The 10 Biggest Explosions in the History of the World (2 of 6)

2. The Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster

In 1986, one of the reactors of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history. The defective reactor blew off a 2,000-ton (that’s almost 4,400,000 lbs!) lid off the core and unleashed radiation hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The radioactive fallout contaminated huge swathes of Europe, affecting more than 77,000 square miles. Around 600,000 people were exposed to high doses of radiation, and over 350,000 had to leave their homes for good. Today, the 1,040-square-mile Chornobyl Exclusion Zone remains largely off-limits, though a few people have illegally returned to live there.

3. Texas City Disaster

On April 16, 1947, disaster struck the port of Texas City when a fire broke out on the SS Grandcamp, a ship loaded with 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. It’s a chemical used in fertilizer and explosives, and it packs a hell of a punch. The ship exploded so violently that it knocked two airplanes out of the sky and set off a chain reaction, blowing up nearby refineries and another ship carrying 1,000 more tons of ammonium nitrate. The Texas City explosion killed about 600 people and injured around 3,500, making it the worst industrial accident in U.S. history.