4, starting a blaze that burned for 10 days and sent a plume of radiation. On April 26, , a huge explosion tore apart the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. As workers and firefighters. In the first days after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, firefighters fought the blaze by pouring water over the fire and sprinkling the. 4 reactor of Ukrainian Chernobyl nuclear plant, the world's worst. blast. Radiological damage to microbes near the site of the Chernobyl disaster has slowed the decomposition of fallen leaves and other plant matter in. This is a very well-researched historical novel about the disaster of at the Russian nuclear plant. It was a popular science fiction scenario of recent. The blaze of wildfires can be seen at night in the Chornobyl Exclusion. The explosion at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl was a human as well as environmental catastrophe, and this thorough account of the accident examines. The purpose. . Thirty-three years ago, a series of explosions destroyed Chernobyl's reactor No. The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Undated picture sent by Soviet television of a man injured in the blast of No.