They then sold it to another person, and in the following days, a whole area was
exposed to it through its unconscious distribution. The incident started 12 September,
and by 28 September, many people fell sick. On 29 September, the governmental
authority got alerted and began their search of contamination and eradication of
threat. The authority set up facilities for injured and contaminated individuals in the
city’s Olympic stadium. Around 112,800 people were examined, and out of which,
129 people were found to contain radioactive contamination. A total of 5 people died
in this incident with 20 seriously injured (Brandao-Mello et al. 2000). In 1996, San
Jose, Costa Rica, a Cobalt-60 radiation source in radiotherapy unit was miscalibrated
and resulted in 50–60% of overdosages to the patients of San Juan de Dios Hospital.
The accident took the lives of 7 patients with 81 injured (Coeytaux et al. 2015).
Recent most notable nuclear accident happened in Fukushima, Japan in the year
2011. On 11 March 2011, a major earthquake brought out 15 m of tsunami waves to
the land of Japan. Almost 20,000 people died in this natural disaster and prominent
damage occurred to the three reactors of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The radioactive materials from the three nuclear reactor core evaded to the sea, land
and atmosphere. The Japanese authority was managed to shut down the three
reactors in mid-December 2011 after the fallout of temperature to 80
C during
October. The exact casualty due to radioactivity is uncertain, but the amount of
radioactivity released is supposed to one-tenth of Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
13.1.8 Radioactive Waste or Radioactivity Due to Military Use
Environmental contamination through the release of radioactive wastes or radionuclides by nuclear weapon testing for military use is enormous. After the historic
Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing during Second World War, the testing of
nuclear weapons has reached its peak during the Cold War era. In USA alone, from
1945 to 1980, the atmospheric tests amounted to 428 megatons which is 29,000
times in its size compared to Nagasaki nuclear bomb. Although the adoption of nonproliferation treaty and the end of Cold War era has put a restrain to the ongoing
competition for nuclear war heads, it is noteworthy that many other countries apart
from then global competitors of West versus Soviets have also achieved their nuclear
potential. But it is also noteworthy that many other countries apart from then global
competitors of West versus Soviets have also achieved their nuclear potential. The
greater concern with nuclear weapon testing is that radioactive debris gets stuck in
the atmosphere by partitioning in the troposphere and stratosphere and eventually
getting precipitated for shorter or longer periods (Smičiklas and Šljivić-Ivanović
2016). Pu and its relevant isotopes which are released after a nuclear test in particular
are of major concern as it has higher biological half-lives approximately 24.3 Â 10
3
to 81 Â 10
6 years (Gabrieli et al. 2011). 241Am, 137Cs, 131I, 90Sr, etc. are the most
significant radioisotopes found almost in every nuclear-related incidents or testing
which are very much detrimental to human lives (Turner et al. 2003).
13 Role of Microbes in Bioremediation of Radioactive Waste
335
exposed to it through its unconscious distribution. The incident started 12 September,
and by 28 September, many people fell sick. On 29 September, the governmental
authority got alerted and began their search of contamination and eradication of
threat. The authority set up facilities for injured and contaminated individuals in the
city’s Olympic stadium. Around 112,800 people were examined, and out of which,
129 people were found to contain radioactive contamination. A total of 5 people died
in this incident with 20 seriously injured (Brandao-Mello et al. 2000). In 1996, San
Jose, Costa Rica, a Cobalt-60 radiation source in radiotherapy unit was miscalibrated
and resulted in 50–60% of overdosages to the patients of San Juan de Dios Hospital.
The accident took the lives of 7 patients with 81 injured (Coeytaux et al. 2015).
Recent most notable nuclear accident happened in Fukushima, Japan in the year
2011. On 11 March 2011, a major earthquake brought out 15 m of tsunami waves to
the land of Japan. Almost 20,000 people died in this natural disaster and prominent
damage occurred to the three reactors of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The radioactive materials from the three nuclear reactor core evaded to the sea, land
and atmosphere. The Japanese authority was managed to shut down the three
reactors in mid-December 2011 after the fallout of temperature to 80
C during
October. The exact casualty due to radioactivity is uncertain, but the amount of
radioactivity released is supposed to one-tenth of Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
13.1.8 Radioactive Waste or Radioactivity Due to Military Use
Environmental contamination through the release of radioactive wastes or radionuclides by nuclear weapon testing for military use is enormous. After the historic
Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing during Second World War, the testing of
nuclear weapons has reached its peak during the Cold War era. In USA alone, from
1945 to 1980, the atmospheric tests amounted to 428 megatons which is 29,000
times in its size compared to Nagasaki nuclear bomb. Although the adoption of nonproliferation treaty and the end of Cold War era has put a restrain to the ongoing
competition for nuclear war heads, it is noteworthy that many other countries apart
from then global competitors of West versus Soviets have also achieved their nuclear
potential. But it is also noteworthy that many other countries apart from then global
competitors of West versus Soviets have also achieved their nuclear potential. The
greater concern with nuclear weapon testing is that radioactive debris gets stuck in
the atmosphere by partitioning in the troposphere and stratosphere and eventually
getting precipitated for shorter or longer periods (Smičiklas and Šljivić-Ivanović
2016). Pu and its relevant isotopes which are released after a nuclear test in particular
are of major concern as it has higher biological half-lives approximately 24.3 Â 10
3
to 81 Â 10
6 years (Gabrieli et al. 2011). 241Am, 137Cs, 131I, 90Sr, etc. are the most
significant radioisotopes found almost in every nuclear-related incidents or testing
which are very much detrimental to human lives (Turner et al. 2003).
13 Role of Microbes in Bioremediation of Radioactive Waste
335