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Nuclear Accidents
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Yucca Flat
After the Detonation of a 10 kiloton nuclear device under the Yucca Flat in Nevada, the cap or plug sealing the explosion from the surface failed and radioactive debris was released and exposed to the atmosphere. Eighty six workers were exposed to the radiation -
Three MIle Island
The partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear power plant was the most serious accident in the history of U.S. nuclear power plant operating history. Luckily, the accident led to no deaths or injuries. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster is considered to be the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. Reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant exploded. More explosions followed, and the fires that resulted sent radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Four hundred times more fallout was released than had been by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The radioactive materials were deposited all over Europe as it traveled through the atmosphere. -
Goiania
More than 240 people were exposed to radiation when a junkyard dealer in Goiania, Brazil, broke open an abandoned radiation therapy machine and removed a small highly radioactive cake of cesium chloride. Children, attracted to the bright blue of the radioactive material, touched it and rubbed it on their skin, resulting in the contamination of several city blocks which had to be demolished. -
Tokaimura Accident
At the time it was the worst nuclear accident in Japan’s history, occurring in a uranium reprocessing facililty in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo. The incident took place while workers were mixing liquid uranium. This accident was caused by the bringing together of too much uranium causing a criticality (critical mass). Critical mass is the point where the chain reaction is self-sustaining. -
Fukushima Daichi
An 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami overwhelmed the cooling systems of an aging reactor along Japan's northeast coastline. The accident triggered explosions at several reactors at the complex, forcing a widespread evacuation in the area around the plant. From this tragedy, we have learned some things. We learned that the trust and the acceptance was more negative after the accident.
