Videos: Nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima – aerial views

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and  the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The Japanese nuclear disaster is currently at a level 5. The Chernobyl disaster began during a routine systems test. There was a sudden power output surge, and when an emergency shutdown was attempted, a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. This event exposed the graphite moderator components of the reactor to air, causing them to ignite. The resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Here is the first aerial footage of Chernobyl taken after the disaster:



For comparison, here is the latest aerial video released March 18 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan: