What are man-made causes of radioactive pollution? Why is radioactive pollution more harmful than other types of pollution?

There are mainly two man-made causes of radioactive pollution:

1. Nuclear fuels used in atomic reactor — There are two types of waste formed in a Nuclear Reactor which cause pollution:
   1. The fission products remaining in both the primary and secondary fuels.
   2. Waste products in the coolant
2. Nuclear Weapons — Development and testing of Nuclear weapons creates risk of leakage of radioactive radiations in the environment. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused huge destruction and had an enormous impact on the environment till decades later.

Radioactive pollution is more harmful than other types of pollution because the high level products of nuclear wastes remain in the environment for several hundred years. Leakage in nuclear reactors causes environmental pollution and the leakage may result in the death of a number of people.