A problem that occurred after the creation of the IAEA was that even though safety precautions existed , accidents started to happen . The first serious nuclear accident happened with the Kyshtym disaster , which occurred at Mayak , a Nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Soviet Union . Since then , there have been hundreds of nuclear accidents , some considered minor while others were horrendous , with one of the worst accidents being the Chernobyl disaster of April 26 , 1986 . Involving a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl , now in Ukraine , a combination of nuclear volatility and the disregard of several safety procedures caused an explosion of its fourth reactor , ending in the worldwide environmental and human catastrophe . Following the Chernobyl accident , the IAEA was forced to create a new branch of their organisation to help promote safety during nuclear energy production
Kyshtym disaster
Kyshtym disaster
International Nuclear Safety Group