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Local effects. Surrounding wildlife and fauna were drastically affected by Chernobyl's explosions. Coniferous trees, which are plentiful in the surrounding landscape, were heavily affected due to their biological sensitivity to radiation exposure. Within days of the initial explosion many pine trees in a 4 km radius died, with lessening yet ...
Nuclear fallout is the distribution of radioactive contamination by the 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions that took place from the 1950s to the 1980s. In nuclear accidents, a measure of the type and amount of radioactivity released, such as from a reactor containment failure, is known as the source term.
e. Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. [1] It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes.
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 a reactor core melt. [6]
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing. [ 1 ] The storage and disposal of radioactive waste is ...
e. Since the mid-20th century, plutonium in the environment has been primarily produced by human activity. The first plants to produce plutonium for use in Cold War atomic bombs were the Hanford nuclear site, in Washington, and Mayak nuclear plant, in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Over a period of four decades, [1] "both released more than 200 ...
Nuclear radiation is harmful to the environment over immediate (seconds or fractions thereof) as well as long-term (years or centuries) timescales, and it affects the environment on both microscopic and macroscopic (population) levels. Degrees of these effects are dependent on external factors, especially in the case of humans.
Nuclear power has various environmental impacts, both positive and negative, including the construction and operation of the plant, the nuclear fuel cycle, and the effects of nuclear accidents. Nuclear power plants do not burn fossil fuels and so do not directly emit carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide emitted during mining, enrichment ...