The mystic Josyp Terelya (Ukrainian), now deceased, explained that in the Bible "wormwood" may mean radiation.
He has written in his books that in the Ukrainian Language, Chernobyl means wormwood
That means that there might be significance to the following passage in the Bible:
Rev 8:10-11 10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. Book of Revelation or Apocalypse
(NIV)
The next section is about the 4th angel of chastisement...
Ye who has ears let him hear...
According to Josyp Terelya, who was released at the intervention of President Ronald Reagan, President Mitterand of France, and Pope John Paul II, many people went to this apparition site despite it being forbidden by the government.
There is one story he relates in his book Witness where as he approaches the apparition site, the local militia are chopping down a tree to block the road.
The tree is ready to fall except the wind shifts, and the tree falls on the militia's vehicles.
One of the Militia people, on seeing what happened, and realizing that the apparition is supernatural, takes off his hat and throws it on the ground.
After that, he is seen heading to the apparition like saying to himself: enough with this nonsense -- God must be intervening
At any rate, the apparations began the exact minute of the one year anniversary of the fire at Chernobyl. A little girl was the first to see it...