Tropospheric fallout (in the lower atmosphere) is deposited at a later time and covers a larger area, depending on meteorological conditions. Stratospheric fallout, which releases extremely fine particles into the upper atmosphere, may continue for years after an explosion and attain a worldwide distribution.
The two best known examples illustrating the effect of fallout contamination are the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station disaster in April 1986. Within five years of the American bombing of Japan, as many as 225,000 people had died as a result of long-term exposure to radiation from the bomb blast, chiefly in the form of fallout.
The disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine on April 26, 1986 produced a staggering release of radioactivity. In 10 days at least 36 million curies spewed across the world. The fallout contaminated approximately 1,000 square mi (2,590 sq km) of farmland and villages in the Soviet Union. Dangerous levels of radioactivity were reported in virtually every European country, and radioactive pollutants contaminated rainwater, pastures and food crops. Radiation alerts were posted in almost every country, children were kept indoors, and sales of milk, vegetables, and meat were banned in some areas.
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