Featuring revealing interviews with survivors speaking publicly for the first time, alongside rare insight into the CIA and Soviet responses, this series exposes a web of secrecy, miscalculation, and human cost. Astonishing new footage from inside the nuclear exclusion zone reveals how this scarred landscape is once again under siege as war encroaches on one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Cast: Adam Higginbotham, Galia Ackerman, Wyatt Andrews
Miniseries
4 episodes
1. InfernoSurvivors recount the terrifying first 24-hours of the worst nuclear accident in history. After a reactor explodes during a safety test at a power plant in Ukraine, firefighters rush to the scene, unaware of the lethal levels of radiation. Soviet authorities try to cover up the disaster as a cloud of radiation begins to circle the world.TV-14CC43minApr 19, 2026
2. Cover-UpTwo days after the explosion, the world wakes up to a terrifying global disaster. At the power plant, helicopter pilots try to put out a fire in the reactor core, braving plumes of highly radioactive smoke. Soviet authorities eventually begin to evacuate 50,000 people from the local area, while still trying to conceal the scale of the accident.TV-14CC44minApr 19, 2026
3. SacrificeWorkers begin to clean-up the deadly radioactive fallout from the explosion. After troops establish an exclusion zone, Gorbachev orders the construction of a vast concrete sarcophagus to cover the destroyed nuclear reactor. In Vienna the world finally hears the Soviet explanation of what went wrong - but are they telling the truth?TV-14CC44minApr 20, 2026
4. Truth14 months after the disaster, plant operators face a Soviet show trial. At the reactor, scientists hunt for the deadly remains of the radioactive fuel. As the USSR crumbles, an independent investigation reveals the true cause of the accident, and the full scale of the cover up. 40 years later, the nuclear exclusion zone turns into a war zone.TV-14CC44minApr 20, 2026
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Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown
Featuring revealing interviews with survivors speaking publicly for the first time, alongside rare insight into the CIA and Soviet responses, this series exposes a web of secrecy, miscalculation, and human cost. Astonishing new footage from inside the nuclear exclusion zone reveals how this scarred landscape is once again under siege as war encroaches on one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Creators and cast
- Created by
- David Dugan, Carlo Massarella, Tom Cook, Carolyn Payne
- Studio
- CNN Original Series, Windfall Films, National Geographic Channels International
Maturity rating
TV-14Check the rating before watching with younger viewers.
