When scientists step by step went towards the discovery of atomic energy, they dreamed of giving humanity the opportunity to use these sources of heat to significantly improve the quality of life of people and to make new even more valuable discoveries.
It was unlikely that they could imagine how terrible the flip side of their invention could be.
Of course, one cannot argue that the development of nuclear energy is the most important area of the modern world economy, however, there are a lot of examples in history when a series of accidents, elements or the notorious human factor caused terrible nuclear disasters, which resulted in enormous damage to nature and the death of innocents people.
10. Texas incident
April 16, 1947 The French cargo ship Grandcamp with ammonium nitrate on board became the epicenter of a major nuclear accident. It is known that ammonium nitrate is used to make atomic weapons.
An unquenched cigarette, imprudently left by one of the workers, provoked a fire on the loading dock. The flame very soon ignited the load.
The captain of the ship gave the order to lift up the hatches in order to keep, to localize the gradually spreading flame, however, an increase in temperature only worsened the situation.
About 500 people died from this terrible disaster.
9. "Titan II"
In September 1980, U.S. Air Force engineers headed for the mine, where the Titan II nuclear warhead rocket was located. There they were going to carry out regular maintenance work.
It is difficult to believe, but the cause of the leak of radioactive substances was an unfortunate accident: in the course of work, one of the employees dropped a large bolt. The part flew about fifteen meters and hit the fuel tank.
The next day, the mine exploded. One of the workers as a result of the explosion died on the spot, and another was seriously injured.
8. Palomar incident
On January 17, 1966, 12 B-52 bombers transported hydrogen bombs to the Allied states in Europe during military exercises. The main goal was to prepare for a possible military conflict with the ideological adversary, who was then the Soviet Union.
One of the bombers crashed into a KC-135 tanker. The air disaster eventually led to both planes exploding.
Several pilots still managed to successfully parachute to the ground, but seven failed to survive.
Fortunately, not one of the hydrogen bombs detonated as a result of the fall. Some time after the crash, it was established the exact place in the Mediterranean where the bomb fell.
But if it exploded, then the favorite place of tourists would now be like a radiation desert.
7. Kyshtym nuclear incident
Chemical plant “Mayak”, which was located in the city of Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, gained all-Union fame only in 1989.
Until that moment, few knew about its existence. Therefore, what happened at the plant on September 29, 1957 remained a secret for most residents of the USSR. But it was precisely then that one of the largest atomic disasters in the history of mankind occurred at the plant.
Then, as a result of damage to the cooling system, an explosion of a capacity of 300 m³ occurred.
6. Tokaimur nuclear accident
In a uranium facility located in Tokaimur in 1999, three employees wanted to obtain uranyl nitrate by combining chemicals.
However, due to incompetence, they took 7 times the allowable volume of uranium. As a result, a similar error provoked the beginning of a chain reaction.
An explosion did not follow, but the result of this accident was intense radioactive radiation.
As a result, the workers who carried out the procedure received powerful radiation, two of which subsequently died. After the investigation of the incident, the official conclusion was made that the accident was caused by a safety violation.
5. Fire at Windscale
This emergency happened in 1957 at the Sellafield nuclear complex reactor.
Due to the fire in the graphite reactor, a powerful leak of radioactive compounds occurred.
The United Kingdom National Radiological Protection Commission concluded that approximately 30 cancer deaths could have occurred as a result of this disaster.
According to other estimates, the number of cancer diseases from this accident reaches 200 people.
4. B-52 Goldsboro Case
In North Carolina (USA) in 1961, the B-52G Stratofortress strategic bomber with two Mark 39 mod 2 hydrogen bombs crashed on board. For a long time this information was kept secret.
According to a report that was compiled back in 1969, one of the warheads could explode, and only a fluke saved most of the US East Coast and millions of Americans from a terrible radiation defeat.
In general, various emergency situations with strategic weapons have occurred in the United States more than once, and in at least 5 cases not only this country, but the entire continent was exposed to a real nuclear threat.
3. Fukushima accident
This event, which excited the entire world community, happened on March 11, 2011. The cause of the disaster was primarily an earthquake and tsunami.
Due to the lack of power supply to the station, the reactors abruptly stopped working. Emergency generators, which were supposed to prevent the occurrence of an explosive situation, might have survived the earthquake, but could not cope with another sudden destructive element, the tsunami.
However, some researchers are inclined to believe that the negligence of the station staff and management played an equally important role in this incident.
As a result of these events, the Japanese authorities had to evacuate the entire population living within a radius of 20 km around the nuclear power plant. The government also strongly recommended leaving those who lived 30 km from a failed nuclear power plant.
2. Three Mile Island
This is the largest accident happened on March 28, 1979. The cause of the disaster was a timely undetected leak of the reactor coolant.
The premises of the station were subjected to tremendous radioactive influence, however, in this case, the grave consequences for people living near the station were avoided.
1. Chernobyl accident
A major accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was caused by the destruction of the fourth power unit, located near the city of Pripyat.
To this day, people who participated in the aftermath of the accident and who lived in the radius of the lesion suffer from doses of radiation.
After what happened in Chernobyl, dozens of constructions of future nuclear power plants throughout the Soviet Union were suspended or completely stopped.