Soon after, a second explosion blew a clear cloud of toxic smoke high into the atmosphere. The resulting blast pierced the 450-ton roof of the reactor. It was at 1.23am on 26 April 1986 that a sudden power surge disrupted a routine systems test and Chernobyl Reactor No 4 went into meltdown. We are here to visit Artefact, an installation by Kiev artist Valery Korshunov, and the first cultural event to be held in “The Zone” since the disaster over 30 years ago.
View from a Soviet helicopter days after the Chernobyl explosion in 1986.
