Modern science has brought the human race to new heights of achievement. We can now complete inconvenient chores that once occupied much of our lives in a matter of seconds. We can travel farther, move faster, and even achieve spaceflight.

But with all this progress comes a fatal price. As we play with unexplored technologies, we put ourselves at the mercy of our own short-sightedness. We can’t always control everything we’ve invented. This unsettling fact is plain to see when you examine the worst nuclear disasters in history to know.

Three Mile Island

On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island plant located close to Middletown, Pennsylvania, experienced a partial meltdown in its Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor. People largely consider this to be the worst nuclear power accident in United States history. A valve failure that occurred after an unscheduled shutdown sparked the incident. The core underwent severe damage, but luckily, no one sustained injuries.

Windscale Fire

Beginning on October 10, 1957, a fire erupted in the Unit 1 nuclear reactor of the Windscale Cumberland plant. In there, an inferno raged for three days. During the worst nuclear disaster in the United Kingdom’s history, radioactive contamination spread throughout Europe and possibly caused many cancer diagnoses.

Fukushima

The nuclear incident at Fukushima is the most recent among the worst nuclear disasters in history to know. On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake took place. The resulting 15-meter tsunami caused three of the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s reactors to meltdown. The evacuation process led to over 1,000 deaths and 100,000 displacements.

Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster is one of the worst man-made ecological disasters of all time because it caused more damage to life and property than any nuclear meltdown before or since. On April 26, 1986, a steam eruption devastated reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The fire expelled large doses of toxic radioactive waste throughout Western Europe. In the immediate aftermath, the event killed about 30 people from poisoning. It also raised ongoing concerns about the increased prevalence of thyroid cancer.