<P> The Chernobyl disaster , also referred to as the Chernobyl accident , was a catastrophic nuclear accident . It occurred on 25 -- 26 April 1986 in the No. 4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the now - abandonded town of Pripyat , in northern Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( part of the Soviet Union ( USSR ) ) approximately 104 km ( 65 mi ) north of Kiev . </P>
<P> The Chernobyl disaster , also referred to as the Chernobyl accident , was a catastrophic nuclear accident . It occurred on 25 -- 26 April 1986 in the No. 4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the now - abandonded town of Pripyat , in northern Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( part of the Soviet Union ( USSR ) ) approximately 104 km ( 65 mi ) north of Kiev . </P>
when did the nuclear disaster in chernobyl happen
when did the nuclear disaster in chernobyl happen
25 -- 26 April 1986
25 -- 26 April 1986