Environmental disasters

› The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. ›It is estimated that the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster was 100 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosionatomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ›Emergency crews responding to the accident used helicopters to pour sand and boron on the reactor debris..The Soviet government also cut down and buried about a square mile of pine forest near the plant. After the accident, officials closed off the area within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the plant Chernobyl, Ukraine: Nuclear Power disaster

Three mile Island, PA Nuclear Power disaster March 28, the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community. -brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations.

Bhopal, India: Toxic Air ›December 2-3, 1984 ›a storage tank containing methyl isocyanate (MIC) at the Union Carbide pesticide plant leaked gas into the densely populated city of Bhopal, India. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in history. ›Estimates of the death toll vary greatly. Most sources say at least 3,000 people died from immediate exposure to the gas, while higher estimates go up to 8,000. In the two decades following the night of the disaster, approximately 20,000 additional people have died from the damage they received from the gas

Exxon Valdez, Alaska: Oil spill ›March 24, 1989 ›10.8 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound ›1,300 miles of coastline were hit by the oil spill ›Four deaths were directly associated with cleanup efforts. ›The spill caused over $300 million of economic harm to more than 32 thousand people whose livelihoods depended on commercial fishing.

Love Canal, New York: Polluted Ground ›Evacuated in 1978 ›in the 1940s, Hooker Chemical began dumping industrial waste in the canal and covering it with dirt. ›In 1953, the company sold the land to the local school board for $1, and the 99th Street School was built. ›Love Canal residents reported exploding rocks, strange odors and blue goo that bubbled up into basements, but it was the high rates of asthma, miscarriages, mental disabilities and other health problems that brought Love Canal into national headlines in 1978.

BP Gulf Oil spill ›April 20, 2010 The oil rig exploded killing 11 people and spilling 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. ›Oil flowed freely into the ocean from April 20-July 12, 2010 ›It is considered to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.