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#1 In 1986, the nuclear physicist Stanislav Shushkevich thought the institute's reactor was bleeding radiation. It was in people's hair and clinging to their clothes. It was near danger levels at the front door.

#2 When someone finally called the institute to report an accident at Chernobyl, it was already too late. The graphite core of the massive, concrete-encased reactor had flashed to high-pressure steam in four seconds. The upper biological shield, which was made of concrete blocks, began to bubble and dance.

#3 The Chernobyl disaster was the result of two explosions in the space of less than four seconds, which blew open the reactor and its contents. The reactor was sealed within a metal tank filled with a mixture of helium and nitrogen to prevent the graphite moderator from burning.

#4 The Soviet Union had suffered 13 previous reactor accidents before the one at Chernobyl. Between 1964 and 1979, there were several fuel assembly fires at the Beloyarsk nuclear-power plant east of the Urals near Novosibirsk.