Historical analysis and effects of radiation accidents

With the beginning of radiation usage, both its beneficial and harmful effects have become apparent. Radiation is widely used in fields such as nuclear industry, industry, medicine, and nuclear research. Throughout history, many radiation accidents have occurred worldwide, and the long-term negative impacts of these accidents have been observed. In this thesis, historical materials collected, including radiation accidents and their effects, have been gathered from national and international academic books, reports published by organizations, and technical documents. Additionally, reports published by the United Nations Scientific Committee were examined. For events and accidents without documentation in book and report format, information from the IAEA and LAKA websites was utilized. In the historical review, radiation incidents and accidents reported between 1957 and 2024 were classified and statistically analyzed according to years, geographical regions, INES levels, and different work environments. The data analysis was performed using "Google Sheets" and "Google Looker Studio" software. Based on the data collected, the 23 most significant radiation accidents were analyzed first. In the second phase, a total of 1054 radiation incidents recorded over 70 years were identified, with incidents accounting for 98.7% and accidents accounting for 1.3%. Due to insufficient data before 1990, INES scale could not be conducted; however, with the improvement of records and evaluation methods after that date, an increase in reported cases was observed. After the Fukushima accident in 2011, which was classified as a level 7 incident, only event-level cases were recorded. Although the majority of radiation incidents (600 cases, 57%) occurred in nuclear power plant facilities, only 6 of these were classified as accidents. The common causes of accidents were identified as the human factor, as well as errors in safety systems and technical failures, which were significant contributing factors.