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a large amount of energy was suddenly released, and two explosions ruptured the reactor core and destroyed the reactor building. one was a highly destructive steam explosion from the vaporizing super-heated cooling water; the other explosion could have been another steam explosion or a small nuclear explosion, akin to a nuclear fizzle. this was immediately followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released considerable airborne radioactive contamination for about nine days that precipitated onto parts of the ussr and western europe, especially belarus, 16 km away, where around 70% landed, before being finally contained on 4 may 1986. the fire gradually released about the same amount of contamination as the initial explosion. as a result of rising ambient radiation levels off-site, a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) radius exclusion zone was created 36 hours after the accident. about 49,000 people were evacuated from the area, primarily from pripyat. the exclusion zone was later increased to 30 kilometres (19 mi) when a further 68,000 people were evacuated from the wider area.

the reactor explosion killed two of the reactor operating staff. a massive emergency operation to put out the fire, stabilize the reactor, and cleanup the ejected nuclear core began. ın the disaster and immediate response, 134 station staff and firemen were hospitalized with acute radiation syndrome due to absorbing high doses of ionizing radiation. of these 134 people, 28 died in the days to months afterward and approximately 14 suspected radiation-induced cancer deaths followed within the next 10 years. significant cleanup operations were taken in the exclusion zone to deal with local fallout, and the exclusion zone was made permanent.