It's been 20 years since Chernobyl.

...And I almost forgot it. I was watching CNN for a few hours this afternoon, I don't remember it being mentioned, though it is on CNN's website. I don't remember hearing about it on NPR, though my friend Kristen says they mentioned it. Can we have a hurrah for the American media?

For those who don't remember, Chernobyl was (or rather, is) the worst nuclear disaster in the short history of mankind. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a nuclear explosion, which are impossible with nuclear reactors. Chernobyl released massive amounts of dangerous, unnatural, and exotic radioactive material into the environment, much of which was airborne and spread across the entire earth.

I've written a summary on Chernobyl, keeping it layman but hopefully with much more detail than what you'd find in a newspaper.

IN PROGRESS: I'm still working on this

Chernobyl was one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world, sporting four nuclear fission reactors. It was built in southwest Russia, in the fertile farmlands of Ukraine. On April 26, 1986, during a "safety test," the reactor was allowed to overheat and a meltdown occured.

A quick lesson in reactor terminology and basic design: nuclear reactors are contained in steel reactor vessels. Reactor vessels have extremely thick walls, designed to completely isolate the nuclear reactor from the environment. Inside the reactor vessel contains a framework of rods, of which there are essentially two types: fuel and control. Fuel rods encase nuclear fuel, typically uranium. Control rods contain

"Meltdown" has an extremely bad connotation but it does not necessarily mean that a reactor will explode or any radiation released. Meltdown is when a nuclear reactor gets so warm, that its solid nuclear fuel (typically uranium) begins to melt. In the worst case scenario, the fuel gets so hot that it begins to melt its casing, known as fuel rods, and leak out into the reactor vessel.

Meltdowns had occured before in the history of commercial nuclear energy, the most notable being Three Island Island, Pennsylvania in 1979. The Chernobyl meltdown was a little bit different.

Nuclear fission reactors have what are known as control rods to moderate the fission process ongoing in nuclear fuel contained in fuel rods.

For the worst nuclear disaster in the history of mankind, the immediate loss of life was not great. Only one person was known to die in the explosion, one of two working in the maintenance hall above the reactor core. The other was blown out of the building and was found alive on the reactor grounds. After being taken to the hospital he died because of his sustained injuries.

Approximately 20 firefighters fighting the resulting

For the worst nuclear disaster in the history of mankind, the immediate loss of life was not particularly great. Only one person was known to die in the explosion, one of two people working in the maintenance hall above the reactor core. The other was blasted out of the building and was found alive on the reactor grounds. In the few weeks after the incident, 19 firefighters involved in fighting the blaze caused by the burning nuclear fuel would lose their lives due to extreme radiation poisoning.

I am dedicating this article to Elissa Schoenmackers, whose birthday happens to be on April 26. She would have been 2 years old when Chernobyl happened.