ice hockey player
Notable Births 1997 Apr 26 Amber Midthunder, American actress
Notable Births 1997 Apr 26 Calvin Verdonk, Indonesian footballer
Notable Births 1996 Apr 26 Jordan Pefok, American footballer
Notable Deaths 1996 Apr 26 Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (born 1918)
Historical Events 1994 Apr 26 China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board
Historical Events 1994 Apr 26 South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress
Notable Births 1994 Apr 26 Daniil Kvyat, Russian racing driver
Notable Births 1994 Apr 26 Odysseas Vlachodimos, Greek international footballer

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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