meltdown in a state the size of Pennsylvania it would kill 45,000 people , contaminate 70% of the state , and cause seventeen million dollars worth of damage and if you multiply that by five it would kill 225,000 and cause eighty five million dollars worth of damage and contaminate five times the amount of land . Have there ever been any Nuclear accidents in the United States ? Accidents involving US nuclear power plants are very rare . This does not mean that they do not occur. In the early 1980's there was a fire at Yankee Atomic , a nuclear power plant in Massachusetts , destroying over 3 million dollars worth of electrical wiring in the reactor . it was caused by some workmen who were using matches to find a leak in the ventilation system of the reactor . The damage to the reactor was not serious but it was shut down for two weeks for repairs . If the situation was not brought under control the fire could have spread and caused a meltdown or serious leak . The most serious nuclear accident in the US was at three Mile Island , Pennsylvania in 1979 when a coolant pipe was accidentally blocked due to cleaning and repairs the blockage allowed no water to reach the reactor core to cool it down and the core ruptured and leaked radioactive particles into the atmosphere . The core itself came close to meltdown and if this had happened much of Pennsylvania , New York and New Jersey would have been contaminated by the radioactive fallout . Although today's nuclear power plants are relatively safe the problem of accidents increases with every new plant that is built . With each new plant built new of problems occur since this is a relatively young technology with people who are being trained on the job . Is Radioactivity dangerous? Radioactivity cannot be seen , felt , tasted or smelt . It is an " invisible poison " that is released and produced by the plants . The average nuclear power plant contains more than 200,000 to 300,000 t...
