In September 2015, the state of Washington sued the federal government over leaking radioactive
waste buried at Hanford Nuclear Site.
As the main plutonium producer during the Cold War, roughly 2/3s of the America’s
nuclear waste is located in Hanford.
But despite being the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States, it is far from
the worst worldwide.
So, we wanted to know: what are some of the most radioactive places on earth?
Nuclear accidents are categorized on a zero to seven scale, ranging from “no safety
issues” to “extreme health and environmental concerns."
To date, there have only been two level 7 accidents, and the most recent tops the list.
Radiation poisoning has been known to cause cancer, as well as many other health problems.
In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami hit a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan.
Three of six nuclear reactors went through meltdown, propelling radioactive contamination
into the air and ocean.
Due to the tsunami, which left thousands dead, there were few immediate countermeasures,
and radioactive materials ended up spreading as far as 5,000 miles from the accident.
Today, the ruined reactors are still extremely dangerous, despite thousands of workers being
around them daily.
The other level 7 nuclear accident was in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
While Chernobyl has been called the worst nuclear disaster in history, it ranks second
due to the nature of the meltdown.
After a severe power failure, a single Chernobyl reactor went critical and exploded, spreading
contaminants over a several mile radius.
However, considerably more nuclear fuel was dispersed by Fukushima, and luckily, Chernobyl’s
fallout was primarily concentrated away from large population centers.
Today Chernobyl is surrounded by a concrete dome to keep out the remaining radiation.
A 1,000 square mile exclusionary zone has been established around the disaster site
as well.
One of the worst radioactive sites not caused by a nuclear meltdown is in Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan.
The area is home to an old uranium mine, once controlled by the former Soviet Union.
A complete lack of safety regulations led to radioactive waste being dumped and buried
in 23 separate places, some right alongside the town’s river and water supply.
The area has been called one of the most polluted on earth, and although mining stopped in the
1960s, the radiation didn’t go away.
Worse yet, many of the bunkers covering these radioactive sites have deteriorated, and are
in danger of collapsing in a landslide, and falling into the river which flows directly
to Uzbekistan.
Residents have seen significantly higher rates of birth defects, miscarriages, and stillbirths
over the past half century.
While nuclear energy is clean and efficient when everything goes well, the dark side of
radioactive contamination is far worse than almost any other disaster.
In the United States, the Department of Energy has been tasked with cleaning up over 100
nuclear waste sites, comprising an area roughly the size of West Virginia.
And while the US has established strict guidelines concerning nuclear waste and energy, not all
countries are as careful.
One photographer took a trip to Chernobyl and took haunting pictures of its ruins.
Hear his story by checking out this video.
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