Where was the world's worst nuclear disaster?

Answer 1

The world's worst accidental nuclear disaster occured at The Cherynobyl nuclear power plant in Cherynobyl (Soviet Union).

-Please do NOT confuse the old Soviet Union's poor engineering practices and safety standards with America's-

This accident occured for several reasons, some of which I am going to list for you.

1.) Poor Design.
a.) The RBMK was a model of reactor used by the Old Soviet Union. It was extremely unstable at low power. If certain safety precautions were not taken on ALL reactors of this type, a lower power reaction could very quickly and very uncontroallbly turn into very rapid power increase.
b.) This type of reactor used steam instead of water as a moderator. Water is the better choice as it absorbs neutrons better and is naturaly heavier than steam.

2.) Violation of Safety Procedures
a.) Chernobyl had 4 plants. They were switching from plant 4 to plant 1. 30 lead control rods were supposed to be used that day. Only 6-8 were used.
b.) When things got out of control, there was no emergency cooling system to rely on. It had been disabled.

3.) Poor Communications.
a.) The test was carried out without a proper exchange of information between the team in charge of the test and personnel responsible for the operation of the nuclear reactor.

Basically what happened was this...The fuel became too hot for the reasons already mention. It destroyed itself and created a steam explosion. NO NUCLEAR EXPLOSION OCCURED. When the steam exploded, radioactive particles became entrained in it and contaminted the country side.

Recognizing that nuclear power is an ENTIRELY different animal than a Nuclear Weapon.

That was the worst accidental nuclear disaster. IF you mean the WORST as in the worst disaster that resulted in the greates loss of life... It occured at Hiroshma Japan, in 1945. In order to end WW2 with the least amount of American life lost, The United States of America dropped an atomic bomb lovingly named "little boy" on this city. It was in the 13-16 killoton range and used a concept knows as a "Gun Type Weapon." This means that instead of taking a "ball" of plutonium (or in this case uranium) and compressing it into a pea sized ball through the use of explosives (this is the most effective way) Little Boy Simply "shot" a uranium slug at a uranium target within the bomb, initiating a nuclear reaction. Although things could have been more effecient, this seemed to be the simpliest and therefore most reliable way of ensuring the bomb would go off.

A few days later, The US dropped a bigger device on Nagasaki. Called "fat boy" it was a higher kiloton yield than little boy dropped on Hiroshima, but because of the valley Nagasaki is in, it was not as devastating.

Answer 2

The atmospheric nuclear bombs tests made in the 1950s and 1960s spreaded much more radioactivity than the Chernobyl accident but people were neither aware nor informed of the consequences. The worst nuclear disasters were by far the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer 3

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986. Horrible, not just the disaster itself, but the aftermath.

Answer 4

Chernobyl

Answer 5

Chernobyl

Answer 6

Chernobyl

Answer 7

Chernobyl

Answer 8

Heroshima and Nagasaki Japan, 1945

Answer 9

The meltdown at the power plant in Russia. I think it was in the 80's, but I may be a little off on the decade.

Answer 10

The first nuclear test wherever that was. Had it never happened we would not face the danger