The 1979 Three Mile Island accident and 1986 Chernobyl disaster , along with high construction costs , ended the rapid growth of global nuclear power capacity . A further disastrous release of radioactive materials followed the 2011 Japanese tsunami which damaged the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant , resulting in hydrogen gas explosions and partial meltdowns classified as a Level 7 event . The large-scale release of radioactivity resulted in people being evacuated from a 20 km exclusion zone set up around the power plant , similar to the 30 km radius Chernobyl Exclusion Zone still in effect
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
Nuclear power phase-out