Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents
（重定向自Radiation accidents）
![Following the 2011 Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster, authorities shut down the nation's 54 nuclear power plants. As of 2013, the Fukushima site remains highly radioactive, with some 160,000 evacuees still living in temporary housing, and some land will be unfarmable for centuries. The difficult cleanup job will take 40 or more years, and cost tens of billions of dollars.[1][2]](/Images/godic/202502/05/Fukushima_I_by_Digital_Globe5208.jpg")
![Pathways from airborne radioactive contamination to human](/Images/godic/202502/05/Atmospheric_radiation_to_human-en.svg5208.png")
![The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, a Japanese nuclear plant with seven units, the largest single nuclear power station in the world, was completely shut down for 21 months following an earthquake in 2007.[3]](/Images/godic/202502/05/Kashiwazaki_Kariwa-April_20115208.jpg")
![The abandoned city of Prypiat, Ukraine, following the Chernobyl disaster. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is in the background.](/Images/godic/202502/05/View_of_Chernobyl_taken_from_Pripyat5208.JPG")
A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include lethal effects to individuals, large radioactivity release to the environment, or reactor core melt." The prime example of a "major nuclear accident" is one in which a reactor core is damaged and significant amounts of radioactivity are released, such as in the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.