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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
110 Worst Nuclear Accidents/Disasters in History
1. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki World War II, 1945
These nuclear disasters were not accidents
but an ugly example of human wrath andviolence. It was a result of the war
between two big powers of the world.During the final stages of World War II in
1945, the United States conducted two
atomic bombings against the cities ofHiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first
on August 6, 1945 and the second on
August 9, 1945. This nuclear disaster
caused innumerable deaths and seriousphysical, emotional and genetic problems
which were faced by many generations.Families were destroyed and people losttheir loved ones, home and money all in
one day. Within the first two to four
months of the bombings, the acute effectskilled 90,000166,000 people in
Hiroshima and 60,00080,000 in
Nagasaki.1520% died from radiation sickness, 2030% from flash burns, and 5060% from
other injuries, compounded by illness. Roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on thefirst day. A study states that from 1950 to 2000, 46% of leukemia deaths and 11% of solid cancer
deaths among bomb survivors were due to radiation from the bombs. Even after such a huge
scale disaster and setback, the Japanese people faced this situation with courage and resolution
and made Japan one of the leading countries of the world.
2. Fukushima Disaster March 11, 2011
A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit
northeast Japan on Friday March, 11
2011, causing dozens of deaths, morethan 80 fires, and a 10-meter (33-ft)
tsunami along parts of the countryscoastline. Homes were swept away and
damage was extensive. And the disaster
didnt end with this. Eleven reactors atfour sites near Japans northeast coastwere shut down per seismic emergency
procedures. Five reactors at two sites inthe Fukushima prefecture declared
emergencies due to loss of normal site
power and backup emergency power.According to a British nuclear expert the
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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
2explosion at the Fukushima I nuclear plant looks likely to be a significant nuclear event with a
bigger impact on public health than the 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island. As of 15 March,the Finnish nuclear safety authority estimated the accidents at Fukushima to be at Level 6 on the
INES. On 24 March, a scientific consultant for Greenpeace, working with data from the
Austrian ZAMG and French IRSN, prepared an analysis in which he rated the total Fukushima I
accident at INES level 7. The accident caused nuclear contamination in the surroundingenvironment, water, milk, vegetable and other food items. People living in surroundings were
moved to safe shelters and food grown in the area was banned for sale. The Japanese government
in handling the situation in the most efficient and amazing way that anyone can imagine.Screening is being done and people are given proper medical care. Initially 3 workers were
affected by the radiation.
3. Chernobyl DisasterApril 26, 1986
The Chernobyl
disaster was a nuclearaccident that occurred
on 26 April 1986 at
the Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant in theUkrainian SSR (now
Ukraine). The
accident took place inthe reactor number 4
near the Pripyat town.
There was a sudden
power output surge,and when an
emergency shutdown
was attempted, a moreextreme spike in
power output occurred. This led to a reactor vessel rupture which caused a series of explosions.
Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine were seriously affected and about 60% of the fallout landed inBelarus. From 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were evacuated and resettled from the most
severely contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. World Health Organization (WHO)
estimates the number of deaths to be 4,000 while a Greenpeace report puts this figure at 200,000
or more. Among these varied figures 31 deaths were confirmed to be caused by the accident. The
World Health Organization reported the radiation release from the Chernobyl accident to be 200times that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs combined. It is considered the most
serious nuclear power plant accident in history, and is the only accident classified as a level 7
event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
34. Mayak Nuclear PlantSeptember 29, 1957
Mayak Nuclear Plant, also known
as Chelyabinsk-40 and later as
Chelyabinsk-65 is one of thebiggest nuclear facilities in the
Russian Federation. It is anintegral part of the Russian nuclear
weapon program. The facility has
experienced 20 or more accidentsaffecting at least half a million
people in the past 45 years. The
most notable accident occurred on
29th September, 1957 exposing theSoviets Regiems secret. The failure
of the cooling system for a tankstoring tens of thousands of tons ofdissolved nuclear waste resulted in
a chemical (non-nuclear) explosion
having a force estimated at about 75 tons of TNT (310 gigajoules), which released some 2
million curies of radioactivity over 15,000 sq. miles affecting at least 200 people died ofradiation sickness, 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes, and 470,000 people were
exposed to radiation. Victims were seen with skin sloughing off their faces, hands and other
exposed parts of their bodies. A large area was left barren and unusable for decades and maybe
centuries. The accident caused a large number of fatalities, thousands were injured and
surrounding areas were evacuated. It is categorized as a level 6 serious accident on the 0-7
International Nuclear Events Scale.
5. Soviet Submarine K-431 AccidentAugust 10, 1985
The Echo II class Soviet
submarine K431 suffered amassive explosion during
refueling in Vladivostok,
Russia. The explosion produceda radioactive cloud of gas into
the air. Ten sailors were killed
in the incident and 49 peoplewere observed to have radiationinjuries with 10 developing
radiation sickness. Moreover of
the 2,000 involved in cleanupoperations, 290 were exposed
to high levels of radiation
compared to normal standards.
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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
46. Castle BravoMarch 1, 1954
Bikini Atoll,
Micronesian Islands inthe Pacific Ocean was
the site of more than 20nuclear weapons testsbetween 1946 and
1958. Castle Bravo
was the code namegiven to the first U.S.
test of a dry fuel
thermonuclear
hydrogen bomb. Thetest was performed on
March 1, 1954, at
Bikini Atoll, Marshall
Islands. When theweapon was detonated,
an explosion took
place, leaving a craterof 6,500 feet (2,000 m) in diameter and 250 feet (75 m) in depth. Castle Bravo was the most
powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States, with a yield of 15 Megatons which
was far exceeding the expected yield of 4-6 Megatons. This miscalculation led to a severeaccidental radiological contamination ever caused by the United States. In terms of TNT tonnage
equivalence, Castle Bravo was about 1,200 times more powerful than the atomic bombs which
were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Moreover, the radiation cloud
contaminated more than seven thousand square miles of the surrounding Pacific Ocean,including small islands like Rongerik, Rongelap and Utirik. These islands were evacuated, but
generations to come where affected. Natives have since suffered from birth defects. A Japanese
fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryu Maru, also came into contact with the nuclear fallout, causingillness to all crew members with one fatality. Fish, water and land were seriously contaminated,
making Castle Bravo one of the worst nuclear accidents.
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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
57. Chalk River Nuclear AccidentDecember 12, 1952
Chalk River Laboratory (CRL)
is a site of major research anddevelopment to support and
advance nuclear technology, inparticular CANDU reactortechnology. On December 12th,
1952, a reactor shutoff rod
failure, combined with severaloperator errors, led to a major
power excursion of more than
double the reactors rated output
at AECLs NRX reactor. INESrated the incident as level 5. A
series of hydrogen gas
explosions hurled the four-ton
gasholder dome four feet through the air where it jammed in the superstructure. Thousands ofcuries of fission products were released into the atmosphere, and a million gallons of
radioactively contaminated water had to be pumped out of the basement and disposed of in
shallow trenches not far from the Ottawa River. The core of the NRX reactor could not bedecontaminated; it had to be buried as radioactive waste. Young Jimmy Carter, later U.S.
President, then a nuclear engineer in the U.S. Navy, was among the hundreds of Canadian and
American servicemen who were ordered to participate in the NRX cleanup following the
accident.
8. Windscale PileOctober 10, 1957
The accident took place on October10, 1957 when a windscale fire
ignited plutonium piles andcontaminated surrounding dairy
farms. The radioactive contamination
caused 33 cancer deaths. This was the
worst nuclear accident in Britainshistory, ranked in severity at level 5
on the 7-point International Nuclear
Event Scale. The fire released an
estimated 20,000 curies of iodine-
131, as well as 594 curies of caesium-137 and 24,000 curies of xenon-133,
among other radionuclides. Theincident produced around cancer
cases. In addition to this, milk farms
were seriously contaminated,
dropping milk sales by 15%.
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10 Worst Nuclear Disasters in History
Santosh Kumar II Sem M.Tech (ESM), SJCE, Mysore
69. Goiania AccidentSeptember 13, 1987
More than 240 people were
exposed to radiation when ajunkyard dealer in Goiania,
Brazil, broke open anabandoned radiation therapymachine and removed a
small highly radioactive
cake of cesium chloride. Theaccident occurred on
September 13, 1987. The
environment and
surroundings were seriouslycontaminated. Many
buildings had to be
demolished. 4 died in this
accident. Many children gotattracted to the bright blue of the radioactive material, touched it and rubbed it on their skin,
resulting in the contamination of several city blocks.
10. Three Mile IslandMarch 28, 1979
Three Mile Island
accident (US 1979)falls under scale 5
nuclear power plantaccidents. On March 28,
1979, in the wee hours ofmorning, the Three Mile
Island nuclear generating
station witnessed anuclear meltdown of one
secondary loop. This
nuclear accident released13 million curies of
radioactive gases into the
atmosphere and caused aloss of USD 2,400. 10court cases were also
filed on various
authorities, concerningthis accident, and they took 15 long years to get settled. Fortunately it led to no deaths or
injuries.