Ukraine marks 30 years since Chernobyl shocked the world

Ukraine on April 26 marks 30 years since the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl killed thousands and forced a global rethink about the wisdom of relying on atomic fuel.
 
More than 200 tonnes of uranium remain inside the dilapidated reactor that spewed radioactive clouds across three quarters of Europe after a botched safety test that Soviet authorities did their best to cover up.
 
Lingering fears of new leaks occurring should the ageing concrete structure covering the toxins collapse have prompted an international push to fund the construction of a giant new arch that could keep the site safe for at least a century.
 
International donors on Monday pledged an additional 87.5 million euros ($99 million) toward building a larger new spent nuclear fuel storage facility that could let Ukrainians live without fear for generations to come.
         
Reactor number four of the northern Ukrainian plant exploded on April 26 and burned for 10 days that horrified the world, but which locals only heard about through rumours and tidbits gleamed from jammed Western radio broadcasts.
 
The Communist Party kept to its steadfast tradition of saying nothing or outright lying in order to keep the public from learning of tragedies that could tarnish the image of the Cold War-era superpower.
 
They evacuated the 48,000 inhabitants of the nearby town of Pripyat only the following afternoon.
 
The first alarm was raised on April 28 when Sweden detected an unexplained rise in its own radiation levels.
 
Communist Party Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev -- winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for championing democratic and economic reforms -- did not publicly admit the disaster until May 14.
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