11 Facts About Nuclear Disaster

Nuclear explosions can release high levels of radiation, an energy that removes electrons from atoms and can damage DNA.
In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the first disastrous impact from nuclear energy.
In 1957, the United Nations created the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization to promote peace and safety regulation standards with nuclear technologies.
The first American nuclear accident occurred in Idaho in 1961, killing three workers.
While areas around a nuclear explosion are immediately exposed, radiation can also remain in the atmosphere for decades, traveling great distances before it settles to the ground-level air or earth's surface.
In 1979, there was a nuclear power plant accident on Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island. The disaster exposed 2 million nearby residents to low-risk radiation (less than the strength of an x-ray).
The worst nuclear power plant accident in history occurred in the Ukraine in 1986. Explosions at the Chernobyl Power Plant killed 30 workers and caused the relocation of 300,000 residents. In the following years, thousands of children who had lived near the plant developed thyroid cancer.
The United States and Russia possess the majority of nuclear warheads in the world. Other countries known to have nuclear weapons are China, France, United Kingdom, Israel, India, and Pakistan.
In 1987, an abandoned radiation therapy machine in a junkyard in Brazil broke open and released radioactive cesium chloride. Attracted to its blue color, children rubbed it on their skin and returned home, exposing 240 people in their communities to radiation.
Disposing of one's outer clothing can remove up to 90% of radioactive material after a nuclear disaster.
Japan has had three nuclear power plant accidents since 1999. The most recent accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant occurred after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that damaged cooling systems. The government evacuated over 2,000 residents from a 20 kilometer radius surrounding the plant.