Date: 08/11/15

YEARDATE | ECOLOGICALDISASTER ORCONTROVERSY | BRIEFDESCRIPTION | EFFECT ONPRIVATEINDIVIDUAL | EFFECTONCOMM. | EFFECT ONGOV. | April 26, 1986 in Chernobyl in Ukraine | Bhopal Gas Leak, Chernobyl | Several nuclear reactors exploded and killed 50 people. The real damage came later in the form of radiation-related diseases such as cancer and children with birth defects. The radiation released was 400 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and has rendered the entire site barren for another 200 years at least. | 800,000 men risked their lives by exposing themselves to radiation in order to contain the situation. 25,000 of these have died and 70,000 are disabled.20% of those deaths were suicides. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 28 of the workers at Chernobyl died in the four months following the accident. | Since then, thousands of kids have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and an almost 20-mile area around the plant remains off-limits. Reactor No. 4 has been sealed off in a large, concrete sarcophagus that is slowly deterioratingThe environmental group Greenpeace places the eventual death toll at 93,000 cancer deaths worldwide. More than 5 million people live in areas that are considered to be "contaminated" with radioactive material from the accident | Some people have returned to the affected area with their families in order to take advantage of the government's compensation benefit.Late in 1986, Union Carbide filed a lengthy court document in India detailing the findings of its scientific and legal investigations into the cause of the gas release | March 24, 1989 | Exxon Valdez | American oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef in remote Alaska. The impact released 11 million gallons of oil and polluted the coastline for 500 miles in Alaskan seawaters. The incident happened after ship captain Joseph Hazelwood left an inexperienced mate at the helm of affairs while he retired to his cabin. | Thousands flocked to Valdez, Alaska, to earn money in the massive cleanup effort, creating a temporary boomtown, and attracting those who wished to supply, house, and feed the newcomers | An estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters and 300 harbor seals were killed in the immediate aftermath, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Two groups of killer whales that swam through the affected parts of the Prince William Sound suffered population losses up to 41 percent in the year after the disaster, according to a 2008 | Despite the mobilization of more than 11,000 people and 1,000 boats as part of the cleanup. planes spray chemical dispersants on the oil spilled from the tanker Exxon Valdez on March 27, 1989Exxon says it spent about $2.1 billion on the cleanup effort. | 1991, Iraq | Gulf War Oil Spill | Iraq’s soldiers spilled eight million barrels into the Persian Gulf waters to prevent the US Marines from entering the war. Because there was no cleanup initiated, researchers found oil residue even 10 years later in the Gulf waters and marshes. | Many in the local population continued to complain of respiratory problems. | The sand and gravel on the land's surface combined with oil and soot to form a layer of hardened 'tarcrete' over almost 5 percent of the countries area." Scores of livestock and other animals died from the oily mist, their lungs blackened by the liquid.Several coastal areas even in 2001 still show significant oil impact and in some place no recovery at all. The salt marshes which occur at almost 50% of the coastline show the heaviest impact compared to the other ecosystem types after 10 years. Completely recovered are the rocky shores and mangroves. Sand beaches are on the best way to complete recovery. The main reason for the delayed recovery of the salt marshes is the absence of physical energy (wave action) and the mostly anaerobic milieu of the oiled substrates.Even so, over 200 lakes of oil formed throughout the desert due to the massive amounts of spillage, some more than 6 feet deep. By the end of 1991, the massive cloud of smoke that had formed during the fires was starting to dissipate, | February's cleanup efforts to slow the effect of the spill were further hampered by poor coordination and lack of accessible funds. Alleged bureaucratic friction is said to have further exasperated efforts, however Saudi officials were quick to maintain that the situation was under controlThere was no shoreline cleanup, essentially, over the 800 kilometers that the oil – - in Saudi Arabia. And so when we went back in to do quantitative survey in 2002 and 2003, there was a million cubic meters of oil sediment remained then 12 years after the spill.... he oil penetrated much more deeply into the intertidal sediment than normal because those sediments there have a lot of crab burrows, and the oil penetrated deep, sometimes 30, 40 centimeters, you know a couple of feet, into the mud of these tidal flats. There’s no way to get it out now. So it has had long term impact. | December 3, 1984. | Bhopal | An accident at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, resulted in 45 tons of poisonous methyl isocyanate escaping from the facility. | Many of those who survived suffered blindness, organ failure and other awful bodily malfunctions. | A shockingly high number of children in the area have been born with all manner of birth defects.Thousands died within hours. More followed over subsequent months — about 15,000 in all. In total, about half a million people were affected in some way. | In 1989, Union Carbide paid out about half a billion dollars to victims, an amount the afflicted say is not nearly enough to deal with the decades-long consequences. | On Sept. 30, 1999 | Tokaimura Nuclear Plant | Japan's worst nuclear accident happened in a facility northeast of Tokyo. Three workers at a uranium-processing plant in Tokaimura, then the center of the Japanese nuclear-power industry, improperly mixed a uranium solution. | Two ended up dying, and hundreds were exposed to various levels of radiation.The three workers concerned were hospitalized, two in a critical condition. One died 12 weeks later, another 7 months later. The three had apparently received full-body fatal dose), mainly from neutrons. Another 24 JCO workers received up to 48 mSv. Doses for 436 people were evaluated, 140 based on measurement and 296 on estimated values. | Seven workers immediately outside the plant received doses estimated at 6 - 15 mSv (combined neutron and gamma effects). Mainstream fuel fabrication plants in Japan are fully automated, engineered to ensure that criticality does not occur, equipped with neutron monitoring systems and fully prepared for any possible criticality accident. Most plants use a dry process in any case, which is intrinsically safer. No major civil reactor uses uranium enriched beyond 5% U-235. | Five hours after the start of the criticality, evacuation commenced of some 161 people from 39 households within a 350 meter radius from the conversion buildingJapan's atomic energy insurance pool said would make a payment to JCO in respect to the accident, its first such payment ever. However, this would be limited to one billion yen, with further liability (the total estimated at 13 billion yen - A$ 200 million), being met by JCO or its parent company. The plant's operating license was revoked early in 2000. |

Resources: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1986457_1986501_1986442,00.html http://www.counterspill.org/article/gulf-war-oil-disaster-brief-history http://www.care2.com/causes/10-most-horrifying-facts-about-the-gulf-oill-spill.html
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Tokaimura-Criticality-Accident