20 Years Ago in TIME

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The ultimate toll of Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear accident, is still unclear. The World Health Organization estimates that 9,700 people will eventually die of the disaster's aftereffects, but Greenpeace last week predicted the total will be nine times higher.

Information gathered from satellite photos suggested a hellish scene at the accident site. All evidence pointed to a nuclear reactor fire burning out of control in the gentle, rolling Ukrainian countryside ... The most frightening part of the nuclear accident was the radiation that spewed from the reactor and then was carried by winds on its silent, deadly path. At distances of perhaps 3 to 4 miles, victims stood a 50-50 chance of surviving, though not without bone-marrow and gastrointestinal-tract damage. People living 5 to 7 miles from the accident could experience nausea and other symptoms but would be unlikely to die. Smaller amounts of radiation within a range of 60 miles from the site would result in significantly increased deaths from leukemia and other forms of cancer during the next 30 years. TIME, May 12, 1986

Read the entire article at time.com/years