Nuclear fallout

The city of Pripyat abandoned after the fallout from Chernobyl disaster.

Fallout is the left over radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion. The name is because radioactive material "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. These materials continue to undergo radioactive decay for minutes, days or centuries. "Fallout" commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. All nuclear explosions make fission products, which are the broken, radioactive atoms from a fission reaction. Neutrons from the explosion also make some nearby materials radioactive.

There was also radioactive fallout after a part of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl exploded. The fallout caused serious contamination over an area including Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Scandinavia and some parts of Europe. All people living in an area of 30 kilometres radius around the power plant were forced to move because of the fallout with villages and towns being abandoned.