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First civilian nuclear accident takes place this day at Chalk River, Ontario in 1952. A loss of coolant led the reactor core to heat up and warp, which meant graphite moderating rods could not be inserted. Hydrogen explosions and a partial core melt-down resulted. Future US president Jimmy Carter, then in the US Navy, was among the cleanup crew. The accident was the first of dozens of nuclear accidents since Chalk River.

Chernobyl disaster takes place on this day in 1986 as a nuclear power reactor melts down in what is now the central Ukraine. The event is one of two level-7 nuclear disasters — so far. The other was the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan, March 11, 2011. Estimates about the number of deaths, cancers and other injuries are hotly debated. At least 237 people had accute radiation sickness immediately after the accident, and about 350,000 people were permanently evacuated from the area around the reactor. One estimate of 4,000 early deaths among 5 million people in the area may be too low, according to some scientists. The disaster was a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union into pre-1917 national boundaries.

Fire at Rocky Flats plutonium plant near Golden Colorado on this day 1957. A plutonium fire occurred in one of the stainless steel gloveboxes used to handle radioactive materials.

Kyshtym disaster Radiation spreads following a Soviet (Russian) conventional explosion that scatters radioactive debris. The 1957 accident is the world’s third worst (at level 6) after Fukushima in 2011 and Chernobyl in 1986 (both level 7s). The accident was due to the failure of a cooling system for radioactive waste. Solvents such as ammonium nitrate and acetates exploded after temperatures built up in the waste holding tanks, contaminating a 800 to 20,000 square kilometers area. Although there were no immediate casualties, evacuations took weeks. It’s not known how many people died from radiation poisoning, and in fact, the mysterious accident wasn’t even known in the west until 1976. The Soviets covered up the radiation zone by creating what they called the East-Ural Nature Reserve.

Nuclear safety disputed A coalition of 60 environmental groups challenges the safety of nuclear reactors on this day in 1972, calling on Congress to begin a “full-fledged, in-depth” study of safety problems in nuclear reactors. Of special concern was the reliability of the emergency cooling systems and proposals for new “breeder” reactors.

Goiânia accident kills four and injures 249 people in Brazil after an old radiation therapy unit is stolen from an abandoned hospital. The unit contained 93 grams of highly radioactive cesium chloride.

Windscale nuclear fire accidental fire releases huge clouds of radiation over England on this day in 1957. The Windscale plutonium processing plant was designed to create weapons grade plutonium. Scientists had been warning about the dangers of an accident for some time, according to a BBC documentary.

USSR submarine K-19 suffers a loss of coolant accident in its nuclear reactor in the North Atlantic on this day in 1961. Eight men die from radiation sickness following their work to repair the reactor, which had no backup cooling system. Contrary to the 2002 movie “K-19: the Widowmaker,” the sub did not sink and sailors were not evacuated to US warships. The nickname for the sub was not “widowmaker” but rather “Hiroshima.” The commander and crew were regarded as heroes for their sacrifice, which may have averted a nuclear explosion.

France creates CEA As part of its postwar rebuilding effort, France creates the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique.The CEA coordinates France’s development of both nuclear power and nuclear weapons.France explodes its first atomic bomb in 1960, and it is predominantly dependent on nuclear for its electricity today, despite many accidents and incidents.

Atomic Age begins Years of intense scientific work culminate in the Trinity atomic bomb test in desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico on this day in 1945. It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been exploded, and this one was a plutonium bomb prototype of the one dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. The possibility of ending all life on earth, either through deliberate warfare or accidental nuclear releases, has, quite naturally, changed everything about how we see nature and the world around us.