The real story of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

It’s one of the hottest TV shows in the world but what is the real story of Chernobyl and is it actually safe to visit the site now?

The new drama Chernobyl is one of the hottest new TV shows in the world and is being praised as a masterpiece, but what is the real story?

The five-part Sky and HBO co-production, which is based on real-life events around the world’s worst nuclear disaster, has gripped the UK and is also now available in Australia via One Demand on Fox Showcase.

The horrifying events of April 26, 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power station went into meltdown have been brought to life in the new drama, and the show is now the highest rated program on IMDb.

Here’s a rundown of what we know about the real life events.

WHAT WAS THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER?

An alarm bellowed out at the nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, as workers looked on in horror at the control panels signalling a major meltdown in the number four reactor.

The safety switches had been switched off in the early hours to test the turbine but the reactor overheated and generated a blast the equivalent of 500 nuclear bombs.

The reactor’s roof was blown off and a plume of radioactive material was blasted into the atmosphere.

As air was sucked into the shattered reactor, it ignited flammable carbon monoxide gas causing a fire which burned for nine days.

The catastrophe released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Soviet authorities waited 24 hours before evacuating the nearby town of Pripyat — giving the 50,000 residents just three hours to leave their homes.

Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in May 1986.

Ukrainian students try on gas masks as part of a safety drill in a school in Rudniya, just outside the Chernobyl contamination zone in 2006. Picture: Oded Balilty/AP

After the accident traces of radioactive deposits were found in Belarus where poisonous rain damaged plants and caused animal mutations.

But the devastating impact was also felt in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, France and the UK.

An 18-mile radius known as the “Exclusion Zone” was set up around the reactor following the disaster.

RELATED: Haunting photos of Chernobyl and Pirpyat

The Soviet radar system Duga near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED IN CHERNOBYL?

At least 31 people died in the accident — including two who were killed at the scene and more who passed away a few months later from Acute Radiation Syndrome.

The actual death toll is hard to predict as mortality rates have been hidden by propaganda and reports were lost when the Soviet Union broke up.

In 2005, the World Health Organisation revealed a total of 4000 people could eventually die of radiation exposure.

About 4000 cases of thyroid cancer have been seen since the disaster — mainly in people who were children or teenagers at the time.

A doctor examines a Soviet firefighter who received a massive dose of radiation fighting the fire after Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant explosion.

DID THE CHERNOBYL RADIATION CAUSE ANIMAL MUTATIONS?

Farmers noticed an increase in genetic abnormalities in farm animals immediately after the disaster.

This spiked again in 1990 when around 400 deformed animals were born — possibly as a result of radiation released from the sarcophagus intended to isolate the nuclear core.

Some animals were born with extra limbs, abnormal colouring and a smaller size.

Animals that remained in the exclusion zone became radioactive — including as many as 400 wolves, which is the highest density wolf population on the entire planet.

The Eurasian lynx — once believed to have disappeared from Europe — thrived in Chernobyl as there were no humans to run them out.

Birds were also affected by radiation, with barn swallows having deformed beaks, albinism and even smaller brains.

The radioactive animals all live in the “Red Forest”, which got its name after the trees turned crimson in the fallout.

A volunteer with The Dogs of Chernobyl initiative studies the radiation exposure of an anesthetised stray dog recovering from surgery at a makeshift veterinary clinic inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone on August 17, 2017. Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

IS IT SAFE TO GO THERE NOW?

The site and Pripyat has been safe for tourists to visit since 2010.

There are around 160 villages in the Exclusion Zone but the basement of the hospital in Pripyat remains one of the more chilling stories.

The firemen were taken to the hospital for treatment and their clothes, which had been stripped off were discarded.

Later radiation readings at the site reached 7000 millisieverts — the risk of haemorrhage starts at 1000 while death begins at 4000.

The ghost town also includes a school that features in the video game Call of Duty, an abandoned Ferris wheel and homes frantically deserted when evacuation began.

Tourists have to be screened before they enter the Exclusion Zone and are told not to touch anything within the cordon.

Holiday companies offer packages that give an official tour of the Exclusion Zone.

Tourists walk in the ghost city of Pripyat. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Tourists take pictures at Chernobyl's New 108-metre Safe Confinement covering the 4th block of Chernobyl Nuclear power plant during their tour to the exclusion zone last year. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

This story originally appeared in The Sun and has been republished here with permission