April 26 Marks the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Accident

   A bell tolled 25 times for the number of years that have passed since the Chernobyl disaster as teh world began marking the anniversary Tuesday of the worst nuclear accident in history. Tuesday's service began at 1:23 a.m., the time of the blast on April 26, 1986, that spewed a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in the most heavily hit areas in Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia.
    The explosion released about 400 times more radiation than the U.S. atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima. Hundreds of thousands were sickened and once-pristine forests and farmland still remain contaminated. The affects of Chernobyl can still be seen. Children from Chernobyl are unable to have children and many children born to affected people from the accident had mental and physical disabilities. The affects will carry on for many decades.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42750477/ns/world_news-europe/