World's ten worst nuclear accidents ever

New Delhi: The man who first developed the idea of a nuclear chain reaction was Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd. The first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon was performed by the U.S. on July 16, 1945. The bomb was named Trinity and it was detonated southeast of Socorro, New Mexico. The first secret nuclear program was started by Nazi Germany which came into light on June 23, 1942 when a poorly developed nuclear reactor exploded in Leipzig, Germany.This was the first nuclear accident ever.But after the US Success of Trinity thousands of nuclear tests have been carried out all over the world. With the majority coming from the five superpowers, including the United States, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China. Many devastating nuclear accidents have occurred over the years. Here we present a list of ten worst nuclear accidents, have a look:1. Chernobyl disaster-Ukraine On April 26, 1986 a nuclear accident occurred on the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. As per estimate over 1 million people were affected by radiation from Chernobyl, however the extent of its effects may never be truly known.Radiation levels in the vicinity of the reactor core after the explosion were 30,000 times the lethal limit.One person was killed immediately and his body was never found. Another died that same day as a result of injuries received during the explosion. Acute radiation sickness was originally diagnosed in 237 people on-site and involved with the clean-up and it was later confirmed in 134 cases. Of these 28 people died within weeks of the accident, six of whom were firefighters tasked with attending the fires on the roof of the turbine building. Nineteen more subsequently died between 1987 and 2004. Nobody off-site suffered from acute radiation effects, although a large proportion of childhood thyroid cancers diagnosed since the accident is likely to be due to intake of radioactive iodine fallout. 2. Fukushima disaster-JapanThe accident occurred on March 11, 2011. As of June 2012, the exact chain of events which included the explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are still not known. The total amount of radiation released is also not known for certain and the impacts on human health and the environment, and hence the likely number of deaths, cannot be determined with the information available.Frank N. von Hippel, a U.S. scientist, has suggested, as “a very preliminary order-of-magnitude guesstimate,” that “one might expect around 1,000 extra cancer deaths related to the Fukushima Daiichi accident.”3. Windscale fire-United Kingdom Windscale was an air-cooled graphite-moderated reactor with no containment structure.On October 8, 1957. Fire ignites plutonium piles and contaminates surrounding dairy farms.AAs per UK government record around 33+ cancer fatalities have been reported because of this accident.4. Kyshtym Disaster-Russia It occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Soviet Union. The explosion, estimated to have a force of about 70–100 tons of TNT, threw the 160-ton concrete lid into the air.There were no immediate casualties as a result of the explosion, but it released an estimated 20 MCi (800 PBq) of radioactivity. Most of this contamination settled out near the site of the accident and contributed to the pollution of the Techa River.Over a half million people were affected by differing levels of radiation. Many of the towns along the Techa River, who had already been drinking deliberately contaminated water, were evacuated around a week later. 5. Radiotherapy Accident in Zaragoza,-Spain Another mishap in the radio-therapeutic field, a number of cancer patients were cooked by an overpowered electron accelerator at the Clinic of Zaragova in 1990. Eleven patients met an early demise and at least 16 more were wounded. Symptoms included burnt skin, organs, and bone marrow. Exasperating the problem was a bad stroke of luck- namely, the delay of the annually scheduled safety board inspection. The accident was certainly not as widespread as the Goiânia accident, but it proved to be more fatal to those afflicted.6. Sinking of the USS Thresher USS Thresher was the lead boat of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the United States Navy.It was launched in 1960 and endured a series of tests through the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast of the United States. The first problem with the Thresher was in 1961 when she had to get a jump start from a World War II era, diesel-powered sub (the USS Cavalla). Plagued by mechanical injuries, the Thresher was eventually brought north for extensive overhauls. On 9 April 1963 Thresher, now commanded by Lieutenant Commander John Wesley Harvey, got underway from Portsmouth at 8 am and rendezvoused with the submarine rescue ship Skylark at 11 am to begin its initial post-overhaul dive trials, in an area some 190 nmi (220 mi; 350 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.Days later, it was formally announced that all 129 passengers were considered deceased.7. Goldsboro B-52 Crash-USA On January 24, 1961 an American B-52 bomber was on a 24-hour airborne alert mission over the Atlantic seaboard. The aircraft was carrying two Mark 39 nuclear weapons onboard. During the mission, the B-52 was scheduled to meet with a tanker for mid-air refueling. While the plane was being refueled, the B-52 captain, Major W.S. Tullock, was notified that his aircraft had a leak in its port wing fuel cell. The plane was directed to assume a holding pattern off the coast until the majority of fuel was used up. However, the captain soon reported that his plane had lost 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of fuel in three minutes. He was immediately ordered to land at Seymour Johnson Air Base, which is located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. As the plane descended to 10,000 feet, the pilots were no longer able to control the aircraft. The captain ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). The plane broke apart as it spiraled to the ground and the nuclear weapons were separated from the craft.8. Soviet Submarine K-19 Nuclear Accident If Captain Ahab donned a Russian accent and lived during the age of submarines, then it is likely his name would be Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev. Zateyev was the commander of K-19 during the time of its major crisis. K-19 was conducting drills in the Northern Atlantic when there was a malfunction in the nuclear reactor's coolant system. What followed was one of the longest sail of shames in history. Zateyev refused help from the nearby American warships he was training to possibly destroy. When his crew grew displeased with being forced into a radioactive setting, their commander confiscated and threw all of their weapons overboard. The K-19 pill of pollution was dragged back home by a diesel powered sub where it fouled the waters. The sub was considered such a mechanical disaster that it was nicknamed “Hiroshima” by Soviet navy men.9. Three Mile Island-USA The Three Mile Island power station is near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in USA. It had two pressurized water reactors. In 1979 at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in USA a cooling malfunction caused part of the core to melt in the # 2 reactor. The TMI-2 reactor was destroyed.Some radioactive gas was released a couple of days after the accident, but not enough to cause any dose above background levels to local residents.There were no injuries or adverse health effects from the Three Mile Island accident.10. Lucens Reactor Partial Meltdown- Switzerland The Lucens reactor at Lucens, Vaud, Switzerland, was a small pilot nuclear reactor destroyed by an accident in 1969.The accident was caused by water condensation forming on some of the magnesium alloy fuel element components during shutdown and corroding them. No casualties were reported.