On 27 April 1988, the day after the second anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident and one day before he was due to release the outcomes of the investigation into the causes of the disaster, Legasov hanged himself in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment (though some sources say inside his apartment, others in his office). A personal pistol remained in a drawer, but the professor chose to hang himself. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Legasov was 51 years old.