On April 26, 1986, a catastrophic nuclear accident occurred in the No. 4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the now-abandoned town of Pripyat in the northern Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, approximately 104 km (65 mi) north of Kiev. As a result, 31 people died immediately and the effects continue to be felt today.
In October 1991, a fire broke out in the turbine building of reactor 2. The authorities subsequently declared the reactor damaged beyond repair, and it was taken offline. Reactor 1 was decommissioned in November 1996 as part of a deal between the Ukrainian government and international organisations such as the IAEA to end operations at the plant. On 15 December 2000, then-President Leonid Kuchma personally turned off Reactor 3 in an official ceremony, shutting down the entire site.
In 2009, an international team began plans to seal off the plant in a dome to prevent further contamination. The project lasted seven years.
As a result of the disaster, it is estimated that it will be 3,000 years before the town can be fully habitable once more.