It may not be visible to the naked eye, but the world is naturally surrounded with radioactive elements - from the Earth's crust, to walls in our home, in the food we eat or water we drink, even in our very own bodies. We breathe radioactive gases every day.

However, we can only take a handful of this radiation, otherwise the environment and our health will be in serious danger. When a nuclear disaster occurs, either from atomic power plants or nuclear weapons, it results in some of the most radioactive places on earth.

Although a particularly big nuclear disaster can be devastating and could wreck the entire planet, some radioactive places have become world-famous and tourist destinations. Earth has several radioactive places, but The Travel enumerates the top 11 places.

11 Most Radioactive Places on Earth

 

11. Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

The Kyrgyz town is a former Soviet country that is now "literally built on nuclear waste" after the Cold War. It has become a rich source of uranium after a large mining operation caused massive amounts of uranium to be excavated in the region. Contaminated waste mining products were buried and left above the ground, causing toxic products to seep into rivers and contaminate the waters.

10. Siberia

What happens in Siberia stays in Siberia. Nuclear waste in the closed city of Seversk, Russia, affecting the Siberian River Ob, goes a long way, since the 50's when the Soviet Union made nuclear weapons there.

9. Hanford Site

The once "source of pride" in southeastern Washington State also has nuclear waste buried in nearby pits, after the Cold War when "everyone was into everything nuclear".

8. Mayak, Russia

Mayak has one of the biggest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation, and played an important role in the Soviet nuclear weapons program. It's no mystery why the region always makes it to the headlines, where the environment is greatly impacted by radioactivity.

7. Puerco River

Home to a vast uranium reserve, mining is natural at Church Rock, New Mexico. The mining operations initiated by the United Nuclear Corporation way back 1968 caused a uranium mill spill and contaminated the Puerco River, a watering source for livestock of Navajos, according to Environment and Society portal.

6. Great Britain

The Sellafield disaster in 1957 was one of the world's worst nuclear incidents in the United Kingdom's history, when uranium metal fuel ignited inside Windscale Pile no. 1 caused a fire.

5. Somalia

The coast of Somalia has become a perfect illegal dumping site due to its remoteness. The pollution in its waters had become uncontrollable, harming fragile marine ecosystem and the coastal population of Somalians.

4. Chernobyl

Having the "most dramatic of all nuclear disasters", the disaster in Chernobyl has affected half of Europe.

3. Semipalatinsk Test Site

456 bombs were dropped on the number one testing site in the Soviet Union, creating "notorious mushroom clouds" which people who once lived there still remember.

2. Fukushima, Japan

Fukushima, the most radioactive place on Earth, can still feel the remnants of the nuclear disaster nine years ago, when reactors melted at the Fukushima nuclear power plant during a tsunami.

1. Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia in Goias, Brazil

A mere robbery turned into a fatal nuclear disaster, when thieves were searching for scrap metal but stole a teletherapy unit that includes cesium-137 removed from an abandoned cancer-therapy machine. More than 250 people were poisoned from the radioactive substance and more than 40 homes in the city were found to have high levels of contamination and had to be demolished, according to History.

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Devastating Effects from Dangerous Radioactive Sites

 

Dangerous radioactivity can cause cancer and other hazardous illnesses. Exposure to very high levels of radiation can cause skin burns and "radiation sickness".

Radioactive elements also seep into rivers and contaminate the waters, making residents suffer from severe health problems. Substantial increases in radioactivity can also be found in the water, soil, and air. Over the years, scientists have become increasingly concerned about the possible damaging effects of exposure to large doses of radiation and found the need to regulate this.

Independent non-governmental and intergovernmental body of experts in the field have since regulated effects of such radiation on man and the environment, and basic approaches to protection from its hazards have been consistent all over the world.

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