The accident that occurred at Chernobyl on 26th April 1986 was the most disastrous reactor malfunction in the history of nuclear power.

56 people died immediately following the accident and substantial amounts of radioactive material were released into the atmosphere. This contaminated not only the Ukrainian town nearby and surrounding regions but it also spread across western Europe and eventually around the globe. Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from the region and to date approximately 4,000 have died from the long-term effects of radiation poisoning.

Based on top-secret government documents that came to light only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1999, THE BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL reveals a systematic cover-up of the true scope of the disaster, including the possibility of a secondary explosion of the still-smoldering magma, whose radioactive clouds would have rendered Europe uninhabitable. The government effort to prevent such a catastrophe lasted for more than seven months and sacrificed the lives of thousands of soldiers, miners and other workers.

THE BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL dramatically chronicles the series of harrowing efforts to stop the nuclear chain reaction and prevent a second explosion, to "liquidate" the radioactivity, and to seal off the ruined reactor under a mammoth "sarcophagus." The film recounts these nerve-racking events through newly available films, videos and photos taken in and around the plant, computer animation, and interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, many of whom were contaminated, including government and military leaders, scientists, workers, journalists, doctors, and Pripyat refugees.