Panel discussion about Chernobyl catastrophe held at University of Moscow

The History Faculty of the University of Moscow held a panel discussion about the Chernobyl catastrophe on May 16th. The event was organized by the Diaspora Studies Centre of the faculty devoted to the 28th anniversary of the tragic event.

The discussion was attended by scholars and witnesses of the accident.

The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.

The Chernobyl disaster is the worst nuclear power plant accident in history in terms of cost and resulting deaths, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011).