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.
