Sovacool_Outsourcing_book_temp.qxd 06/11/2009 10:58 Page 134
The Accidental Century – Prominent Energy Accidents in the Last 100 Years
Table 2: Major Energy Accidents with More than US$100 Million in Damages, 1907–2007
Facility Date Location Description Cost (US$ millions,
1996)
Coal mine 6 December 1907 Monongah, West Virginia, US Underground explosion traps workers and destroys 162
railroad bridges leading into the mine
LNG plant 20 October 1944 Cleveland, Ohio, US Explosion at LNG facility destroys one square mile of Cleveland 890
Oil tanker 13 June 1968 Economic Exclusive Zone, The World Glory oil tanker experiences full failure, 110
South Africa spilling 11 million gallons of fuel
Hydroelectric 8 August 1975 Henan Province, China Shimantan Dam fails and releases 15,738 billion tons of water, 8,700
causing widespread flooding that destroys 18 villages and
1,500 homes and induces disease epidemics and famine
Nuclear 24 November 1989 Greifswald, East Germany Electrical error causes fire in the main trough that destroys control UD$443
lines and five main coolant pumps and almost induces meltdown
Hydroelectric 5 June 1976 Idaho Falls, Idaho, US Teton Dam fails and releases 300,000 acre feet of water that 990
floods farmland and towns surrounding Idaho Falls
Oil tanker 15 December 1976 Nantucket, Massachusetts, US The oil tanker Argo Merchant runs aground and spills 7.5 million 267
gallons of fuel, causing an oil slick 100 miles long and 70 miles wide
Nuclear 22 February 1977 Jaslovske Bohunice, Mechanical failure during fuel loading causes severe corrosion 1,700
Czechoslovakia of reactor and release of radioactivity into the plant area,
necessitating total decommission
Oil tanker 16 March 1978 Porstall, Brittany, France The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz experiences steering failure and 111
runs aground, spilling 68 million gallons of fuel
Oil tanker 19 July 1979 Tobago, Caribbean Two very large crude carriers, the Atlantic Empress and 120
Aegean Captain, collide at sea, spilling 111 million gallons of fuel
Nuclear 28 March 1979 Middletown, Pennsylvania, Equipment failures and operator error contribute to los of coolant 2,400
US and partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor
Oil tanker 6 August 1983 Cape Town, South Africa The oil tanker Castillo de Bellver catches fire, spilling 143
75 million gallons
Nuclear 15 September 1984 Athens, Alabama, US Safety violations, operator error and design problems force 110
six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2
Nuclear 9 March 1985 Athens, Alabama, US Instrumentation systems malfunction during start-up, 1,830
convincing the Tennessee Valley Authority to suspend
operations at all three Browns Ferry Units
Nuclear 26 December 1985 Clay Station, California, US Safety and control systems unexpectedly fail at Rancho Seco
nuclear reactor, ultimately leading to the premature closure 672
of the plant
Nuclear 11 April 1986 Plymouth, Massachusetts, US Recurring equipment problems with instrumentation, vacuum 1,001
breakers, instrument air system and main transformer force
emergency shutdown of Boston Edison’s Pilgrim nuclear facility
Nuclear 26 April 1986 Kiev, Ukraine Mishandled reactor safety test at Chernobyl nuclear reactor 6,700
causes steam explosion and meltdown, necessitating the
evacuation of 300,000 people from Kiev and dispersing
radioactive material across Europe
Nuclear 4 May 1986 Hamm-Uentrop, Germany Operator actions to dislodge damaged fuel rod at experimental 267
high-temperature gas reactor release excessive radiation to
four square kilometres surrounding the facility
Nuclear 31 March 1987 Delta, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Electric Company shuts down Peach Bottom units 2 and 400
3 due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems
Nuclear 19 December 1987 Lycoming, New York, US Fuel rod, waste storage and water pumping malfunctions force 150
US Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile
Point Unit 1
Oil platform 6 July 1988 North Sea, UK A natural gas leak causes explosion on Occidental Petroleum’s 190
Piper Alpha oil rig
Nuclear 17 March 1989 Lusby, Maryland, US Inspections at Baltimore Gas & Electric’s Calvert Cliff Units 1 120
and 2 reveal cracks at pressurised heater sleeves, forcing
extended shutdowns
Oil tanker 24 March 1989 Prince William Sound, The Exxon oil tanker Valdez runs aground and spills 250,000 4,100
Alaska, US barrels into Prince William Sound
Oil tanker 5 June 1989 Canary Islands, Spain The oil tanker Kharg 5 catches fire and spills 19,500,000 165
gallons of oil
Oil tanker 21 January 1993 Andamen Sea The oil tanker Maersk Navigator collides with the Sanko 169
Honour, spilling two million barrels of oil
Oil tanker 15 February 1996 Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK The oil tanker Sea Empress runs aground and spills 19 million 114
gallons of fuel
Nuclear 20 February 1996 Waterford, Connecticut, US Leaking valve forces Northeast Utilities Company to shut down 254
Millstone Units 1 and 2; further inspection reveals multiple
equipment failures
Nuclear 2 September 1996 Crystal River, Florida, US Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces Florida Power 384
Corporation to shut down Crystal River Unit 3 and make
extensive repairs
Nuclear 16 February 2002 Oak Harbor, Ohio, US Severe corrosion of control rod forces 24-month outage 143
of Davis-Besse reactor
Oil tanker 13 November 2002 Galicia, Spain The oil tanker Prestige ruptures one of its tanks during severe 3,300
weather and spills 20 million gallons of oil into the sea and
along French, Spanish and Portuguese beaches
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