Nuclear technology started being researched in the late 1800’s. The research really didn’t kick off until the late 1940’s during World War II for the use of nuclear power on naval ships making propulsion and electricity, as well as nuclear bombs for use in warfare. There are also other major nuclear evens that also paved the road for nuclear technology. Some of these events include the Cherynoble meltdown, the Three Mile Island meltdown, and most recently the Fukushima Japan flooding of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plant accidents and incidents with multiple fatalities and/or more than US$100 million in property damage, 1952-2011[5][16][17] | Date | Location | Description | Deaths | Cost
(in millions
2006 $US) | INES level[18] | 01957-10-10October 10, 1957 | Sellafield, Cumberland, United Kingdom | A fire at the British atomic bomb project destroyed the core and released an estimated 750 terabecquerels (20,000 curies) of radioactive material into the environment. | 0 | | 5 | 01961-01-03January 3, 1961 | Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States | Explosion at SL-1 prototype at the National Reactor Testing Station. All 3 operators were killed when a control rod was removed too far. | 3 | 22 | 4 | 01966-10-05October 5, 1966 | Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan, United States | Partial core meltdown of the Fermi 1 Reactor at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. No radiation leakage into the environment. | 0 | | | 01969-01-21January 21, 1969 | Lucens reactor, Vaud, Switzerland | On January 21, 1969, it suffered a loss-of-coolant accident, leading to a partial core meltdown and massive radioactive contamination of the cavern, which was then sealed. | 0 | | 4 | 01975-01-011975 | Sosnovyi Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia | There was reportedly a partial nuclear meltdown in Leningrad nuclear power plant reactor unit 1. | | | |