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A nuclear meltdown (core meltdown, core melt accident, meltdown or partial core melt [2]) is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term nuclear meltdown is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency [ 3 ] or by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission . [ 4 ]
Large-scale nuclear meltdowns at civilian nuclear power plants include: [13] [62] the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, United States, in 1979. the Chernobyl disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, USSR, in 1986. the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, March 2011.
Globally, there have been at least 99 (civilian and military) recorded nuclear power plant accidents from 1952 to 2009 (defined as incidents that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage, the amount the US federal government uses to define nuclear energy accidents that must be reported), totaling US$20.5 billion in property damages.
This was followed by a steam explosion that exposed the fuel, a raging fire, and a core meltdown. The fire lasted for days to weeks, and there is controversy over whether it was the fuel burning, nuclear decay heating or whether the graphite moderator that made up most of the core was involved. See Chernobyl Disaster, Note 1, for more discussion.
The plant supplies 6% of California's power, but carries a 1 in 37,000 chance of experiencing a Chernobyl-style nuclear meltdown within five years. Earthquake risks and rising costs: The price of ...
The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan which began on 11 March 2011. The proximate cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's backup energy ...
— March 11, 2011: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes off the coast of northeastern Japan, triggering a towering tsunami that smashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant, knocking out power and ...
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time, Japan experienced a 9.1 magnitude earthquake—the biggest earthquake in the country’s recorded history—80 miles off the coast of Sendai. The ...