An interdisciplinary team from MIT have estimated that given the expected growth of nuclear power from 2005 – 2055 , at least four serious nuclear accidents would be expected in that period . To date , there have been five serious accidents ( core damage ) in the world since 1970 ( one at Three Mile Island in 1979 ; one at Chernobyl in 1986 ; and three at Fukushima-Daiichi in 2011 ) , corresponding to the beginning of the operation of generation II reactors . This leads to on average one serious accident happening every eight years worldwide . Despite these accidents , the safety record of nuclear power , in terms of lives lost ( ignoring nonfatal illnesses ) per unit of electricity delivered , is better than every other major source of power in the world , and on par with solar and wind
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
Nuclear power phase-out