Figure 7.1

Figure 7.1. Hot, radioactive gases were carried downwind from the breached reactor at Chernobyl by northwesterly winds in the wake of a low pressure system moving across the then-Soviet Union, evaporating clouds and forming a radioactive distrail. This was the first time in history that a radioactive distrail was photographed. The white arrows point to the distrail (courtesy of Hank Brandli).