Chernobyl — The Nuclear Disaster, Minute by Minute… It started like a quiet night… until 1:23 AM, when Reactor 4 tore itself apart in a flash brighter than sunrise. In seconds, the roof was blown off. In minutes, graphite-firestorms rained radioactive ash over the city. By the hour mark, firefighters — unaware they were walking into death — were picking up burning debris with their bare hands. By sunrise, the air itself was poison… and by the end of the day, an entire region would never be the s