The 8 Most Radioactive Places on Earth

Since the mid-20th century, nuclear weapons and power plant accidents have created deadly radioactive zones worldwide. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, site of the 1986 reactor explosion, remains heavily contaminated with cesium-137 and strontium-90. Fukushima Daiichi in Japan suffered a triple meltdown in March 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami, releasing radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium. Lake Karachay in Russia's Ural Mountains, used as a dumping ground by the Mayak Production Association, was further contaminated by a 1957 explosion. The Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site in Kazakhstan saw 456 detonations between 1949 and 1989. Hanford in Washington State produced plutonium for atomic bombs and has leaking waste tanks. Sellafield in England contaminated the Irish Sea. Goiânia, Brazil, experienced a 1987 incident when a radiotherapy capsule was looted. Mailuu-Suu in Kyrgyzstan has uranium mining waste piles prone to landslides.