Major Nuclear Power Mishaps in 35 Countries Since 1990

Spain has had two radiological incidents that reached INES level 3 since 1990. The first one occurred in November 2007, when a radiographer was overexposed while working for an industrial testing company near the northern city of Bilbao. The second incident took place in August 2008 in the port city of Tarragon, which also involved the overexposure of a worker conducting industrial radiography. A dozen incidents have been reported at Spain’s nuclear power plants, nine rated at level 1 or 0 on the INES.

The most significant reported radiological-related incident in Sweden occurred on Jan. 2, 2002, when a package containing iridium-192 produced by Swedish nuclear services provider Studsvik was discovered after it arrived at the U.S. airport near New Orleans. The radioactive material had broken free from its container during transport. The incident was reported back to the company, which was ordered to carry out corrective actions. Incidents at the country’s nuclear power plants have been rated at level 2 or lower.

Ten of Switzerland’s reported incidents since 1990 have occurred at the country’s nuclear power plants, all rated below INES level 3. The most significant incident, rated at level 3, occurred in July 2014, when a service technician repairing a hospital x-ray machine was overexposed for about five minutes when he accidentally stepped on a foot pedal that activated the machine while a lead safety shield was disengaged.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant continued operations until December 2000, nearly 14 years after the April 26, 1986, meltdown of one of its reactors that caused the worst nuclear accident on record, an accident that made the vicinity radioactive for the next 20,000 years. Between 1990 and the plant’s permanent shutdown, Ukraine reported 18 other incidents at the plant, including two that measured level 3 on the INES. in April 1991 and November 1995.

One other INES level 3 event occurred at a nuclear plant in western Ukraine in February 1991. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced the appropriation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, a move that Ukraine calls “null and void.”

The United Arab Emirates and Belarus are the only two countries with nuclear power capabilities that have reported no mishaps (at nuclear plants or otherwise) since 1990. Part of the reason for this is that both countries are small, and their nuclear power industries have only recently begun. The UAE’s first and only nuclear power plant began operating commercially in April 2021, supplying only a fraction of the oil-rich country’s electricity needs.