CCOC staff members are asked to spell Chernobyl countless times
a day. On April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor 4 exploded,
the result of a test gone dreadfully wrong. Many people died
instantly. The government announced that the radioactive debris
falling was actually snow, and cancer rates and birth defects
skyrocketed; yet today, people are still asking how to spell
C-h-e-r-n-o-b-y-l. The impact of the nuclear meltdown caused a
major global reaction. People in the region suffered physically,
mentally, and financially while the rest of the world panicked.
Decades later, there are few who remember. This marked the worst
nuclear disaster the world had yet encountered. The years passed
and, as the children of the Chernobyl region began to mature,
the effects of the radiation became increasingly apparent. By
1990, the radiation from the explosion reached epidemic
proportions. The land, air and water throughout the Chernobyl
ecosystem were completely contaminated and as a result the food,
drinking water, and