https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-chernobyl-like-today/ > Eerie images from the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster still haunt us 30 years later. What is Chernobyl like today? > On April 26, 1986, a safety test gone wrong led to an explosion in reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. (At the time, Pripyat was part of the USSR.) Several factors then conspired to result in an unprecedented, widespread scattering of over 100 radioactive elements into the surrounding towns and cities.