The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
Chernobyl
(chuhr-NOH-buhl, cher-noh-buhl) A place in Ukraine where a nuclear power planta generator powered by a nuclear reactorunderwent a meltdown in 1986. A cloud of radioactivegases spread throughout the region of Chernobyl and to foreign countries as well. Forty thousand people living nearby were evacuated. Dozens of deaths and hundreds of illnesses were reported to have been caused by the accident. (CompareThree Mile Island.)