Nuclear Plant Fallout

• The professor in the Historical notes also mentions nuclear plant accidents.
• The most significant nuclear plant accident Atwood may have drawn from was Three Mile Island in 1979.
• There have been concerns about the effect on health and nature surrounding the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
• An extremely short time after the novel was published, the extreme nuclear accident of Chernobyl occurred in Ukraine, which was then a part of the Soviet Union.
• Explosions occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant leading to radiation emissions.
• It was initially estimated that only 50 deaths occurred as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, but it's now believed that thousands of deaths from cancer were caused by the radiation.
• The Chernobyl nuclear accident still has adverse effects on the environment in the surrounding areas.