Radioactive contamination

Radioactive contamination  or radiological contamination is the contamination of the environment with radioactive materials, where these materials are not present. Many radioactive substances have very long half lives; this means that if they are present in the envioroment, they can be dangerous for a very long time. Many nuclear power plants produce such substances; usually they are processed to radioactive waste. There is little danger that comes from radioactive waste,if it is stored safely.

Causes
Incidents in nuclear power plants
Nuclear medicine uses radiation for the treatment of illnesses. Sometimes, there are accidents.
Explosions in nuclear facilities (and atomic bombs) cause nuclear fallouts: This means that nuclear particles are scattered using normal atmospheric phenomena, such as the weather
Nuclear reprocessing can contaminate water

Accidents
 Year  Type  Incident  ARS deaths  ARS survivors  Location 1945  criticality  Harry K. Daghlian  1  0  Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States 1946  criticality  Pajarito accident (Louis Slotin) 1  2  Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States 1957  alleged crime  Nikolay Khokhlov assassination attempt  0  1  Frankfurt, West Germany  1958  criticality   Cecil Kelley criticality accident 1  0  Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States 1961  reactor  Soviet submarine K-19  8  many   North Atlantic, near Southern Greenland1961  criticality  SL-1 experimental reactor explosion  2  0  NRTS, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States 1962  orphan source  radiation accident in Mexico City  4  ?  Mexico City, Mexico 1968  reactor  Soviet submarine K-27  9  40  near Gremikha Bay, Russia 1985  reactor  Soviet submarine K-431  10  49  Chazhma Bay naval facility near Vladivostok, USSR 1985  radiotherapy  Therac-25 radiation overdose accidents  3  3   1984  orphan source  radiation accident in Morocco  8  3  Mohammedia, Morocco 1986  reactor  Chernobyl disaster  28  206 - 209  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian SSR 1987  orphan source  Goiânia accidentThe Radiological Accident in Goiania p. 2.  4  ?  Goiânia, Brazil 1990  radiotherapy  radiotherapy accident in ZaragozaStrengthening the Safety of Radiation Sources  p. 15.  11  ?  Zaragoza, Spain 1996  radiotherapy  radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica  7 to 20  46  San José, Costa Rica 1999  criticality  Tokaimura nuclear accident  2  ?  Tōkai, Ibaraki, Japan 2000  orphan source  Samut Prakan radiation accident  3  7  Samut Prakan Province, Thailand 2000  radiotherapy  Instituto Oncologico Nacional accident  3 to 7  ?  Panama City, Panama 2006  crime  Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko  1  0  London, United Kingdom 2010  orphan source  Mayapuri radiological accident  1  7  Mayapuri, India

References

Category:Physics
Category:Nuclear energy