Before the end of April 1986, Chernobyl meant nothing to the average person. But the accident at the Chemobyl nuclear power station quickly projected it into the forefront of public attention; it held a prominent position on television news bulletins and was on the front page of leading newspapers around the world for many weeks. Now the very name Chemobyl is taken as synonymous with nuclear accident. Rightly so, many argue, because it was by far the worst accident ever to occur in a nuclear power station. In terms of damage done and anxiety caused, if not immediate death toll, it also rates (alongside Bhopal) as perhaps the worst technological disaster of all times.