Nuclear accidents occasionally occur, making people more concerned about the safety of nuclear power plants. Now that we have learned about the defense-in-depth measures taken in the design of nuclear power plants, we can examine some of the past nuclear power plant accidents.

The most well-known nuclear power plant accidents occurred at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. All of these accidents involved the release of radioactive material and initiated radiological emergency management efforts.

Not every accident at such plants results in public radiation exposure. Even serious accidents could occur without public exposure.