Miniseries

An explosion at a power plant in Chernobyl triggers the worst nuclear disaster in history. Survivors recount the horrific first three days of the catastrophe. After a reactor explodes, firefighters rush to the scene, unaware of the deadly radiation levels. The Soviet authorities attempt to cover up the disaster...

The Soviet authorities struggle to build a sarcophagus around the destroyed reactor. After troops establish an exclusion zone, Mikhail Gorbachev orders the construction of a massive concrete sarcophagus. At the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, the world finally learns the explanation for the disaster – but are those responsible telling the truth?

The cause of the disaster and the extent of the cover-up were only revealed much later. Fourteen months after the catastrophe, the plant's operators stood trial in a Soviet court. Only after the collapse of the USSR did an independent investigation reveal the true cause of the accident. Forty years later, the nuclear exclusion zone transformed into a war zone—a situation that fueled new fears.